Language Legacies Grant Recipients - 2021
*MKARL Funding
**International Phonetic Association Funding
Donnie Junior McDowell - Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina 2021 Camp (ISO 639-3: iro)
The TNNC 2021 Language Camp would be part of various ongoing series to revitalize the traditional Tuscarora (Skarure) Iroquois language. A few skilled Tuscarora speakers reside in the TNNC Robeson County communities and we would like to increase our number of speakers in order to help curve its endangerment and prevent its extinction. With a successful grant of said proposal, the TNNC would be able to host a number of once a week, 1-hour, Tuscarora Language Camp lessons via Zoom session to hundreds of Tuscarora tribal citizens. The Zoom platform will allow these language lessons and cultural engagement to cover a frame of over 30 weeks and would heighten the awareness of the Tuscarora People in NC. A member of the TNNC who is skilled in the language has already agreed to host these lessons in order to serve the overall Tuscarora Nation.
Julen Villarreal Moreno - A Book for the Bedik/Giñana Books (ISO 639-3: tnr)
This project is mainly done by and for the Bedik people, 3800 speakers of an endangered language called Mėnik (Senegal). The Bedik oral heritage is at risk of perishing with its last bearers and the lack of didactic materials in Mėnik makes its survival even more difficult. This project combines efficiently the preservation, promotion and revitalization of Bedik oral heritage, satisfying multiple long-time claims of the Bedik people at the same time. This is an ongoing project, that was launched in 2018 thanks to crowdfunding. In order to complete the last stages of the project and make the materials reach the Bedik, we are in need of funding.
Stanislav Beletsky - **Lexical Documentation of Isanzu Language (ISO 639-3: isn)
The project aims at documenting vocabulary of the threatened Isanzu language spoken to the south of the lake Eyasi (Singida, Manyara, Simiyu regions). Due to the small number of speakers and lack of linguistic descriptions Isanzu desperately needs to be documented before it has eroded. The research team starts documentation with elicitation of core and frequent vocabulary while using wordlists, video stimuli and the special software SIL Fieldwork Explorer that allows them to create a solid data-base and to convert it into a dictionary. This three-lingual dictionary (Isanzu, Swahili, English) hopefully raises the prestige of Isanzu language within native community. Also it will provide valuable linguistic data for comparative studies of Bantu languages, data for MA / PhD thesis and learning materials for the MA courses of lexicology and language documentation.
Catarina Delfina dos Santos - Documenting Kaqchikel Traditional Stories and Recipes (ISO 639-3: grn)
Enhãngareko ndeteko'are [Care for your community]: education for the revitalization of Tupi Guarani language aims to aid on the revitalization of Tupi Guarani language through a booklet for children and young teens. The booklet will be based on previous work developed by our Tupi Guarani community, Tekoa Tapirema, located on Piaçaguera Indigenous Land (Perúibe/SP). The previous work consisted on translating a booklet from Instituto Butantan which approached COVID-19. The present proposal aims to use this translated booklet in order to create an educational booklet with activities for children and young teens, thus promoting Tupi Guarani language revitalization and COVID-19 prevention and awareness, which is also highly important from saving indigenous lives .
Kailadbou Daimai - Documentation, Description, and Revitalization of Liangmai Folksong (ISO 639-3: njn)
The proposed project aims to document, describe and revitalize the folksongs of Liangmai. Folksong, once popular form of oral tradition of the people, finds no domain in the current generation. It served as an affective instructional medium to the people in the past. This documentation and description will help in the preservation of the vanishing folksongs and maintenance of Liangmai language. The materials will also be used in developing pedagogical materials for teaching of the language and the cultural heritage of the people to the younger generation.
Valantino Ateng Pamolango - **Documentation of Andio (ISO 639-3: bzb)
This project aims to begin the documentation and conservation of Andio language. Andio language spoken by around 1,700 people in Lamala and Mantoh districts, Banggai Region, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. This project will create a body of audio- visual recordings of the language, transcribed and translated which will be important for further linguistic research and supporting mother tongue literacy in Andio.
