The Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL) program is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and advance knowledge concerning endangered human languages. Made urgent by the imminent death of an estimated half of the 6000-7000 currently used languages, this effort aims also to exploit advances in information technology. Awards support fieldwork and other activities relevant to recording, documenting, and archiving endangered languages, including the preparation of lexicons, grammars, text samples, and databases. DEL funding is available in the form of one- to three-year project grants as well as fellowships for six to twelve months. At least half the available funding will be awarded to projects involving fieldwork.

All DEL applications are submitted to NSF for review. Upon completion of the review process, the administration of awards is conducted separately by NEH or NSF.

To find NEH awards since 2006, use the NEH “Funded Projects Query Form” at https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx .  Check the box “Grant Program”and open the menu to select “Documenting Endangered Languages: Fellowships” or “Documenting Endangered Languages: Preservation.”  Click the “Display result” button.  The announcement of 2005 awards is found at www.neh.gov/news/archive/20050505.html.

For NSF awards see www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=12816.

Sample Applications:

• NEH fellowship: Stephen Marlett, “Documenting the Me'phaa Genus” (18-page PDF).
• NEH grant: Monica Macaulay and Laura Welcher, University of Wisconsin, “Potawatomi Documentation, Lexical Database, and Dictionary” (17-page PDF).
• NSF doctoral dissertation award: Scott DeLancey/ Tam Nguyen, University of Oregon, “A Bih/Rade/English/Vietnamese Dictionary” (11-page PDF).
• NSF grant: Sadaf Munshi, University of North Texas, “Archive of Annotated Burushaski Texts” (15-page PDF).