Request for Proposals 2022
Sharing Language Diversity Fellowship
A PDF of the Fellowship Application Guidelines and Instructions can be found here.
You can access the Cover Form here (.docx) or here (PDF).
You can access the Cover Form here (.docx) or here (PDF).
The Endangered Language Fund (ELF) is pleased to announce the Sharing Language Diversity Fellowship. The Fellowship is meant to support the research of Ph.D. students who have completed two years of study in a graduate program in Linguistics and related disciplines, and who are engaged in the documentation of Indigenous languages and the archiving of linguistic data as part of their PhD graduate studies. The primary purpose of this fellowship is to encourage emerging linguists, in collaboration with their Indigenous partners, to responsibly share annotated materials in a sustainable public forum for equitable access to ongoing and finished research, both for community members and for other scholars. This fellowship aims to create a culture of archiving and Open Access sharing in linguistics, as is common in many other disciplines. In the interests of equity and discovery, the grant is meant to contribute to the normalizing of the archiving of language and cultural materials in trusted repositories on an ongoing basis and making not just results but also data freely accessible to the public, with appropriate community approval.
Background and Application Information
Thanks to a generous donation from Arienne M. Dwyer, ELF is able to fund graduate students in their second year, or later, of a graduate program at a US university (in the US) to assist with the student’s efforts to document an Indigenous language. Specifically, the Fellowship aims to support the Open Access archiving of materials in an accessible trusted repository and the sharing of a substantial amount of annotated primary documentation (audio and/or video recordings, annotated transcriptions, and metadata), including material of use to the speaker or signer community. Applicants must have completed two years of study in a graduate program to be eligible. Fellowships provide up to $30,000 for expenses related to the documentation of the Indigenous language and the responsible archiving of data from documentation and analysis done by the Fellow. Within 3-years of receiving SLD funding, Fellows must make documentation materials publicly available in an established and recognized repository according to best practices, data sovereignty, and the wishes of the community in which the Fellow conducted the documentation work.
Eligibility
Applicants must be graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the USA and should not have completed the Ph.D. before the completion of the funded SLD Fellowship project. Additionally, applicants must have completed at least 2-years of graduate studies. The Endangered Language Fund is unable to support students outside the USA.
Deadline
Fellowship applications for 2022 are open from through 15 May: Complete Applications are due 15 May by midnight EST.
How To Apply
Please consult the application guidelines and instructions PDF. A Cover Form is also required. The fellowship application materials must consist of the following elements in addition to demographic information in a cover form that can be downloaded from this page.
Application materials should be submitted as one PDF to [email protected], with “SLD Fellowship Application” in the subject line. If you are not sure how to combine separate documents into one PDF, please consult online merging apps like this one: https://tinyurl.com/2p9c93b9
Acknowledgment of Receipt
Receipt of the application will be acknowledged by email.
If a Fellowship is Awarded
Before receiving any funds, applicants must show that they have met the requirements of their university's human subjects committee (IRB). Tribal or other applicants must provide equivalent assurance that proper protocols are being used.
Upon notice of the award, the applicant will be provided with additional terms and conditions, including an interim and/or final report at the end of the Fellowship, and relevant details regarding archival plans.
Further inquiries can be made to:
The Endangered Language Fund
elf_at_yale_dot_edu
300 George Street, Suite 900
New Haven, CT 06511 USA
Tel: 203-865-6163
Fax: 203-865-8963
Please consult the application guidelines and instructions PDF. A Cover Form is also required. The fellowship application materials must consist of the following elements in addition to demographic information in a cover form that can be downloaded from this page.
- Description of language community, benefits of project to language community, and discussion of applicant’s relationship with the language community (no more than 500 words)
- Description of project (no more than 500 words)
- Project timeline (no more than one page)
- Data management plan for archiving of materials including detailed discussion regarding how issues of data sovereignty and open access will be addressed (no more than 500 words)
- Budget plan for 1-2 years
- equipment
- travel
- consulting fees
- archiving expenses
- other
- tuition expenses beyond the university’s typical support may also be acceptable as a budget item provided the tuition expense clearly contributes to the documenting and archiving of primary documentation materials
- Curriculum Vitae of no more than two pages
- Letter of support from language community
- Letter of support from the student’s advisor including the following:
- potential for applicant to complete project in proposed time frame
- nature of applicant’s relationship with the community
- value of the material to the Indigenous community
- description of applicant’s qualities that make them uniquely qualified to pursue and complete proposed project
- if the student is requesting tuition support, a statement that (to the best of the advisor’s knowledge) the student has already exhausted other university-internal tuition support options
- description of applicant’s qualifications for proposed project
Application materials should be submitted as one PDF to [email protected], with “SLD Fellowship Application” in the subject line. If you are not sure how to combine separate documents into one PDF, please consult online merging apps like this one: https://tinyurl.com/2p9c93b9
Acknowledgment of Receipt
Receipt of the application will be acknowledged by email.
If a Fellowship is Awarded
Before receiving any funds, applicants must show that they have met the requirements of their university's human subjects committee (IRB). Tribal or other applicants must provide equivalent assurance that proper protocols are being used.
Upon notice of the award, the applicant will be provided with additional terms and conditions, including an interim and/or final report at the end of the Fellowship, and relevant details regarding archival plans.
Further inquiries can be made to:
The Endangered Language Fund
elf_at_yale_dot_edu
300 George Street, Suite 900
New Haven, CT 06511 USA
Tel: 203-865-6163
Fax: 203-865-8963