The Endangered Writing Network

CREWS project research has had some unexpected outcomes, of which one of the most exciting has been the development of the Endangered Writing Network – hosted through the new VIEWS project HERE.

The idea is that our research on pre-modern writing traditions has some value for the modern world, where thousands of languages are in danger of being lost, and long with them many cultural traditions including writing systems. There are also many minority and endangered languages that do not have an established written form of their own. Since writing has a unique ability to support language use, by giving the language a visual presence and making it possible to produce educational materials and literature, it is vital that we tackle the issue of writing vitality head on.

For the pre-modern world we have the advantage of being able to study long-term trajectories of writing use, and so to understand better why some writing traditions died out and other survived long-term (something I spoke about during the launch event for the Endangered Writing Network). Working backwards from such insights, we hope to inform efforts to support the writing of modern minority and endangered languages by helping to ensure the success of their writing systems and traditions – whether they already exist or are in the process of being developed for previously unwritten languages.

Speaking of research, don’t forget to keep an eye on the CREWS publications page, where some last pieces of research are making an appearance – including Pippa’s new book in the autumn, with a whole chapter on writing vitality.

The Endangered Writing Network was officially launched in February 2023, and so far we have hosted an online launch event and a seminar on the Andean Pictographic Script, both of which you can find on the VIEWS YouTube channel. We have also recently begun a collaboration between CREWS (where this research originated), VIEWS and the RISE UP project, supporting endangered languages in Europe: we have already produced a short video together, and there will be more to come next year.

You can sign up to be part of the Endangered Writing Network by visiting the main page and entering your email address – it is open to all! This is a conversation for everyone, and we all have ideas and skills to offer in the fight against language loss and the loss of cultural heritage.

(Pippa is going to be on maternity leave for a while, but her colleagues will keep the network running while she is away – make sure you have subscribed to the VIEWS blog and the network email list to keep up to date with all the latest information.)

~ Pippa (PI of the CREWS and VIEWS projects)