DISTILS-01
Discoveries and Insights in Skills Training in Intergenerational Language Sustainability Conference & Workshop
Conference Dates: May 4-6, 2026
Workshop Dates: May 7-8, 2026
Location: University of Alberta campus, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Funding for this conference and workshop has been provided by the Strategic Research Initiatives Fund at the University of Alberta. The organizers gratefully acknowledge the generous support that has made this gathering possible.
Schedule
Please note that all times are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).
Monday May 4th
McLennan Ross Hall (Law Centre) Rooms 231A and 237A
Monday 7:30-8:30
Registration
Monday 8:30-8:45
Welcoming Remarks by Dr. Florence Glanfield, University of Alberta
Monday 8:45-9:30Darren Flavelle and Jordan Lachler
CILLDI, University of Alberta (CANADA)
Background on INSTILS and an introduction to the conference.
Monday 9:30-9:45
Coffee break
Monday 9:45-11:00
Eugene Alexis
Alexis Nakota Sioux First Nation
Monday 11:00-11:30Natalia Intja
University of NamibiaBridging the Gap: A Framework for Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) and Community-Led Capacity Building in NamibiaAs Namibia continues to navigate the complexities of its post-independence linguistic identity, the gap between official English proficiency and indigenous language vitality remains a critical challenge. This paper advances the theorisation of Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) by shifting the academic focus from passive documentation to active, community-led capacity building. Specifically, it examines the "Best Practices" and innovations required for the maintenance and revitalisation of minoritised Namibian languages, with particular emphasis on the marginalised Bantu dialects in Namibia. Drawing on case studies from the Nyae Nyae Village Schools and digital archiving initiatives at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), the study proposes a tripartite model of ILS skills: Linguistic Competency, Relational Transmission, and Institutional Stewardship. The findings suggest that sustainability is most effective when decentralised from formal school settings and reintegrated into the domestic sphere through intergenerational reciprocity and "Language Nest" models. The paper concludes by providing a strategic roadmap for policy-makers and community leaders to build ILS capacity, ensuring that Namibia’s "Unity in Diversity" is preserved through its most vital cultural asset: its mother tongues.
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Monday 11:30-12:00Aliana Parker and James Thompson
First People's Cultural Council (Canada)Community-Centred Practical Skills Training for Language RevitalizationLanguage revitalization is a complex process that requires effort across a variety of fields and roles. The required expertise is very broad and includes strategic planning and project management, language documentation and description, technical skills in recording, digitization and archiving as well as pedagogical expertise for teaching the language to learners of all ages. The wide scope of language revitalization demands that communities develop skilled teams to ensure the efficacy, sustainability and longevity of their efforts, and yet the training opportunities for this diversity of fields often remain out of reach for those doing this work. Beyond mainstream degrees in related fields, many of the training opportunities that are targeted for language revitalization are centred in universities (Dwyer et al., 2018), which can present barriers to community members, particularly the cost and accessibility for people in remote locations. Free online training such as that offered by the Endangered Languages Project through their Ready to Revitalize program is massively oversubscribed, a testament to the high demand for accessible opportunities (Endangered Languages Project, 2024).In some regions of the world, an additional layer of complexity is the context of language diversity. In regions such as the Pacific Northwest, high language diversity presents unique challenges for revitalizing and ensuring the ongoing stability of Indigenous languages (Gessner et al., 2023). A higher density of small language communities can result in heightened competition for resources such as funding and access to outside experts and training opportunities. Work that does happen in one community is often not easily transferrable to a neighbouring community that may have a different language entirely. Nevertheless, this diversity also presents unique opportunities for creative solutions that can be models for similar work in other parts of the world.In this presentation, we discuss the creative solutions we have adopted to provide practical tools, resources and skills training opportunities for language revitalization within a context of linguistic, cultural and geographical diversity. We share from over 15 years of experience in developing and delivering practical skills training to groups with diverse languages and educational backgrounds. We have adapted our models of training over time to better address the challenges faced by communities that may not be able to access university-based programs. We discuss our approaches towards revitalization skills training alongside the values that inform what we deliver and how we deliver it. Finally, we share the core principles that have arisen from years of delivering learning opportunities which inform our approaches going forward, ensuring the efficacy of this work in both the short and long term.
Monday 12:00-13:00
Lunch
Monday 13:00-13:30Kelsey Neely and Mandana Seyfeddinipur [ONLINE]
Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (Germany)How can language documentation support language revitalization?Language documentation has the goal to create multipurpose records that can be used by different audiences and stakeholders now and in the future (Himmelmann 1998, Gippert et al. 2006). As such it should be a key resource for revitalization and maintenance efforts (Woodbury’s 2003 on Cup’ik immersion education). However, the language documentation literature offers only very general or fragmentary guidance on what types of materials are actually useful for supporting language maintenance and revitalization efforts. In this talk, we call on language documentation and language revitalization practitioners to work more closely to establish clear standards and recommendations for creating a multipurpose record that can be mobilized for revitalization and maintenance.With the advent of documentary linguistics in the early 2000s, documentation efforts developed rapidly all over the world. However, what became apparent was that especially linguists tended to focus on the “ancestral code” of the speech of elders, often in a limited range of communicative contexts such as ritual speech or folklore (Woodbury 2005) or elicited data for grammatical analysis. In contrast, it has been suggested that sociolinguistic language documentation that shifts away from linguistic purism to include everyday interactions has been suggested as a response to make documentation of greater potential use for revitalization purposes (Grenoble 2013, Childs et al. 2014, Hinton et al 2018)., but this is an extraordinarily broad recommendation that could be interpreted in many ways.While the field of descriptive linguistics has developed a wealth of questionnaires and checklists to guide the development of grammatical descriptions (e.g., Payne 1997, Sakel & Everett 2012), the field of documentary linguistics has only developed guidance with this level of detail for topics like audiovisual data standards (e.g., Seyfeddinipur & Rau 2020) or metadata (e.g., Nathan & Austin 2004). It is only in rare cases that specific recommendations are made for how to serve revitalization purposes and how this needs to be translated into training for documentary linguists. While there is a wealth of literature describing how existing language resources have been or can be leveraged to support language teaching, we lack evidence-based guidance on how to design documentation projects to serve these purposes from the outset. We are left with many open questions: What are the records that are the most core for revitalization? What are the records revitalization practitioners wish they had? What practices or perspectives create obstacles to revitalization? How can documentation take place concurrently and synergistically with revitalization, rather than prior to it?
