The global language endangerment crisis has unfolded against a backdrop of accelerated and unprecedented changes to society, technology and the planet itself. These ever-shifting realities challenge linguists’ understanding of key theoretical concepts such as language community, language vitality and language sustainability. More importantly, they often complicate the efforts of individuals and communities to reclaim their traditional languages.
In this presentation, we will examine the role that skills training plays in supporting the reclamation of minoritized and endangered languages. We will review efforts over the past half-century to aid in building capacity within these communities to carry out language revitalization and revival on their own terms. We will then provide a framework for categorizing the skills required for this type of socially transformative work, and give a critical analysis of the state-of-the-art in skills training, highlighting areas of success as well as on-going challenges which remain unmet. Finally, we will chart a path forward for international collaboration in this area, as we aim to support the improvement of existing training programs, and the proliferation of new programs to reach underserved communities worldwide.