Endangered Languages

Welsh and Khasi Cultural Dialogues

Professor Lisa Lewis led The Leverhulme Trust funded Welsh and Khasi Cultural Dialogues, an interdisciplinary project in creative arts practice between Wales and India. It investigated the complex postcolonial legacy between the people of Wales and the Khasi people of Northeast India. This legacy is rooted in the history of the Calvinistic Methodist Mission to the Khasi Hills in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The project examined the peripheral situation of both peoples (in relation to broader categories such as the British Empire and the Indian nation) and the way this affected the nature of intercultural exchange, especially regarding language, literature, cultural performance and music.

Performing Journeys, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff (photo: Andy Freeman)

The Csángó Hungarian communities of Romania

Dr Márta Minier is researching the intangible cultural heritage of the Csángó Hungarian communities residing in the Moldavian part of Romania. This project centres on Csángómagyar as a language or dialect, and on intergenerational communication. Márta studies the oral, performative and craft traditions the community rehearses in their everyday lives, with special emphasis on their wealth of folklore (stories, ballads, songs, dance, prayers/folk church hymns and artefacts), and how this is practised and passed on from older to younger generations.

The emphasis is on helping the communities to find ways of increasing language use and value – especially in case of the younger generations – and capture the intangible heritage that has been nurtured for centuries by the community. Márta’s research interests include translation studies, adaptation studies, Shakespeare reception, dramaturgy, as well as Hungarian studies and East-Central European drama, literature and culture more broadly.

Vlach and Pontic Greek

Dr Christina Papagiannouli collaborated with Εύξεινος Λέσχη Βέροιας (Euxeinos Pontic Club of Veria), and Σύλλογος Βλάχων Βέροιας (Vlach Folklore Association of Veria) on endangered-language heritage performance. The city of Veria embraces a variety of subcultures and sublanguages, including Vlach and Pontic Greek.

During her research, Dr Papagiannouli worked with both Vlach and Pontic Greek communities, observed their work, and participated in their heritage performances, learning not only about the communities’ cultural heritage but also about her own personal heritage.