Finding an Archive for your (Endangered) Language Research Data

This article was originally posted by Susan Smythe Kung (Manager, Archive of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (AILLA)) on LSA's Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation (CELP) blog in July 2015. Dr. Kung recently revised the post for republication here.The submission deadline for the NSF/NEH Documenting Endangered Languages grant is just around the corner (September 26, 2016). If this is your first time applying for a DEL grant, please be aware that all varieties of the DEL grant (Senior Research Grants, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants, and Fellowships) require you to submit a support letter from an archive that has agreed to accept your data for ingestion. So how do you find the archive that will be the future home of your language research data? And once you've identified an archive that is a good fit, what do you do next? The following information and tips will be helpful to researchers who plan to apply for any of the DEL grants, as well as to anyone who plans to submit research data to a(n) (endangered) language archive, regardless of his/her funding source.

DELAMAN Archives

The Digital Endangered Languages and Musics Archives Network (DELAMAN, www.delaman.org) is an international network of archives that preserve materials in or about endangered and/or indigenous languages from all around the world. Links to the individual archives can be found under the Members tab (http://www.delaman.org/members/) on the website. Some of the archives specialize in a specific region of the world, and each archive has its own collection policies and fees. Some archives have a self-deposit feature that allows depositors to organize and upload their own born-digital data via a web interface, while other archives do all data ingestion in house. Some archives can digitize analog data while others cannot. The best way to determine if one of the DELAMAN archives is a good fit for your data is to start at the DELAMAN website, then follow the links to the individual archives to read their collection policies and intake procedures.The following DELAMAN member archives provided some specific information for this blog post:

  • Alaska Native Language Archive (ANLA) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks houses materials relating to Alaska's 20 Native languages, including varieties spoken outside Alaska, and in some cases, languages related to those spoken in Alaska. Information for depositors can be found here.
  • American Philosophical Society (APS) accepts most forms of digital and analog linguistic research data for languages of North and Central America. The APS does not charge fees for depositing data, though depositors needing their data to be fully catalogued by a given date in order to fulfill funding (or other) requirements should consult with the APS ahead of time to ensure this is feasible in relation to the nature and quantity of data. Inquiries on depositing, archiving procedures, and access policies can be directed to the archivist for the APS Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, Brian Carpenter (bcarpenter@amphilsoc.org).
  • Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) at the University of Texas at Austin accepts any materials relevant to any indigenous language of Latin America and the Caribbean. AILLA is undergoing a major repository and procedural upgrade at the time of writing, so it is not currently accepting deposits until March 2017 at the latest. Nevertheless, AILLA will continue to provide letters of support for researchers during this temporary suspension of depositor services. Information about how to make a deposit and associated fees can be found at http://ailla.utexas.org/site/dep_info.html. Please be aware that this information will be updated (and dramatically changed) during the 2016-17 academic year as part of the upgrade. For a support letter, please contact the archive at ailla@ailla.utexas.org.
  • California Language Archive (CLA) at the University of California Berkeley does not require a Data Management Plan or charge fees, though when depositors have external grants, CLA staff are happy to discuss the latter. Instructions for depositors are found at http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/archive/for-depositors.php.
  • Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London primarily accepts data that were collected by researchers with support from the Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP); they charge a fee for all other depositors. Information about depositing materials at ELAR can be found here; a PDF can be downloaded here. ELAR recommends that new depositors use the ELDP profile for the CMDI Maker (http://cmdi-maker.uni-koeln.de/), an offline web app developed by the University of Cologne for adding metadata to linguistic data, to prepare files for deposit. They have two video tutorials on how to use their CMDI maker that can be viewed here and here. More experienced depositors might want to use the Arbil tool (https://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/arbil/), a more advanced app developed by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics for organizing files and metadata for deposit in a digital archive.
  • Kaipuleohone Language Archive at the University of Hawai'i Manoa accepts materials from University of Hawai’i affiliates, and from anyone else with materials on languages from the Pacific or Asia. They accept born-digital items and can digitize analog materials like reel-to-reel and cassette recordings, images, and fieldnotes. Please read their Deposit Agreement Form and their Embargo Policy. To inquire about depositing with Kaipuleohone, including getting a Letter of Support for your NSF DEL proposal, please contact them at kaipu@hawaii.edu.
  • Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures: PARADISEC's digitization services and fees are explained here. General instructions for depositors can be found at http://www.paradisec.org.au/deposit.html.
  • The Language Archive (TLA) at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics currently mainly serves as an archive for its own researchers and associated projects such as DOBES. The archive requires metadata to be provided in CMDI format (certain profiles) and expects depositors to use their LAMUS web-based tool for depositing materials. Acceptance of external deposits will be decided upon on a case by case basis, for inquiries contact them at tla@mpi.nl.