Monday 13:30-14:00Kathleen Anderson (1) and Jacqueline Dormer (2)
Simon Fraser University (1), University of Winnipeg (2) (Canada)Lessons from the Michif Context: An Unauthorized Guide to Surviving Language RevitalizationThis work situates the skills necessary for intergenerational Indigenous language revitalization (ILR) outside of the context of technical linguistic skills such as those that stem from the disciplines of language acquisition and pedagogical studies. Rather, we will explore extralinguistic features that are required to facilitate an infrastructure that allows language learning to occur, which is ultimately necessary for ILR. This infrastructure encompasses the mindset, relationships, and actions necessary to allow intergenerational transmission in addition to the mutual perseverance of language speakers and learners.Effective approaches to language revitalization necessarily require the emotional manifestation of determination and perseverance to meet and overcome challenges experienced in ILR. These challenges arise in relation to and within the bureaucratic, institutional, personal, political, economic, and social dimensions that impact speech communities. This is due to historical and ongoing linguicide across Indigenous communities in Canada (Fontaine, 2017), largely a result of historic policies and plans to eradicate Indigenous peoples and their cultures. Historically, the Indian Act, 1876 prohibited Indigenous peoples from speaking their languages, gathering in groups of more than three, while Indigenous children faced abuse within the Indian residential schools system simply for speaking their languages (Hageman & Galoustian, 2024). This has contributed to a complex landscape of language attitudes both internal and external to the speech community context, oftentimes negative, which greatly impacts efforts and decisions relating to ILR (Dołowy-Rybińska & Hornsby, 2021).In response to these challenges, language revitalizationists require a level of resilience not required in typical language learning contexts in order to support the revitalization and maintenance of their language(s). This additional effort further marginalizes Indigenous language revitalizationists and Indigenous language communities (Rudin, 2016) in planning and revitalization efforts since there already exist added barriers prior to initiating their endeavours. Moreover, effective ILR is dependent on the mobilization of speakers, silent-speakers, language reclaimers, learners, resources, programming, and spaces, as well as advocacy within and outside of the speech community, institutionally, nationally, and internationally. These actions are often not discussed, nor recognized as essential to ILR practices, despite Indigenous language communities’ bottom-up efforts responsible for many existing successes concerning Indigenous languages. Without mobilization and advocacy, the development of a localized ILR infrastructure is unattainable.This underdocumentation and lack of discussion on extralinguistic skills in the paucity of existing scholarship (Meades, 2023) is largely a result of the colonial biases perpetuated across Western traditions of linguistics (Rice, 2022) which position languages as separate entities from their speakers, communities, and environments. In doing so, individuals and collectives engaged in ongoing ILR efforts are ill-prepared and vulnerable to falsities during a critical time period for most Indigenous languages’ continuance (Moseley, 2010). Afterall, the strongest of language learners will not succeed if they cannot access the language, are prevented from speaking it, cannot access learning resources, or have unmet survival needs (Meades, 2023; Perley, 2011). Through this presentation, we hope to illuminate underrepresented and undervalued aspects of intergenerational language sustainability, and provide realistic insight into the challenges of ILR and how best to navigate them.
Monday 14:00-14:30Danielle Dacanay
Tłı̨chǫ Government (Canada)Novel Terminology Development in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıı̀The long-term health and relevance of any language in contemporary society is to a large degree dependent on that language’s ability to productively discuss the various technologies, abstractions, and social concepts endemic to the modern world. For Indigenous languages, often under-resourced and spoken only by a minority of the population, this need is particularly acute, with such matters often being discussed first, or only, in the majority language (Harlow 1993). One common solution to this, and perhaps the most direct, is the organisation of terminology development workshops, whereby groups of fluent speakers and subject matter experts collaborate to create domain-specific sets of novel terminology. This approach has been applied across a wide variety of language families, Indigenous and otherwise (i.e. Neuendorf 1982), and has been subject to much previous academic evaluation (i.e. Keet & Barbour 2014; Alberts 2015; Keegan 2005).Since at least the 1980s, dozens of ad hoc terminology development workshops have taken place for Tłı̨chǫ yatıı̀, a Dene language spoken by ~2000 people in the central Northwest Territories, Canada (Statistics Canada 2021). These have covered a wide variety of topics (ranging from legal concepts (i.e. Worker’s Compensation Board 2011), to modern medicine (i.e. Semsch 1993), to contemporary environmentalism (i.e. Mackenzie Valley Review Board 2011)), and have been arranged by a similarly wide array of institutions, ranging from missionary societies, to governmental bodies, to private individuals. As a result of these varied origins, the methodologies used to conduct these workshops has differed greatly between individual groups. The means by which the results of these workshops have been published (if indeed they have been published at all) are similarly scattershot; some are published ephemerally (i.e. in flyers, posters, etc.), some are found as appendices to larger works, and others exist only as manuscript wordlists or meeting minutes. This has often led to the terminology developed by these workshops failing to achieve widespread use, with speakers being unaware of, or unable to find, sets of specialised terminology, even where such terminology has been richly developed (see also Keet & Barbour 2014).We provide here an overview of the results of previous terminology development workshops in Tłı̨chǫ yatıı̀, examining the nature and quantity of terminology developed, the methodologies employed by their organisers, the metadata recorded, and the manner of publication (and level of public accessibility) of the resulting terminology. To this end, we will also evaluate speaker perceptions of these workshops, including accounts from fluent Tłı̨chǫ yatıı̀ speakers and interpreters as to their usefulness, both as collaborative opportunities for creative language use, and as sources of potential future vocabulary items. Finally, we will discuss potential means of cataloguing, centralising, and standardising the contents of existing terminology lists, including an ongoing project to incorporate the contents of these workshops into an online Tłı̨chǫ yatıı̀ dictionary
Monday 14:30-14:45
Coffee break
Monday 14:45-16:00
Sheilah Nicholas
West Region Native American Language Resource Center, University of Arizona (USA)
“Coming Full Circle”: Storying Language, Voice and Empowerment in Indigenous Academic Spaces
The American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) was founded in 1978. Initiated with National Endowment for the Humanities support to create workshops focusing on linguistics and curriculum development for Yuman language communities, AILDI has established itself as a premier institute for training Indigenous language educators, researchers, culture bearers, language activists, and tribal leaders in all areas of language teaching, research, documentation, revitalization and advocacy. AILDI played a key role in Indigenous language policy development, particularly, the drafting of the 1990 Native American Language Act.
In Fall 2023, AILDI, was one of four federal U.S. DOE/OIE grant recipients of the Native American Language Resource Center Act (NALRC) of 2022 (S.989). Today, AILDI hosts the West Regional Native American Language Resource Center (WRNALRC) at the University of Arizona and stands as a significant milestone in the genesis and longevity of its advocacy for Indigenous language revitalization efforts. Currently, I am honored to serve as Director for the WRNALRC.
Since 1990, AILDI has been an intellectual and practical context for Indigenous language revitalization--an intimate and empowering space—at the University of Arizona. In this space, Indigenous community practitioners including elders, sometimes the last living speakers of their tribal or community languages, have come together to collaborate with university instructors and students, visiting researchers, and each other to consider why languages decline and to practice pedagogical strategies to revalidate and revitalize them. One of the clear successes of AILDI is developing agency and determination among the many participants who attended the summer program to [re]learn and use their languages; participants came to understand that they did not have to ask permission or ask to use their language or revitalize them. In this presentation, I illuminate this aspect of AILDI’s history rooted in and intertwined with my personal history and journey with AILDI beginning as a graduate student in 1991 toward undertaking the gift of leadership in continued advocacy and advancing Native language sustainability.
Monday 16:00-16:30Craig Kopris and Darcy Allred [HYBRID]
Wyandotte Nation (USA)How Do You Pass the Torch While You’re Still Lighting It?Since the 1600s, Wyandot(te)s have become dispersed into three separate populations, the Wyandotte Nation (based in Oklahoma), the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, and the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation (Michigan), with a fourth cousin nation, the Nation Wendat in Québec. Additionally, not all people in each group live in proximity to each other. Over half the citizens of Wyandotte Nation live beyond the local region of northeastern Oklahoma and adjacent Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Beyond the challenge of distance, the Waⁿdat language is just beginning to awaken after generations of being asleep. How then can interested Wyandot(te)s not only overcome these geographical distances, but also pass on their language while they themselves are just starting to learn it?Currently, large groups meet in person yearly at Ǫmakyehstih (the Gathering), cultural events sponsored by Wyandotte Nation, and at Kǫmahskwęmaʔ (Green Corn), traditional ceremonies organized by Waⁿdat Yanǫhšetsih, a group consisting of members of the various populations. Other than this, there are no regular opportunities for in-person language practice. Instead, Wyandot(te)s have resorted to going on-line. Old email lists and defunct Yahoo Groups have been superseded by Facebook and Zoom. The latter is where classes following the Šarǫkaʔ Waⁿdat? curriculum are currently held.The Šarǫkaʔ Waⁿdat? curriculum was conceived in 2013 for online use, initially put into practice starting in 2015, and in continuous development since 2021. Supported by Wyandotte Nation’s Cultural Division, it is open not just to their scattered citizens but to the other nations as well. We discuss here the nature of its original development, how it has been extensively modified through feedback from the students, and its part in the language reclamation program of Wyandotte Nation. More recently, the Waⁿdat Language Program offers the Wyandot(te) diaspora weekly immersion-style sessions in conjunction with other language activities via Zoom.Waⁿdat language learning across the diaspora has seen increased opportunities to regularly connect online with other community members in shared goals and steps towards reawakening Waⁿdat from their own households. Learning in homes emphasizes the importance, and effectiveness, of language acquisition through engagement with family members of all ages. Because there are no L1 Speakers among Wyandot(te) Elders, the middle generations are the ones taking up most Waⁿdat educational roles. This means language learners and educators alike are helping all generations of Wyandot(te)s reclaim and (re)learn the Waⁿdat language. It is through this intergenerational approach of knowledge sharing that the Waⁿdat Language Program participants have seen much success to bring Waⁿdat back into the ears and voices across age groups as well as different geographical settings.
