Projects
A Commitment to Indigenous Child Language Research
When the only remaining speakers of a language are the elderly, the future of that language becomes uncertain. Child speakers are foundational to sustaining and maintaining languages.
Shiyázhí Yáłtiʼ
The Shiyázhí Yałti’ project works with audio recordings of children ages four through eleven. Currently, this data is being transcribed, coded, and analyzed for verbs. Future work includes analyzing child-directed speech for comparison. This data was recorded during Dr. Melvatha Chee’s fieldwork.
Saad Kʼidilyé
The Indigenous Child Language Research Center and Saad Kʼidilyé, an Albuquerque based language nest for urban Diné families, are collaborating on a community-oriented project with support from the Center for Regional Studies. This groundbreaking research project examines adult language directed to children, as well as the gestures and first words of children. The goal of this project is to gain insight into the acquisition of Diné Bizaad.
Research & Support
We are happy to walk interested individuals through the methodology we use for our current projects and assist in brainstorming or troubleshooting ideas related to your project approach. The ICLRC can support community-led projects by providing consultations and training for software such as ELAN and Praat. If you are interested in starting a research project and would like training or support, please contact us via email at iclrc@unm.edu.