Linguistic Diversity Declines in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea—frequently heralded as the most linguistically diverse place in the entire world—is in the middle of a language crisis. According to a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Indigenous Language Institute to Host Webinar Series
The Indigenous Language Institute (ILI) has announced that it will be hosting a webinar series to support its language communities while COVID restrictions are still in place. The first webinar will feature a presentation...
Indigenous Taiwanese Languages Now Available on Wikipedia
The overwhelming majority of the world’s languages have a very small presence on the Internet—just 35 languages make up about 99% of the content on the web. In the interest of embracing the island’s...
Russia Launches Project to Preserve Languages
The Federal Institute of Native Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation has announced an initiative to develop educational materials and revitalize indigenous languages in the Siberian republic of Yakutia, many of which...
Canadian Survey Reveals Youth Indigenous Language Loss
Statistics Canada has released the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey this month, and it sheds lights on Aboriginal language and culture across the country. The study revealed that young people were far less likely to...
Canada Launches First Indigenous-Language TV Channel
A new, all-Inuit Inuktut language channel has been launched in Canada, serving as the country’s first channel broadcast entirely in an Indigenous language. Devised by the team at Nunavut Independent Television (NITV), Uvagut TV...
Indonesia to Digitize Indigenous Scripts
UNESCO and the Indonesian Internet Domain Registry (PANDI) have announced plans to work on digitizing the Indigenous scripts of Indonesia through an initiative called “Connecting the Nation through Ancient Character Digitalisation.”
Indonesia is home...
House Introduces Native American Language Resource Center Bill
New Mexico Congresswoman Deb Haaland has introduced the U.S. House of Representatives companion bill to the Senate’s Native American Languages Resource Center Act, which would create a designated resource center for the protection and...
Card Game Aims to Revitalize Traditional Mongolian Script
The traditional Mongolian writing system—a vertical top-to-bottom, left-to-right alphabet—dates all the way back to the early days of the Mongol Empire. However, in the script’s homeland, official and day-to-day communications have been written in...
New Bipartisan Native American Language Bill
On October 30, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Native American Languages Act (NALA) with the announcement of new bipartisan...