Documentation of the Cosao and Labe Languages Related to Wild Mushrooms with Traditional Biological and Ecological Knowledge in Yunnan, 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.

The Cosao, with a population of 149; the Labe, with 4,013 (2017), live in South and Centre Yunnan, China, approximately at longitude 101°34′ E, latitude 21°37′N and longitude 101°54′E, latitude of 23°24′N. The Government lumped them into Hani and Bai respectively. However, their languages are not mutually intelligible and critically endangered. This project will focus on documenting the semantic domain of wild mushrooms, along with their traditional biological, ecological knowledge. Data will be collected by digital camera and recorder. Audio, visual materials will be transcribed, annotated, translated into Chinese and English, finally input ELAN, EDIUS or FLEx for archiving. Primary investigator: Xianming Xu

Project Details


Location: China, China, Mexico, China, Central America, Eastern Asia, Asia, Americas Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): Yunnan University of Finance and Economics Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £27,233.00 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