Preservation of the spoken language of Iraqi Jews

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.

To record, transcribe and translate speech and customs of the Iraqi Jewish community. After 2,500 years of continued existence in Mesopotamia (Iraq), no Jewish human or culture trace is left there. The community has been dispersed to Israel and the West and none under 45 years old, speaks the language. This pilot project aims to preserve the endangered language by building a foundation for a future major documentation. Consultants will be recorded in Israel and London and the data collected will be transcribed and stored using open standard formats and archived at ELAR.

Project archive deposit:

Material from the project is available here Primary investigator: Eli Timan

Project Details


Location: Iraq, Middle East, Asia Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): SOAS, University of London Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £8,225.00 Commencement Date: 01/2004
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