Donald Keeble - Ggékyamnanê Wdathmownëwan (ISO 639-3: pot)
We, Bodwéwadmimwen Ėthë ték, Inc., seek to preserve and facilitate the use of Bodwéwadmimwen (the Potawatomi language) through our Ggékyamnanêk Wdathmownëwan (Our Elders’ Stories) Project. The goals of this project are (1) to document stories in Bodwéwadmimwen from first language speakers and (2) to publish these stories in book form in order to distribute them to Potawatomi Bands and communities. We will audio and video record first language speaker, Jim Thunder, as he tells autobiographical and historical stories in Bodwéwadmimwen in the summer of 2021. We will transcribe, translated and revise the stories with Jim Thunder. We will then edit, format and publish these stories through the self-publishing platform Lulu. We plan to make the books known and available at the Potawatomi Nation’s annual Potawatomi Language Gathering during the summer.
Jonathan D. Amith - *Comparative Totonac Ethnobotany: Nomenclature, Classification, and Use of Plants (ISO 639-3: tos, top, tlp, tku)
This project is part of a long-term effort to develop an encyclopedic, multimedia study of the nomenclature, classification, and use of flora and fauna among Indigenous communities in Mexico. Over the past decade Amith has researched traditional ecological knowledge of flora and fauna in several central Balsas (state of Guerrero) Nahuatl communities, in four Yoloxóchitl Mixtec (coastal Pacific) communities, and in Nahuatl- and Totonac-speaking villages in northern Puebla and adjacent Veracruz. This present proposal is to continue to work extensively and effectively in Totonac communities. This project offers a unique opportunity to address issues of theoretical significance while creating resources that will have a broader impact on Indigenous communities and the general public.
Wichamdinbo - *Documentation of Liangmai Folksongs and Folktales (ISO 639-3: njn)
The aim of this proposal is to digitally and specifically document folk songs and folk tales of Liangmai found in contiguous area of northern Manipur and southern Nagaland in Northeast India. It broadly aims to make the community members recognize their folk culture and take pride in it. This work will help the community to revive and maintained their oral literature by singing and telling folk songs and folk tales which are no longer transmitted to younger generation. The rich vocabularies and nuanced grammatical features of Liangmai language which are embedded in folk songs and folk tales but are forgotten will be unearthed, revived and preserved. In this project, about 40 folk songs and 50 traditional folk stories will be collected which will become an important resource for Liangmai language maintenance and learning materials in schools.
Dr. Roselind Wan - Preserving Our Language in the Sky: A Community Project for Language Documentation and Maintenance in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (ISO 639-3: kys)
This language documentation project is a community led project. The Principal Investigator for the project is an indigenous Kayan scholar who will work with the Kayan community to document and preserve their endangered language. The ELF funding will enable the digitalization of their oral traditions and stories which will be made accessible to the less than 30,000 speakers of the language through 1. Kayan language website, and 2. archival at the Sarawak Museum. The specific focus is the preservation of the endangered language in an archival and form that can be accessed by the Kayan community.
Jeannet Stephen - *IBUNDA: Indigenous Literacy in Books--Unlocking Development and Achievement(s) for Kimaragang Pre-School Teachers and Learners (ISO 639-3: kqr)
The Kimaragang language is an endangered language currently identified to be at 6b (Threatened) on EGIDS (Ethnologue, 2021). It is spoken mainly in the Kota Marudu and Pitas districts of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. This proposed project is a continuation of a pilot study that was done with the Kimaragang language teachers and their pre-schoolers at the Sikul Liliyuwon Tanganak Kimaragang (SLTK) Gailun Pitas, Sabah. The package included 1 language app, 3 indigenous short story books, 1 dialect glossary book, and 1 indigenous language spelling guide for the language teachers. This grant will be able to increase the number of materials in each segment of the package and appropriately provides remunerations to the indigenous community members who work with the project team.
Alexander Rice - */**Remove-Collaborative Documentation and Vitality Assessment of Northern Pastaza Kichwa (ISO 639-3: qvc)
Northern Pastaza Kichwa [ISO 639-3: qvz] (hereafter NPK) is a variety of Amazonian Kichwa (Quechuan) also known as Bobonaza Quichua and Canelos Quichua that is spoken near the Ecuador-Peru border in the Northwest Amazon, along the Pastaza and Bobonaza rivers. This project, led by PI Alexander Rice in collaboration with NPK heritage speaker and community representative Diana Chavez and the Iyarina Andes and Amazon Field School (IAAFS), has two primary objectives. First, we aim to record traditional stories and personal histories of the community’s adult speakers (especially elders) for posterity. The second objective is to conduct sociolinguistic interviews in an urban diaspora community of NPK speakers in Puyo, Ecuador in order to gain an initial sample assessment of NPK’s vitality.
