Endangered languages and archives
Research theme: Multilingualism and Language learning
Mercator staff: Dr. Tjeerd de Graaf
Duration: 2003 - 2038
Funding: The project received funding from various sources. For more details, please click here.
Collaboration with : UNESCO, Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL), Foundation for Siberian Cultures (FSC), Centre for Russian Studies
The work related to Endangered Languages and Endangered Archives at the Fryske Akademy and the Mercator European Research Centre is focused on the study of language contact and language change and the reconstruction of historical sound recordings. We investigate the phonetic aspects of languages and dialects of minority and regional languages, in particular those of the Russian Federation and neighbouring countries.
About Tjeerd de Graaf
A physicist who became a language rediscoverer
- Research fellow at the Frisian Academy, Mercator European Research Centre, and the Centre for Russian Studies at Groningen University;
- Board member of the Foundation for Endangered Languages and the Isaac Massa Foundation;
- Advisory council member of the Foundation for Siberian Cultures.
Phone: +31 (0) 50-3092218
Mobile: +31 (0) 6-30091848
Mail: tdegraaf@fryske-akademy.nl
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/pub/tjeerd-de-graaf/10/43/990
Curriculum Vitae: download Tseard de Graaf's curriculum vitae(pdf-file).
Project activities, research reports and publications
Endangered Languages in Russia and Japan
- Jewish Voices from Siberia and Saint-Petersburg (Soundcloud)
- The Plautdietsch language in Siberia (Soundcloud)
- Voices from Tundra and Taiga
- Voices from Buryatia
- Interviews with Nivkh people on Sakhalin in 1990
- Joint research with Japan
- 'Expedition of a Frisian sailorman to the Northern borders of Japan; discovery of the Kuril islands and first meetings with the Ainu people in 1643' by Tjeerd de Graaf and Andrey Brazhnik.
- Leaflet made for the visit of the Japanese ambassador at the Fryske Akademy (2024): 'Expedition of a Frisian sailorman to the Northern borders of Japan;
discovery of the Kuril islands and meetings with the Ainu people in 1643', by Tjeerd de Graaf and Andrey Brazhnik. - The discovery of the land of Jezo / De ontdekking van het land van Jezo (English translation of a chapter in the book “Reize van Maarten Gerritsz. Vries in 1643 naar het Noorden en Oosten van Japan volgens het journaal gehouden door C.J. Coen, op het schip Castricum”).
Archives of Endangered Languages in St.Petersburg
- The last strains of a language, Omrop Fryslân documentary on Saint-Petersburg sound archives
- Endangered Languages of Afghanistan (to be added)
- Voices from the Shtetl
- Databases and language change, final report 1995-1998
- Sound archives on the web, final report 2001
- Database of Balto-Finnic languages, final report 2003
Nicolaas Witsen’s North and East Tartary
- Nicolaas Witsen project
- The languages of North and East Tartary (pdf)
- About the Isaac Massa Foundation Groningen
- The bilingual and digital edition of Witsen's Noord en Oost Tartarye (to be added)
Frisian and Dutch in the world
- Plautdietsch, a Germanic language related to Dutch and Frisian, spoken in Siberia
- Frisian and Dutch in Japan (to be added)
Work with UNESCO, FEL, FSC and Mercator
- Teaching Endangered Languages, conference 2008
- Brenzinger & de Graaf. Contribution to the UNESCO encyclopedia of life support systems (pdf)
- Contribution to the UNESCO Global Expert Meeting in Siberia
- FEL-Mercator regional conference, Murmansk (25-26 November, 2016), conference programme; photo impression
- de Graaf, van der Meer, National Minorities in Lithuania, A Study Visit (2006)
- About the Foundation for Endangered Languages
Reports, Publications and Conference Contributions
- Publications until 2017
- The Use of Sound Archives (to be added)
- Contribution to and presentation for the International Conference on Endangered Languages, Tbilisi (20-24 October, 2016)
- Contribution to the international round table, Paris, UNESCO headquarters, 18 March 2015: Documentation and Revitalisation of two Endangered Languages in Eastern Asia: Nivkh and Ainu (2015)
- ‘Tjeerd de Graaf, a physicist who became a language rediscoverer’, interview by Camiel Hamans. In: CIPL (Comité International Permanent des Linguistes / Permanent International Committee of Linguists, 2020.