The Endangered Language Archive (ELAR) is a digital repository preserving and publishing endangered language documentation materials from around the world. The materials we hold are digital, and are freely available (after free registration).
ELAR was originally funded by Arcadia
and is part of the Library
of SOAS University of London.
Click a region above to view browsable collections. To see all collections, click 'Search' at the centre.
Recording and archiving Barayin (Jalkiya) language data
Joseph Lovestrand
Documentation of Barayin, a Chadic language of Chad....
Documenting Language and Interaction in Kula
Nicholas Williams
Documentation of Kula, an endangered non-Austronesian language spoken in the eastern highlands of Alor, Indonesia....
The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Shahri
Janet Watson
Documenting the Shahri language spoken in Dhofar, Oman....
Koryak Ethnopoetics: Stories from Herders and Maritime Villagers
Alexander D. King
Documenting two varieties of Koryak (Kamchatka, Russia) that have been ignored by contemporary linguists....
Pite Saami: documenting the language and culture
Joshua Karl Wilbur
Audio and video recordings of Pite Saami speakers, northern Sweden, with transcriptions and translations in Swedish and English. Topics include reinde...
Documentation of Northern Alta, a Philippine Negrito language
Alexandro Garcia-Laguia
Northern Alta (aqn) is an Austronesian language spoken by a group of Negrito people in the Northern Philippines. It is distantly related to Southern A...
The documentation and ethnolinguistic analysis of Modern South Arabian: Mehri
Janet Watson
An audio-visual documentation of the Mehri language spoken in Oman, Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia....
Documentation of the flora and fauna of Gongduk
Karma Tshering
...documentation of the Gongduk language with special focus on ethnobotany......
Documentation and analysis of Andamang Chini
Joseph Brooks
Chini, an undocumented and severely endangered language of the Ramu family spoken in inland Madang Province, Papua New Guinea....
Throughout the site you see ELAR's access protocol categories, like this: O U S . Materials marked as O U S can be accessed by anyone, even users who have not registered with ELAR. Materials marked as O U S can be accessed by any registered user of ELAR who has agreed to the Terms and Conditions of using ELAR. Materials marked as O U S are restricted in access, and registered users can apply for access to these resources.
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Why apply for an account?
Anyone can browse the ELAR catalogue of endangered language collections and can learn about the materials ELAR holds.
To listen and watch the recordings in the collections you need to register as a user and agree to the Terms and Conditions of using ELAR. Registration is free, and after registration all materials are openly accessible to you. Some sensitive materials require special access permissions, and as a registered user you can apply for access to these resources.
To apply for an account, you must provide your real name. We do not allow anonymous accounts or fictitious identities. Accounts for ordinary user access are automatically granted on application.
If you forgot your username or password, please contact elararchive@soas.ac.uk