Terrance Gatchalian - *Ktunaxa Teaching Materials Development and Printing (ISO 639-3: aku)
This project supports the Ktunaxa language revitalization goals of the ʔaq̓ am community in British Columbia, Canada, through the development, printing, and distribution of teaching materials for use by language teachers in the community. The produced teaching resources fill the specific need for upper-beginner- and intermediate-level materials. This will involve elicitation of language directly relevant to language learner needs and goals. These materials will be created in collaboration with participants of the student-guided and student-centered Vancouver Ktunaxa Language Class, serving the dual purpose of teaching the language through project-based pedagogy and of creating a lasting contribution to the growing corpus of Ktunaxa language teaching materials.
Radu Voica - Blablanga Orthography and Literacy Materials Development Workshop (ISO 639-3: blp)
Blablanga (blp and jaj) is an endangered Oceanic language with 1150 speakers in the Solomon Islands and lacks a standardised spelling. In sporadic attempts to write it, speakers use conventions developed for a neighboring vigorous language with a different phonological system. This project is a response to the community request to establish a practical and emblematic orthography and to print literacy materials for the use of children and adults in order to learn how to read and write in their own language, including, a primer and a collection of oral literature. It will take the form of a workshop, during which community members, chiefs, elders, catechists, teachers, youth leaders and others will come together for the first time to discuss and decide on the matters above. The workshop will be integrated within my research project on Information Structure and Intonation (British Academy Grant PF2\180119) and has obtained partial FEL funding.
Zachary O'Hagan - */**Documentating Omurano Through Urarina Oral Narrative (ISO 639-3: omu)
Omurano is an extremely endangered isolate language of Peruvian Amazonia, with a handful of individuals who remember basic words and phrases. Our collaborative project (O'Hagan, Emanuele Fabiano, Joshua Homan) builds on previous fieldwork, and documents Omurano lexicon, basic grammar, and history over three weeks of fieldwork on the Urituyacu River. The project seeds a planned larger one dedicated to the history of the region between the Pastaza and Tigre rivers (approximately the size of Slovakia), which is home to four isolate languages and others belonging to the Chicham, Quechuan, and Zaparoan families. This diversity is comparable to other multilingual regions such as the Xingu, and a detailed understanding of it is crucially important for both Amazonian ethnology and linguistics. Moreover, this project contributes to the ongoing efforts in the Urituyacu basin of cultural and linguistic revitalization among Omuranos, strengthening community ties, indigenous identities, and the transmission of traditional knowledge.
Dr. Lucia Brandi - */**Linguistic Documentation of Kgoyom Totonac (ISO 639-3: tos)
Totonac languages and dialects vary greatly across the highlands of Puebla. This project focuses on the area referred to as Kgoyom by local speakers (in the municipality of Huehuetla), where Totonac is endangered by encroaching development and the accelerating outflow of young speakers. ELF funding will enable two native-speaker language activists, Miguel García and Pablo García, to work on language documentation, and engage local young people in these processes. This will involve creating a digital repository of video interviews with native speakers, which will be methodically documented and made available for linguistic analysis. A Totonac-language website will be created to link to the repository, and can be maintained after the lifetime of this project as a language revitalization resource. The academic advisor is Dr Lucia Brandi (University of Liverpool), a sociolinguist who has researched language policy locally, and produced a trilingual audiobook for children featuring Kgoyom Totonac.
Windy Goodloe and Daniel Bögre (Wikitongues) - */**We Vice (Our Voice): Afro-Seminole Creole Revitalization (ISO 639-3: afs)
This project will maintain and promote Black Seminole culture by beginning the process of community language revitalization. This will consist of two language gatherings/workshops, which will facilitate: 1.) the creation of one language revitalization and planning committee consisting of Afro-Seminole Creole fluent and proficient speakers, language activists, linguists, and an anthropologist; 2.) a forum discussion around the creation of a language revitalization community plan; 3.) the recording of interviews and stories with the dozen or so remaining fluent and proficient ASC speakers; and 4.) the documentation of the phonology of the language. These steps will lay the foundation for further language revitalization work, including standardizing a writing system, reconstructing grammar and phonology, and developing a future language education program to train new speakers.
