Workshop with undocumented languages on the agenda
Undocumented languages in Pakistan was the subject of a workshop in Islamabad during April. Henrik Liljegren, professor at the Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, led the event.
How can I document my own language? What is the difference between language documentation and language description? Are some languages doomed to extinction? Which tools are most effective for managing and analyzing data? These are some of the questions that were raised in a recently concluded workshop for linguists, titled Exploring Undocumented and Underdocumented Language Worlds of Pakistan.
Each language is a world unto itself
The expression “Language Worlds” in the title refers to the fact that each individual language in the world is a world unto itself – or its own “ecosystem” – with a unique vocabulary, a unique grammar and a way of relating to the people and the environment where that particular language is spoken.
About 30 doctoral students, language activists, and researchers involved in the documentation of endangered languages in Pakistan were invited to the workshop. Professor Henrik Liljegren led the event, and the hosts were Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and the Forum for Language Initiatives (FLI).
Allama Iqbal Open University is the world's fifth largest university in terms of student population: 1.3 million.
Forum for Language Initiatives is a language resource centre, that has had the approximately 30 languages spoken in the country's northern mountainous region as its primary target group for the past 20 years.
Pakistan, with its 250 million inhabitants, is very multilingual and multicultural. No language is spoken as a first language by more than 50 percent of the population, and in total there are as many as 80 languages in the country. Of these, about half are considered potentially endangered, and many of these languages, which are very likely to be replaced by more dominant languages within a few decades, are poorly documented and described, and most are neither officially recognized, have a written language nor any resources of their own.
Language loss equals cultural loss
The loss of a language means that part of our cultural diversity is lost, and from a research perspective, a high probability that we will miss out on yet another way that language chooses to conceptualize dimensions such as time and space, taste experiences or relationships between speakers and listeners in interaction.
The workshop was structured around five themes: foundations & frameworks, data & method, data management, analysis and dissemination.
After a presentation and dialogue on theoretical issues, a large part of the time was devoted to practical skills in language documentation. Important tools for data management and analysis were introduced and demonstrated, and the participants were given the opportunity to try applying them to their own language material:
- Praat (for phonetic and phonological analysis),
- ELAN (for transcription and annotation of audio and video),
- FieldWorks Language Explorer (for grammatical analysis and for building lexical databases).
We delved deep into the fascinating world of language documentation
In this group alone, more than 15 languages were represented, both in the form of the participants’ first languages and the languages they have chosen to investigate, e.g. Pahari, Pashto, Dameli, Dawoodi, Torwali, Gojri, Chilisso, Shina, and Burushaski.
– We delved deep into the fascinating world of language documentation and gained invaluable knowledge and practical skills, including the use of powerful tools. Henrik’s extensive experience and expertise in language documentation shone through, says professor Zafeer Kiani from the University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, who participated together with a group of his own PhD students.
– It was a memorable experience filled with learning, collaboration and insightful discussions. Many thanks to Henrik, AIOU and FLI for making this possible!
Dignity restored through the language name
Zafeer Kiani has personal experience in language documentation. A few years ago, he and his colleague Abdul Qadir Khan began documenting a small and severely endangered language in northernmost Pakistan that had previously been called Domaaki. During the course of the work, the team realized that the language name was something that the approximately 300 speakers themselves disliked. It was one given to them by the surrounding linguistic majority, who looked down on this group and who for centuries subjected them to discrimination in various ways. Nowadays, they proudly speak of their own language as Dawoodi.
– Henrik Liljegren's sessions significantly enriched our understanding of both the theoretical foundations and practical applications of language documentation – an area that is crucial for the preservation of linguistic diversity. In addition, we gained practical experience with cutting-edge tools and technologies for collecting, analyzing, and preserving linguistic data, says Shakir Ullah, lecturer at the University of Buner.
A long-term commitment to the languages of Pakistan
Henrik Liljegren has extensive experience of Pakistan. He first came here in 1998 and has been involved in linguistic fieldwork and several data collection and documentation projects, including in the Palula, Kalkoti and Gawarbati languages, three smaller languages found in valleys in the Hindu Kush mountains around the Pakistan–Afghanistan border.
For a 10-year period, he lived with his family in Pakistan and was also involved in establishing the organization that came to be known as the Forum for Language Initiatives.
Last updated: April 30, 2025
Source: Department of Linguistics