A.F.R.I.C.A. Language Preservation & Digital Inclusion Fundraiser

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Lost Worlds Institute

LXCL:Lost Worlds Institute is a youth-led organization that preserves endangered languages &amp; amplifies the unheard voices of language communities. We have three parts to our mission: (1) research languages to write papers and create documentation resources; (2) expand digital inclusion fronts so that languages without a digital presence can have one - websites, online learning tools, etc; (3) bridging the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics.

Join us for a linguistics talk with Yoolim Kim&nbsp;(Carleton College), exploring invented languages &amp; practical phonetics. There will be Q&amp;A after her presentation! 📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: language invention and phonetics! 🌍

Yoolim Kim (Carleton College): Linguistics Talk

Join us for a talk with&nbsp;<a fr-original-style="" href="https://ancientgreekschool.com/about" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Maciek Gdula</a>, teacher, scholar, &amp; content creator in the Classics. We will explore the crossover of Linguistics (morphology, phonology, etc) and the Classics, particularly in dialectic shifts over time 📜. There will be Q&amp;A after! This event is part of Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s work to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Many of us--including LWI&#39;s founder--discovered interest in linguistics through the Classics. Together, we&#39;ll look at what Ancient Greek can teach us about the study of languages on the whole &amp; why diversity of languages matters for culture and history 🌍.

Maciek Gdula (Ancient Greek School): Linguistics & Classics Talk

Join us for a talk with linguist Spike Gildea (University of Oregon), exploring his fieldwork in South America (particularly with the Werikyana community of Brazil). Q&amp;A will take place after his presentation. 🎓 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: fieldwork &amp; on-site research/documentation! 🌍

Spike Gildea (Uni. of Oregon): Linguistics Talk

Join typeface designer Cris Hern&aacute;ndez (Que Queda Type) for a focused talk on the importance of typeface design--and creative applications of tech &amp; linguistics--to language preservation. Discover how language communities&#39; needs inform type design choices across languages. ✨ This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore a field of Digital Inclusion when it comes to language preservation work: typeface design. You will gain expert insight into real world methodologies that make an impact on language communities through technology. 🌍

Cris Hernández (Typeface Designer @ Que Queda Type): Linguistics & Typefaces Talk

Join us for a conversation with New York Times journalist Jonathan Abrams on how he discovered the topic of language preservation &amp; the AI-driven solutions to the problem. Abrams, having written the article <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/27/arts/ai-cajun-french-language.html" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">How Teaching A.I. Endangered Languages Can Help Save Them</a>, entered a world of culture that is less documented by main stream media. 🗞️ The Lost Worlds Institute works to document and revitalize endangered languages. 🗺️ In this talk, we connect that mission to journalism: whose voices get recorded, what solutions to the problem are, and--through the expertise of Abrams--how such an article is created.

Jonathan Abrams (NY Times) Speaker Forum: Language & Journalism Talk

(Held on Zoom for everyone to join!) Come hear from linguist Dr. Michael Everdell from Boston University. Interested in interested in syntax, semantics, and the syntax-semantics interface, Dr. Everdell uses &nbsp;ieldwork on Southern Tepehuan languages to document languages &amp; explore broader cross-linguistic questions. Sign up for this wonderful talk for FREE and join in hearing about Dr. Everdell&#39;s work and expertise. There will be Q&amp;A/discussion at the end of the talk!

Dr. Everdell (BU) Speaker Forum: Linguistics Talk

(Held on Zoom for everyone to join!) Come hear from linguist Professor Chad Howe from The University of Georgia. Specializing in language variation and change, he focuses on structural phenomena in Romance Languages, working on Spanish/Quechua contact as of recently. Sign up for this wonderful talk for FREE and join in hearing about Professor Howe&#39;s work and expertise. There will be Q&amp;A/discussion at the end of the talk!

Prof. Howe (UGA) Speaker Forum: Linguistics Talk

(Held on Zoom for everyone to join!) Come hear from linguist Professor Lenore Grenoble&nbsp;from The University of Chicago. She specializes in the study of language contact and shift in Indigenous settings, particularly in the Arctic. She will discuss her recent fieldwork in Nepal amongst other linguistic topics. Sign up for this wonderful talk for FREE and join in hearing this area of linguistics. There will be Q&amp;A/discussion at the end of the talk!

Prof. Grenoble (UChicago) Speaker Forum: Linguistics Talk

(Held on Zoom for everyone to join!)&nbsp;Come hear from linguist Professor Laura McPherson of Dartmouth, whose research focuses on phonology, morphology, and fieldwork/language documentation. Prof. McPherson&#39;s research focuses on documenting and analyzing the linguistic underpinnings of musical surrogate languages, like talking drums. She has even started a podcast on musical surrogate languages: When Music Speaks! Sign up for this amazing talk for FREE and join in hearing this area of linguistics.There will be Q&amp;A/discussion at the end of her talk!

Prof. McPherson (Dartmouth) Speaker Forum: Linguistics Talk

Lost Worlds Institute is honored to welcome the internationally recognized Professor Claire Bowern of Yale University&nbsp;for an exclusive speaker event exploring the frontiers of language documentation, &nbsp;linguistics, and the preservation of the world&rsquo;s most endangered languages. 🎟️ Open to students, researchers, scholars, and all interested in linguistics!

