Documenting Northwest Malekula: A Comparative Study of V’ënen Taut, Tape, and Tirax (Malekula, 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).
V’ënen Taut, Tirax, and Tape, the three languages of the Northwest Malekula subgroup (Oceanic, Vanuatu), have been partially described but poorly documented. Focusing on field work, this project aims to create an audio-visual documentation corpus for each language. V’ënen Taut and Tirax both have small healthy populations, but in the case of Tape, only 4 native speakers remain and the need for documentation is urgent. All three language communities are engaged in literacy and/or revitalisation activities, and welcome this documentation project.
Primary investigator: Royce Dodd
Project Details
Location: Vanuatu, Melanesia, Oceania
Organiser(s):
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme
Project partner(s): University of Waikato
Funder(s):
Arcadia
Funding received: £10,000.00
Commencement Date: 01/2012
Project Status: Completed
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