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ELAN

WELCOME

to the Center for Endangered Languages Documentation (CELD)

In Indonesia, more than 700 languages are spoken, approximately 250 speech communities exist alone in Papua.
Many of these languages and cultures presently undergo a rapid reduction. The linguistic competence of speakers under twenty is primarily passive. Over the next generations, the languages ‑  i.e. a part of the worldwide cultural heritage – will disappear.

The Center for Endangered Languages documentation
• works with speech communities in Papua to document their languages and cultures
• trains linguists, students and local experts in state of the art documentation technology
• supports teachers, government agencies, artists, activists to develop and use multimedia materials in local languages
• is committed to establish at the State University of Papua (UNIPA) sustainable structures in to access ethno-linguistic data from all over the world

“The death of a language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions and oral expressions of the community that spoke it – from poems and legends to proverbs and jokes. The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanity’s grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about the nature and the universe.”