Miami University has received a grant to push its efforts toward revitalizing indigenous languages.
The $311,641 grant extended by the National Endowment for the Humanities to university’s Myaamia Center will be used to provide tribal representatives and scholars engaged in language rejuvenation with training workshops.
The grant was awarded to project “National Breath of Life 2.0: Creating a ‘Second Breath’ for Indigenous Language Revitalization,” designed by center’s director Daryl Baldwin and Gabriela Pérez-Báez, who works as an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Oregon.
The center anticipates improvement and expansion of the existing Miami-Illinois digital archives created with a software in 2012.
“The Miami-Illinois Digital Archive has had significant positive impact on our ability to utilize archival materials for our revitalization effort,” Baldwin said in a statement.
“It is an important step in the development of National Breath of Life to be able to share this technology with other tribal communities,” he added.
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, which has been engaged in rejuvenating language and culture, believes that the grant will further push its efforts in reclaiming the language.
“I am pleased with all the work the Myaamia Center has achieved at Miami University,” Chief Douglas Lankford of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma said. “And with the support of NEH, we are able to share software with other nations working to reclaim their languages.”
