Documenting speech and language practices in Eton

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.

Eton is an Oceanic language spoken on the island of Efate, Vanuatu. There are an estimated 500 speakers, but indications that language shift is underway. Previous materials on Eton are extremely limited, but suggest interesting typological and historical patterns, particularly in the sound system. This documentation project will record and transcribe audio and video materials capturing natural speech produced in a range of contexts and genres, and speech produced in targeted discussions and tasks, in collaboration with community members. These will form the basis of structured corpora which will be drawn on for detailed linguistic analyses and community-oriented language resources. Primary investigator: Rosey Billington

Project Details


Location: Vanuatu, Melanesia, Oceania Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): The University of Melbourne Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £6,939.00 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