A collaborative documentation of Ngaalam, a newly discovered language of Ethiopia

Dr Yigezu Moges   (Co-Investigator)

24

2018-06-30

2020-06-29

47590

A collaborative documentation of Ngaalam, a newly discovered language of Ethiopia

African languages, field work, grammar, knowledge exchange, language documentation, language revitalization

Linguistics and LanguagesArea Studies (including Japanese Studies, China Studies, European Studies)

201711159005

Seed Fund for PI Research – Basic Research

2017

Completed

The objectives of this project are fourfold: (1) Conduct a first-ever documentation, description and linguistic analysis of Ngaalam, a highly endangered language spoken by 1500 people in south-western Ethiopia. No documentary, linguistic or any other scientific materials are available on the language; The documentation of endangered languages like Ngaalam is a core purpose of linguistics and supported and encouraged by major linguistics departments in universities around the world and by private and public foundations alike. (2) Provide a platform for experiential learning by HKU linguistics students on an intellectually challenging project in collaboration with Addis Ababa University (AAU) linguistics students. This objective builds on, and expands previous experience of the PI with experiential learning trips as part of the HKU linguistics curriculum (LING3003A) to Ethiopia in 2016 and 2017. The project also seeks to be a concrete manifestation and deliverable of HKU’s and the Faculty of Art’s strategic objective to expand its activities to top tier African universities, among which AAU. (3) Achieve a significant social impact by contributing to the revitalization, pedagogical and literacy development efforts of the local government of the area. Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that promotes the use of African languages (rather than colonial languages like English and French) for all administrative and institutional functions, including education. Initiatives like this project can help to strengthen the Ethiopian state’s unique approach to language and educational policy and thus contribute to providing benchmarks to other African countries that still struggle with language policies inherited from the colonial period. (4) Initiate a first academic exchange between researchers of HKU and AAU on a concrete research project that falls in line with the strategic objectives of both universities and their respective linguistic programmes.