The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide to for the linguistic documentation of endangered language and knowledge. Grantees create multimedia collection of endangered languages. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) housed at the library of SOAS University of London.
The project will document the two most endangered languages of the Northwest Solomonic region: Ririo (79 speakers, Solomon Islands), and Papapana (120 speakers, Bougainville). These languages share a linguistic and cultural history, yet represent dramatically divergent trajectories of development from their common ancestor. Despite small speaker numbers and pressure to shift to other languages, documentation is feasible, though urgent, and members of both communities are enthusiastic to actively collaborate on documenting their languages and traditions. Project outcomes will consist of sets of materials tailored for archiving, for community use, and to support future scientific research.
Primary investigator: Bill Palmer