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Informing Approaches to Endangered Language Protection and Revitalisation in the Channel Islands (Julia Sallabank)

Summary of the impact

Dr Julia Sallabank's research into Guernsey's little-studied indigenous language, Guernesiais, has greatly informed language planning and policy on the island, particularly with regard to teaching methods and raising awareness of the language among the population. Moreover, her documentation of Guernesiais, specifically the recording of audio samples, constitutes a significant contribution to the preservation of Guernsey's identity and cultural heritage. Sallabank's broader expertise on the revitalisation of endangered languages has also been solicited by language officials elsewhere, notably Jersey, the Isle of Man and New Caledonia, and resulted in her participation in UNESCO's Panel of Experts on language diversity.

Submitting Institution

School of Oriental & African Studies

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Creating infrastructure for linguistic theory and endangered languages

Summary of the impact

Global linguistic diversity is under threat; the theoretical and descriptive work of the Surrey Morphology Group (SMG) raises public awareness of linguistic diversity and produces traditional and digital resources used and valued by communities where endangered languages are spoken.

There is growing recognition of the many reasons, scientific and social, why the loss of linguistic diversity matters. Here we report on our impact on different communities, focussing in particular on Archi, an endangered language of the highlands of Daghestan (Russia). Our Dictionary of Archi, with pictures of cultural artefacts, has changed perceptions of the cultural and social value of this small language, both for the speakers of Archi and for those of surrounding larger languages. In its digital version, our dictionary has brought Archi into global awareness.

Submitting Institution

University of Surrey

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Promoting Language Awareness

Summary of the impact

The research of Professor Paul Simpson and Dr Joan Rahilly has informed and enhanced the broader awareness and understanding of English language in the context of secondary level education in Northern Ireland, and has had particular influence on both clinical and developmental assessment of language use. The end users who have benefited from this research include (i) schools, colleges and lifelong learning, (ii) health and well-being agencies, and (iii) voluntary organisations and charities. The main achievements can be summarised as:

  • an increased awareness among teachers of the principles of variation in language
  • an increased receptiveness among communities of interest to Northern Ireland's numerous accent and dialect differences
  • the development of pedagogical tools for understanding patterns in both spoken and written language
  • a set of formal links between QUB, the Council for the Curriculum, the Education Boards and individual schools and teachers
  • an established forum for the provision of training in response to changes in the English language curriculum
  • an established relationship between QUB and professional speech therapists, with demonstrable impact on clinical protocols in Northern Ireland
  • a developing set of formal links with clinicians and parents involved in, or connected to, Belfast's autism community

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Language policy, diversity and usage

Summary of the impact

Professor David Crystal's world-leading research on language policy, diversity and usage, conducted at Bangor since 2000, has led to a transformation in terms of public and political attitudes, both nationally and internationally, towards the nature and use of language in public and private discourse. In particular, the research has led, since 2008, to an increased awareness of linguistic diversity, changes to governmental policies on language, and the development of the world's first targeted online advertising technology, which today indexes billions of impressions across 11 languages to provide real-time data services in the emerging online advertising world.

Submitting Institution

Bangor University

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Preserving a linguistic heritage: Biak, an endangered Austronesian language

Summary of the impact

Biak (West Papua, Indonesia) is an endangered language with no previously established orthography. Dalrymple and Mofu's ESRC-supported project created the first on-line database of digital audio and video Biak texts with linguistically analysed transcriptions and translations (one of the first ever for an endangered language), making these materials available for future generations and aiding the sustainability of the language. Biak school-children can now use educational materials, including dictionaries, based on project resources. The project also trained local researchers in best practice in language documentation, enabling others to replicate these methods and empowering local communities to save their own endangered languages.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Highlighting and preserving the Mosetén language and culture

Summary of the impact

Mosetén is an endangered language spoken by approximately 800 indigenous people in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes. Many Mosetén children only learn the majority language, Spanish.