Prof. Bowern (YALE) Speaker Forum: Linguistics Talk

​📣 We are working on a boost to three projects: SILCC (for Mani and languages in Sierra Leone); Ikaan (a language community in Nigeria); and A.F.R.I.C.A., our all-around African Endangered Languages project.&nbsp;These projects are nearing their conclusion: we have already built <a fr-original-style="" href="https://hausa-archive.vercel.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; width: 100%; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">this site for the Hausa community</a>, funded a language immersion school for the Bum language, and we are starting to collect recordings for Ikaan. Your donation supports concrete work: field recordings, digital archives, and permanent online presence for communities with little to no access to the web and internet. We are working with: the Mani language, languages of Sierra Leone, Ikaan and more. We are working on two fronts. We&#39;re funding on-site fieldwork for Ikaan to document their grammar, their vocabulary, etc. That work is slow and requires methodical training; thanks to linguists on the ground with whom we&#39;ve connected, we are excited to sponsor and collaborate in their work.&nbsp; Second, we&#39;re building actual websites for these languages to build digital trust and a permanent online presence, serving as lasting cultural and linguistic preservation. Donations will go toward the following:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Purchasing equipment for fieldwork (cameras, mics, etc)</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Compensation for elicitation in on-site&nbsp;fieldwork</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Hosting and building websites</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Supporting African communities&#39; digital expenses</li></ul>By donating, you help local speakers document their own stories, build accessible online resources, and ensure that younger generations can learn in their heritage languages 💻. Together we protect knowledge, memory, and identity encoded in these languages for the communities who speak them. We are close to finishing these projects and need your help for the final push!

​📣 We are working on a boost to three projects: SILCC (for Mani and languages in Sierra Leone); Ikaan (a language community in Nigeria); and A.F.R.I.C.A., our all-around African Endangered Languages project. These projects are nearing their conclusion: we have already built this site for the Hausa community, funded a language immersion school for the Bum language, and we are starting to collect recordings for Ikaan.Your donation supports concrete work: field recordings, digital archives, and permanent online presence for communities with little to no access to the web and internet.We are working with: the Mani language, languages of Sierra Leone, Ikaan and more.We are working on two fronts. We're funding on-site fieldwork for Ikaan to document their grammar, their vocabulary, etc. That work is slow and requires methodical training; thanks to linguists on the ground with whom we've connected, we are excited to sponsor and collaborate in their work. Second, we're building actual websites for these languages to build digital trust and a permanent online presence, serving as lasting cultural and linguistic preservation.Donations will go toward the following:Purchasing equipment for fieldwork (cameras, mics, etc)Compensation for elicitation in on-site fieldworkHosting and building websitesSupporting African communities' digital expensesBy donating, you help local speakers document their own stories, build accessible online resources, and ensure that younger generations can learn in their heritage languages 💻. Together we protect knowledge, memory, and identity encoded in these languages for the communities who speak them. We are close to finishing these projects and need your help for the final push!

SILCC, Ikaan, A.F.R.I.C.A. Language Boost Fundraiser

Join us for a linguistics talk with Andrew Cheng (University of Hawai&#39;i), exploring his work at the University of Hawai&#39;i in Hawaiian and Micronesian languages. There will be Q&amp;A after his presentation! 📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: research in Hawaiian &amp; Micronesian languages! 🌍

Andrew Cheng (University of Hawai'i): Linguistics Talk

Join us for a talk with Matt Pearson (Reed University), exploring syntactic theory &amp; syntax-focused elicitation research. There will be Q&amp;A after his presentation!&nbsp;📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: syntax! 🌍

Matt Pearson (Reed University): Linguistics Talk

Join us for a linguistics talk by Gerhard J&auml;ger (T&uuml;bingen University), our first international talk, exploring other sides to &quot;computational linguistics&quot; besides NLPs based on his research &amp; line of work. There will be Q&amp;A after his presentation! 📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: computational linguistics! 🌍

Gerhard Jäger (Tübingen University / Germany): Linguistics Talk

Join us for a linguistics talk with John Gluckman (University of Kansas),&nbsp;exploring focusing on syntax, morphology, and the languages of East Africa. There will be Q&amp;A after his presentation! 📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: fieldwork on understudied languages of East Africa (through syntax + morphology)! 🌍

John Gluckman (University of Kansas): Linguistics Talk

Join us&nbsp;for a talk by Nathan Sanders (University of Toronto),&nbsp;exploring how we can use interactive methodologies (such as games) to teach linguistics and phonology. There will be Q&amp;A after his presentation! 📚 This event supports the Lost Worlds Institute&rsquo;s mission to bridge the gap between high school &amp; academia in linguistics. Through this talk, open to ANYONE interested in the public, you can explore academic research, fieldwork, and linguistics study at the professional level. Additionally, you will gain expert insight into a specific sub-sect of linguistics: innovative pedagogic approaches to linguistics! 🌍

Lost Worlds Institute

Lost Worlds Institute

Upcoming events

Events

Get your tickets

Andrew Cheng (University of Hawai'i): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Matt Pearson (Reed University): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Gerhard Jäger (Tübingen University / Germany): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

John Gluckman (University of Kansas): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Nathan Sanders (University of Toronto): Linguistics Talk

More ways to support us

Donate now

SILCC, Ikaan, A.F.R.I.C.A. Language Boost Fundraiser

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Upcoming events

Events

Get your tickets

Andrew Cheng (University of Hawai'i): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Matt Pearson (Reed University): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Gerhard Jäger (Tübingen University / Germany): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

John Gluckman (University of Kansas): Linguistics Talk

Get your tickets

Nathan Sanders (University of Toronto): Linguistics Talk

More ways to support us

Donate now

SILCC, Ikaan, A.F.R.I.C.A. Language Boost Fundraiser

Powered by

Lost Worlds Institute