NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure - NEH Documenting Endangered Languages | 20 603

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20 603

The NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure - NEH Documenting Endangered Languages opportunity is a joint funding partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) focused on endangered human languages, specifically languages that are both understudied and at risk of no longer being used. The program is framed around the urgency of language loss, noting that roughly half of the about 7,000 languages currently spoken worldwide could disappear, and it positions this work as time-sensitive because once a language falls out of use, many forms of cultural knowledge and linguistic evidence can be difficult or impossible to recover. Within that context, the partnership encourages projects that use modern advances in human-language technology to create stronger computational and digital foundations for endangered language research.

A central theme of the opportunity is building "dynamic language infrastructure," meaning practical, reusable digital and computational resources that make endangered language documentation and analysis easier to conduct, preserve, and extend over time. Projects are expected to contribute to improved data management and archiving practices, which can include creating, organizing, curating, and preserving language materials in ways that remain accessible and useful for researchers, communities, and archives in the long run. The program also emphasizes developing the next generation of researchers, signaling that strong proposals may include meaningful training components, mentorship structures, or other capacity-building activities that help students and early-career scholars gain experience with both linguistic field methods and digital language infrastructure.

The opportunity supports a wide range of documentation activities tied to the digital recording, analysis, and archiving of endangered language data. Funding may be used for fieldwork and other project work needed to produce core documentation outputs such as lexicons (dictionaries or structured vocabulary resources), grammars (systematic descriptions of how the language works), text samples (for example, narratives, conversations, procedural texts, or oral histories), and databases that can store, search, and connect language materials. In practice, this can include activities like making high-quality audio and video recordings, creating time-aligned transcripts and translations, annotating recordings with linguistic information, and preparing datasets so they can be preserved in stable archives and reused in future research or community language efforts.

In terms of award mechanisms, the solicitation indicates that funding is available through one- to three-year senior research grants and through conference proposals. Conference proposals are treated as a significant part of the program, but they come with a planning expectation: a conference proposal should generally be submitted at least one year before the intended conference date. Applicants are directed to consult the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), specifically the section covering conferences (Chapter II.D.7), for detailed requirements on how to create and submit those proposals. The opportunity also clarifies that fellowship support continues to exist for this broader effort, but fellowships are administered by NEH rather than NSF under this partnership structure.

Administratively, this is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, associated with CFDA numbers 47.050, 47.070, 47.075, and 47.076. The listing shows an opportunity number of 20-603, a creation date of August 22, 2020, and an original closing date of November 18, 2020, identified as the submission deadline for senior research proposals and conferences. The opportunity lists an expected 25 awards and shows an award ceiling value of 0, which typically signals that a specific maximum was not stated in the summary record and that applicants should rely on the full solicitation and program guidance for realistic budget expectations and constraints. Eligibility is summarized broadly as "Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification)," which means prospective applicants would need to consult the official program materials for the precise eligibility rules, institutional requirements, and any limits on who may serve as principal investigator.

Overall, this partnership is designed to accelerate and strengthen endangered language documentation by pairing traditional field-based and descriptive work with durable digital infrastructure, with the dual goal of preserving endangered language data in high-quality archives and enabling new kinds of computationally informed research and training. The NEH program page is provided as a reference point for additional details: https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/documenting-endangered-languages

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure - NEH Documenting Endangered Languages" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.050, 47.070, 47.075, 47.076.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 22, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 18, 2020 Submission Deadline for Senior Research Proposals and Conferences Submission Deadline for Senior Research Proposals and Conferences. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 20 603

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