In September the US National Science Foundation awarded more than $1.4 million to Dr. Michael Krauss to support the documentation of Alaska Native languages. Part of the International Polar Year effort, this project involves ten senior scholars of Alaskan languages working on ten endangered languages of Alaska and neighboring Canada and Russia.However, the fate of this award remains unclear. In the June 24th issue of the SSILA Bulletin, Krauss announced that he was severing ties with the Alaska Native Language Center, the organization which he founded at the University of Alaska in 1972. Now it is unclear whether the award will be administered by ANLC or by some other as yet unspecified university unit. No announce has yet been forthcoming from Krauss or the UAF administration. None of the linguists involved with Krauss' project work at the Center, though Yukon linguist John Ritter is affiliate faculty there.
Documenting the highly-endangered languages of Alaska can only be a good thing. We can only hope that the administrative issues are resolved quickly.