The Dynamic Language Infrastructure – Documenting Endangered Languages (DLI-DEL) Fellowships at NEH

The Dynamic Language Infrastructure – Documenting Endangered Languages (DLI-DEL) Fellowships are offered as part of a joint, multi-year funding program of NEH and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and advance scientific and scholarly knowledge concerning endangered human languages. DLI-DEL Fellowships support individuals (not institutional or collaborative projects) who are junior or senior linguists, linguistic anthropologists, and sociolinguists to conduct research on one or more endangered or moribund languages. DLI-DEL Fellowships prioritize scholarly analysis and publication, including but not limited to lexicons, grammars, databases, peer-reviewed articles, and monographs. Awards also support fieldwork and other activities relevant to digital recording, documenting, and sustainable archiving of endangered languages.

Eligibility:

• American citizens who live and work anywhere in the world and are linguists, linguistic anthropologists, or sociolinguists who specialize in documenting endangered languages.

• US residents who live in the US and who specialize in the above fields are eligible to apply.

• Applicants must not be enrolled in degree programs. DLI-DEL fellowships do not fund graduate students. However, if applicants have completed all their degree requirements and the only remaining step is degree conferral, they can apply provided they submit a letter from their dean or department chair that attests to those facts.  If such a letter is missing from the application, the proposal will be considered unresponsive.

• Adjuncts, independent scholars, tribal linguists, retired faculty members, non-tenured and tenure-track faculty members, and contractual teaching-staff are welcome to apply.

Deadlines:

• Deadline to submit applications is September 13, 2023; submitted through grants.gov.

• Expected notification date is April 30, 2024.

Period of Performance:

The shortest period of performance is 6 months, and the maximum period of funding is 12 months, part-time equivalent, or a combination of both. The amount of funding is $5,000 per month, or pro-rated equivalent for half time:

• DLI-DEL Fellowships program supports individuals who work between half time and full time on their projects. You may combine part- and full-time work, but you must work at least half time (50%), and you can split your term into two separate active periods. The active periods must be at least three months each.

• If you work full time on your project, you must forgo teaching and other major activities. If you combine a part-time award with teaching or another job, you must carry a reduced class load, or work load, during the period of performance. Awards will be reduced to reflect the smaller time commitment when you work part time or for fewer than the equivalent of 12 full-time months on the NEH project. 

 Please check the posted Notice of Funding Opportunity, the pre-recorded webinar, the Frequently Asked Questions document, the list of recently funded projects, and posted sample narratives on the DLI-DEL Fellowship landing page (see under Samples Application Narratives, on the left hand-side of the page) for more information.

If you have any questions, please e-mail them to delfel@neh.gov and staff will be happy to help you.

Call - CoLang Expressions of Interest

Dear InField/CoLang Participants and other SSILA members,

Greetings from Adrienne Tsikewa and Carly Tex, the co-conveners for CoLang 2023-2024 Advisory Circle. On behalf of the Advisory Circle, we are formally soliciting expressions of interest for hosting the 2026 Institute on Collaborative Language Research (InField/CoLang). These should be a paragraph or two that briefly explain your interest in hosting the 2026 CoLang Institute, including some basic details about possible institutional support, the organizing committee, among other preliminary details. Please note that this is the 2nd call for expressions of interests.

Expressions of interest should be emailed to both the Co-Conveners at adrienne.tsikewa@gmail.com and carly@aicls.org by August 31, 2023. This info is also available online at https://www.colanginstitute.org/blog/feb062023.

After receiving expressions of interest, we will then invite more detailed proposals for hosting the 2026 CoLang Institute. These should take the form of a two-­to-­three page proposal that (1) presents the qualifications of the proposed Local Organizer(s); (2) outlines any Institute-­particular themes or approaches; (3) presents possible fundraising strategies and sources of internal/institutional support, including participant scholarships (fundraising, evaluating applications and administering), and (4) states the likely available resources for personnel, housing, and classroom and technology support. One additional page can be added to list any already-known funding or in-kind contributions.

