The Cairo Refugee Language Project: Documenting Endangered Languages in a Refugee Population Robert S. Williams The American University in Cairo University of Newcastle upon Tyne Monday, May 15, 2006

Cairo as a Refugee Center It is impossible to get an exact number for refugees in Cairo UNHCR estimates for 2005: approx. 90,000: 70,000 Palestinian 21,000 from Sudan and Somalia. However, these figures represent only those who are still seeking resettlement There may be as many as 1M Sudanese refugees in Cairo

Cairo as a Refugee Center The majority of African refugees are Sudanese, most of these from the Darfur and the Nuba Mountains Among the most cited reasons for migration from Sudan are: 1)political and religious persecution 2)deteriorating security conditions 3)forced conscription 4)deteriorating economic conditions

The Cairo Refugee Language Project The CRLP was founded in 2005 as a research support project We are a small group working with AUC’s Forced Migration and Refugee Studies program We are working to: –offer access to basic facts and statistics about refugees and language in Cairo –provide a site for storage and dissemination of scholarship on these issues –assist scholars in contacting and working with speakers of various languages among the refugee population in Cairo –provide any assistance possible to scholars conducting research in Cairo AUC’s Main Campus, downtown Cairo

CRLP Ongoing Projects At present, CRLP-based scholars are working on –the Cairo Community Interpreters Project –basic fact gathering on refugee language issues –the Intercontinental Dictionary Series –endangered language documentation Sudanese refugees at AUC’s FMRS Center

CRLP Cairo Community Interpreters Project This project works to give training in simultaneous interpretation to refugees who speak English and Arabic They are often called on by other refugees to act as interpreters for a variety of speech events The CRLP participates by providing the project with seminars in discourse analysis and other linguistic aspects of interpreting Interpreters at graduation If you are interested, check out their website: www. aucegypt.edu/academic/interpreters/index.html

CRLP The Cairo Refugee Language Issues Survey Administered June 2005 to February 2006 Non-random sample, N = 243 Respondents were mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea Interviewers were students and personnel from a community interpreter course Workers spoke English or Arabic and their native language The interview schedule was composed of questions focusing on the respondent’s biographical data, language use, experiences in language classes The survey helped us to meet speakers of many different languages Survey worker training at AUC, Spring 2005

CRLP The Intercontinental Dictionary Series Kamal Gaboush Ama Language Consultant The IDS is a long-term cooperative project, involving linguists and speakers all over the world Our purpose is to establish a lexical database where material across the continents is organized so that comparisons can be made Historical studies, comparative, and theoretical linguistic research can be based on this documentation A further aim of the IDS is to promote international understanding and cooperation The purpose also contributes to preserving information on the little-known and "non-prestigious" languages of the world, many of which are becoming extinct

CRLP The Intercontinental Dictionary Series Yohannes Kenning Fur Language Consultant The IDS project is now housed at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany It was founded by Mary Ritchie Key. MPI’s Bernard Comrie now serves as the IDS General Editor Working on the IDS is a great way to start documenting endangered languages

CRLP Documenting Endangered Languages Abdelbagi Daida Ajang Language Consultant Our main project now is the documentation of two endangered Sudanese languages: Ama and Ajang (Ghulfan) This effort involves: eliciting words, sentences, and larger units of discourse making audio recordings of elicitations and natural discourse carrying out grammatical and phonological analyses video recording conversations and narratives digitizing text, audio, and video material and putting it into best practices formats for archival purposes

CRLP Documenting Endangered Languages We eventually hope to: write analytical grammars of the two languages work with speakers to produce basic language teaching and language awareness materials make all materials available to speakers of the languages and to other interested scholars

Some Resources Cairo Refugee Language Project: Cairo Community Interpreters Project: Intercontinental Dictionary Series: E-MELD (Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data) SOAS- Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project