The Volkswagen Foundation was created in 1962 to fund research projects in all disciplines.

In this perspective, the Foundation launched the DoBeS program (Dokumentation Bedrohter Sprachen / Documentation Endangered Languages) in 2000, in order to document, in a cross-disciplinary approach, languages worldwide that are in potential danger of becoming extinct within a few years time. New documentation projects are chosen each year, and usually carried within 3 years. Over 50 projects have been funded so far.

Teams willing to apply have until September 15 to file their applications. Two types of projects may apply for funding:

– documentation projects aiming to collect, analyze and record cultural data on at least one endangered language.

– documentation projects based on DoBeS archive, eg. comparative studies.

Teams of scholars, preferably of diverse disciplines (linguistics, anthropology, biology, botanic, musicology, etc.), and with some experience of field research, are welcome to apply. Academic institutions outside Germany are also eligible for funding under the condition of cooperation with researchers in Germany; in that event, the Foundation will require that the German research institute take the lead of the project.

The languages that the research teams wish to document will have to be endangered to be eligible: a language will be deemed endangered if, for political and economic reasons, its speech community has ceased to speak it in public in favor of the language of the surrounding dominant culture, bringing its status down to that of a “home language”. Sign languages are also accepted.

Focus will also be drawn on the involvement towards the speech communities: copies of the collected documentation donated to the community, transfer of basic linguistic knowledge, support to the creation of educational media, etc. Collaboration with local institutions and researchers will be required when possible.

Projects may span three years but shorter-term projects are also welcome.

Budgets applied for should not exceed €300,000.

For further information, applicants may contact:

• Dr. Vera Szöllösi-Brenig (funding information)

VolkswagenStiftung

Kastanienallee 35

30519 Hanover, Germany

Phone: +49 511 8381-218

Fax: +49 511 8381-4218

E-mail : szoelloesi@volkswagenstiftung.de

• Peter Wittenburg (technical information)

Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics,

Nijmegen, Netherlands

Phone: +31 24 3 52 11 13

Fax: +31 24 3 52 12 13

More information and application forms download