All proposals received by that date will be considered by the Advisory Circle. The Advisory Circle may request additional information. Due to the nature of the event, priority is given to a local organizing committee whose members (at least one) have participated in earlier CoLang Institutes. If selected, the Local Organizers(s) will head the Local Organizing Committee and will work closely with the Advisory Circle to develop themes, course content, and instructors. CoLang has an established partnership with the Linguistics Society of America (LSA) and has worked closely together with the Endangered Language Fund (ELF), and the Local Organizers(s) and Local Organizing Committee will also work with the LSA and potentially with ELF. The duties of the Local Organizing Committee are outlined in this paragraph from the Charter:

b. Local Organizing Committee

A given year’s Institute is organized and run by a Local Organizing Committee. The committee has the primary responsibility for that Institute. These responsibilities include major fundraising, advertising, all Institute administration including faculty and speaker contracts and payments, arranging IRB approval and dealing with issues of informed consent for the practicum (and elsewhere, if required), arranging venues, travel and visas, and accommodations for all participants, as well as volunteer staffing, airport transfers, social events, evaluation, and follow up reporting, and any other routine things as necessary. Programmatic decisions are made with guidance from the Advisory Committee. The local committee consists of a minimum of two members. One or more external members of the organizing committee might also be appointed, at the discretion of the local committee. When appropriate or feasible, one or more members of the Local Organizing Committee should be representatives from local Indigenous communities.  The Local Organizing Committee may delegate particular organizing roles to others (e.g., talks, organization of evening and weekend activities, coordination of multi-instructor workshops, etc.).

 The 2018 Institute was hosted by Aaron George Broadwell at the University of Florida at Gainesville. The UF Gainesville proposal is available from the co-conveners upon request. The 2022 Institute was hosted by Susan Penfield and Mizuki Miyashita at the University of Montana.

We look forward to hearing from those of you interested in hosting in 2026 (and we encourage you to begin thinking about the possibility of hosting CoLang 2028). Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about hosting or the process of applying.

Adrienne Tsikewa and Carly Tex

Co-Conveners CoLang Advisory Circle

Summer 2023 NSF REU site: Increasing American Indian/Alaska Native Perspectives in Field and Experimental Linguistics

Applications are now open for the Summer 2023 NSF REU site: Increasing American Indian/Alaska Native Perspectives in Field and Experimental Linguistics! Please share widely through your networks!

The REU Site is an 8-week summer program fully funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This program is designed for undergraduate students who identify as (or have a family/cultural connection with) American Indian/Alaska Native peoples, offering an intensive introduction to the field of linguistics and language science to students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to explore the discipline through their home institution. Students participating in the program will work closely with faculty on a hands-on research project and will receive funding for travel, on-campus housing, and a weekly stipend.  

The program is hosted by the Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon in the city of Eugene, situated on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional homelands of the Kalapuya People, the First Peoples of the Willamette Valley, whose descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. 

 Timeline 

Applications are due at 5:00 pm (PST) on January 5, 2022.  

The program begins June 12 and ends August 4, 2023. (The first week is remote; the rest is in-person on campus) 

 How to apply 

Applicants are asked to fill out an online application form via https://blogs.uoregon.edu/reuling/application/ and submit the following supporting materials: 

-A Statement of Purpose explaining why you are applying for this opportunity 

-An unofficial university/college transcript 

-Two letters of recommendation  

For more information about the program, visit our website at blogs.uoregon.edu/reuling/ 

— Gabriela Pérez Báez

ComputEL-6: The Sixth Workshop on the Use of Computational Methods in the Study of Endangered Languages

Date: March 5–6, 2023, following the 8th International Conference of Language Documentation and Conservation

Location: Held virtually

Contact: computel.workshop@gmail.com

Workshop Website: https://computel-workshop.org/computel-6/

Linguistic Field(s): Any topic relevant to the use of computational methods in the study,

support, and revitalization of endangered languages

Submission Deadline: Sunday, November 20 at 11:59PM (UTC-12 time zone)

Call for Papers:

The ComputEL-6 workshop focuses on the use of computational methods in the study, support, and revitalization of endangered languages. The primary aim of the workshop is to continue narrowing the gap between computational linguists interested in methods for endangered languages, field linguists documenting these languages, and the language communities who are striving to maintain their languages. Papers are invited which explore the interface and intersection of computational linguistics, documentary linguistics, and community-based language revitalization/conservation efforts.

