The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have joined forces on Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL), a new, multi-year effort to preserve records of key languages before they become extinct. More than 3,000 of the 6,000-7,000 currently used human languages are headed for oblivion, experts estimate.

"This is a rescue mission to save endangered languages," said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. "Language is the DNA of a culture, and it is the vehicle for the traditions, customs, stories, history, and beliefs of a people. A lost language is a lost culture. Fortunately, with the aid of modern technology and these federal funds, linguistic scholars can document and record these languages before they become extinct."

The results of DEL awards will significantly augment the resources for scholars in the humanities and the social sciences to study language and to mine the unique cultural information embedded in each speech variety. These awards also offer opportunities to speakers of endangered languages to learn documentation methods in support of language preservation activities. By encouraging use of digital standards and best practices for archiving new documentation and reformatting earlier recordings, DEL is laying the ground for wide use and sharing of language resources and helping to ensure the long-term preservation of the collected data.

DEL awards support fieldwork and other activities relevant to recording, documenting, and archiving endangered languages, including the preparation of lexicons, grammars, text samples, and databases. Funding is provided in the form of one- to three-year project grants as well as fellowships for up to twelve months. Preference is given to projects involving fieldwork.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) participates in DEL as a research host, a non-funding role.

The announcements of previous awards are found at:

• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES AWARD NEW GRANTS TO DOCUMENT ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
  (2007 Press Release)
• AWARDS MADE IN AGENCY PARTERNSHIP FOR DOCUMENTING ENDANGERED LANGUAGES: NEH, NSF boost efforts to make digital records of dying languages
  (2006 Press Release)
• FEDERAL AGENCIES TAKE STEPS TO DOCUMENT ENDANGERED LANGUAGES; NEH, NSF launch effort to create digital records of dying languages
  (2005 Press Release)