The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) is a
digital archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
for materials on
endangered languages
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 lan ...
, based at
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...
(BBAW). The Archive preserves digital collections, including audio and video recordings, of endangered languages around the world. ELAR is part of the worldwide community of language archives (
Delaman and the
Open Language Archives Community
OLAC, the Open Language Archives Community, is an initiative to create a unified means of searching online databases of language resources for linguistic research. The information about resources is stored in XML
Extensible Markup Language (X ...
). ELAR's main aim is to preserve and publish collections of audio and video recordings, transcriptions and translations, dictionaries, and primers in and of endangered languages created with and by speakers of the endangered languages. The archive also digitises legacy collections in analogue formats saving them from deterioration and making them accessible to the speaker and their descendants, scholars, and the public.
Archive
The collection currently contains over 550 deposits recorded in over 70 different countries, the majority of which are the results of
Endangered Languages Documentation Project
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and invas ...
(ELDP) documentation projects funded by the
Arcadia Fund
The Arcadia Fund is a UK charity organization founded by Lisbet Rausing and Professor Peter Baldwin. Established in 2001, the organization provides grants on a worldwide basis focusing on numerous projects outside the UK. The primary focus of th ...
.
The catalogue of archived materials can be freely searched via the Open Languages Archives Community. The endangered languages collections at ELAR can be accessed free of charge.
ELAR also provides training in all aspects of the creation of digital collections to archiving collections. These entail metadata creation, data management, formats, curation as well as digitisation of analogue formats.
Affiliations
The archive was originally funded in 2002 as part of a donation by the Arcadia Fund to support the documentation of endangered languages, to train students and scholars in language documentation and to digitally preserve and publish the collections. ELAR was housed in and supported by the SOAS University of London library from 2015 until their move to the BBAW in 2021. David Nathan was director during the first decade of the archive's existence until 2014, when the role was taken over by
Mandana Seyfeddinipur
Mandana Seyfeddinipur is a linguist, author, and educator. She is also the Head of the Endangered Languages Archive.
Early life and education
Seyfeddinipur grew up in Germany. She studied linguistics and Persian studies at the Free University o ...
, who is also head of ELDP.
From July, 2021, ELAR has been housed at the
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...
(
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
: ''Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften'') in Berlin, Germany.
ELAR is one of three partners of the
CLARIN Knowledge Centre for Linguistic Diversity and Language Documentation (CKLD), providing its expertise to researchers and community members across Europe.
References
External links
ELAR archive portalEndangered Languages Documentation ProjectDigital endangered languages and musics archive networkOpen Language Archives Community
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Endangered languages projects
Online archives of the United Kingdom
Sound archives in Germany
SOAS University of London