Isabella Victoria Wolfe (NYU Gallatin) | The Language Conservancy | Indiana, USA
The Language Conservancy has been a very educational experience in both my academic and personal life—from spectating syntax debates to acquiring “godspeed” in my everyday vernacular thanks to one of my office buddies, Sam; I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people and setting some deep roots in Bloomington, Indiana. Most projects I have worked on are ongoing such as the Cowlitz online dictionary, Hoit’e Woiperes, and Ammilaau. During my last week at TLC, I started working on a new online dictionary alongside a team of linguists for Eastern Shoshone, an Indigenous tribe in Fort Washakie, Wyoming. And the dictionary was recently published online as of August 16th!
My main goal for this Fellowship was to learn more about the work environment in language revitalization due to my difficulties finding undergraduate opportunities that allow in-field work. I can safely say that I still have a lot to learn in this field, including the controversies that come with non-profit work, but building personal connections with my co-workers and assisting in these projects has completely solidified my pursuits in language documentation.
In my independent study, I mainly focused on the different methods of language revitalization including language immersion school curricula, grassroot organizations vs. NGOs, and evaluating language policies for economic incentive. One of the ideologies that I have consistently encountered throughout my studies is looking at language documentation as a form of “collecting data,” specifically for the benefit of a linguists’ own research. In the context of linguistic human rights, language documentation must be understood in terms that transcend a scientific approach by linguists, which is inevitably repressive in this field of work. For many indigenous communities the ability to maintain the resources in their native language is a matter of cultural preservation. Indigenous communities have a primary interest in documenting their native language that will assist them in keeping their identity alive and vibrant; and this consistently needs to be reiterated in this field.
The Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellowship has been so integral in critically reconstructing my own intellectual beliefs, and for that I am grateful—and all I can say is thank you to NYU’s Global program; The Language Conservancy; and my independent study professor, Professor Gillian Gallagher. For the upcoming Fall semester, I am happy to say, I will be continuing to work with TLC for academic credit, remotely. I have also found an interest in second language acquisition in indigenous communities with a crucially low number of native speakers, which has led to a Research Assistant position at NYU’s LEARN Lab. And I will also continue working with my independent study professor!
Thank you again to the NYU Global Human Rights Fellowship Program!
Sincerely,
Isabella V.W