Monday 16:30-17:00Mirinda Burarungrot, Kumaree Laparporn, Pimnara Chanorn and Nattamon Rojanakul [ONLINE]
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA), Mahidol University (Thailand)Training Generations to Sustain Language: The Mahidol Model as a Field-Tested Ecosystem for Intergenerational Language SustainabilityAcross the world, increasing attention is being given to Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) and the question of what kinds of skills training enable communities to pass their languages on to the next generation. While this discussion is emerging as a new focus in revitalization linguistics, the Center for Documentation and Revitalization of Endangered Languages and Cultures (CD-RELC), RILCA, Mahidol University, Thailand, has been implementing such an approach since 2004 through the Mahidol Model.This paper presents the Mahidol Model as a field-tested ecosystem of intergenerational skills training, developed through work with over 30 ethnolinguistic communities across Thailand. Rather than treating documentation, material creation, education, and teacher training as separate activities, the model functions as a continuous pipeline of skills development across generations — from elders to adults, youth, and children in schools.The process begins with language mapping, followed by writing system development for unwritten languages, where community members learn to read and write their own language together. Communities are then trained to create mother tongue storybooks, songs, and local narratives, forming both a language corpus and a culture of storytelling. As materials grow, communities develop local curriculum and advocate for the inclusion of their language in schools.With language accepted in schools, teacher training enables the integration of the mother tongue into classroom learning, first for revitalization and later, in some regions, through Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) alongside the national language.This progression shows how documentation evolves into literacy, literacy into curriculum, and curriculum into sustained intergenerational language use. Importantly, the process strengthens language identity, community pride, educational outcomes, and contributes to language and education policy at the national level.The Mahidol Model by CD-RELC offers examples of a field-tested approach to ILS skills training and shares lessons learned from long-term collaboration with communities that may be adaptable to other contexts.
Tuesday May 5
McLennan Ross Hall (Law Centre) Rooms 231A and 237A
Tuesday 9:00-9:30Nainakala Tamang (1) and Nabraj Lama (2) [HYBRID]
Institute for Socio Cultural Research and Analysis (1), Lumbini Buddhist University (2) (Nepal)Community-Led Lexicography in a Tonally and Geographically Diverse Indigenous Language: Insights from Tamang Dictionary DevelopmentThis paper presents methodological and practical insights from an ongoing community-led initiative to develop a bilingual dictionary for Tamang, an indigenous language of Nepal. The project, which has collected over 8,000 lexical items to date, represents a non-linguist-driven effort to document a language characterized by significant tonal and regional variation. Despite being native speakers, the team encountered considerable internal diversity within Tamang—discovering variant lexical forms, tones, and semantic nuances across different geographic regions.The primary focus of this paper is to reflect critically on the process of building a comprehensive lexical resource in the absence of formal linguistic training, and to examine the skills and tools that proved essential—and often inaccessible—throughout the process. Particular attention is paid to challenges in representing phonological variation (including tone), minimizing regional bias in lexical selection, and navigating the technical complexities of dictionary development, such as corpus management, metadata design, and example sentence generation.This work contributes to the theorization of Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) skills in two key ways. First, it highlights the skill acquisition pathways that emerged organically within the project—through iterative practice, community consultation, and informal learning—offering a case study of community-based knowledge production outside traditional academic infrastructures. Second, it identifies the specific skill gaps and tool limitations encountered, particularly as they relate to representing linguistic variation and achieving standardization without marginalizing dialectal forms.By situating this experience within broader questions of capacity building and skills training for language documentation, this paper argues for the urgent need to develop more accessible, community-responsive ILS training models. It also suggests design implications for future dictionary-building platforms and pedagogical materials that support non-specialist language workers in multilingual, low-resource settings.The paper concludes by advocating for a hybrid approach to skills training—one that values community-led expertise while facilitating access to global linguistic tools and frameworks. Such an approach can enhance both the inclusivity and the sustainability of language revitalization efforts, particularly in contexts where formal training is limited but community motivation and engagement are high.
Tuesday 9:30-10:00Tobias Weber [ONLINE]
Technical University of Liberec (Czechia)Modern Literacies for Intergenerational Language Sustainability: Critical, Digital, MultimedialMultiliteracy, the capability to engage with texts beyond simple written text, has been theorised in the 1990s and recently gained new attention (The New London Group 1996). Especially in an increasingly digital world where not only humans create and repurpose text, the ability to critically assess texts and media, in a variety of physical and digital formats, is a key skill for all humans, irrespective of their origin, their age, or their native language. Yet, different age groups have different needs and approaches for engaging with texts, multimedia, or digital media, and the transmission of knowledge through media may be hindered by differing concepts of how these media can and should be used. Furthermore, the digital realm is unequally populated by major languages (official languages, world languages), while access points for minority language speakers often require additional steps. This digital divide can also distort perspectives on languages and their speakers, if the discourse is led by outsiders – and a critical engagement of community members requires not just language skills but also critical competencies. To alleviate these issues in working with digital and physical media, this paper proposes the inclusion of critical, digital, visual, and media literacies in skills trainings for (intergenerational) language sustainability. In line with the skills listed by the US National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) – accessing, analysing, evaluating, creating, acting on media – the relevant skill set encompasses not only receptive and analytical skills, but also grants agency to interact, create, and productively work with media. By extension to multimedia, including digital content delivery, minority language communities shall be empowered to interact with various forms of media, possibly also producing their own. Through the inclusion of critical literacy, critical engagement with information about language communities, their depiction, and various primary and secondary sources becomes possible. Similar to pedagogical approaches that turn intergenerational language learning into a community-building experience for older and younger generations, the training in digital and media literacies can serve as an invitation for all generations to discuss media and create their own minority language media. Younger generations may share their expertise in using digital tools, while older generations may hold valuable knowledge about texts and media from former times – the shared learning experience provides a forum for discussing cultural heritage and collective memory.
Tuesday 10:00-10:30Marigona Morina [ONLINE]
University of Calgary (Canada)Albanian Heritage Language Learning in Canada: Understanding Language Maintenance and Identity Development among Second-Generation ImmigrantsThis dissertation contributes to heritage language (HL) research by exploring identity development among second-generation Albanian adolescents in Canada. Heritage Albanian remains an understudied area, with most existing scholarship concentrated in Europe, while research in the Americas is extremely limited, with only one known study in the U.S. and none in Canada. This ethnographic case study investigates how second-generation Albanian HL learners position themselves and are positioned by others in relation to their language and cultural identity. It also examines the social and cultural forces shaping their language practices and identity development amid processes of language shift. The study was conducted in Alberta with eleven Albanian-Canadian participating families. Data collection involved classroom observations at a community-based heritage language school, individual interviews with adolescents and their parents, and an online workshop for digital language portraits with adolescents. Descriptive and collaborative methods were used to analyze observations, thematic analysis was applied to interviews, and narrative positioning analysis was used for the digital language portraits. Berry’s (1997) acculturation theory and Kayi-Aydar’s (2021) positioning analysis framework informed the interpretation of findings. The findings reveal that while both adolescents and parents used similar identity labels (i.e., Albanian, Canadian, or Albanian-Canadian), they often attached different meanings to them. Adolescents’ self-positioning reflected a mix of inherited identity, personal experience, and parental expectations, while parents primarily focused on cultural preservation. The study emphasizes the vital role of family language policies, exposure, and community involvement in maintaining HL. Inconsistent HL use at home led to lower HL proficiency as well as weaker cultural ties, while strong connections with extended family, trips to the homeland, and engagement in cultural or HL school programs fostered heritage connections. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that language and identity are closely intertwined and shaped through daily interactions within families and communities. Adolescents who developed a strong Albanian identity were often more motivated to retain their HL. These findings highlight the importance of recognizing hybrid identities and ensuring sustained support for HL programs in fostering multilingualism and educational equity.
