Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group (CELC)

Ethnolinguistic vitality of the Hemshin language
Gulay Akin (Cambridge)
Davidson Room, Peterhouse
Wednesday 28 May 2025, 17:00–18:00

Preserving What Was Lost: Endangered Languages of Yazd’s Religious Minorities — Zoroastrians and Jews and Their Vernacular Heritage
Professor Saloumeh Gholami (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 26 February 2025, 17:00–18:00

Compiling a Glossary of Insular Norman: Linguistic Detective Work in the Channel Islands!
Professor Mari Jones (University of Cambridge)
Friends of Peterhouse Seminar Room, Peterhouse
Thursday 20 February 2025, 20:45–22:00
Co-hosted with the Cambridge Bibliophiles

Sontinuity: Judeo-Spanish Transmission and Cultural Sonicity
Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz (Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 05 February 2025, 17:00–18:00

Saving the language of William the Conqueror: The Revitalisation of Sark’s Norman tongue
Martin Neudörfl (Charles University, Prague)
Davidson Room, Peterhouse
Thursday 04 May 2023, 17:00–18:30

Ceylon Portuguese: Survival Against All Odds
Professor Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya (Visiting Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Zoom
Thursday 19 May 2022, 17:00–17:50

Revitalising Jèrriais: The Norman Language of Jersey, watch on YouTube here
This webinar focused on the revitalisation of Jèrriais, the Norman language of Jersey. The webinar featured contributions from Jean Le Maistre (native Jèrriais speaker and activist), Charlie Le Maistre (Jèrriais Teaching Service), Susan Parker (Jèrriais Teaching Service) and Ben Spink (Head of Jèrriais Teaching Service) as well as a Q&A session with audience participation (not recorded). The webinar was moderated by CELC Founder Professor Mari Jones.
Tuesday 16 November 2021, 17:00–18:00

Ideophone patterns across Kiranti languages (Eastern Nepal)
Dr Aimée Lahaussois (Université Paris 7)
Tuesday 09 November 2021, 16:30–17:30

Revitalising Kanyen’kéha (Mohawk), watch on YouTube here
This webinar focused on the ongoing revitalisation of Kanyen’kéha (Mohawk), an endangered Northern Iroquoian language spoken in Ontario, Quebec, and New York State. We were joined by Owennatekha Brian Maracle (founder of the Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa (OK) revitalisation school in Ohsweken, Ontario); Rohahiyo Jordan Brant (teacher at OK); Karahkwenhawi Zoe Hopkins (in charge of OK’s online programme); and Ryan DeCaire (Assistant Professor, Centre for Indigenous Studies and Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto). After individual presentations by each speaker, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions in order to discuss the topics covered in more depth.
Tuesday 18 May 2021, 17:30–19:00

The Future of Louisiana Creole, watch on YouTube here
Together with the NOUS Foundation, CELC hosted a follow-up to our very popular October webinar. We continued our conversation, focusing on the future of Louisiana Creole. The event was moderated by Oliver Mayeux and featured Scott Tilton & Rudy Bazenet (NOUS Foundation), an opening presentation by Christophe Landry, and a panel discussion including Adrien Guillory-Chatman, Herbert Wiltz, Shawanda Marie, Clif St. Laurent and Jonathan Mayers.
Friday 05 March 2021, 17:00–18:30

Revitalizing Louisiana Creole, watch on YouTube here
Together with the NOUS Foundation, CELC hosted a discussion of revitalizing Louisiana Creole. The event comprised three panels moderated by Oliver Mayeux (CELC): - ‘Building Bridges: New Opportunities for Louisiana Creole’ (Scott Tilton & Rudy Bazenet, NOUS Foundation); - ‘Foundations: A Retrospective on Revitalization’ (Herbert Wiltz & Christophe Landry); and - ‘Path Forward: Amplifying Louisiana Creole’ (Adrien Guillory-Chatman, Jonathan Mayers, Nathan Wendte).
Friday 23 October 2020, 17:00–18:30

I know what you don’t know — egophoricity and Jejuan morphosyntax
Dr Soung-u Kim (SOAS, University of London)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 11 March 2020, 17:00–18:00