Please see the full call for papers at https://computel-workshop.org/computel-6/

How to Submit:

Please use the following link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=computel6

In line with our goal of reaching different academic communities, we offer two different modes of submission: extended abstract or full paper. Either can be submitted to one of our two tracks: (a) language community perspective and (b) academic perspective. The mode of submission does not influence the likelihood of acceptance. Please see our website for more information.

Notification of acceptance will be sent out by January 20, 2023.

Additional Information:

For more information, please contact the workshop coordinators at computel.workshop@gmail.com or visit the workshop website at https://computel-workshop.org/computel-6/

25th Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (WAIL)

Date: April 14, 2023 - April 15, 2023
Location: Santa Barbara, California, USA
Contact Persons: Jordan AG Douglas-Tavani
Linguistic Field (s): Any topic relevant to the study of indigenous languages of the Americas

Call Deadline: Friday, December 9th at Noon (Pacific Standard Time)

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Gabriela Pérez Báez (University of Oregon)

Call for Papers:
Anonymous abstracts are invited for talks on any topic relevant to the study of indigenous languages of the Americas. Talks will be 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion. Abstracts should be 500 words or less (excluding examples, figures, and / or references). Abstracts and presentations may be given in English or Spanish.

Individuals may submit abstracts for one single-authored and one co-authored paper. Please indicate your source(s) and type(s) of data in the abstract (e.g. recordings, texts, conversational, elicited, narrative, etc.). For co-authored papers, please indicate who plans to present the paper, who will be in attendance, and who are the corresponding authors.

Abstracts should be submitted in .pdf format via the Abstract Submission form (also available via the conference website, see below). Please submit two abstracts, one with the identifying information of the person or persons giving the presentation along with affiliations and contact information, the other with no indication of the author(s). If authors must be cited, they should be referred to as (Author [DATE]). Hard copy submissions will be accepted from those who do not have Internet access. For this, please send four copies of your abstract, along with a 3x5 card with the following information: (1) your name; (2) affiliation; (3) mailing address; (4) phone number; (5) email address; and (6) title of your paper.

Send hard copy submissions to:
Workshop on American Indigenous Languages
Attn: Jordan AG Douglas-Tavani
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Notification of acceptance will arrive by email no later than: Friday, February 4th, 2022.

For further information, please contact the conference coordinators, at wailconference.ucsb@gmail.com or visit the WAIL conference website https://www.wailconference.org.

2023 SSILA Annual Meetings - Virtual January 20 - 22

Dear SSILA members,  

I hope you are all well and safe as we continue to navigate through difficult and uncertain times. We, the SSILA Executive Committee, have deliberated about the format of the 2023 Annual Meeting and, after much discussion, we have decided that we will be holding our meeting virtually once again, from Friday, January 20th to Sunday, January 22nd. We are working on finalizing the call for papers, which we will send out soon. 

With this decision we are hoping to ensure equal access to the meeting to members both within the US and overseas who may be unable to travel given safety concerns, rising travel costs due to the conflict in Europe, budget limitations and other vulnerabilities. We believe there is still a great deal of uncertainty and that, given these circumstances, it is best for us to plan as safely as possible and within the limits of our budget (a fully accessible hybrid option is out of our capabilities at the moment). Crucially, we believe that holding the meeting virtually leads to greater inclusion of members from across the Americas and all over the world, and this was a key parameter in our decision-making process.  