Alternatives to DELAMAN Archives

Though the DELAMAN member archives are unique and varied, some researchers have not been able to find one that is a good fit for their research projects. For example, some archives prioritize data that results from research that their sister organizations fund. Other archives accept data only from particular regions of the world. Occasionally archives must temporarily suspend their depositor services in order to catch up on their ingestion backlog or upgrade their repositories and web interfaces. So what do you do when you cannot find a DELAMAN archive that can house your research data?The first place to look is in your research community, which might already have its own community archive or a relationship with an existing archive or library. These organizations might be willing to add data that is collected as part of your project to their existing collections. If there is a community or affiliated archive, you should consider putting your data here even if you plan to use one of the DELAMAN archives as well.The next place to look is at your home institution. Almost all US institutions have an Institutional (Data) Repository (IR) for their faculty, students, and researchers. Many universities now require their faculty (and sometimes their graduate students) to put their research results in their local IRs. If your institution does not have its own IR, it might be a member of a larger IR to which you can submit your data. Make inquiries at your institution's main library.Alternatively, you could consider placing your data in a large, public data repository such as the Dataverse Project at http://dataverse.org/. The Tromsø Repository of Language and Linguistics is a Dataverse instance dedicated specifically to linguistic datasets and statistical code (but not audio or video of naturally occurring speech). Please see the website for more information.A useful tool to search for data repositories throughout the world can be found at the Registry of Research Data Repositories (www.re3data.org).

Contacting an Archive

Once you've identified an archive that seems to be an appropriate repository for your research data, you need to contact the archive (i) to make sure that they will be able to accept your data for deposit; (ii) to find out what requirements they have and what, if any, fees they charge; and (iii) to request a support letter to be included in your grant application package. The following points are things to keep in mind when contacting the archive:

First contact:

  • Contact the archive to which you plan to submit your data well in advance of the grant submission deadline (ideally 2-3 months in advance). If you contact them just a few days before your proposal is due to your Office of Sponsored Projects, they might not have time to review your DMP or write a support letter for you.
  • Remember that the people who work at the archive are very busy with the ongoing work of that archive and that institution. Since they have work-related deadlines of their own, they cannot drop everything to rush your support letter because you waited too late to request it. Also remember that you are not the only person that has contacted that archive. Some archives write 10-20 support letters for DEL grants every application round.
  • The archive's representative (which might be the manager, the director, an archivist, or some other staff member) will need to know some basic information about your project before s/he can write the support letter for you (see below).

Basic information about your proposed project to give to the archive:

  • The title of your proposed project (i.e., the exact title of your grant application).
  • The research language(s) and ISO 639 code(s).
  • The name of the PI and names of any Co-PIs.
  • A summary of the type of data you plan to submit to the archive (e.g., audio, video, translations, transcriptions, annotations, text grids, etc.) and their format (.wav, .mpg, .mov, .eaf, .trs, etc.). Note in particular if you plan to submit any analog data to the archive. If so, the archive might charge a fee to digitize your analog data.
  • A timeline indicating when you plan to send your data to the archive (e.g., once a year, after each field trip, at the conclusion of the project). Note that different archives have different preferences for how and when you submit your data. For example, AILLA encourages depositors to submit small batches of data at frequent intervals, but ELAR asks that depositors submit all of their data at once at the conclusion of the project.
  • A copy of your Data Management Plan. The archive representative might want to read your DMP and provide you with any feedback that is relevant to his/her archive (e.g., you might have included a file format type that the archive is not equipped to handle).

