Introduction and Resources

In the Language Adoption Project, you're supposed to study a language of your choice, as long as the language is unfamiliar or endangered. There's plenty of these out there, so you shouldn't have trouble finding one. The goal of the project is for you to get to know a language that you haven't known much about before, and apply some of the concepts and analytical tools we discussed in class to that language to test our theory of grammar. Of course, you're also expected to give some basic information about the language, where it is spoken, by how many speakers. if it's endangered, etc. A link to some guidelines questions for the LAP can be accessed HERE.

THE LAP IS DUE Dec 4th by 1pm. PLEASE LEAVE IT IN MY MAILBOX IN FARRELL HOUSE.
  • A good resource on languages of the world which I mentioned in class  is the “The world atlas of language structures”, which is available in the main library at the Main Atlas Case  G1046.E3 W6 2005.
  • I also put my personal copy of the Dictionary of Languages on reserve in the library. You may find that useful.
  • An extensive list of languages and assoicated descriptive grammars is available here:

  • A shortened list that I created from online resources is available here.
As you can see there’s no shortage of languages to work on; just make sure you choose an unfamiliar or endangered language. If you’re not sure if a language is suitable for the LAP, check with me first.

Also try to do some basic online search on the language you initially choose, and see if it interests you still.

LAP guideline questions

You can see a list of some guideline questions that you might want to consider when looking at your LAP language by clicking
HERE. Some of the questions will be relevant, some will not, but the list should at least give you an idea of what you are expected to be looking for regarding your LAP language.

LAP languages

  Name of Student

LAP language
  1.  
 Jeff Ferraro Flemish  (Germanic)
  1.  
Raina Lynn Crawford
Leonese (Romance)
  1.  
 Elma Burnham
 Hausa (Afro-asiatic)
  1.  
 Juliana Kay
Inuit (Eskimo-Aleut)
  1.  
 Scott Wehrwein
Quechua (Quechuan)
  1.  
 Martina Bonolis
Irish (Celtic)
  1.  
 Chris Allen
Welsh (Celtic)
  1.  
 Neil Goodman
Tlingit (Na-Dene)
  1.  
 Lucas Braun
Nkore-Kiga (Niger-Congo)
  1.  
Zack Withers
Swahili (Bantu)
  1.  
 Ali Hamdan
Syriac (Semitic)
  1.  
 Adam Kritzer
Unserdeutsch (German-based Creole)
  1.  
 Julianna Mauriello Hawaiian  (Austronesian)
  1.  
 Chris Chung
Nyanja/Chichewa (Niger-Congo)
  1.  
James Landenberger
Romani (Indo-Aryan)
16.  Toby Norden

Anindilyakwa (Gunwingguan)
17.  David Fouhey

Khmer/Cambodian (Khmer)
18.  Amy Scanes-Wolfe

Makhunwa Enahara (Niger-Congo/Bantu)
19.  Kyle Olsen

Qawasqar (Alacalufan)
20.  Riley Ertel

Halh (Mongolian)
21.  Sarah Bellingham

Ukrainian (Slavic)
22.  Whitney Obr

Franco-Provençal (Romance)
23. Simone Dinshaw

Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan)
24  Stephen Powell

Cappadocian Greek (Greek)
25 Ben Goldstein

Tagalog (Austronesian)