Having said that, we would also like to express that this decision is not intended to be for the long term and that we hope to resume in person meetings as soon as circumstances allow us. We acknowledge many of our members are also LSA members and that there are benefits that this partnership brings, and we would like to continue preserving those benefits for our members, and we have communicated this to the leadership of the LSA. At the same time, we are also looking forward to exploring options to keep including a virtual component in our activities moving forward, for the reasons expressed above.  

Please reach out if you have any questions, suggestions or comments.  

Best, 

Gabriela Caballero 

SSILA President, on behalf of the SSILA Executive Committee.

Small Grants from The Dictionary Society of North America

The Dictionary Society of North America will award small grants in support of practical or scholarly lexicographic projects by independent researchers, dictionary makers, and early-career scholars. The awards aim to support existing projects for which a small grant would make a substantial difference in bringing the project to a more advanced stage or to completion. The grants may be used to support purchase of necessary resources, including travel to sites to gather data from libraries or native speakers. While awards are not limited as to language, projects related to Indigenous languages of the Americas are encouraged. DSNA will make one or two awards, not exceeding $2,500 each.

Applications comprise three items: 1) a description (not to exceed 1,200 words) of the overall project, indicating what has been accomplished to date, what remains to be completed, and what the award funds would cover or enable; 2) a list of other sources of support for the project that have been secured or are on request, if any; 3) the applicant’s curriculum vitae or resumé.

Applications must be received by June 17, 2022, and a successful applicant must be a member of DSNA before receiving the award. Announcement of awards will be made before the end of July 2022. Award winners must furnish a brief report on the progress of the project within one year of the award and must remain a DSNA member through completion of the award period and submission of a report.

A second round of award applications will be announced in late summer, 2022.

Applications should be submitted by email attachment, with the subject line DSNA AWARD APPLICATION and sent to:  

Edward Finegan, DSNA President

Finegan@USC.edu

Call for MA Student applications at Carleton University

The School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University is offering up to two funded graduate student positions at the MA level (1–2 years), beginning in September 2022. These positions are part of the project 21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages (https://21c.tools/), funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant in 2019–2026 and hosted by the Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab; https://altlab.ualberta.ca/) at the University of Alberta.

The 21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages project is developing language technological models, tools, and resources for Indigenous languages in Canada. This includes: intelligent electronic dictionaries, linguistically analyzed collections of spoken and written texts, spell-checkers, language learning and practice tools, and word form analyzers and generators. All our tools are created in close collaboration with Indigenous communities in order to facilitate and support the use of their languages in all spheres of life by community members.  

More information about these positions and the application process is now available on the Partnership’s website (URL below):

https://21c.tools/2021/12/14/call-for-ma-student-applications-at-carleton-university-application-deadline-january-15th-2022/

 Application Deadline: January 15th, 2022

Student/recent Ph.D. Support Available for Workshop

Students and recent Ph.D. recipients are invited to apply for a funded opportunity to attend a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop entitled Language Learning in Native American Revitalization Programs (LLiNARP). The workshop will take place at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM, on April 1-2, 2022. Leaders in language revitalization will discuss research studies addressing the health benefits of language maintenance and revitalization as well as implications for theoretical linguistics.

The NSF award notice and brief description can be found here:
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2037209

Students in Native American studies, linguistics, anthropology, health, and other fields associated with language revitalization are invited to apply for one of 10 positions available. Those who were recently (in the past two/three years) awarded a Ph.D. are also eligible.

To apply, send an email describing your interest in the topics of language revitalization, linguistic theory, language acquisition, and/or connections to health. Because many of language revitalization programs are found in Native American communities, there will be a focus on those programs. In the email, include a description of your student/recent Ph.D. status.

Send applications to NSFWorkshop2022@endangeredlanguagefund.org byJanuary 15, 2022.

Questions can be addressed to the above email as well.
We hope to see your application.

