Through a recent NSF grant, the University of Colorado Department of Linguistics will be offering full support to three Lakota speakers for three years each, starting in the Fall of 2007. The support will enable prospective applicants to study for the Master of Arts in Linguistics and to undertake the video documentation of everyday Lakota conversation. The project hopes candidates will find careers supporting efforts to keep Lakota alive. The project is led by Prof. David S. Rood and has associated support from the Lakota Language Consortium.
Language revitalization programs depend crucially on the existence of materials that document the language in everyday interactions and on there being dedicated and capable leaders who can inspire the community to use these materials. By training native speakers to be researchers, this project will prepare highly qualified people to undertake these leadership roles.
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