Focus

Research in Language Documentation and Revitalization brings together the study of linguistic diversity, community-centered research, and innovative approaches to language sustainability. Distinct emphases include documentation of endangered or understudied languages, community-centered language reclamation, and heritage language acquisition.

In documentation research, faculty and students investigate the structure, use, and history of lesser-described languages, with strengths in the languages of the Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman) region and Africa. Through field-based and corpus-based research, students gain experience analyzing phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse in underdocumented language communities. Particular strengths of our approach to documentation are the close integration with computational methods and long-term stewardship of language materials through digital archiving.

Research on language revitalization involves work on current theories and practices in language reclamation and maintenance, educational initiatives, community-driven revitalization programs, and the role of digital technologies in supporting language use. Such research is often interdisciplinary, and includes language education, intergenerational transmission of ecological knowledge, and biocultural diversity conservation.

Heritage language acquisition research subsumes the study of various kinds of political minority populations, including include speakers of immigrant, colonial, creole, and Indigenous languages. Heritage research is often applied in nature, pertaining to issues of classroom pedagogy throughout the age range, as well as linguistic human rights and the politics of language socialization.

Faculty and students in linguistics interact with colleagues across campus in language departments and in units such as IIK (“eye-eye-kay”: Institute for Indigenous Knowledge), the FNECC (First Nations Educational & Cultural Center), CASEL (Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes), and GISN (Global Indigenous Studies Network).