Endangered Languages Project

Please join us in welcoming Aliana Parker, the newest member of ELP's Governance Council!

Aliana is the director of the Learning Centre at the First Peoples' Cultural Council. For more than 15 years, she has been working alongside First Nations language leaders in B.C., as well as communities around the world, to support community-based language revitalization efforts.

Aliana has been an invaluable supporter and colleague of ELP for many years, and we are honored to officially welcome her to our Governance Council.

It's our honor and joy to meet with language champions like the Tai Education Initiative, and build lasting relationships to support and grow language revitalization.

Are you working in language revitalization, or want to get started? Are you interested in learning from other people and initiatives around the world? We invite you to talk with the ELP Language Revitalization Mentors! You can make a free appointment at: http://endangeredlanguages.com/mentors

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐢 𝐀𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞

The Tai Education Initiative had the honour of meeting Dr. Pius Akumbu, a distinguished linguist from the Babanki (Kejom) community of Cameroon and a Language Revitalization Mentor with the Endangered Languages Project (ELP).

Dr. Akumbu has dedicated his research to the phonetics and phonology of the Grassfields languages, including his native language, Kejom (Babanki), and has extensive experience in language documentation and revitalization. Learning about his work and community's journey was both inspiring and encouraging.

During our discussion, we received valuable guidance on language revitalization planning, digital dictionary development, documentation, capacity building, and long-term strategies for reviving the Tai language for the Tai Ahom community. These insights will help shape the future initiatives of the Tai Education Initiative.

We sincerely thank 𝑫𝒓. 𝑷𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝑨𝒌𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒖 for his generous mentorship and the 𝑬𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 (𝑬𝑳𝑷) for creating opportunities that connect endangered language communities with experienced mentors from around the world.

This meeting marks the beginning of what we hope will be a long-term collaboration as we work to preserve, revitalize, and promote the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Tai Ahom people.

When communities learn from one another, endangered languages gain a stronger future.