Faculty members Drs. Chris Golston, Niken Adisasmito-Smith and Brian Agbayani have been working since 2009 to revitalize the Chukchansi language, devising a writing system, developing a Chukchansi dictionary and grammar and preserving traditional stories and myths.

Since Dr. John Boyle joined the Linguistics faculty at Fresno State in 2014, the department’s endangered language efforts have expanded far beyond the local research.

“There are three languages that are critically endangered,” said Professor Chris Golston. “Crow has less than 1,500 native speakers, Hidatsa has less than 30, I think, and then Chukchansi is less than five. And there are very few or no children speaking these languages. The only way these languages are going to revive is if they’re taught to adults and children. That’s what John Boyle specializes in. We’re working on two things: documentation — that’s figuring out how the language is put together — and revitalization, which is building the teaching materials, dictionaries, teaching materials, posters.”

See more.