Post-award notification:

  • Follow up with the Archive and let them know if you got the award or not. The archive needs to know if and when to expect your data.
  • If you got the award, send the archive a schedule of when they should expect your materials, a description of what you plan to send, and an estimate of how many files and GB of data you anticipate sending. This way the archive can put your data into its queue, arrange server/shelf space, etc. Note that this tentative schedule might be the same one that was in your DMP, or you might have had to revise it for your grant.

The most important things to keep in mind as you choose an archive to house your research data are these: start your search early and communicate with your chosen archive regularly.

Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar Award in Northern Issues

The Fulbright Scholar Program would like to announce the availability of the Postdoctoral Scholar Award in Northern Issues. Fulbright Canada seeks applicants in a variety of specializations including Community Development and Indigenous Studies.Applications are welcome from students who completed their doctoral degree in the last five years, or to students who will complete their degree requirements by February 1, 2017.Dedicated postdoctoral awards are available in 13 countries, allowing postdoctoral scholars to obtain international experience, build important networks, and gain critical research experience. Award benefits, duration and themes vary, prospective applicants are encouraged to read the award descriptions carefully. In addition to the postdoctoral awards, many awards are designed in an open, broad manner and accept applications from early career individuals.

Henry Willis, Choctaw speaker, author, and language educator (1929-2016)

Henry Willis, a native speaker of the Choctaw language, an author, educator, and consultant, died peacefully on June 21, 2016 in Oklahoma City, OK. He was surrounded by family and loved ones, who, in Choctaw, Kiowa, and Lakota, sang him into heaven.Henry was born December 21, 1929 in Purcell, OK. As was the case for many native children at that time, he was taken from his family and placed in Goodland Academy, a boarding school, until he reached adulthood. However, Henry was allowed to return to his family during the summer; hence he retained his native language skills. He made a career in the building trades, eventually becoming an industrial electrician. He and his wife Carole raised seven children.After his retirement, Henry turned his attention to the Choctaw language. In 1992, he began to work with linguist Marcia Haag, serving as a classroom teacher for several years at the University of Oklahoma. With her he published two pedagogical grammars, Choctaw Language and Culture, Volumes 1 and 2 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2001, 2007). Henry additionally served as a consultant for Muskogean linguists Aaron Broadwell and Jack Martin. He was a language consultant for Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for many years, for the Dictionary Committee, the online language courses, and the high school language courses. He made several audiotapes for student use. He contributed to the Chahta Anumpa Holitoblichi archive project.After retiring from the classroom, Henry worked diligently on the translation of the manuscript of the secretarial notes of the Choctaw council meetings 1826-1828. This work was published as A Gathering of Statesmen (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013). Besides linguistic work, Henry translated the five children’s books by author Mary Frye – the “Push stories”—published by Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He also wrote poems and stories in Choctaw.Henry particularly enjoyed refining Choctaw bible translations, teaching his Sunday School Choctaw class, and working with his many private students. He received numerous awards and honors for his work in revitalizing the Choctaw language.In the final words of the funerary poem Chimilhfiopak ‘Your Life’: “Ish onakma, lawa kvt chi-afvmmachi, micha na, yukpa hosh chi-ayukpachi afehna achi hoke.” ‘When you reach there, many will meet you, and with gladness they will welcome you well.”-- Submitted by Marcia Haag

Call for Papers: American Name Society

Below is a call for papers for the annual conference of the American Name Society in Austin, TX:

