Document
Our linguists work alongside speakers in the field, recording and analysing languages with little prior documentation, especially the Munda languages of India such as Sora, Mundari and Santali.
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages
Helping languages survive for generations to come
We document endangered languages together with the people who speak them, and we build free tools so communities can keep their languages alive online.
Santali speakers near Tezpur, Assam. Photo: Shure / Media.Monks
Listen
Hear the languages
Real words recorded by speakers, from the Living Dictionaries that communities build with our tools. Press play to hear one; open a card to see the word in its dictionary.
What we do
Research, technology and training, led by communities
Nearly half of the world’s languages may stop being spoken this century. Since 2005 we have worked with speakers around the world to record their languages, publish what we learn, and put the results back in the community’s hands.
Build
Living Dictionaries is our free, multimedia dictionary platform. Communities keep ownership of their data, add audio, photos and video, and publish when they are ready.
Explore Living Dictionaries
Train
Workshops, webinars and internships give speakers and students the digital skills to document their own languages and keep their dictionaries growing.
Publish
We publish articles, books and open-access Living Grammar Sketches, and we present our findings at conferences around the world.
Living Grammar SketchesExplore
Where we work
Field areas from two decades of documentation. Pick one to see its projects and dictionaries.
Living Dictionaries
A free dictionary platform for every language
Living Dictionaries grew out of the Talking Dictionaries we began building in 2006. Today community teams around the world use it to record words, sentences and stories with audio, photos and video. Every dot on this map is a public dictionary.
Browse the dictionariesIn the field
Working alongside speakers
Watch
Speakers, stories and fieldwork on film
Safeguarding the Munda languages of India
Santali speakers in Assam, filmed by Shure (2024)
Read more
The Linguists
Trailer for the documentary about our founders’ fieldwork
Read more
The House of the Lurni Spirit
Documenting the stories of the Sora people, Odisha
Read more
Hip-hop in the Aka language
Koro Aka rap by Songe Nimasow, Arunachal Pradesh
Read more
Last speakers of Tofa
Varvara and Galina Adamova, Siberia
Read more
Inventing a writing system for Ös
Middle Chulym, Siberia
Read moreNews
Recent highlights
January 2026
All news since 2011 Living Grammar Sketches
Open-access grammars of four under-documented African languages: Arusa, Teŋukan Dogon, Mingang Doso and Tjwao, published under CC BY 4.0.
December 2024The Werikyana Living Dictionary is online
A quadrilingual Werikyana–Tiriyó–Portuguese–English dictionary with more than 3,000 entries and audio, created by Werikyana communities in the Brazilian Amazon.
March 2024No Voice Left Behind, with Shure
Shure featured our fieldwork with Santali speakers in Assam, India, in its campaign for the MoveMic.
Supported by
- National Science Foundation
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- National Geographic Society
- The Zegar Family Foundation
- The Christensen Fund
- Richard and Mona L. Alonzo Family Fund
Recognition
Best of Salem Award, Community Service & Non-Profit Organizations — 2022, 2023 and 2024
Help a language reach the next generation
We rely on grants and on donors like you to fund fieldwork, publications, training and the Living Dictionaries platform. Gifts are 100% tax-deductible.
Make a donation