North-eastern Neo-Aramaic narrative techniques and their areal parallels (Kurdish and Arabic)
Professor Eleanor Coghill (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 19 February 2020, 18:00–19:00

Making circles out of lines: A view of the evolving relationship between academia and language communities
Ebany Dohle (SOAS, University of London) & Maria-Olimpia Squillaci (University of Naples “L’Orientale”)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 06 November 2019, 17:00–18:30

Working with communities on language revitalisation: Some Australian experiences
Professor Peter Austin (SOAS, University of London)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 16 October 2019, 17:30–18:30

Nexus Analysis: A Natural Fit for Linguistic Ethnography
N.A. Wendte (Tulane University)
Faculty of English, Board Room
Monday 10 June 2019, 10:00–11:00

Out in the Field with the Remaining Speakers of Neo-Aramaic in Northern Iraq
Dr Paul Noorlander & Dorota Molin (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room SR24
Tuesday 28 May 2019, 17:30–18:30

Endangered languages, cultures and ecosystems: The case of Modern South Arabian
Professor Janet Watson (University of Leeds)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 20 February 2019, 18:30–19:30

What can endangered creoles tell us about language change? Three centuries of Louisiana Creole
Oliver Mayeux (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 06 February 2019, 18:30–19:30

On the impact of debasilectalization in language documentation: insights from the “missing Spanish creoles”
Danae Perez (University of Zurich)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 21 November 2018, 18:30–19:30

Languages, speakers and history: Romance and Greek in Southern Italy
Cristina Guardiano
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 07 November 2018, 18:30–19:30

Patagonian Afrikaans: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Andries Coetzee (University of Michigan)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Friday 02 November 2018, 14:30–16:00

W(h)ither Language Diversity? The Perspective of Linguanomics
Gabrielle Hogan-Brun (University of Bristol)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 10 October 2018, 18:15–19:00

Elfdalian, a divergent Nordic dialect now and throughout the ages
Guus Kroonen (University of Copenhagen / Leiden University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 16 May 2018, 18:00–19:00

An extinct coastal Sami musical tradition — How, when and why?
Ola Graff (University of Tromsø)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 02 May 2018, 18:00–19:00

Louisiana Creole — a creole at the periphery
Ingrid Neumann-Holzschuh (Universität Regensburg)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Friday 09 March 2018, 12:00–13:00

Speak white, speak black, speak American
Darryl G Barthe Jr (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 21 February 2018, 18:15–19:00

Whistled Speech and Language Discrimination
Mary Ann Walter (Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 15 November 2017, 18:10–19:00

Culture-based literacy: improving access to Lakota texts at Standing Rock
Elliot Bannister (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe)
Faculty of English, Boardroom
Wednesday 18 October 2017, 17:15–18:00

Endangered languages in contact: Domari in its ethnographic and cultural context
Yaron Matras (University of Manchester)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 11 October 2017, 18:10–19:00

A cluster of Aromanian varieties in North-Western Greece
Dr Marios Mavrogiorgos (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room SR24
Wednesday 31 May 2017, 17:15–18:45

Norwegian Romani — the ‘languageness’ of a Para-Romani variety
Jakob Wiedner (University of Oslo)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 10 May 2017, 17:15–19:00
Tea and biscuits from 16:45

VO–OV alternations and information structure in North Sami
Kristine Bentzen (University of Tromsø)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 03 May 2017, 18:15–20:00
Tea and biscuits from 17:45

The Arbëresh linguistic archipelago: a natural laboratory of contact-induced variation and change
Borana Lushaj (Leiden University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Monday 13 March 2017, 17:15–19:00

The revival of Italo-Greek: language ideologies and folklorization
Maria Olimpia Squillaci (University of Cambridge) & Manuela Pellegrino (Brunel University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 22 February 2017, 18:15–19:30

The hidden multilingualism of Italy: issues and challenges
Dr Marco Tamburelli (Bangor University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 25 January 2017, 18:15–19:30

Fox’s son, they slept five, imitation of people: Kuikuro numerals and counting
Bruna Franchetto (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Monday 05 December 2016, 17:15–19:00