Doug Whalen, Endangered Language Fund (SSILA member)
Peggy Mainor, MICA Group, PI
Porter Swentzell, IAIA, Co-PI

Call for Workshop Papers: Nominalization across Arawakan languages

Abstract Submission Guidelines

This is a call for participants to a workshop on Nominalization across Arawakan languages to be submitted for the Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea in Bucharest, August 24–27, 2022 (for more information on the conference see https://societaslinguistica.eu/meetings/). Workshops are organized in 30-minute slots (20 min. presentation, 5 min. discussion, 5 min. room change).  Preliminary abstracts (max. 300 words, examples included, if necessary) in .doc, .docx, .rtf or .odt format should be sent before October 31, 2021, to a workshop convenor (francoise.rose@univ-lyon2.fr). If the workshop is accepted, all potential workshop participants will be invited to submit their full abstracts before January 15, 2022 for individual review by the Scientific Committee and the workshop convenors. Feel free to share this call to any potential participants.

Convenors: Françoise Rose (DDL, CNRS, France), Magdalena Lemus Serrano (Aix-Marseille Université, France).

Call for papers

Nominalization is the grammatical and derivational process that creates referring expressions such as lexical nouns and NPs (Givón 2001:24). The strategies used to produce nominal entities, and their resulting functional, semantic, and morphosyntactic features are incredibly diverse, both across languages and language internally  (Yap, Grunow-Hårsta, and Wrona 2011:2). This issue is of particular interest for languages of the Americas at large, and South America in particular, where nominalization is often reported as one of the major subordination strategies attested (van Gijn, Haude, and Muysken 2011; Zariquiey, Shibatani, and Fleck 2019).

This workshop aims to contribute to the discussion on the typology of nominalization and its role in the languages of the Americas, by focusing specifically on the Arawakan language family. With some 40 extant languages, scattered from Brazil up to Belize, the Arawakan family constitutes a rich and diverse sample for the study of nominalization. Indeed, individual case studies have highlighted the major role of nominalization in the grammar of languages of the family, and shed light on various interesting features. We note the presence of large and semantically complex inventories of nominalizers as in Mojeño (9 nominalizers, for different participants and with different aspectual semantics (Rose 2011)),  the use of structures such as clausal nominalizations as clause-linkage devices as in Baure (relative, complement, and adverbial clauses achieved through nominalization (Danielsen 2011)), the multifunctionality of nominalization markers, often employed in discourse related strategies as in Yukuna (nominalization constructions used in A/S focalization and adverb focalization (Lemus Serrano 2020)), and lastly, the grammaticalization of nominalization markers into main clause morphology, as in Wayuu (gender/number suffixes formerly used as nominalizers now fully grammaticalized as subject agreement (Stark 2018)).

Despite the growing body of research on nominalization in the Americas, there is currently no available family-wide study exploring both the divergent patterns and shared tendencies in nominalization phenomena within the Arawakan family. We aim to develop the papers presented at this workshop into the first collective volume dedicated to nominalization across Arawakan languages.

Possible topics for submissions may include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• In-depth descriptions of nominalizations in individual Arawakan languages

• Typological studies on the features of nominalizations across Arawakan languages.

• Diachronic studies of nominalized verb forms in the family or a sub-branch.

The questions we want to address at the workshop include the following:

Descriptive/typological questions

• Size and complexity of nominalization repertoire: how many different nominalization types are attested in an individual language, in terms of number of nominalizers, and their degree of semantic specialization (event vs. participant nominalization, aspectual distinctions). (Mihas 2013; Rose 2011)

• Argument encoding: how are verbal arguments encoded within nominalizations in comparison with finite verbal clauses? How does the language fit within existing typologies of nominalization types (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 1993; Malchukov et al. 2008)?

