The Cairo Refugee Language The Cairo Refugee Language Project: Project:

Documenting Endangered Documenting Endangered Languages Languages

in a Refugee Populationin a Refugee PopulationRobert S. WilliamsRobert S. Williams

The American University in CairoThe American University in Cairorwilliams@aucegypt.edu

www.aucegypt.edu/faculty/rwilliamswww.aucegypt.edu/academic/crlp

University of Newcastle upon TyneMonday, May 15, 2006

Cairo as a Refugee CenterCairo as a Refugee Center

It is impossible to get an exact number for refugees in Cairo

UNHCR estimates for 2005: approx. 90,000:

70,000 Palestinian

21,000 from Sudan and Somalia.

However, these figures represent only those who are still seeking resettlement

There may be as many as 1M Sudanese refugees in Cairo

Cairo as a Refugee CenterCairo as a Refugee Center

The majority of African refugees are Sudanese, most of these from the Darfur and the Nuba Mountains

Among the most cited reasons for migration from Sudan are:

1) political and religious persecution

2) deteriorating security conditions

3) forced conscription

4) deteriorating economic conditions

The Cairo Refugee Language ProjectThe Cairo Refugee Language Project

The CRLP was founded in 2005 as a research support project

We are a small group working with AUC’s Forced Migration and Refugee Studies program

We are working to:– offer access to basic facts and statistics

about refugees and language in Cairo

– provide a site for storage and dissemination of scholarship on these issues

– assist scholars in contacting and working with speakers of various languages among the refugee population in Cairo

– provide any assistance possible to scholars conducting research in Cairo

AUC’s Main Campus, downtown Cairo

CRLPCRLPOngoing ProjectsOngoing Projects

At present, CRLP-based scholars are working on

– the Cairo Community Interpreters Project

– basic fact gathering on refugee language issues

– the Intercontinental Dictionary Series

– endangered language documentation

Sudanese refugeesat AUC’s FMRS Center

CRLPCRLPCairo Community Interpreters ProjectCairo Community Interpreters Project

This project works to give training in simultaneous interpretation to refugees who speak English and Arabic

They are often called on by other refugees to act as interpreters for a variety of speech events

The CRLP participates by providing the project with seminars in discourse analysis and other linguistic aspects of interpreting

Interpreters atgraduation

If you are interested, check out their website:

www. aucegypt.edu/academic/interpreters/index.html

CRLPCRLPThe The Cairo Refugee Language Issues Cairo Refugee Language Issues

SurveySurvey• Administered June 2005 to February 2006

• Non-random sample, N = 243

• Respondents were mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea

• Interviewers were students and personnel from a community interpreter course

• Workers spoke English or Arabic and their native language

• The interview schedule was composed of questions focusing on the respondent’s biographical data, language use, experiences in language classes

• The survey helped us to meet speakers of many different languages

Survey worker trainingat AUC, Spring 2005

CRLPCRLPThe Intercontinental Dictionary The Intercontinental Dictionary

SeriesSeries

Kamal Gaboush Ama

Language Consultant

• The IDS is a long-term cooperative project, involving linguists and speakers all over the world

• Our purpose is to establish a lexical database where material across the continents is organized so that comparisons can be made

• Historical studies, comparative, and theoretical linguistic research can be based on this documentation

• A further aim of the IDS is to promote international understanding and cooperation

• The purpose also contributes to preserving information on the little-known and "non-prestigious" languages of the world, many of which are becoming extinct

CRLPCRLPThe Intercontinental Dictionary The Intercontinental Dictionary

SeriesSeries

Yohannes KenningFur

Language Consultant

• The IDS project is now housed at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany

• It was founded by Mary Ritchie Key. MPI’s Bernard Comrie now serves as the IDS General Editor

• Working on the IDS is a great way to start documenting endangered languages

CRLPCRLPDocumenting Endangered LanguagesDocumenting Endangered Languages

Abdelbagi DaidaAjang

LanguageConsultant

Our main project now is the documentation of two endangered Sudanese languages: Ama and Ajang (Ghulfan)

This effort involves:

• eliciting words, sentences, and larger units of discourse

• making audio recordings of elicitations and natural discourse

• carrying out grammatical and phonological analyses

• video recording conversations and narratives

• digitizing text, audio, and video material and putting it into best practices formats for archival purposes

CRLPCRLPDocumenting Endangered LanguagesDocumenting Endangered Languages

We eventually hope to:

• write analytical grammars of the two languages

• work with speakers to produce basic language teaching and language awareness materials

• make all materials available to speakers of the languages and to other interested scholars

Some ResourcesSome ResourcesCairo Refugee Language Project:

www.aucegypt.edu/academic/crlp

Cairo Community Interpreters Project:

www.aucegypt.edu/academic/interpreters/index.html

Intercontinental Dictionary Series:

http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/files/ids.html

E-MELD (Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data)

http://emeld.org/index.cfm

SOAS- Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project

http://www.hrelp.org