My baby brother got his PhD at the University of Oregon in Eugene in Linguistics. He was originally trained as an engineer but since the late 1970’s he’s been recording first speakers, documenting and teaching the Native American language of the Puget Sound region (Lushutseed).

In 2020 we were discussing ways in which tribal language programs could have something other than anecdotal evidence of their impact and landed on Social Network Analysis.

We fielded a survey of Lushootseed speakers asking the to list people they spoke the language with and asking their interlocutors to participate in the survey (called a “name generator” in the parlance of survey design).

Since our initial findings, we’ve taken the idea to a team of professors at the University of Oregon departments of Linguistics and Sociology.

Together, we have received funding from the University to develop a proof of concept for applying these methods to language programs engaged in language revitalization.

The team’s findings are currently (2024) scheduled to be presented to conferences in Scotland and Santa Barbara.

Our first paper targeted beginners in the field in language revitalization programs.