• Presence of verbal features in nominalizations: are there various types of nominalizations with respect to their retained verbal features? Are there nominalizations of the ‘clausal’ type, and if so, how similar or different are they from finite verbal clauses? (Rose 2011; Lemus Serrano 2020)

• Nominalization and clause-linkage: are nominalizations used as clause-linking strategies in the language? If so, which nominalizations are associated with which clause-linking types? Are there other clause-linking strategies besides nominalizations in the language, and if so, how do they differ? (Danielsen 2011)

• Nominalization and discourse: are nominalized verb forms used in functions outside of clause-linkage, as discourse strategies in interaction? (reference-tracking, focalization/topicalization, others) (Lemus Serrano 2020)

 Comparative/diachronic questions

• Source of nominalizers: Can the source of nominalizers be identified? Are they linked to nominal affixes such as gender/number markers and suffixes encoding (non)-possession (Aikhenvald 2021), or to generic nouns (e.g. ‘thing’, ‘person’) and demonstrative pronouns? (Cristofaro 2019)

• Comparative perspective: Are the nominalizers cognate across the family, or within specific sub-branches?

• Internal reconstruction: Does the synchronic morphosyntactic structure of nominalization constructions give some indications on their possible source and the chronology in the diachronic development of these nominalizations? (Rose 2016)

• Grammaticalization of nominalizers into main clause morphology: Can any of the main clause verbal inflection markers be traced back to former nominalizers? (Haurholm-Larsen and Stark 2016) Are there cases of synchronic ambiguity where nominalization markers display main clause uses? (Lemus Serrano 2020)

Call for SSILA Awards & Prizes 2021

SSILA is pleased to announce a Call for Nominations for our awards and prizes for 2021. Please go to the linked landing page for each to get further information about the award or prize, and for details about the nomination requirements and processes.  The awards will be presented at the 2022 SSILA Annual Business Meeting.

Mary R Haas Book Award, junior scholar for an unpublished manuscript that makes a significant substantive contribution about Indigenous languages of the Americas.

Ken Hale Prize, presented in recognition of outstanding community language work and a deep commitment to the documentation, maintenance, promotion, and revitalization of Indigenous languages in the Americas.

Victor Golla Prize, presented in recognition of a significant history of both linguistic scholarship and service to the scholarly community, with service that expands the quality and/or dissemination of such scholarship.

The deadline for receipt of nominations for the Hale and Golla Prizes and submissions for the Haas Award is June 15, 2019.

SSILA Archiving Award, highlights the importance of creating long-term archival materials that are accessible to all communities concerned, including heritage and language communities as well as scholarly communities. It is meant to encourage others in academia to value such work as more comparable to analytic research.

The deadline for receipt of nominations for the SSILA Archiving Award is October 15, 2021.

Please email secretary@ssila.org if you have any questions about the nomination processes.

Mary Linn, SSILA Secretary/Treasurer

Call for Native Literatures of the Americas and Indigenous World Literatures (NUP)

Dear SSILA:

I am series editor of the University of Nebraska Press NATIVE LITERATURES OF THE AMERICAS AND INDIGENOUS WORLD LITERATURES. Our latest volume is Suzanne Cook’s  XURT’AN (Northern Lacandon myths, stories, songs), 2019. SSILA members have contributed to and edited other volumes and I would like to invite members to send me queries, proposals, outlines and so on.

brian.swann@cooper.edu or swann@cooper.edu

Sincerely,

Brian Swann
Professor of Humanities, The Cooper Union

North East Linguistics Society 51 - Indigenous Language Special Session

Dear SSILA members,

This year’s NELS at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), to be held online Nov. 6-8, 2002, will include a special session on Indigenous languages, including talks on Blackfoot (Algonquian), Crow (Siouan), Cheyenne (Algonquian), Inuktitut (Inuit-Yupik-Unangan), Washo (isolate), and Chuj (Mayan), as well as a keynote talk on Algonquian languages by Will Oxford (U. Manitoba). You can check out the programme here:

https://sites.grenadine.uqam.ca/sites/linguistique/en/nels51/

Our registration model includes free options for both staff and students.

