Documenting Languages and Ethnobiological Knowledge

• Applicant: Professorin Birgit Hellwig, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548506724

In recent years, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been increasingly acknowledged as a relevant topic by linguists who carry out language documentation projects. Language archives now contain a significant amount of audiovisual materials related to TEK, but due to the sheer volume of stored data and the technical expertise required to locate and view the materials, the average user may struggle to access the relevant files. In this proposal, we intend to develop a simple, user-friendly ethnobiology portal (the Asia-Melanesia Portal for Ethnobiology and Language, AMPEL) that will link to existing language archives (e.g. the Language Archive Cologne, Pangloss) and present users with numerous ways of accessing TEK in a range of languages of Asia and Melanesia. Based on an existing portal (Documenting Ethnobiology in Mexico and Central America, DEMCA), and using the open access software platform Symbiota, AMPEL will be tailored to suit local purposes, while giving equal weight to pertinent issues in biology (e.g. scientific classification), linguistics (e.g. audiovisual playback and transcriptions) and ethnobiology (e.g. detailed descriptions of uses, cultural practices and beliefs). Legacy data from a range of languages, obtained from project participants and collaborators, will be uploaded into the portal, which is designed to be modular and accommodate additional languages. This functionality will allow new data collected during the project to be added with ease. The collection of new data will primarily take place in two Austroasiatic language communities (Palaung & Danau) in Myanmar and in one community (Yali) in West Papua. The Yali fieldwork will include a potentially world-first study of children’s acquisition of the ethnobiological lexicon, carried out within a modern language socialization framework. The wealth of data accumulated in the portal can subsequently be analyzed to answer a range of linguistic and ethnobiological questions, two of which will be tackled during the lifetime of the project. The first is whether cross-linguistic 'universals' of ethno-classification and nomenclature really do exist. This question has been debated for decades using data from other languages, but never systematically for the languages of Asia and Melanesia. Second, the portal data can be used to investigate the consequences of long-term language contact on the ethnobiological lexicon, particularly on the spread of ideas (manifested as calques and loanwords, shared beliefs regarding birds and animals, common uses of plants) among speakers of unrelated languages. Finally, the project will help promote grassroots awareness of, and participation in, ethnobiological documentation through a community forum built into the portal, training sessions for students from endangered language communities in West Papua and the encouragement of student research projects in Europe, based on portal data.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Sonja Riesberg