Linguists and anthropologists are familiar with the rush to gather and preserve data and field notes on endangered cultures and languages. The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) aims to document, preserve, and share such data, to benefit scholars and the communities about which data were collected. The archive houses an extensive and ever-growing digitized collection of records on endangered cultures and languages from across the world. Its 630 collections represent more than 1,200 languages and include more than 14,000 hours of audio recordings and 2,000 hours of video, as well as digitized copies of field notes from noted linguists. The collection mainly comprises cultures and languages from the Pacific region, but also contains records from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. On the page linked above, visitors can search by "Collections" or by "Items" (both linked in the menu bar), which offer unrestricted access via OLAC or LINGUIST LIST gateways. PARADISEC is a consortium of three Australian universities: the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, and the University of Sydney.
Comments