The Creole Language and its Relationship to Regional French in Louisiana
Thomas A. Klingler (Tulane University)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Thursday 24 November 2016, 17:15–19:00

Awakening Dreaming Beauties: Language Reclamation and Social Wellbeing
Ghil‘ad Zuckermann (University of Adelaide)
Nightingale Room, Peterhouse
Monday 14 November 2016, 17:15–19:00

The Kvens and planning of a minority language
Eira Söderholm (University of Tromsø)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 04 May 2016, 17:15–19:00

Morphological complexity in Skolt Saami, an endangered Finno-Ugric language
Tim Feist (University of Surrey)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 27 April 2016, 17:15–19:00

Cantonese: the biggest endangered language?
Cherry Lam & Ricky Chan (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 02 March 2016, 17:15–19:00

Shawi, Quechua and Spanish: a Sea of Languages
Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 27 January 2016, 17:15–19:00

“Human Towers for Democracy:” The Use of Cultural Performances for Catalan Nation Building and Independence
Mariann Vaczi
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 25 November 2015, 17:15–19:00

Understanding the function dimension of language endangerment with specific evidence from Runyakitara
Fridah Katushemererwe (Makerere University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 18 November 2015, 17:15–19:00

Writing vernacular languages online: Taiwanese youth strategies
Chi-Cheng Tsai
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 21 October 2015, 17:15–19:00

Saami in Russia
David Pineda Dijkerman
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 03 June 2015, 17:15–19:00

Laterals in Estonian Swedish
Professor Francis Nolan (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Wednesday 27 May 2015, 17:15–19:00

Language situation and endangerment in Uganda
Dr Saudah Namyalo
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 13 May 2015, 17:15–19:00

The Sami Health Transition — a Success Story
Peter Sköld (Umeå University)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 25 February 2015, 17:15–19:00

Irish language policy assessment
Harold Flohr
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 28 January 2015, 17:15–19:00

Catalan: past, present and future
Dr Víctor Acedo Matellán (University of Cambridge, Queens’ College)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 03 December 2014, 17:15–19:00

Women’s names and the shift to Latin in ancient Italy
Nicholas Zair (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Thursday 06 November 2014, 17:15–19:00

The Dialects of Campania: A Perspective of Linguistic Echology
Rosanna Sornicola, Giovanni Abete & Margherita Di Salvo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
Faculty of English, Room GR-05
Wednesday 07 May 2014, 17:15–19:00

The decipherment of some recently found ostraca from Post-Roman North Africa
Dr Sabine Ziegler (Saxon Academy of Sciences at Leipzig / Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 30 April 2014, 17:15–19:00

“A language to catch birds with”: Sami values and worldview in terminology, art and poetry
Professor Harald Gaski (Universitetet i Tromsø)
Faculty of English, Room GR-06/07
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 17:15–18:45

Sources for studying Norn, the Scandinavian language of Caithness and the Northern Isles
Dr Ragnhild Ljosland (Centre for Nordic Studies, University of the Highlands and Islands)
Faculty of English, Room GR-04
Friday 17 January 2014, 17:15–19:00

Probabilistic ergative case in the languages of Manang (Nepal)
Dr Oliver Bond (University of Surrey)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Wednesday 04 December 2013, 17:15–19:00

Traditional and Contemporary Torres Strait Languages and Dialects
Tanisha Pabai, Stephen Yamashita, Zach Bani, Amelia Mari & Valent Kirk
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Wednesday 13 November 2013, 17:15–19:00

Documenting an endangered Modern Aramaic dialect group in diaspora communities
Professor Geoffrey Khan (University of Cambridge)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Thursday 30 May 2013, 17:00–18:30
Last talk of term

Allochthonous languages, Brazilian Zeeuws, and Dummy Auxiliaries
Andrew Nevins (with Gertjan Postma & Elizana Schaffel-Bremenkamp)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Wednesday 20 March 2013, 15:30–17:00

Levantine Iberian script: linguistic and epigraphic contacts in the Iron Age
Coline Ruiz Darasse
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Tuesday 12 February 2013, 17:15–19:00

Latin influence on the Gaulish language
Professor Karin Stüber (Zurich)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Wednesday 28 November 2012, 17:15–19:00

