Documentation of Ske and Sowa, near-moribund and near-forgotten language varieties of Vanuatu
The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide for the documentation of endangered languages and knowledge. Grantees create audiovisual collections with transcription and translations of endangered languages and practices. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).
| Ske and Sowa are closely-related languages of south-central Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. Sowa is extinct but partially remembered by children of the last native speakers. Ske has 300 speakers, is no longer much spoken by children, and many words and usages are remembered only by the elderly. The proposed project, locally based and led by a researcher of Sowa and Ske-speaking heritage, will preserve this rapidly-disappearing knowledge through outputs including archive recordings of Sowa and a dictionary of Ske language, completing and building upon an unfinished earlier ELDP-funded project. |
Project Details
Location: Vanuatu, Melanesia, Oceania
Organiser(s):
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
Project partner(s): National University of Vanuatu
Funder(s):
Arcadia
Funding received: 7,000.00 EUR
Commencement Date: 07/2024
Project Status: Active
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