Tuesday 10:30-10:45
Coffee break
Tuesday 10:45-12:00
Robert Elliott
Northwest Indigenous Languages Institute, University of Oregon (USA)
How to Build a Community‑Driven, University‑Based Indigenous Language Center (Without Really Trying)
The Northwest Indigenous Language Institute (NILI) began nearly 30 years ago not through a university initiative, but at the request of Native language leaders across the Pacific Northwest who sought meaningful support for language reclamation. Established in 1997 and inspired by the AILDI model, NILI has grown into a rare and long‑standing example of a truly community‑driven Indigenous language center housed within a university.
This talk traces NILI’s origins, from the policy shifts of the late 1900s to the grassroots collaborations that shaped its founding. It highlights how NILI embraced early, innovative approaches—centering community authority, prioritizing practical teaching needs, and bridging linguistic research with on‑the‑ground revitalization—which have become standard for language work today.
Over the decades, NILI has evolved from an all‑purpose support hub to a focused center for teacher development, curriculum design, and revitalization planning. In the post‑pandemic era, its mission continues to broaden, supporting language vitality beyond the classroom and serving as a platform that elevates the work of practitioners across the region.
NILI’s story demonstrates that when a university listens to and grows with the communities it serves, a language center can, in many ways, “build itself.”
Tuesday 12:00-13:00
Lunch
Tuesday 13:00-13:30Anna Belew
Endangered Languages Project (USA)Reducing Barriers and Growing Networks of Knowledge Sharing in Language Documentation and RevitalizationIn all parts of the world, the scope of revitalization work has been growing in recent decades (Perez Baez et al. 2019). However, revitalization and reclamation work is unevenly distributed around the world. Nearly 3/4 of programs included in the Global Survey of Language Revitalization (ibid.) are in the Americas and Europe; the availability of funding, learning spaces, networking, favorable policies, and other support structures for language work is deeply geographically fragmented. While many programs to disseminate knowledge and build capacity in language revitalization have emerged over the past several decades (see Roche & Belew 2025), most remain inaccessible to communities in many parts of the world and present barriers to many people who want to grow their capacity in language revitalization.The lack of access to shared learning and support spaces for language work deepens the isolation experienced by many language advocates. This sense of isolation can exacerbate language shift, drive burnout and demoralization, and hinder revitalization efforts. Conversely, social movement scholarship has consistently demonstrated the transformative capacity of networks and relationships of knowledge exchange and solidarity to effectively create positive social change (see Tarrow 2022 for a review).In this talk, we will share some of the work of the Endangered Languages Project (ELP), a nonprofit founded in 2012, and reflect on some of the successes and challenges of its model. ELP offers free online programs designed by listening to the needs and goals expressed by language champions: to connect people working in language revitalization and documentation; to create learning spaces which center peer learning between Indigenous and minoritized communities; and to “demystify language revitalization” (Waritimi 2022).ELP’s programs include two annual synchronous online courses. The Language Documentation Learning Series has been held for eight weeks each fall since 2019, in collaboration with the Language Documentation Training Center at the University of Hawaii, and is open to anyone; its 2025 iteration had 900 participants from 87 countries. Ready to Revitalize, an 8-week course held annually since 2024, selects a cohort of 20 language advocates to develop concrete plans for language revitalization in their communities, engage in peer learning and networking with classmates around the world, and receive mini-grants to support their work. ELP also hosts online gatherings and workshops to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and ideas between communities engaged in language revitalization.This talk will share some of the successes of these programs, particularly as described by the people who participate in them, and reflect on key lessons learned for strengthening capacity-building programs in language revitalization. It will also explore some of the gaps and challenges in ELP’s work, and some of the still-unmet needs in language revitalization learning programs worldwide. Finally, it will invite a discussion of how language revitalization learning spaces can be made more accessible, decolonial, and beneficial to language communities as a whole.
Tuesday 13:30-14:00Ítalo Cantarutti Arias
Universidad Católica de Temuco (Chile)Linguistic attitudes and transmission: The case of chedugun in Butalelbún of the Bio-bío Region in ChileThe objective of this presentation is to analyze linguistic attitudes of Chedugun speakers who transmit the language as L1 in the community of Butalelbún, VIII Region of Bio-Bío, locaded in the mountainous region of Chile. The data were collected during four güxamkawün (dialogue meetings) that were held with two families participating in the research proyect called “Phonological Acquisition and Development in Mapuzungun / chedugun. Longitudinal Study in a Sample of Mapuche Children from 18 to 42 Months of Age.” They were subsequently assessed through the process of content analysis and the data triangulation process, and this, in turn, led to formation of units of analysis (UA). The results point to the existence of different components present in the linguistic attitudes of the participants that favor the transmission and projection of Chedugun as L1.The knowledge and values of Chedugun speakers regarding their own language and its transmission constitute a contribution to scientific knowledge about how to understand these processes within their own epistemologies in a bilingual, language contact, and intercultural context.It is for this reason that this research aims to analyze linguistic attitudes and their relationship with the transmission of the chedugun as L1 in intercultural and interethnic contexts. These attitudes are influenced by different situations that favor and/or hinder, in some cases, the effectiveness of transmission processes in interethnic, interlinguistic, and, above all, intercultural contact contexts. Thus, the purpose of this research is to contribute through the identification and description of linguistic attitudes in families that transmit the mother tongue (chedugun) as L1.
Tuesday 14:00-14:30Zubair Torwali and Aftab Ahmad [HYBRID]
Idara Baraye Taleem wa Taraai (IBT) (Pakistan)Intergenerational Language Sustainability and the Torwali experience in Northern PakistanThis paper conceptualizes Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) as the cultivation of skill ecologies that allow a language to move naturally from one generation to the next. Rather than treating languages as static archives of words and grammar, ILS foregrounds the capacities, practices, and emotional investments that make a language learnable for children, usable for adults, and transmissible for elders. These skills span pedagogical and linguistic abilities, organizational and advocacy competences, literary and media creativity, digital literacies, and affective and ideological shifts. They are unevenly distributed across age groups, with elderly people typically holding deep oral knowledge and youth commanding contemporary technologies. Sustainable revitalization thus depends on reconnecting these fractured capacities.My paper grounds this framework in the case of Torwali, an Indo-Aryan language of northern Pakistan spoken by about 140,000 people in the Swat Valley, and the work of the Indigenous organization Idara Baraye Taleem wa Taraqi (IBT). Over the past two decades, IBT has developed a community-based ecology of ILS skills through mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), extensive Torwali book production for children and adults, and innovative use of digital media, including the Google keyboard, social media platforms, and audio–video production of Torwali songs. MTB-MLE schools have reinserted Torwali into formal education by creating primers, storybooks, and graded readers rooted in local landscapes and culture, while training teachers to teach Torwali literacy and convincing parents that Torwali-medium schooling strengthens, rather than weakens, children’s access to Urdu and English. Parallel book publishing has generated new written genres, stabilized orthography, and legitimized Torwali as a literary and intellectual medium.In the digital domain, IBT’s promotion of Torwali typing via Google keyboard and its circulation of Torwali songs, interviews, and documentaries on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube have extended the language into everyday online interaction and trans local networks, including diaspora communities. The paper argues that these practices are particularly appropriate for a mid-endangered language like Torwali, where many children still speak the language but it is marginal in school and mainstream media. It contrasts this with communities at earlier stages of endangerment, which need proactive literacy and documentation before shift accelerates, and those at later stages, which require intensive adult learning, archival reclamation, and immersion models.The Torwali case shows that ILS is skill-dependent rather than resource-dependent, multi-sited across home, school, media, and social movements, and fundamentally intergenerational in both directions: elders transmit oral knowledge while youth digitize, modernize, and globalize the language. It also underscores the necessity of ideological transformation, challenging stigmas that frame indigenous languages as obstacles to progress. The paper concludes that intergenerational language sustainability is a form of world-making and a generational gift, ensuring that ancestral words continue to shape future imaginations.
