August 22, 2014

WSU Fulbright Scholar preserving Jejueo language

Moira Saltzman is embarking on a mission to rescue and preserve Jejueo, classified in 2010 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as

Moira Saltzman is embarking on a mission to rescue and preserve Jejueo, classified in 2010 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a critically endangered language. There are 5,000-10,000 fluent speakers of Jejueo, most over the age of 70.

The indigenous language of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Jejueo is an oral language without an established writing system. The history of Jeju Island is contained in the narratives, songs and oral traditions of the island.

Saltzman, who just this month completed the master’s in linguistics program at Wayne State, was awarded a 10-month Fulbright Study/Research Grant, beginning Sept. 1, to develop a “talking dictionary” of Jejueo.

Talking dictionaries are online programs for language learners that feature audio or video materials along with definitions. The talking dictionary of Jejueo will incorporate oral histories and dialogues spoken in Jejueo.

Through a collaborative effort with Jejueo linguist Soung-U Kim, Saltzman also will create an Android application of the Jejueo talking dictionary for Jejueo, Korean and English-speaking users.

“Fulbright has given me the opportunity to create a tool for language revitalization at a crucial point in the transmission of Jejueo to younger generations,” says Saltzman. “The Jejueo language is not only a link to the past; it is a living repository of the cultural knowledge and power of the Jeju community. If Jejueo disappears, scientific knowledge of the Koreanic language family is diminished, closing another window to our linguistic understanding of human languages.”

Saltzman believes that the Jeju community is currently at a crossroads. “If Jejueo speakers are motivated to reclaim their heritage language, then community members and scholars can organize efforts to revitalize Jejueo through educational curriculum and tools such as the Jejueo talking dictionary.

“If Jejueo continues to be displaced by the prestige language, Standard Korean, the link to the cultural and linguistic knowledge of Jeju will disappear with the last generation of fluent speakers.”