The TNNC 2021 Language Camp would be part of various ongoing series to revitalize the traditional Tuscarora (Skarure) Iroquois language. A few skilled Tuscarora speakers reside in the TNNC Robeson County communities and we would like to increase our number of speakers in order to help curve its endangerment and prevent its extinction. With a successful grant of said proposal, the TNNC would be able to host a number of once a week, 1-hour, Tuscarora Language Camp lessons via Zoom session to hundreds of Tuscarora tribal citizens. The Zoom platform will allow these language lessons and cultural engagement to cover a frame of over 30 weeks and would heighten the awareness of the Tuscarora People in NC. A member of the TNNC who is skilled in the language has already agreed to host these lessons in order to serve the overall Tuscarora Nation.
Julen Villarreal Moreno - A Book for the Bedik/Giñana Books (ISO 639-3: tnr)
This project is mainly done by and for the Bedik people, 3800 speakers of an endangered language called Mėnik (Senegal). The Bedik oral heritage is at risk of perishing with its last bearers and the lack of didactic materials in Mėnik makes its survival even more difficult. This project combines efficiently the preservation, promotion and revitalization of Bedik oral heritage, satisfying multiple long-time claims of the Bedik people at the same time. This is an ongoing project, that was launched in 2018 thanks to crowdfunding. In order to complete the last stages of the project and make the materials reach the Bedik, we are in need of funding.
Stanislav Beletsky - **Lexical Documentation of Isanzu Language (ISO 639-3: isn)
The project aims at documenting vocabulary of the threatened Isanzu language spoken to the south of the lake Eyasi (Singida, Manyara, Simiyu regions). Due to the small number of speakers and lack of linguistic descriptions Isanzu desperately needs to be documented before it has eroded. The research team starts documentation with elicitation of core and frequent vocabulary while using wordlists, video stimuli and the special software SIL Fieldwork Explorer that allows them to create a solid data-base and to convert it into a dictionary. This three-lingual dictionary (Isanzu, Swahili, English) hopefully raises the prestige of Isanzu language within native community. Also it will provide valuable linguistic data for comparative studies of Bantu languages, data for MA / PhD thesis and learning materials for the MA courses of lexicology and language documentation.
Catarina Delfina dos Santos - Documenting Kaqchikel Traditional Stories and Recipes (ISO 639-3: grn)
Enhãngareko ndeteko'are [Care for your community]: education for the revitalization of Tupi Guarani language aims to aid on the revitalization of Tupi Guarani language through a booklet for children and young teens. The booklet will be based on previous work developed by our Tupi Guarani community, Tekoa Tapirema, located on Piaçaguera Indigenous Land (Perúibe/SP). The previous work consisted on translating a booklet from Instituto Butantan which approached COVID-19. The present proposal aims to use this translated booklet in order to create an educational booklet with activities for children and young teens, thus promoting Tupi Guarani language revitalization and COVID-19 prevention and awareness, which is also highly important from saving indigenous lives .
Kailadbou Daimai - Documentation, Description, and Revitalization of Liangmai Folksong (ISO 639-3: njn)
The proposed project aims to document, describe and revitalize the folksongs of Liangmai. Folksong, once popular form of oral tradition of the people, finds no domain in the current generation. It served as an affective instructional medium to the people in the past. This documentation and description will help in the preservation of the vanishing folksongs and maintenance of Liangmai language. The materials will also be used in developing pedagogical materials for teaching of the language and the cultural heritage of the people to the younger generation.
Valantino Ateng Pamolango - **Documentation of Andio (ISO 639-3: bzb)
This project aims to begin the documentation and conservation of Andio language. Andio language spoken by around 1,700 people in Lamala and Mantoh districts, Banggai Region, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. This project will create a body of audio- visual recordings of the language, transcribed and translated which will be important for further linguistic research and supporting mother tongue literacy in Andio.
