The Endangered Language Fund (ELF) is a small non-profit organization based in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...
. ELF supports
endangered language
An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...
maintenance and
documentation projects that aim to preserve the world’s languages while contributing rare
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
data to the scientific community.
Introduction
The Fund has sponsored over 100 language projects in 30 countries since 1997, and has recently begun developing a large digital archive of endangered language data. ELF's main mechanism of support work is funding for individuals, tribes and museums.
Supported programs have been projects to develop indigenous radio programs in South Dakota, recording elders and last living speakers of endangered languages, and the production of materials to be used for language teaching programs all over the world.
There are two main grant programs that accept proposals annually, the Language Legacies Grant and Native Voices. The Language Legacies Grant supports language revitalization and documentation efforts from all over the world. It is open to community members and language research scholars across the country. ''Native Voices'' is a grant managed and distributed by ELF for Native American language revitalization from the Native Voices Endowment: A Lewis & Clark Expedition Bicentennial Legacy. Grants through this program are available to members of the Native American tribes that came in contact with the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1803-1806. Applicants must be Federally Recognized tribal enrolled members, tribal language programs, and tribal schools and colleges.
In addition, ELF sponsors a workshop called The Breath of Life for Native American communities who have either no living speakers or few or no fluent speakers. At the workshop, linguistic mentors are paired with participants to explore language resources and archives. The workshop is supplemented with lectures and workshops on linguistics and related topics such as language learning and teaching. The name and design is based on the Breath of Life Language Workshop for California Indians, a biennial event designed and organized by the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival and hosted at the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
.
ELF is also responsible for an initiative known as Healing Through Language, which aims both to support indigenous language revitalization programs and to measure their effect on the health of indigenous communities.
The founder of the Endangered Language fund is
Douglas Whalen, who served as its president until 2015, at which time he became Chair of the Board of Directors. The current president is Kristine Hildebrandt and the vice president is Shannon Bischoff. The offices of the Fund are presently located in space lent by
Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories, Inc. is an independent 501(c) non-profit corporation, founded in 1935 and located in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1970. Haskins has formal affiliation agreements with both Yale University and the University of Connecticut; ...
. There is no formal affiliation between the two organizations.
The ELF is associated with the international network of the
Linguapax Institute, as the lead of Linguapax North America.
Linguapax.org. "Linguapax around the world"
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Endangered Language Fund page
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Endangered languages projects
Language advocacy organizations
Non-profit organizations based in Connecticut