Tuesday 14:30-15:00
Coffee break
Tuesday 15:00-15:30Cora Lesure
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)Strengths and Limitations of a Linguistics Focused ApproachLanguage revitalization work is a complex and multidimensional endeavor and programs designed to support such work often vary in their focus and approach. The approach we will focus on here is one which utilizes formal training in Generative Linguistics to support language goals. We will examine several principles considered fundamental to the goals of language revitalization and sustainability work broadly, namely accessibility and self-determination, which we claim can be supported through a focus on formal linguistics training. We will also discuss challenges and limitations presented by this approach, including resource based limitations and the challenge of bridging the theory-application gap.Training in the formal scientific discipline of Generative Linguistics is at the core of the MIT Indigenous Languages Initiative master’s program. In this program students are introduced to the linguistic subfields of phonology, syntax, and semantics. They are given the choice to build on this foundation through more advanced seminars in linguistics, or classes in education taken through cross-registration with Harvard. Throughout their course of study, students are guided one-on-one through self-selected research projects by members of the faculty and supported through a workshop style group seminar. These projects are not limited to purely theoretical topics but are meant to empower students to apply the training they have received in a way that serves their personal language goals. Many students elect to develop theses of a dual or multidimensional nature, showcasing their nuanced understanding of a grammatical aspect of their language while applying this knowledge in a meaningful way that aligns with the needs of their community.This program seeks to empower students with the ability to confidently navigate the existing literature available for their language or language family, which was previously designed to serve solely linguists, traditionally to the exclusion of language community members. Students are also encouraged to participate in the community of linguistic scholarship both internally within our department and beyond, in spaces where their insight and perspective had been historically excluded. Materials produced by the student are in alignment with their individual and community driven goals, including considerations of broader accessibility and community engagement.This approach is not without its own set of limitations and challenges. From a resource perspective, given that students come from widely diverse language families and with varied academic backgrounds, it is a challenge to ensure that course content and support are tailored to their individual needs. The master’s program is two years in length and that is simply not a lot of time given the potential scope of the content to be covered and applied. Beyond this, developing the depth of understanding necessary to apply this knowledge in a real and actionable way is a challenge, especially given the fact that we are mostly equipped within our department to provide theoretical support and often must outsource support in more applied areas. We are still working to improve this element of the program and to learn new and better ways to support students through every stage of their projects and every dimension of their goals.
Tuesday 15:30-16:00James Bednall
Charles Darwin University (Australia)Designing, developing and accrediting ILS training programs: A case study from northern AustraliaMany institutes, universities and community organisations around the world have developed (accredited and non-accredited) training programs in Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS), to make practical ILS skills available and accessible to Indigenous community members and support their and their communities’ language continuation goals and aspirations. However, as Lachler & Flavelle (forthcoming: 2) note, little research has been undertaken examining what skills are involved in and necessary for successful ILS, and how these skills can best be approached in the development and delivery of language continuation training programs.In this presentation, we present a case study, reflecting on the design, development and accreditation of one such program, Charles Darwin University (CDU)’s Diploma of First Nations Language Work (DFNLW; a new course in 2026) which has grown out of the continual design and development of ILS training in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) over the last five decades. The NT is a region of rich but fragile linguistic diversity, with a long history of delivery of accredited language and linguistics programs, designed by and for Indigenous communities. Out of this context and history, the DFNLW has been developed as a course providing knowledge and practical skills that can be applied and adapted to students’ own language situations, particularly in contexts of language revitalisation, maintenance, learning and teaching. Of particular interest in this presentation is the scope and sequence of the course, and the both-ways teaching and learning approaches that underpin its content and delivery.Based on the history of programs and courses that have preceded the DFNLW in being delivered in the NT, as well as a benchmarking process that was undertaken during its development (considering similar courses from around Australia and the world), we discuss the macro- and micro- structure of the course, and the scope and sequence of individual units and learning content. We consider the core units of the course that provide foundational skills and knowledge in areas of i) linguistic structure and analysis of Australian Indigenous languages, and ii) language planning, and how specialist elective units then build on these and allow students to focus on particular areas of interest. We also discuss the nested nature of the DFNLW, and how it pathways into other courses, such as the Associate Degree of First Nations Cultural and Language Education, the Bachelor of Secondary Education and the Bachelor of Arts (Languages, Linguistics and Culture).In this presentation we also consider the learning and teaching approaches of the course that draw on Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies and Culturally Responsive Learning. Both-Ways learning (integrating Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of learning with Western education systems; cf. Ober 2009) is central, promoting students to engage in collaborative learning that respects Indigenous pedagogies and ways of learning and teaching (incl. e.g. oral narratives and storytelling, and place-based learning). This approach promotes inclusive teaching and decolonisation of the curriculum (cf. Calhoun et al 2021; Charity Hudley et al. 2020; Gaby & Woods 2020; Ryan et al 2024).While the development of CDU’s DFNLW is in many ways specific to and contextualised by its NT and wider Australian setting, we hope that many of the central topics discussed in this presentation will be relevant to other ILS training providers and communities looking to establish accredited or non-accredited ILS programs.
Tuesday 16:00-16:30Samantha Disbray and Desmond Crump [HYBRID]
University of Queensland (Australia)Indigenous Language Revitalisation and collaboration at the University of QueenslandCommunity efforts in Australia to revive, revitalise and maintain the over 450 ancestral languages have built substantial momentum in recent decades (Tudor-Smith, Williams, Meakins, 2024). In response to this movement the University of Queensland (UQ) has committed to collaboration and the creation an Indigenous Language Revitalisation program.In 2025, the first cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students graduated from Australia's first Indigenous Language Revitalisation (ILR) studies program. Developed by an Indigenous Steering Committee with community and industry language specialists and Indigenous UQ staff, the program was designed to recognise, extend and professionalise the leadership and skills of First Nations Languages champions from diverse professional and community backgrounds. It enacts language revitalisation through project-based learning and sustainable assessment and challenges the power that institutions such as universities have held over Indigenous languages and their speakers (Woods, 2023; Mallinson, Charity Hudley, Bucholz, 2020).In addition to the teaching and learning program, the team offers outreach, working with communities and language activists on-Country on language research and resource development projects.In this presentation, we position our work at UQ in the broader ecology of university and ILR initiatives in Australia. We share the design process and goals for the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalisation (Crump and Disbray, 2025) and explore its content and pedagogical approaches, including ways of centring ‘the wisdom in the room' - the knowledge and experience that the program participants bring, and the insights and power they generate as they come together to learn from each other. We also report on the On-country outreach program, and explore with you pathways to sustain such collaborations.