Donald Keeble - Ggékyamnanê Wdathmownëwan (ISO 639-3: pot)
We, Bodwéwadmimwen Ėthë ték, Inc., seek to preserve and facilitate the use of Bodwéwadmimwen (the Potawatomi language) through our Ggékyamnanêk Wdathmownëwan (Our Elders’ Stories) Project. The goals of this project are (1) to document stories in Bodwéwadmimwen from first language speakers and (2) to publish these stories in book form in order to distribute them to Potawatomi Bands and communities. We will audio and video record first language speaker, Jim Thunder, as he tells autobiographical and historical stories in Bodwéwadmimwen in the summer of 2021. We will transcribe, translated and revise the stories with Jim Thunder. We will then edit, format and publish these stories through the self-publishing platform Lulu. We plan to make the books known and available at the Potawatomi Nation’s annual Potawatomi Language Gathering during the summer.
Jonathan D. Amith - *Comparative Totonac Ethnobotany: Nomenclature, Classification, and Use of Plants (ISO 639-3: tos, top, tlp, tku)
This project is part of a long-term effort to develop an encyclopedic, multimedia study of the nomenclature, classification, and use of flora and fauna among Indigenous communities in Mexico. Over the past decade Amith has researched traditional ecological knowledge of flora and fauna in several central Balsas (state of Guerrero) Nahuatl communities, in four Yoloxóchitl Mixtec (coastal Pacific) communities, and in Nahuatl- and Totonac-speaking villages in northern Puebla and adjacent Veracruz. This present proposal is to continue to work extensively and effectively in Totonac communities. This project offers a unique opportunity to address issues of theoretical significance while creating resources that will have a broader impact on Indigenous communities and the general public.
Wichamdinbo - *Documentation of Liangmai Folksongs and Folktales (ISO 639-3: njn)
The aim of this proposal is to digitally and specifically document folk songs and folk tales of Liangmai found in contiguous area of northern Manipur and southern Nagaland in Northeast India. It broadly aims to make the community members recognize their folk culture and take pride in it. This work will help the community to revive and maintained their oral literature by singing and telling folk songs and folk tales which are no longer transmitted to younger generation. The rich vocabularies and nuanced grammatical features of Liangmai language which are embedded in folk songs and folk tales but are forgotten will be unearthed, revived and preserved. In this project, about 40 folk songs and 50 traditional folk stories will be collected which will become an important resource for Liangmai language maintenance and learning materials in schools.
Dr. Roselind Wan - Preserving Our Language in the Sky: A Community Project for Language Documentation and Maintenance in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo (ISO 639-3: kys)
This language documentation project is a community led project. The Principal Investigator for the project is an indigenous Kayan scholar who will work with the Kayan community to document and preserve their endangered language. The ELF funding will enable the digitalization of their oral traditions and stories which will be made accessible to the less than 30,000 speakers of the language through 1. Kayan language website, and 2. archival at the Sarawak Museum. The specific focus is the preservation of the endangered language in an archival and form that can be accessed by the Kayan community.
Jeannet Stephen - *IBUNDA: Indigenous Literacy in Books--Unlocking Development and Achievement(s) for Kimaragang Pre-School Teachers and Learners (ISO 639-3: kqr)
The Kimaragang language is an endangered language currently identified to be at 6b (Threatened) on EGIDS (Ethnologue, 2021). It is spoken mainly in the Kota Marudu and Pitas districts of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. This proposed project is a continuation of a pilot study that was done with the Kimaragang language teachers and their pre-schoolers at the Sikul Liliyuwon Tanganak Kimaragang (SLTK) Gailun Pitas, Sabah. The package included 1 language app, 3 indigenous short story books, 1 dialect glossary book, and 1 indigenous language spelling guide for the language teachers. This grant will be able to increase the number of materials in each segment of the package and appropriately provides remunerations to the indigenous community members who work with the project team.
Alexander Rice - */**Remove-Collaborative Documentation and Vitality Assessment of Northern Pastaza Kichwa (ISO 639-3: qvc)
Northern Pastaza Kichwa [ISO 639-3: qvz] (hereafter NPK) is a variety of Amazonian Kichwa (Quechuan) also known as Bobonaza Quichua and Canelos Quichua that is spoken near the Ecuador-Peru border in the Northwest Amazon, along the Pastaza and Bobonaza rivers. This project, led by PI Alexander Rice in collaboration with NPK heritage speaker and community representative Diana Chavez and the Iyarina Andes and Amazon Field School (IAAFS), has two primary objectives. First, we aim to record traditional stories and personal histories of the community’s adult speakers (especially elders) for posterity. The second objective is to conduct sociolinguistic interviews in an urban diaspora community of NPK speakers in Puyo, Ecuador in order to gain an initial sample assessment of NPK’s vitality.