The Italian minority in Crimea: linguistic identity and cultural belonging
Dr Paola Bocale (Cambridge)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Thursday 25 October 2012, 17:15–19:00

Language Endangerment: Methodologies and New Challenges
Nicholas Ostler & Tjeerd de Graaf
CRASSH, Alison Richard Building
Friday 06 July 2012, 08:45–17:45
Registration fee included lunch and reception

The Role of Documenting Semantics and Pragmatics in Understudied Languages
Tyler R. G. Peterson (Leiden)
CRASSH
Wednesday 16 May 2012, 17:15–19:00

Preserving Irish language communities as sustainable language communities
Éamon Ó Cuív
CRASSH
Wednesday 02 May 2012, 14:30–16:30

A Historical View on Language Ecology and Planning
Nadège Lechevrel (EHESS / NIAS)
CRASSH
Wednesday 07 March 2012, 17:15–19:00

Manx as a Partial Pidgin and Language Ecology in the Isle of Man
Mark Williams (Oxford)
CRASSH
Wednesday 22 February 2012, 17:15–19:00

Sustaining Myth: How Languages Get and Lose Their Mojo
John E. Joseph (Edinburgh)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, L1
Wednesday 09 November 2011, 17:15–19:00

The Limba Sarda Comuna and Traditional Sardinian Dialects
Roberto Bolognesi (Amsterdam–Groningen)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, L1
Wednesday 26 October 2011, 17:15–19:00

Stop, Revive, Survive! — Revival Linguistics
Ghil’ad Zuckermann (Adelaide)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 8/9
Tuesday 04 October 2011, 17:15–19:00

Mapping Linguistic Endangerment: UNESCO Atlas
Christopher Moseley
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 17 May 2011, 17:15–19:00

Language revitalisation: issues and outcomes
Julia Sallabank (SOAS)
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 03 May 2011, 17:15–19:00

East of Andes: Uwa self-defence and continuity
Nicholas Ostler
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 08 March 2011, 17:15–19:00

Endangered Ancestors and language shift in Tribal India
Piers Vitebsky (Cambridge)
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 22 February 2011, 17:15–19:00

Languages in contact and isolation
Peter Trudgill
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 08 February 2011, 17:15–19:00

Bushmen of the Southern Kalahari
Hugh Brody
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 25 January 2011, 17:15–19:00

Bardi Documentation for Preservation and Revitalisation
Claire Bowern (Yale)
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 23 November 2010, 17:15–19:00

Northwest Amazonian multilingualism
Stephen Hugh-Jones (Cambridge)
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 09 November 2010, 17:15–19:00

The last days of Armenian in Jerusalem
Bert Vaux (Cambridge)
Henry Cavendish Room, Peterhouse
Tuesday 26 October 2010, 17:15–19:00

Reflections on field methods — World Oral Literature Project
Mark Turin (Cambridge)
CRASSH Seminar Room
Tuesday 12 October 2010, 17:15–19:00

Revitalizing Australian Aboriginal Languages
Michael Walsh (Sydney)
Lucy Cavendish College
Thursday 24 June 2010, 14:00–15:00

The Discourse of Language Endangerment
Nikolai Vakhtin
Trinity Hall
Thursday 20 May 2010, 18:00–19:00

Occitan language movement research project
Tim Jenkins (Cambridge)
Peterhouse
Wednesday 05 May 2010, 19:00–20:00

Language and identity in Romeyka communities
Ioanna Sitaridou (Cambridge)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Wednesday 17 March 2010, 15:00–16:00

Fieldwork on Semitic Languages
Geoffrey Khan (Cambridge)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Monday 01 March 2010, 18:30–19:30

Creating an electronic dictionary for an endangered language
Marina Chumakina (University of Surrey)
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Room 7
Wednesday 10 February 2010, 18:30–19:30

Eleventh Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Eleventh Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'Language Endangerment: Language Contact and the Community', took place on July 9th 2025 in the Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge. Download the programme below.

