Community-based Research

The Language Revitalization Lab (LRL) prioritizes community-based language revitalization. Three main areas of focus drive this work: archive-based research for the revitalization of awakening languages, revitalization of Indigenous languages in diaspora and the development of inclusive scholarly literature on language revitalization. In addition, The LRL offers students computer equipment and a sound-insulated studio and recording equipment for language documentation.

 

Archive-based research

At the University of Oregon there is a confluence of Native scholars engaged in archive-based research for the revitalization of awakening languages. The LRL leverages its ties with the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages to provide support student-directed language revitalization projects on Nuu-wee-ya’, Chinookan languages, Hanis, Miluk, Siuslaw (Quuiich) and Alsea (Yaquina) by:

  • Guiding the identification of archival materials
  • Providing support for data processing
  • Serving as a forum for sharing archival research and revitalization methods
  • Planning for funding and long-term research
  • Facilitating scholarly presentations and publications

 

Language revitalization in diaspora

The LRL seeks to explore methods of revitalization in diaspora by serving the needs of immigrant communities in the Willamette Valley. Humans have migrated throughout their history and around the globe. Migration and language sustainability are intertwined, yet little has been explored about the revitalization of languages whose communities are divided between a home and a sister community in distant regions. The LRL is currently focused on producing scholarship for and outreach to Mesoamerican language communities in the Eugene area to raise awareness about their linguistic and cultural diversity.

 

Inclusive scholarly literature

The LRL recognizes that the scholarly literature on language revitalization is prolific yet not entirely inclusive. The LRL is committed to producing literature on revitalization methods that is rigorous yet inclusive of revitalization practitioners who are not academics. At this time, the focus is on the production of a scholarly publication on the revitalization of awakening languages.