Terrance Gatchalian - *Ktunaxa Teaching Materials Development and Printing (ISO 639-3: aku)
This project supports the Ktunaxa language revitalization goals of the ʔaq̓ am community in British Columbia, Canada, through the development, printing, and distribution of teaching materials for use by language teachers in the community. The produced teaching resources fill the specific need for upper-beginner- and intermediate-level materials. This will involve elicitation of language directly relevant to language learner needs and goals. These materials will be created in collaboration with participants of the student-guided and student-centered Vancouver Ktunaxa Language Class, serving the dual purpose of teaching the language through project-based pedagogy and of creating a lasting contribution to the growing corpus of Ktunaxa language teaching materials.
Radu Voica - Blablanga Orthography and Literacy Materials Development Workshop (ISO 639-3: blp)
Blablanga (blp and jaj) is an endangered Oceanic language with 1150 speakers in the Solomon Islands and lacks a standardised spelling. In sporadic attempts to write it, speakers use conventions developed for a neighboring vigorous language with a different phonological system. This project is a response to the community request to establish a practical and emblematic orthography and to print literacy materials for the use of children and adults in order to learn how to read and write in their own language, including, a primer and a collection of oral literature. It will take the form of a workshop, during which community members, chiefs, elders, catechists, teachers, youth leaders and others will come together for the first time to discuss and decide on the matters above. The workshop will be integrated within my research project on Information Structure and Intonation (British Academy Grant PF2\180119) and has obtained partial FEL funding.
Zachary O'Hagan - */**Documentating Omurano Through Urarina Oral Narrative (ISO 639-3: omu)
Omurano is an extremely endangered isolate language of Peruvian Amazonia, with a handful of individuals who remember basic words and phrases. Our collaborative project (O'Hagan, Emanuele Fabiano, Joshua Homan) builds on previous fieldwork, and documents Omurano lexicon, basic grammar, and history over three weeks of fieldwork on the Urituyacu River. The project seeds a planned larger one dedicated to the history of the region between the Pastaza and Tigre rivers (approximately the size of Slovakia), which is home to four isolate languages and others belonging to the Chicham, Quechuan, and Zaparoan families. This diversity is comparable to other multilingual regions such as the Xingu, and a detailed understanding of it is crucially important for both Amazonian ethnology and linguistics. Moreover, this project contributes to the ongoing efforts in the Urituyacu basin of cultural and linguistic revitalization among Omuranos, strengthening community ties, indigenous identities, and the transmission of traditional knowledge.
Dr. Lucia Brandi - */**Linguistic Documentation of Kgoyom Totonac (ISO 639-3: tos)
Totonac languages and dialects vary greatly across the highlands of Puebla. This project focuses on the area referred to as Kgoyom by local speakers (in the municipality of Huehuetla), where Totonac is endangered by encroaching development and the accelerating outflow of young speakers. ELF funding will enable two native-speaker language activists, Miguel García and Pablo García, to work on language documentation, and engage local young people in these processes. This will involve creating a digital repository of video interviews with native speakers, which will be methodically documented and made available for linguistic analysis. A Totonac-language website will be created to link to the repository, and can be maintained after the lifetime of this project as a language revitalization resource. The academic advisor is Dr Lucia Brandi (University of Liverpool), a sociolinguist who has researched language policy locally, and produced a trilingual audiobook for children featuring Kgoyom Totonac.
Windy Goodloe and Daniel Bögre (Wikitongues) - */**We Vice (Our Voice): Afro-Seminole Creole Revitalization (ISO 639-3: afs)
This project will maintain and promote Black Seminole culture by beginning the process of community language revitalization. This will consist of two language gatherings/workshops, which will facilitate: 1.) the creation of one language revitalization and planning committee consisting of Afro-Seminole Creole fluent and proficient speakers, language activists, linguists, and an anthropologist; 2.) a forum discussion around the creation of a language revitalization community plan; 3.) the recording of interviews and stories with the dozen or so remaining fluent and proficient ASC speakers; and 4.) the documentation of the phonology of the language. These steps will lay the foundation for further language revitalization work, including standardizing a writing system, reconstructing grammar and phonology, and developing a future language education program to train new speakers.