Summary

Languages become endangered where their speakers are in contact with other speech varieties which are considered to carry greater social prestige. Research in this area has revealed these situations often bring about linguistic changes in the structure of one or more of these varieties. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: How are the structures of an  endangered language affected by contact? Are there particular kinds of variation and change that are more likely to occur in endangered languages? What kind of structural innovations might new speakers introduce in contexts of revitalization and how should these be incorporated in the documentation of these varieties? What methodological approaches are appropriate for the investigation of variation in contact-induced language change in endangered varieties? What are the attitudes of speakers towards variation and change in speech communities where a language is endangered, and do those attitudes have any bearing on language practices?

Tenth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

After an enforced hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'The Decade Ahead', returned for its tenth year in 2024! 

Call for Papers

The Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment is now back for its tenth year! Themes it has explored within language endangerment include: language policy and planning, language documentation, the role of new technologies, orthography development, the role of schools, new speakers, revitalisation strategies and language change. On this tenth anniversary of the conference, we invite participants to consider these themes and the way in which they will develop over the coming decade. What challenges lie ahead for endangered language communities, activists and academics engaged in reversing language shift? What theoretical frameworks are proving most successful in terms of the analysis of the linguistic structure of endangered languages? How will changing attitudes amongst speakers affect the success of language revitalisation? How will policy-makers shape language legislation and respond to the concerns of endangered language speech communities? Has the potential of new technologies been effectively engaged to support the documentation, description and revitalisation of endangered languages or has the role of these technologies been overplayed? How has the pandemic affected our field and endangered language communities? What, if any, is the lasting impact of Covid-19? 

Ninth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Ninth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'Language Revitalisation: New speakers, new challenges, new linguistic forms', took place on July 2nd 2019 in the Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge. 

Summary

The main aim of language revitalisation is to set an endangered language back ‘on its feet’. Revitalisation strategies may be developed and implemented by linguists, the State, language activists and the speakers themselves. However, these strategies, which attempt to make the endangered language an attractive and useful resource for modern users, may result in the transformation of the endangered language rather than restoring it to its old self. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: What are the main challenges that face revitalising languages today and how do these differ from those faced by endangered languages? How realistic are the chances of returning an endangered language to its old domains (especially when, for pragmatic reasons, revitalisation campaigns tend to focus outside rather than inside the home)? What might the consequences of language revitalisation be in terms of the linguistic structure of the variety being revitalised? To what extent are ‘new-speakers’ in speech communities where an endangered language is being revitalised also agents of linguistic change? Can corpus planning ever completely undo the linguistic results of extensive interaction with the dominant language? Does language planning restore speech communities or does it transform them? Are ‘new-speakers’ ever at odds with ‘traditional’ speakers in terms of their geographical location, their social backgrounds, the nature of the variety they speak and even their reasons for speaking it? – and does this matter?

Eighth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Eighth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'Language Endangerment: Language Revitalisation and Reversing Language Shift', took place on July 4th 2018 in the Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge. 

Summary

Language revitalisation strategies aim to increase the number of speakers of an endangered language. This process may be an integral part of reversing language shift (RLS). These strategies, which make the endangered language an attractive and useful resource for modern users may be developed and implemented by linguists, the state, language activists and the speakers themselves. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: To what extent are the attitudes and approval of the speech community key to the successful implementation of RLS strategies? Should revitalisation strategies involve both ‘top down’ and ‘bottom-up’ initiatives? If there are opposing views within the speech community as to how language revitalisation should proceed, how can the linguist help facilitate consensus-building? How context-specific are successful revitalisation strategies and to what extent is it possible to replicate these strategies across different situations of language obsolescence (including, for example, creoles, signed languages and whistled languages)? What might the consequences of language revitalisation be in terms of the linguistic structure of the variety being revitalised? To what extent are ‘new speakers’ in speech communities where an endangered language is being revitalised also agents of linguistic change?

Seventh Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Seventh Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'Language Endangerment: Language Contact and Language Change', took place on July 4th 2017 in the Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge. 

