Alor has many local languages which are not well documented. According to Ethnologue, Alor island is home to a significant number of distinct languages. Nevertheless the status of those languages generally considered to be endangered and efforts are needed to preserve the existing languages. Dr George Saad of Palacký University Olomouc in co-operation with Dr Owen Edwards of Leiden University were facilitators of the workshop.
Fieldwork Team; Phillip Endicott, George Saad, Owen Edwards, June Jacob, Thersia Tamelan, Simon Daniel Lanma are having picture after the workshop with Rector of Tribuana Univeristy, Kalabahi (Alvonso F Gorang) and the Dean of Teachers Training and Educational Sciences (Antonius A. Saetban).
Lead by Adolfina M.S Moybeka as the team leader accompanied by Simon Daniel Lanma both OCSEAN members, run a Workshops on documenting Alor local languages. It was held on May 24-29, 2023 at Tribuana University of Kalabahi - Alor. Students and Lecturers of English Department took part of the workshop. The goal of the workshop was to provide practical training in language documentation for people from Alor with an interest in their local languages, and have the potential to play a major role in documenting these languages. The workshop consisted of two parts. First, intensive classroom tutorials provided basic training in community ethics, transcription and annotation, orthography development, and data management/ archiving. The workshop included two days of field study by five different teams. One of the greatest challenges for documentary linguistics is the lack of capacity, especially in regions were language endangerment is most severe. It is our hope that the workshop participants especially the students will continue in their efforts to document local languages and preserve the rich linguistic heritage of Alor.
George Saad and Owen Edwards are teaching How to do Language documentation.
Tribuana University Students were enthusiast to discuss about language documentation process.
After two days of knowledge sharing the students were split to four groups and each created one story as the final project. At the end of the workshop, each group presented their story orally and the team collected as the final project. These reports demonstrate the enormous potential of well-trained local documentation teams to complete professional quality documentation in short amount of time. More information can be found from the OCSEAN Alor team posts.
In addition to the active workshop series, OCSEAN members visited the traditional village of Takpala to closely observe the lifestyle of the indigenous Abui people. This visit provided a unique opportunity to witness the daily lives, traditional customs, and cultural practices of the Abui community.
Standing and siting in Takpala Traditional House from left to right; Phillip Endicot (red), Adolfina Moybeka, Owen Edwards, Thersia Tamelan, George Saad and late- June Jacob.
Following the visit to Takpala, the OCSEAN team continued our journey to Monbang Village. Here, our team gained a deeper understanding of the Monbang people's way of life and were introduced to the traditional process of making clothing from the bark of the "Ka" tree, as referred to by the local community. This experience highlighted the intricate techniques and cultural significance of bark cloth production, offering valuable insights into the heritage and craftsmanship of the Monbang people.
Monbang indiginous people shows how to make bark tree clothes.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 873207.
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