The third call for papers for our 2017 annual conference in Austin, Texas has been issued. As before, research on any aspect of names and naming is welcome! The deadline for submission is Thursday, the 30th of June 2016.To submit your abstract, simply use the information provided via this link: http://www.americannamesociety.org/conferences/Should you have any questions about the submission process or the conference itself, please send either myself or our ANS Vice President, Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins, an email <drobbins@latech.edu>.  We would be happy to be of assistance!There are also a few spaces left for presenters interested in joining the special panel on Onomastics Beyond Academia.  If you would like to share your experience and expertise in applied onomastics, please contact Laurel Sutton <laurel@CATCHWORDBRANDING.COM>.  The deadline for abstracts for this panel is the 15th of July 2016.  For more information about this panel, please use this link: http://www.americannamesociety.org/call-for-papers-ans-conference-special-panel-on-onomastics-beyond-academia/Looking forward to seeing you in Austin, Texas!Best Wishes,Dr. I. M. NickPresident of the American Name Society

2016 APS Conference Announcement

“Translating Across Space and Time” is an international conference hosted by the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, PA from October 13-15, 2016 and co-sponsored by the Penn Humanities Forum.  The three-day conference will bring together a range of scholars, practitioners, and community leaders to discuss the ways archival collections and scholarly fieldwork can help preserve and revitalize endangered languages and cultural practices in indigenous communities throughout North America.Conference panels pay particular attention to the legal and ethical issues archives and scholars face when working with indigenous materials, the ways technologies have forged new forms of cross-cultural collaborations, the influence of past policies on the present, and the best practices for pedagogy.  Brief papers will be precirculated in order to encourage conversation and dialogue during the conference.The full schedule can be found here.Registration is now open for no cost to attendees on the conference website. Questions can be directed to conferences@amphilsoc.org.

Spoken Cree, Level III, by C. Douglas Ellis

The long awaited volume by C. Douglas Ellis of  Spoken Cree III  is now available! 
— Please forward this message to your contacts and librarians to help us reach those who need the book, we depend on you for dissemination --
Spoken Cree: ê-ililîmonâniwahk is a three-stage course exploring the spoken and written language in the cultural context of a Northern Cree village. Based on the Swampy Cree (N-dialect) and Moose Cree (L-dialect) spoken on the West Coast of James Bay, C. Douglas Ellis’s Spoken Cree has become the authoritative work on the Cree language since the original release of Volume I in 1963. Accompanying audio files, recorded by native speakers, are available free of charge at www.spokencree.org.
Spoken Cree Level III is the final volume, continuing to build on the knowledge of the Cree language established in Spoken Cree Level I and I. 
The Spoken Cree Glossary covers the lexical material for all three levels of Spoken Cree.

Who is C. Douglas Ellis?

C. Douglas Ellis is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at McGill University (Montreal) and currently Adjunct Research Professor in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University (Ottawa). Since his first contact with Cree-speaking people at Moose Factory in 1947, the Cree language has been one of his major academic preoccupations. He has taught intensive summer courses in Cree for government, medical, teaching, and missionary personnel working in the North, as well as courses at the university level throughout the academic year.

There is a video filmed for the launch of the books that you can view online: www.spokencree.org

To place an order: www.spokencree.org, find the book(s) you want, click “Buy Book Online”

Contact: spokencree@eastcree.org

Nhanduti Editora Books

De Reuse's  Comments:  These are mostly of historical and ethnographic interest, but contain quite a bit of information on Jesuit missionary linguistics and Guarani linguistics. Written in Portuguese.
Dear Readers and Friends of Nhanduti Editora
We are inviting you to to look inside our recent book "História Kaiowa. Das Origenas aos Desafios Contemporâneos", (History of Kaiowa People. From the Origins to the Contemporary Challenges), by Graciela Chamorro.
Geta  look inside also other books of series "Povos Indígenas" and "Missões Cristãs e Povos Indígenas":
- Conversão dos Cativos. Povos Indígenas e Missão Jesuítica (Conversion of the Captives. Indigenous Peoples and Jesuit Mission)
- Fronteiras e Identidades. Encontros e Desencontros entre Povos Indígenas e Missões Religiosas (Frontiers and Identities. Encounters and Desencounters between Indigenous Peoples and Religious Missions)
- Missões, Militância Indigenista e Protagonismo Indígena (Missions, Indigenist Millitancy and Idigenous Protagonism)
- Reduções Jesuítico-Guarani. Espaço de diversidade étnica (Jesuit-Guarani Reductions. Space of Etnical Diversity)
- Letra de Índios. Cultura escrita, comunicação e memória indígena nas Reduções do Paraguai (The Handwriting of Indians. Written culture, communication and indigenous memory in the Paraguayan Reductions)
If you would like to check other Nhanduti Editora's New Releases and Issues, open the page: Catalogue EN.
Nhanduti EditoraRua Planalto 44São Bernardo do Campo - SP / Brasil