Tuesday 16:30-17:00Erin McGarvey
University of Alberta (Canada)Auxiliary skills training in community-based language work: a can of wormsWhat set of skills are needed to successfully establish and run sustainable language revitalization and maintenance programs? In this talk I will draw on my own experiences working within heritage language revitalization programs, as well as within Intergenerational Language Sustainability (ILS) training programs, to articulate what I see as a common gap in the base of training available. Typically, programs that aim to support skills training for language sustainability focus primarily on linguistic skills, technical expertise in linguistic software and equipment, or on academic skills, such as grant writing or survey writing. Less often is there a focus on training in skills from outside of the linguistic or academic sphere. Namely, skills that target the more practical logistical aspects of running a language program long-term, such as employing organizational frameworks for the management of large teams. In this preliminary discussion, I will offer some insights in how I have seen this gap addressed and offer some potential starting points for engaging with this topic. My hope is that this presentation will serve as a springboard to spark larger conversations about additional ways to support community based language work in the future.
Wednesday May 6
McLennan Ross Hall (Law Centre) Rooms 231A and 237A
Wednesday 9:00-9:30Dunlop Ochieng
The Open University of TanzaniaIntergenerational Language Maintenance among Non-Swahili natives in Dar es Salaam: A Comparative Study of Migrant FamiliesTanzania is a multiethnic community with over 120 languages. Nonetheless, this linguistic diversity is quietly fading, especially among migrants from various ethnic communities who move to the country's urban centres. Most of these migrants gradually abandon their ancestral tongues in favour of Kiswahili, the dominant language in the linguistic landscape. Swahili, sustained by state, social, political, infrastructural, and financial support, thrives as the lingua franca, while countless ethnic languages struggle for survival within homes and hearts. Be that as it may, some families have been able to defy this pattern of linguistic erosion by maintaining their ancestral languages and transmitting them in the same context. This study explores the contrast between families in Dar es Salaam that have successfully preserved their intergenerational languages and those that have not. The aim is to uncover the factors that make the crucial difference. That is, the study explores the differences in strategies, attitudes, and cultural practices that lead to these contrasting outcomes. Methodologically, the research will conduct interviews with at least 20 family members in Dar es Salaam from February 2026 to March 2026. Participants will be identified through snowball sampling to share their experiences, perceptions, and coping mechanisms regarding language maintenance. Comparative analysis of these narratives will yield insights and practical lessons for sustaining endangered ethnic languages in Tanzania’s urban centres. Ultimately, the study's findings will shed light on the strategies and actionable approaches for revitalising and safeguarding linguistic heritage among non-Swahili speakers in the face of growing Swahili dominance, especially in urban areas.
Wednesday 9:30-10:00Quegas Mutale
Luunga Visionary Trust (LUVIT) (Zimbabwe)Language Revitalization in Zimbabwe: Grassroots efforts to generate intergenerational language sustainability among the Tonga communitiesLanguage is a key determinant of understanding people’s cultural norms and values in society. Globalization brings opportunities and threats to preservation of certain aspects of culture, tradition and heritage. Zimbabwe is a country with indigenous communities such as the Tonga people who live in constant fear of losing their language identity. The Tonga community bemoans of the continued interference of other cultural and traditional norms of values, showing a drift from the norm. The grassroots organisations such as Basilwizi Trust made strides in promoting the revitalization of indigenous languages in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe. The dominance of the colonizer’s language and a few indigenous languages in Zimbabwe is a thorny issue. Until 2013, Zimbabwe had only three official languages, English, ChiShona and IsiNdebele. The 2013 constitution which officialised 16 languages including ChiTonga remains unfulfilled as the national media is dominated with the English, Shona and Ndebele languages. Luunga Visionary Trust is one such organisations that are striving to promote language sustainability in the Zimbabwean context. The Tonga Language and Cultural Committee (TOLACCO) and Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association (ZILPA) are bodies of associations that seek to promote intergenerational language sustainability. Research institutions such as the National Language Institute at the Midlands State University and African Languages Research Institute (ALRI) promote documentation of indigenous languages in Zimbabwe. Other bodies include the Tsoro-o-tso San Development Trust and Kalanga Language and Cultural Development Association (KLCDA). Despite these bodies, efforts to generate intergenerational language sustainability are at its infancy. As part of the grassroots efforts to generate intergenerational language sustainability, Luunga Visionary Trust (LUVIT) designed a Tonga language revitalization project. The Tonga communities in Binga District along the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe face challenges in preserving their language and all its features. This paper seeks to determine the challenges facing the indigenous languages for marginalized communities, explore efforts made to revitalize the Tonga language , examine the efforts made by Luunga Visionary Trust (LUVIT) to revitalise the ChiTonga language, and determine opportunities of promoting grassroots efforts to generate intergenerational language sustainability amongst the Tonga communities in Zimbabwe. Using literature review and interviews with representatives of the indigenous communities, this paper examines the Tonga language revitalization efforts in Zimbabwe, focusing on generation of intergenerational language sustainability. This is upon the background of limited to no documentation and inadequate measures implemented to put mechanisms to revitalise the language aspects of the Tonga people. The paper establishes that the indigenous languages like ChiTonga, if not preserved, may be extinct with time due to limited documentation and interference from other language speakers. Grassroots organisations are therefore challenged to promote intergenerational sustainability of the Tonga language.
Wednesday 10:00-10:30Mitchell Chibvamindu, Talent Mudenda and Mike Mutale [HYBRID]
University of Warsaw (Poland)Rural and urban contexts shaping the teaching and learning of the Tonga language in ZimbabweThis paper examines how rural and urban locations shape the teaching and learning of the Tonga language in Zimbabwe. Although Tonga is constitutionally recognised as an Indigenous language, its educational implementation differs markedly between rural Tonga-speaking areas and urban centres where Tonga speakers form a numerical minority. Drawing on sociolinguistic perspectives on language ecology and language-in-education, the paper analyses how contrasting linguistic environments, institutional priorities, and learner profiles influence pedagogical practices and learning outcomes.In rural contexts, Tonga often functions as the primary language of everyday communication, enabling learners to enter school with strong oral competence. This supports mother-tongue-based instruction, particularly in the early grades, but is constrained by shortages of trained teachers, limited teaching and learning materials, and weak institutional support. In urban contexts, Tonga is typically confined to private or familial domains and is frequently taught as a heritage language to learners with varying levels of proficiency. Urban schools often prioritise dominant languages associated with social and economic mobility, which affects enrolment, instructional time, and learner attitudes toward Tonga.The paper argues that rural and urban settings generate distinct but equally significant challenges for Tonga language education. A uniform pedagogical model is therefore inadequate. Effective teaching requires context-sensitive approaches that recognise rural strengths in language transmission and address urban challenges related to language shift and marginalisation. Location-responsive planning is essential for advancing equitable and sustainable Indigenous language education in Zimbabwe.