Research at UWE Bristol has resulted in the development of language materials for the Mosetenes, bilingual educators and other stakeholders. It has enabled bilingual education programmes, and inspired a new generation of Mosetén speakers. It has therefore had a direct influence in avoiding linguistic and cultural loss, and has helped the Mosetenes to preserve the intrinsic value of their language and culture, also raising the group's profile in Bolivia and beyond.

Submitting Institution

University of the West of England, Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Championing linguistic rights and educational opportunities for sign language users around the world through Sign Language Typology research

Summary of the impact

The International Institute for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS) is a world leader in the systematic comparative research on sign languages (Sign Language Typology), and conducts the world's largest typological projects on sign language structures, using a large international partnership network. The impact of this work, often in developing countries, is seen in the domains of:

a) improved educational attainment and professional development for marginalised groups (deaf sign language users); and

b) linguistic rights for sign language users through engagement with international policy makers, non-governmental organisations and professional bodies (in India, in Turkey and with international bodies).

Submitting Institution

University of Central Lancashire

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

1) SRDG Gaelic Language Network

Summary of the impact

There are three stages to the impact. First, key advice was provided to the Scottish Government on its 2005 Gaelic Language Act by Dr Rob Dunbar, then reader at the University of Aberdeen, and a world expert on language legislation. This helped shape both the nature of the legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament and the plan for its implementation.

Second, a bid was made, in which Aberdeen was again a lead organisation, for funding to strengthen the infrastructure for Gaelic-language research, so making it possible for the Scottish Government's policy to be properly informed by a sufficient body of Gaelic-language researchers. This resulted in the SOILLSE project (`A Research Strategy for the Maintenance and Revitalisation of Gaelic Language and Culture'), which secured £5.28m in funding from the Scottish Funding Council's `Societal and Public Priority' scheme, Bòrd na Gàidhlig (the agency charged with carrying through the Government's policy), Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the four universities involved — Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), whose establishment as a research institution was one of the outcomes of the funding.

Third, specific research contracts were undertaken by Macleod and MacLeod to provide non-governmental agencies with information about the effectiveness of their implementation of government policy. SOILLSE is now at the half-way point in its overall trajectory, but the research being produced is already influencing the government and community agencies (Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Comunn na Gàidhlig) involved in delivering Gaelic language policy, while the fees paid for commissioned research have been used to fund additional PhDs in Gaelic.

Submitting Institution

University of Aberdeen

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Language Studies, Linguistics

Helping to Preserve the Endangered Language and Culture of the Kiowa Tribe

Summary of the impact

Researchers working on endangered languages have an obligation to produce work of lasting value to the language community. International collaborative research by QMUL on Kiowa (fewer than 30 fluent speakers) has substantially contributed to preserving and revitalizing this native language of Oklahoma. Tribal elders, grassroots language-class participants, grassroots self- learners and Kiowa cultural institutions have benefitted from new language-learning resources: specially designed booklets and an online community via Facebook and YouTube. Over 200 people are now learning Kiowa using real oral literature rather than made-up sentences. A vast amount of linguistic and cultural knowledge, which would otherwise have been lost with the last fluent generation, is now made accessible to the tribe. Tribal members not fluent in Kiowa are now accessing previously inaccessible cultural capital lodged with tribal institutions whose mission is enhanced. Individual tribal elders also report a sense of fulfillment in being able to pass on their culture.

Submitting Institution

Queen Mary, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

Hendriks

Summary of the impact

The EPP Project identifies criterial features for second language acquisition. It has engaged stakeholders in the teaching and testing of language learners. This is facilitated by the EPP network and website. The project has enabled Cambridge Assessment to define the English language constructs underlying Cambridge examinations at different proficiency levels more explicitly. The work has improved the tests themselves, but also allowed Cambridge Assessment to better communicate the qualities of their tests for accreditation and recognition. Stakeholders are more actively engaged through provision of resources for teachers, testers, ministries of education etc., on the website, and in seminars. The project has led to further research with an international language school, which has led to teachers and parents of the school pupils being more aware of the needs for successful second language acquisition.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

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