Richard Andrew Silas (1951–2016)

Willem de Reuse's note: This was one of the 7 fluent speakers of Han Athabaskan, so there are now 6 left.

Richard Andrew Silas was born Nov. 2, 1951, to Charles Silas Sr. and Nancy Malcolm Silas in Eagle. He was the second oldest child of six children born in the family. Dickey was brought up in the Han Gwich'in culture and was a fluent speaker of the Han language. He grew up in Eagle Village all his life and continued to live there a few weeks before his death.

Dickey was an avid hunter, and he was chief of his village at one point in his early years. Despite being underage, he joined the military at 17 because he loved his country and was willing to go to great lengths to keep his family and his country safe. He was deployed into the Vietnam War and served as a helicopter mechanic. He was sent on dangerous missions with no guarantee of return. Many of his comrades felt safe knowing he was aboard during their missions because he was incredibly knowledgeable in his profession. He was known to his family and friends as "Boh' tzou" which means in the Han Gwichin language, "medicine man."

In winter 1978, he met Fanny Williams, of Fort Yukon. He was a little bit older than Fanny but not by much, and their relationship bloomed and in fall 1979, little Samantha Renee was born. Sam was the apple of his eye. He loved and doted on her. She was nicknamed "Klonzi" which means left-handed. Together, Dickey and Fanny raised Sam as their only child. Samantha was raised in unconditional love and family values.

Dickey spent many of his early years helping his father build houses. Sadly, his mother tragically died when Dickey was 9. His grandmother, Sarah Malcolm, took him in and helped raise him while his father continued to provide for the family. Charlie Silas Sr. passed on when Dickey was an adult working in Prudhoe Bay. Grandma Sarah became "mom" and she was addressed as such in daily conversation. Dickey spent a short time in Oklahoma, going to school for small engine airplane mechanic school. He spent a few years in the military before returning to his home village of Eagle. He spent short stints of residency in places like Chicken, Tanacross and Tok. He went to high school in Tok and also in Mt. Edgecombe. In reading transcripts written by Dickie, his words to his daughter were simple:

After November 1960, my father, your grandfather couldn't read, write or go to movies. My mother, his wife, died and he himself went blind, still he taught Junior and I things to survive. We'd had grown up in very many different mining camps during the winter; dad trapped and we moved all the time. I think dad was about 30 and mom was three years younger. I've never been ashamed of our earlier life; we struggled and did things the hard way. We saw the bad, the good, and the hard way of surviving. By God's will I'm still here and no one can tell me different. Dad wasn't strict, but fair. Mom wasn't there. During the time I went to boarding school somehow dad always made sure he sent me my allowance, $20. Things were hard; as of now, I know not to take things for granted. This is only a short story but I love my way of life. Someday you and Charles will see it my way if I walk away. I'd be untrue to my heritage; it's the only way I know. Dad.

Dickey leaves behind his daughter, Samantha Renee, and his two beloved grandchildren, Charles and Viennaetta; his loving aunt, Angela Harper; his former partner, Fanny; brothers William "Bully" and Rick, and family members from Pelly Crossing, Dawson City and Tanacross.
Funeral services in Fairbanks will begin at noon with visitation, and services at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at St. Mathews Episcopal Church. No potluck will be held as family will be transporting Dickey home to Eagle immediately afterward.

Services in Eagle will begin at noon with visitation and funeral service at 1 p.m. and gravesite service at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20.
Please visit www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsminer to sign an online guest book.

Published in Daily News-Miner on April 19, 2016. Read more here.