Summary

Languages become endangered when their speakers are in contact with other speech varieties which are often considered to carry greater social prestige. These interactions commonly lead to some change in how one or more of the languages are spoken. This could be in terms of the linguistic structure of the language itself or of the sociolinguistic situation and context in which the language is spoken. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: How are the functions of the endangered languages affected by contact? Are the linguistic changes observable in the grammar and vocabulary of endangered languages essentially the same as those that we find in languages that are not endangered? Are there any particular kinds of linguistic change that are more likely to occur in endangered languages? When endangered languages are documented, to what extent should contact-induced linguistic changes be included in this record? How is the make-up of the endangered language speech community affected by bi- or multi-lingualism? Are the attitudes of speakers towards commonly-found types of language change (such as code-switching and borrowing) different in speech communities where a language is endangered, as compared to those where the language is not endangered? Can any similarities be found between contact-induced change in endangered sign languages and that which occurs in endangered spoken languages?

Sixth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Sixth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment, entitled 'Language Endangerment: Curriculum Design and Evaluation', took place on July 6th 2016 in the Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge. 

Summary

The school is often identified as an important context for the revitalization of endangered languages. Curriculum design and evaluation are therefore key factors in ensuring that such educational initiatives are successful. However, the precise sociocultural and political situation of endangered languages often preclude the simple replication of a curriculum developed for a language of wider communication for use within the endangered language classroom. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: How should conventions designed for dominant languages be modified in the endangered language context? To what extent should curriculum design and evaluation be situated within the social and cultural practices of the endangered language speech community? How should the short- and long-term goals of curriculum design and evaluation be assessed in the context of endangered languages? Who is best placed to design and to evaluate the curriculum for endangered languages – the linguist or the community? Are the goals of an endangered language curriculum simply to obtain fluency or should they be broader in scope? How should the approaches used in the design and evaluation of an endangered language curriculum take account of contextual factors? What problems arise for curriculum design and evaluation in multidialectal and/or multinational contexts? What pedagogical materials are necessary for the successful implementation and evaluation of an endangered language curriculum?

Fifth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Fifth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment was held at CRASSH on July 31st 2015. The theme of the conference was 'Language Endangerment and the Speaker. Alternative identities, new speech communities and changing linguistic norms'. 

Summary

Ensuring an increase in speaker numbers is a crucial part of the successful revitalisation of an endangered language. These efforts often target schoolchildren, in the hope of re-establishing communication between generations in the endangered language, and other age-groups, who identify with the cultural context of the endangered language but who may have been denied the opportunity of acquiring it via intergenerational transmission. The recruitment of 'new' speakers can therefore often have a marked effect on the existing endangered language speech community in terms of its social makeup, its identity and its language practices. This conference invites papers that reflect on these issues: To what extent should reversing language shift incorporate identity planning? How do the actors of revitalization persuade members of the 'dominant' speech community that their current identity would be enhanced by its repackaging to include the endangered language? How successful has formal education actually been in both increasing speaker numbers and, crucially, in transmitting the endangered language in a different way? Do 'new' speakers use the endangered languages in different ways from 'traditional' speakers and to what extent do these two groups in fact interact with each other? Do the linguistic norms and practices of 'new' speakers vary from those of the 'traditional' speakers? Does the speech of 'new' speakers reveal evidence of innovative linguistic features?

Fourth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Fourth Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment was held at CRASSH and Peterhouse on July 4th 2014. The theme of the conference was 'Endangered Languages and Orthographies'. 

Summary

Developing an orthography is often seen as a key component of language revitalisation. The ability to encode an endangered variety and to set it down as a permanent record can enhance its status and prestige. In speech communities that are fragmented dialectally or geographically, a common writing system may help create a sense of unified identity. In other cases, it may help keep a language alive by facilitating teaching and learning. Despite these clear advantages, when a language is endangered, creating an orthography can also bring challenges and this volume will debate these critical questions. Whose task should this be: that of the linguist or the speech community? Should an orthography be maximally distanciated from that of the language of wider communication for ideological reasons, or should its main principles coincide for reasons of learnability? Which local variety should be selected as the basis of a common script? Is a polynomic script preferable to a standardised orthography? Can developing an orthography actually create problems for existing native speakers?

Third Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Third Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment was held at CRASSH and Peterhouse on July 26th 2013. The theme of the conference was 'Language Policy and Planning'. 