Wednesday 10:30-10:45
Coffee break
Wednesday 10:45-12:00Urtzi Urrutikoetxea
Garabide (Basque Country, Spain)Garabide: Linguistic Collaboration, Activist Training, and Transnational Networks for Language RevitalizationGarabide is a Basque non-governmental organization working in international cooperation for language revitalization, drawing on more than sixty years of Basque experience in reversing language shift and strengthening intergenerational transmission. Its work is grounded in linguistic collaboration: a reciprocal approach that brings language activists from different parts of the world together to share experiences, tools, and reflections. While we do not promote a single model of revitalization, we present the Basque experience—how it has developed and continues today—as a source of inspiration and practical insight. At the same time, we recognize that languages are vanishing rapidly worldwide, making it urgent tosupport communities in reversing language shift and activating locally grounded revitalization initiatives that respond to their specific sociolinguistic realities and needs.Garabide’s most visible activity is its annual six-week on-site training program, but this forms part of a broader, longer-term process. Training includes preparatory online sessions before the in-person phase and continued follow-up of the specific projects afterward, accompanying participants as they adapt and apply ideas and strategies within their own communities. While the on-site program remains a key moment of collective learning and exchange, the overall design emphasizes continuity and concrete impact rather than knowledge production confined to academic settings.Participants are language activists and professionals from Indigenous and minoritized language communities with diverse yet generally solid professional backgrounds, including education, media, cultural production, community organization, and public advocacy. Some of them also engage with academic research in linguistics, translation, or sociolinguistics, and in recent years an increasing number of younger participants have joined while pursuing postgraduate or doctoral studies. The program intentionally brings together this range of profiles, combining research-based perspectives with applied experience to support forms of expertise that can be mobilized directly in community-led language revitalization.The Basque experience serves as a central reference point throughout the program, not as a blueprint but as a situated and evolving case study. Participants engage with different historical moments and dimensions of Basque language revitalization: clandestine activism under Franco’s dictatorship, grassroots educational initiatives, the development of media and cultural production, institutionalization processes, and contemporary challenges. Attention is also given to internal diversity within the Basque context, including differing political and legal realities under Spanish and French administration. These layered experiences support critical reflection on how social, political, and historical conditions shape revitalization strategies over time.Most participants come from Latin America, with additional collaboration from Africa (including Amazigh and Bubi communities in Equatorial Guinea) and the Kurdish context. Training alongside Basque activists and 16-18 leaders from other language communities fosters an intense exchange of ideas, practices, and perspectives. Participants consistently identify this collective learning environment as one of the program’s most transformative dimensions, enabling them to reassess priorities and identify practical capacities—organizational, communicative, pedagogical, and political—that are crucial for sustaining intergenerational language transmission across diverse contexts.This accumulated experience has led Garabide to develop the Federation of Languages in Revitalization, currently in formation and expected to launch formally within the next six months. The Federation aims to provide a sustained framework for collaboration, peer learning, and collective advocacy beyond isolated projects. This initiative closely aligns with Ahots Batuak (“United Voices”), a project launched by the Basque Government and commissioned to Garabide to advance linguistic diversity within the framework of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promoting a “17+1” vision that highlights linguistic diversity as a foundational dimension of sustainable development.This presentation introduces Garabide’s approach as a collaborative, activist-centered model that contributes to ongoing discussions on skills development for intergenerational language sustainability, while inviting other participants to engage with us, share experiences from other contexts, and explore collective learning and action through initiatives such as the Federation of Languages in Revitalization or the INSTILS Network.
Wednesday 12:00-13:00
Lunch
Wednesday 13:00-13:30Santiago Gualapuro Gualapuro [ONLINE]
Southern Illinois University Carbondale (USA)Kichwa Speech and the Challenges of a Standard OrthographyThe development of unified writing systems for Indigenous languages, many of which have historically been primarily oral presents significant sociolinguistic challenges. Because these languages have been transmitted through spoken interaction across generations, efforts to standardize orthographies often confront tensions between linguistic accuracy and cultural meaning. Orthographies are not merely technical tools; they carry symbolic weight, indexing identity, community belonging, political orientation, and epistemological values. Consequently, any standardization must consider both phonological structure and the social and ideological dimensions that inform how communities wish their languages to be represented.This presentation examines the sound system of Ecuadorian Kichwa, with particular emphasis on vowel patterns, alongside the unified orthography known as Kichwa Unificado, proposed by the Kichwa Language Academy (ALKI). Although ALKI aims to offer a consistent, pan-regional writing standard, its implementation reveals notable limitations in capturing contemporary language use. In regions of intense Kichwa–Spanish contact, linguistic patterns are rapidly shifting. These changes include the incorporation of Spanish vowels, especially the mid vowels [e] and [o], which are absent in traditional Kichwa lexicon, as well as emerging consonant adaptations and broader phonological innovations. Such developments diverge from the forms presupposed by the ALKI system, leading many speakers to feel that the standardized orthography does not adequately reflect the Kichwa spoken in everyday life.Drawing on speaker perspectives and community observations, this study analyzes how grapheme–sound correspondences intersect with ethnic identity, language attitudes, and expectations for representing modern Kichwa speech. For many speakers, orthographic choices signify how they understand themselves and how they want their language to appear in academic, educational, and public domains. When standardized conventions fail to align with lived linguistic experience, they may generate alienation, decrease literacy engagement, or provoke internal debates about authenticity and authority.The presentation concludes by outlining several risks associated with implementing the Unified Alphabet, including social exclusion, pedagogical challenges, and the potential erasure of regional variation. These consequences underscore the need for orthographic models that are linguistically grounded, socially responsive, and aligned with community practices. Ultimately, the study argues for flexible approaches to orthographic development that reflect the realities of language contact and the evolving nature of contemporary Kichwa speech.
Wednesday 13:30-14:00Nabraj Lama
Institute for Socio Cultural Research and Analysis (Nepal)Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Realities: Reflections from Developing a Multilingual Dictionary for the Tamang Community of NepalThis paper explores critical insights gained through an ongoing grassroots initiative to develop a bilingual and trilingual dictionary for Tamang, an indigenous language of Nepal currently facing endangerment. Drawing from two years of hands-on experience, the project has revealed both significant gaps and promising intersections between local language documentation efforts and globally available tools, skills, and training models.The Tamang community—like many others in the Global South—faces systemic challenges in intergenerational language sustainability (ILS), including limited access to digital tools, pedagogical resources, and linguistic training. While a wealth of technological innovations and documentation methodologies exist globally, they often remain inaccessible or unknown to communities where the need for such resources is most urgent. This disconnect stems from a lack of locally embedded training opportunities, insufficient dissemination of ILS skills, and the absence of cross-contextual frameworks that allow for mutual understanding between developers of such tools and their potential users.Through the lens of the Tamang dictionary project, this presentation identifies key ILS skills required in under-resourced contexts—including orthography development, corpus creation, metadata standards, and collaborative dictionary software use—and the barriers to acquiring these skills in a developing country context. It also critically examines the learning curve involved in navigating documentation technologies and linguistic standards that are typically designed without consideration of the infrastructural and sociolinguistic realities of indigenous communities in Nepal and similar settings.The paper argues for a reciprocal model of ILS skills training, in which local experiences of trial-and-error in language work can inform the refinement of existing training programs and toolkits. It calls for the development of a “bridge framework” that not only provides localized training modules but also ensures that global programs such as CoLang, ELDP, or CILLDI are contextualized for and accessible to Global South practitioners. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of fostering channels for dialogue between tool developers and grassroots language workers to co-create adaptable, community-driven training strategies.Ultimately, this work contributes to theorizing ILS skills not as static competencies, but as dynamic, context-sensitive practices that require co-development between communities and training institutions. It foregrounds the need to identify and prioritize ILS skills based on community realities, while simultaneously amplifying the potential of global-local partnerships to advance sustainable, inclusive language revitalization.
Wednesday 14:00-14:30Lex Giesbrecht, Elizabeth Wood and Erin McGarvey
University of Alberta (Canada)The Role of Classroom Volunteers in Skill-Building for Language RevitalizationThe Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI) holds an annual summer school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The aim of this program is to offer courses for skill-building in linguistics, language documentation, and policy planning for language revitalization to members of Indigenous communities. In these classrooms, instructors are joined by Volunteer Summer Program Assistants (VeSPAs).The role of the VeSPA requires a great deal of flexibility. Examples of tasks include answering student questions, providing tech support, acting as tour guides, or simply printing and distributing course materials.Through conducting instructor interviews and reviewing student feedback, we will explore how VeSPAs impact CILLDI course delivery. We will also examine ways to better prepare new VeSPAs during the onboarding process. Finally, we will take a look at what brings people to volunteer for CILLDI and how they benefit from the experience.
Wednesday 14:30-15:00
Coffee break
Wednesday 15:00-15:30Leonora Rotomane Houma
Solomon Islands National UniversityChallenges in teaching local vernaculars in Solomon Islands schoolsSolomon Islands is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the Pacific, where more than sixty local vernacular languages coexist alongside Solomon Pijin – the lingua franca and a de facto national language, and English – the only official language. Despite this linguistic richness, formal education has historically been conducted predominantly in English, reflecting a legacy of colonial administration that continues to influence language policy, curriculum design, and pedagogical practice in ways that marginalise local languages, particularly beyond the early years of education. This paper presents the challenges in teaching and sustaining local vernacular languages within an education system where the official medium of instruction increasingly privileges English, particularly from upper primary through secondary education. Drawing on research in multilingual education, language policy, and vernacular literacy, the paper identifies structural, pedagogical, ideological, and resource-related challenges that influence the teaching of vernacular languages in the Solomon Islands schools. The discussion focuses on the tensions between language preservation, educational effectiveness, and socio-economic aspirations, and argues for contextually grounded approaches that can strengthen intergenerational language sustainability.
