Documentation and sociophonetic description of the varieties of Yuhup spoken in Colombia

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.

Yuhup is a Naduhup language spoken by approximately 500 people in the northwest Amazon. The language is at risk due to dramatic population decline since the 1960s and increased contact with neighboring groups and Spanish speakers. This project aims to document and describe the varieties of Yuhup spoken in Colombia. The expected outcomes include an audio/video corpus of at least 80 hours of natural speech, 10 hours of which will be in ELAN/FLEX; 20 hours of elicited speech; a sociolinguistic survey, an illustrated dictionary of the Yuhup varieties; training; and a Ph.D. dissertation that offers a sociophonetic analysis of tone and laryngealization. Primary investigator: Nelsy Orjuela

Project Details


Location: Colombia, Cuba, Colombia, Caribbean, South America, Americas Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): The University of Texas at Austin Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £75,136.00 Commencement Date: 01/2015 Project Status: Active
Project owner? Update this project



Related Projects

Arcadia Logo high res

Documenting the contemporary history of science in India

To collect, preserve and make available online endangered cultural artefacts related to the contemporary (~200 years) history of science in South Asia. It will also develop a …

Explore project
Arcadia Logo high res

Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives

To survey and digitize some of the most important collections of palm-leaf manuscripts in the Thrissur and Ernakulam districts, Kerala, India in both institutional and family …

Explore project
Arcadia Logo high res

Mapping Archaeological Pre-Columbian Heritage in South America

To produce an integrated public access database for the pre-Columbian archaeological heritage of South America, focussing on Brazil and Colombia.

Explore project