Introduction and Resources

In the Language Adoption Project, will 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 is availabe HERE.

The LAP is due Dec 9th by 1pm. PLEASE LEAVE A HARD COPY IN MY MAILBOX IN FARRELL HOUSE.


LAP Resources
  • Ethnologue: An encyclopedic reference work cataloging all of the world’s 6,912 known living languages.
  • 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. The Atlas is also available online here: http://wals.info/
  • 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. Also, do make sure there is enough information about the language to help you undertake the project.

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.  
Thomas Phifer Romansch
  1.  
 Maddie Gilbert Yaqui
  1.  
Hillary Woodworth  Welsh
  1.  
 Kalya Koltes  Marathi
  1.  
 Alena Lozhkina Irish
  1.  
 Michi Arai Nepali
  1.  
 Sam McEntire  Lakota
  1.  
 Elena Shish Hausa
  1.  
 Jenna Reichenbach Swahili
  1.  
 Will Brooke Tagalog
  1.  
 Meghan Mendoza Taiwanese Hokkien 
  1.  
 Paul Rosenfeld Nobiin
  1.  
Santiago Azpurua-Borras Yanomamo
  1.  
Maddie Maily  Ainu
  1.  
 Jieming Sun Zulu
16.

 Rahul Rakshit

Mongolian
 
17.  Luis Ariel Rivera
 
Silbo Gomero
18. Aaron Jylkka
 
Georgian
19. Jesse Birdsall
 
Tibetan
20. Olivia Hipkins
 
Sanskrit
21. Sharon-Rose Broome Persian
22.    
23.