Atchin Documentation Project

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.

This project aims to document the language variety of Atchin Island, located off the northeastern coast of Malekula in Vanuatu. Through the creation of an extended corpus of audio-visual recordings, field observations and elicited lexicographic materials, the features of the language will be explored in as many contexts as possible. Alongside the technical analysis of Atchin for a linguistic audience, the corpus will provide input for a pedagogic grammar sketch, extended bilingual wordlists (Atchin-Bislama and Atchin-English), and literacy materials destined for kindergarten and Years 1 to 3 of the formal education system. Primary investigator: Kanauhea Janion Wessels

Project Details


Location: Vanuatu, Melanesia, Oceania Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): The University of Waikato Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £60,482.00 Commencement Date: 01/2015 Project Status: Active
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