An audio-visual documentation of Chamalal, a language of Dagestan (Russia).

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.

Chamalal (Nakh-Dagestanian, Andic) is an unwritten language spoken in the mountains between Chechnya and Dagestan (Russian Caucasus). This project will collect an audiovisual corpus of texts representing different speech genres and ethnographic knowledge with their respective transcriptions and translations. Linguistic descriptions will be published as a result, and literacy materials produced. The project will also emphasise capacity building of Chamalal speakers. They will be trained to carry out some of the recordings, the transcriptions of the texts, and creating literacy resources. In addition, language use will be promoted among the younger generations through initiatives in social media platforms. Primary investigator: Kristian Roncero

Project Details


Location: Russia, Eastern Europe, Europe Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £132,107.00 Commencement Date: 01/2015 Project Status: Active
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