Summary

Language policy is where linguistics meets politics. Linguistic legislation serves as a medium through which power is negotiated between different speech communities within a given society. Where varieties are endangered, language policy often takes the form of specific ideologies that underlie language planning strategies. As such, its goals may be specific and practical in nature, such as orthographic reform, or more emblematic, such as measures for the promotion and protection of vulnerable languages. However, language policy issues are imbued with a powerful symbolism that is often linked to questions of identity, with the suppression or failure to recognize and support a given endangered variety representing a refusal to grant a ‘voice’ to the corresponding ethnocultural community. This conference will consider how and whether the interface between people, politics and language can affect the fortunes of the endangered linguistic varieties involved. Can policy really alter linguistic behaviour, or does it merely ratify changes already underway within the speech community? Do governments have a moral obligation to support endangered languages? Should linguists play a role in shaping language policy and, if so, what should that role be? When policy decisions are at odds with the will of the speech community, which will triumph?

Second Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The Second Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment was held at CRASSH and Peterhouse on July 6th 2012. The theme of the conference was 'Methodologies and New Challenges'. Keynote addresses were given by Nicholas Ostler (Foundation for Endangered Languages) and Tjeerd de Graaf (Frisian Academy).

Summary

At a time when UNESCO deems 43% of the world's 6,000 languages at risk of extinction, the imperative to record and analyse these linguistic varieties while they are still spoken has scarcely been greater. Yet researchers have ostensibly been slow to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by new techologies, from visual and aural archiving, to digitisation of textual resources and electronic mapping, techniques which could have the potential to play an integral role in reversing language shift. However, it is clear that with these new technologies come new challenges for the linguist. The Second Cambridge Language Endangerment Conference invites researchers to bring forward their ideas for tackling these issues: to share experiences from the field, to consider how these new resources might best be applied, as well as the problems that they can bring, to reassess more traditional techniques in light of new technologies and to work with a view towards achieving a practicable synthesis of old and new methodologies. At this critical time, our Conference seeks to ignite the debate as to what, if indeed anything, new technologies have to offer the fields of documentation, revitalization and maintenance, and how the research community might seek to enhance the functionality of these resources in order to advance their application beyond mere superficies.

First Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment

The First Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment was held at CRASSH and Peterhouse on March 25th 2011. The theme of the conference was 'Documentation, Pedagogy, and Revitalization'. Keynote addresses were given by Peter Austin (Department of Linguistics at SOAS, University of London) and Nikolaus P. Himmelmann (Department of Linguistics, University of Cologne).

Summary

The 1st Cambridge Conference on Language Endangerment will focus on language documentation, pedagogy, and revitalization. It brought together academics, students, and members of indigenous communities from around the world to discuss current theories, methodologies, and practices of language documentation, pedagogy, revitalization. Most of the world's languages have diminishing numbers of speakers and are on the brink of falling silent. Currently around the globe, scholars are collaborating with members of indigenous communities to document and describe these endangered languages and cultures. Mindful that their work will be used by future speech communities to learn, teach, and revitalize their languages, scholars face new challenges in the way they gather materials and in the way they present their findings. This conference will discuss current efforts to record, collect, and archive endangered languages in writing, sound, and video that will support future language learners and speakers. Documentation is of critical and immediate importance, and is often considered one of the main tasks of the field linguist. Future revitalization efforts may succeed or fail on the basis of the quality and range of material gathered, and yet the process may be rapid and dependent on conscious decisions by linguists and language workers who may be analyzing the form of a language for the first time, and codifying it in dictionaries and grammars. Written documentation of course not only aids the process of standardization but also serves important needs and functions within a community in support of language maintenance such as providing the basis for pedagogical materials in schools and helping to create a community's sense of identity. However, indigenous communities and scholars of endangered languages are beginning to realise that the rapid and often artificial nature of this process can have negative effects - politically, linguistically, and culturally - which feed into issues relating to education and, ultimately, language revitalization. In addition to the opportunity of sharing experiences with a network of linguists, it is hoped that participants left the conference with a new understanding of the topic, innovative ideas for documentation and pedagogy within their own linguistic contexts, and a renewed vigour to implement what they have learnt in their own language situations.