Documentation of Nyagrong Minyag, an endangered language of Western China

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.

Nyagrong Minyag is spoken by less than 1,000 ethnically Tibetan people in Sichuan Province, China. This language is endangered not only by the encroachment of Kham Tibetan and Southwest Mandarin, but also by forced relocation due to a dam project on the Yalong River. Therefore, documentation of this language in its geographical/cultural setting is urgent. This project will focus on collection and annotation of audio and video texts, creation of a multi-lingual dictionary, and documenting native geographical knowledge. Alongside the primary documentation, the researcher will produce linguistic analyses as part of his dissertation and train native speakers in language documentation. Primary investigator: John Van Way

Project Details


Location: China, China, Mexico, China, Central America, Eastern Asia, Asia, Americas Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): University of Hawaii Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £77,260.00 Commencement Date: 01/2009 Project Status: Active
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