Wednesday 15:30-16:00Kevin Martens Wong
Kodrah Kristang (Singapore)The Dragon’s Work: Autopoietic trauma processing and individuation as core skills informing successful intergenerational language sustainabilityThis paper critically examines what appear to be two of the most essential factors behind the unusual, extremely rapid and paradigm-transforming success of the ongoing revitalization effort for the Kristang language, culture, identity and epistemology led by the author – the current 13th Kabesa or Indigenous Chief of the Kristang Creole-Indigenous Nation, one of the youngest native speakers of the critically endangered Kristang language (iso 639-3:mcm), the first scholar-practitioner ever to hold the relationally-determined position and to have it concretised and recognised by the academy, external institutions and governments and primarily for the community’s benefit, and the first openly gay, non-binary, actively polyamorous, atheist, autistic and ADHD-infused Kabesa leading a primarily Roman Catholic community with almost unanimous overt or covert support and little to no financial and formal institutional backing – and strongly covertly supported by more than 400 to 500 other community members across all four cities where Kristang people as Urban Indigenous maintain a significant presence since March 2016: (1) the consistent community-wide applied focus on developing autonomously self-perpetuating or autopoietic mechanisms of processing all forms of individual, collective and intergenerational trauma, and (2) a similar focus on agentically embarking on the process of a specifically Kristang and/or Creole-Indigenous form of individuation, or agentic human psychoemotional development.The paper traces the initial interest in both skillsets that was consolidated into a ground-up, decolonial and creole Kristang theory of the psyche by the author following severe sexual abuse just prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2019, and which has then been similarly covertly taken up by many other members of the community and by non-Kristang people in Singapore, Melaka and Perth across all six living adult generations in successive waves since August 2022, culminating in the first-ever public acknowledgement of Kristang as Indigenous by the Singapore state in 2024, the first-ever incorporation of Kristang – an extremely stigmatised, misunderstood and denigrated variety regarded as merely broken Portuguese by even the community themselves just a decade prior – as a language for formal adult study by the National University of Singapore in January 2025, the organic generation of an entire new covert third-way / non-aligned power centre within the otherwise highly rigid and hegemonically-governed political ecosystem of Singapore centered on the Kristang known as the Loyal Indigenous following the 2025 Singapore General Election in May 2025, and multiple forms of public and explicit recognition of the author as Chief of the community by the Singapore state in June 2025, the first and so far only ethnic community leader ever to gain such recognition while still evading all forms of state control since Singapore gained independence in 1965. The paper ultimately argues that the reasons behind this success extend far beyond just straightforward antifragility or resilience, and also lie in highly complex metacognitive reasoning, synergy and cognitive reframing only conceivably emergent from the aforementioned core skills of autopoietic trauma processing and individuation that now also appear to be a feature of everyday functioning for people involved in the revitalization effort.
Wednesday 18:00-22:00
Conference Dinner at Boxer
Thursday May 7
Putting a Canvas on the Frame: Improving the INSTILS Framework for ILS Skills TrainingFacilitators: Darren Flavelle and Jordan Lachler
As the academic field of Skills Training for Intergenerational Language Sustainability is still in its nascency, there are yet many questions which need to be addressed, and still more to be thought of. A review of ILS training institutes in North America (Flavelle & Lachler, in press) identified six main categories of ILS skills which are commonly taught:
* Linguistic Skills - The skills to actively speak/sign and comprehend a language* Metalinguistic Skills - The skills to find structural patterns within a language* Documentation Skills - The skills to document and preserve a language* Pedagogical Skills - The skills to teach a language effectively across a range of contexts* Language Policy and Planning Skills - The skills to mobilize individuals and communities in support of ILS* Culture and Worldview Skills - The skills that are intrinsically linked to the cultural aspects of the language community
This workshop will explore these categories and their connections to ILS, and review some of the key research questions that have already been identified. From this starting point, participants will collaborate on furthering the theorization of skills training for ILS, drawing on their own experiences and expertise. The goal is to move forward in developing a set of best practices which can support both existing and newly-developed ILS skills training programs.
DRAGONS GOLD: Designing Your Own Language Documentation ToolsFacilitators: Lex Giesbrecht and Erin McGarvey
In this workshop, participants will learn how to design, create, and use their own versions of language documentation software developed by DRAGONS (Documentation Revitalization And Generation Of New Speakers) Lab at the University of Alberta. DRAGONS GOLD. The Generators Of Language Data (DRAGONS GOLD) is a browser-based, offline software designed to be used by anyone to rapidly create a corpus of discrete, labeled recordings which can be turned into useable materials to help ILS efforts in community (Flavelle & Lachler, 2023).DRAGONS GOLD enables community members to easily record words, phrases, sentences, and stories of their own choosing, to be used for their own language plans. All the data remains in the control and possession of the community.
Participants will learn the ins and outs of how to use the suite of tools that come with DRAGONS GOLD as well as how to modify the back-end of the programs to customize them for their own contexts. Participants will leave with a working version of the software that they can expand upon when they return home.
The Long View: Futures Thinking for Intergenerational Language SustainabilityFacilitators: Kodrah Kristang
Language sustainability work does not happen in a vacuum – it is shaped by larger forces like technological change, migration patterns, climate impacts, and shifting cultural values. Different communities face vastly different futures depending on their stage of language endangerment, geographic context, and available resources. Yet we often make critical decisions based on assumptions about language transmission without questioning whether those assumptions will hold in a rapidly changing future.
This workshop addresses a fundamental ILS skill often overlooked: strategic anticipation - the ability to notice emerging changes, identify which skills and interventions will matter most in different future scenarios, and make decisions today that strengthen language transmission for generations to come. By learning to think long-term and pay attention systematically, participants will be better equipped to prioritise skills training, adapt approaches to diverse community contexts, and build programs that remain relevant as conditions change.
This workshop offers practical tools that you can use in your own work to ask critical questions: What skills will communities need not just now, but 10-20 years from now? How do we identify and prioritise among competing needs? What assumptions are we making that may no longer hold? Drawing on the Kristang Quaternity of Personhood framework - which evaluates community health and well-being through analysis of effects on korpu / body, mulera / mind, korsang / heart and alma / soul – we will explore how futures thinking can help us consider the full dimensions of what communities need for language sustainability across generations.
This workshop is for academics, language practitioners, and community members who want to widen their view and make more thoughtful, context-aware decisions about ILS skills development.
Thursday 9:00-12:00
Group A: Putting a Canvas on the Frame: Improving the INSTILS Framework for ILS Skills Training
Group B: DRAGONS GOLD: Designing Your Own Language Documentation Tools
Group C: The Long View: Futures Thinking for Intergenerational Language Sustainability
Thursday 12:00-13:00
Lunch
Thursday 13:00-16:00Group A: DRAGONS GOLD: Designing Your Own Language Documentation ToolsGroup B: The Long View: Futures Thinking for Intergenerational Language Sustainability Group C: Putting a Canvas on the Frame: Improving the INSTILS Framework for ILS Skills Training
Friday May 8
Friday 9:00-12:00
Group A: The Long View: Futures Thinking for Intergenerational Language Sustainability Group B: Putting a Canvas on the Frame: Improving the INSTILS Framework for ILS Skills Training Group C: DRAGONS GOLD: Designing Your Own Language Documentation Tools
Friday 12:00-13:00
Lunch
Friday 13:00-16:00
Conference wrap-up and planning for next steps