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SUMMARY:Language Endangerment: Methodologies and New Challenges - Plenarie
 s by Nicholas Ostler (Foundation for Endangered Languages) and Tjeerd de G
 raaf (Frisian Academy)
DTSTART:20120706T074500Z
DTEND:20120706T164500Z
UID:TALK38915@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Professor Mari Jones
DESCRIPTION:At a time when UNESCO deems 43% of the world's 6\,000 language
 s at risk of extinction\, the imperative to record and analyse these lingu
 istic varieties while they are still spoken has scarcely been greater. Yet
  researchers have ostensibly been slow to avail themselves of the opportun
 ities offered by new techologies\, from visual and aural archiving\, to di
 gitisation of textual resources and electronic mapping\, techniques which 
 could have the potential to play an integral role in reversing language sh
 ift. However\, it is clear that with these new technologies come new chall
 enges for the linguist. The Second Cambridge Language Endangerment Confere
 nce invites researchers to bring forward their ideas for tackling these is
 sues: to share experiences from the field\, to consider how these new reso
 urces 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 offe
 r the fields of documentation\, revitalization and maintenance\, and how t
 he research community might seek to enhance the functionality of these res
 ources in order to advance their application beyond mere superficies.
LOCATION:CRASSH\, Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 
 9DP
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