(ELDP FTG 0135)
The project is
sponsored by the ELDP field trip grant (FTG)
and pursues field documentation of language data and meta information on two related and
geographically adjacent endangered dialects of Eastern
Khanty language in the
Tomsk region of Russia: Vasyugan and Alexandrovo (total number of speakers
under 100 pers). Multimedia data is recorded and archived in unified,
conventional and accessible formats based on DoBes recommendations, resulting in the lexical database, corpus and
preliminary data description. The team of linguists experienced in the area
and having the working knowledge of the language conduct field visits to the
Vasyugan and Alexandrovo Khanty communities documenting dialects in their natural functional
environment. The Department of
Siberian Indigenous Languages Komsomolsky pr.75,
k.246 |
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The
Database of Endangered Languages of Ob-Yenisei
This
project is a component of the Database of Endangered Languages of Ob-Yenisei
river basins in The Endangered Language of KhantyThe language of the Khanty (a.k.a.
Ostjak, Hanti, Khanti) forms,
together with Mansi, the The project's researchers enjoy close cooperation of respective indigenous communities,
established over a period of persistent fieldwork. The research teamI tests, refines and implements modern research
methodology, documentation and archiving techniques; performs initial
familiarization of community representatives with the
nature of language documentation. The documentation project serves as a logical extension in the scope and depth of
the existing pilot language
database, encompassing larger number of endangered western Siberian dialects,
wide genre variety, number and social strata of speakers. The activities of the project focus
on obtaining language data and metalinguistic information
in the natural functional environment, archiving the data and representing it
in accessible formats. The acquired language data undergo preliminary
processing; narrative discourse is consequently interlinearized and parsed,
forming the Eastern Khanty corpus, to be used as a
tool for educational and academic purposes. One of the outcomes of the
project is also the tri-lingual Khanty–Russian-English dictionary in the ToolBox
format. The data can be made
available on CD/DVD-media and on the web. Members of the Eastern
Khanty communities receive the printed copies
of the selected texts, dictionary, as well as audio and video materials on
the generally acceptable media. There is a glaring need for
documentation to provide the basis for the development of the teaching
resources in the Khanty dialects. The project is also important for adequate
typological observations, to secure the maximally authentic, diverse, and
quantitatively significant corpus of naturally occurring language data, along with the accurate
metalinguistic information. Such key
research fields as Areal Linguistics, Sociolinguistic Analysis, Comparative
and Typological Analysis, Aspects of Language Contact and Diffusion of
Linguistic/Cultural features in the Ob-Yenisei area of The project’s broader impact comes
from continued collaboration with representatives of the communities in
language documentation and ethnographic research. To cater for community
ownership and accessibility to the outcomes of the project, the database of the
archived audio/video documents will be accessible to the native community
representatives as well as for NGO’s, official agencies, media and
academicians active in the area. Project Collaborators
In course of this project the team
consisted of 4 collaborators from the Department of Siberian Indigenous
Languages at Tomsk State Pedagogical
University, who made their valuable contributions to the project's design
and output.
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© Andrey
Filchenko.
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