Best regards,

Richard Compton

Associate Professor, UQAM

CALL for SSILA EDITOR

The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA) is seeking an Editor. SSILA works to keep their membership informed and connected through the SSILA website, and minimally through Facebook. The Editor is responsible for content on these platforms and works in close collaboration with the SSILA Secretary-Treasurer to keep the website updated. The editorship has a term of three years. It requires minimally requires 5-8 hours of work per month but may take more depending on the vision and commitment of the editor to develop content. The Editor receives a $500.00 stipend at the end of each calendar year, but compensation may be adjusted to reflect added vision and time.

Responsibilities 

•  Check Editor email (editor@ssila.org) regularly and respond.

• Post relevant content to the website and Facebook that is sent to the editor by members.

• Post any official SSILA content requested by the EC and the in Memoriam Editor, and email it to membership.

• Ensure consistency of style, formatting, and accessibility throughout the website.

• Put some amount of effort into monitoring news for items of interest (using a weekly news search result or some such), as well as posting items they happen to come across in their own social networks.

• Update and maintain Facebook page, in accordance with guidelines and with other members delegated to post on Facebook.

• Create a yearly report of website activities and attend the Executive Committee meetings (in person or by video) each year at the SSILA Winter meeting in early January, attend quarterly video meetings as needed, and report to and advise the Executive Committee on website and technical matters as needed.

Preferred Skills

Familiarity with the following services:

• SquareSpace (the website platform)

• MailChimp

If interested please contact the current SSILA Secretary/Treasurer at secretary@ssila.org. Please provide a letter of interest that includes links to a website or websites contributed to, or highlighting other editing or content development roles and the name, and the name and contact information for one reference.

SSILA Archiving Award - CALL EXTENDED

This award highlights the importance of creating long-term archived materials that are accessible to all communities concerned, including heritage and source communities as well as scholarly communities. It is meant to encourage others in academia to value such work as more comparable to analytic research. 

Deadline: October 15, 2020 

The award is presented to one or more researchers (from any community) who have created an accessible documentary collection of materials relating to an Indigenous language of the Americas. Taking each collection’s context and ethical protocols into account, each collection so honored will be assessed on the following characteristics: 

• It should be linguistically and/or ethnographically rich. 

• It should include primary materials, including (but not limited to) field notes, audio or video recordings, and other items created in language documentation. It may also include secondary materials, including (but not limited to) educational materials, analysis of the language, or related media. 

• It should be diverse in content, including some annotated or transcribed material.  

• It should be well described through collection-level metadata, item-level metadata, and a finding aid or descriptive overview which includes how the language community’s priorities have been met. 

• Its content should be potentially impactful for language learners, language maintenance, language teaching, and scholarly research. 

• The collection, or a back-up of the collection, should be archived in an established and trusted repository, one that is created and maintained by an institution with a demonstrated commitment to permanence and the long-term preservation of archived resources with suitable rights management practices to allow access to as much of the collections as possible. 

• Its content should be open and accessible to heritage and source communities as well as scholarly communities. Accessibility may include a dedicated website that repurposes primary archived material with added value, but a website cannot be nominated. 

This award may be shared by multiple creators of a single collection (including, for example, academic and non-academic researchers, primary language consultants, and collection curators).  The award is given to the creators of the collection, not the repository or archive. Nominations must be made by a member of SSILA. Self-nominations are permitted.  

The nominating package should include: 

• a letter of nomination identifying the nominee(s) (with curriculum vitae as appropriate), describing the background of their work on the language in question, and the archival collection (with links to online content and metadata, and a finding aid or descriptive overview), and explaining its quality and significance, and  

• one supporting letter also explaining the quality and significance of the archival collection. 

If you have questions about the award, please direct them to Mary Linn (secretary@ssila.org). To submit a nomination for the SSILA Archiving Award, send the nomination and letter of recommendation in PDF format by email to the SSILA Secretary. Please verify that it has in fact been received. 

Nominations should be submitted to Mary Linn (secretary@ssila.org) by October 15, 2020.