About This Journal (English)
Living Languages • Lenguas Vivas • Línguas Vivas is an international, multilingual journal dedicated to topics in language revitalization and sustainability. The ultimate goal of the journal is to promote scholarly work and experience-sharing in the field. The primary focus of the journal is to bring together language revitalization practitioners from a diversity of backgrounds, whether academic or not, within a peer-reviewed publication venue that is not limited to academic contributions and is inclusive of a diversity of perspectives and forms of expression. Living Languages seeks to publish contributions on practical and theoretical issues directly related to actions that support language sustainability and/or revitalization in indigenous and minoritized contexts.
1. Principles and Philosophy
Approaches to language revitalization are multiprong and require a multitude of customized actions. Further, linguistic and cultural traditions organize and share information using a diversity of epistemological frames and perspectives. Thus, it is not enough to say that we treasure different ways of understanding our world if we do not promote a diversity of perspectives. Therefore, Living Languages • Lenguas Vivas • Línguas Vivas strongly encourages authors to explore the use of novel or traditional forms of knowledge transmission in information sharing. For this purpose, the peer-review process of the journal is tailored to the specific type of contribution (see details under Submission Types).
In keeping with the goals of language revitalization, and in an effort to contribute to the expansion of domains of use for minoritized languages, Living Languages • Lenguas Vivas • Línguas Vivas accepts contributions in any language being revitalized and, at this time, in three lingua francas (English, Spanish and Portuguese, see submission details). For contributions in a language being revitalized, we encourage contributors to provide a 1,000-word summary in a lingua franca so that as many readers as possible are able to learn about the work.
2. Who Can Submit?
Anyone may submit an original article to be considered for publication in Living Languages • Lenguas Vivas • Línguas Vivas provided he or she owns the copyright to the work being submitted or is authorized by the copyright owner or owners to submit the article. Authors are the initial owners of the copyrights to their works (an exception in the non-academic world to this might exist if the authors have, as a condition of employment, agreed to transfer copyright to their employer).
3. Submission Types
Living Languages publishes two types of volumes:
- Regular volume with Chronicles, Research Papers and Project Descriptions
- Yearly edition with Pedagogical Materials for Language Revitalization
The journal accepts four types of contributions with different formats and goals as explained below. Contributions in a lingua franca, will undergo a standard double-blind peer-review process. For contributions in languages being revitalized, we ask authors to arrange for another member of the language community to review the contribution and also suggest someone external who, if proficient in the language in question, might review the paper. For more information about each type of submission click on their subtitles below.
- CHRONICLES: These papers share narratives, testimonials and experiences in language revitalization scenarios. These contributions are intended as a forum for language communities and their members that want to support other revitalizationists by sharing their experiences.
- RESEARCH PAPERS: Research papers should explicitly focus on practical and theoretical topics in language revitalization and sustainability. We do understand that approaches to language revitalization are multiprong and may require a multitude of customized actions based on different disciplines. When using methodological and theoretical frameworks from other disciplines, authors should establish the connections with the body of research and the methodological issues in language revitalization.
- PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS: Revitalization project descriptions are 10-page long texts that present project proposals at different stages, from the conceptualization phase to their implementation or evaluation. The primary difference between a Project Description and a Chronicle is the stage of the work. Chronicles should report on current or past experiences. Project descriptions are plans for future work and work in progress being undertaken by a given community or group of scholars.
- PEDAGOGICAL MATERIALS: The annual volume on pedagogical materials is intended as a venue in which revitalizationists can showcase materials they have created. The goal is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and resources and create a repository that can be accessed by a larger, international audience. Therefore, this special volume welcomes materials that have been published before.
4. Formatting Requirements
These are general instructions for authors. Please download the Living Languages style sheet before you start preparing your manuscript.
- 1. All manuscripts must be submitted as PDF files. Submissions in a different file format may be returned to authors without review. Source files for manuscripts (e.g. .docx) should not be included in the materials provided for review.
- 2. After acceptance for publication, authors will be asked to submit a final version of the paper in PDF and either Word or RTF formats.
- 3. We encourage authors to use the Living Languages' style sheet when preparing their manuscripts and recommend that the version submitted for revision follow its guidelines.
- 4. The length of each submission is based on the type of text, see details above.
- 5. The manuscript submitted for review in the categories Chronicles or Research Papers should not be under consideration for publication in other venues, whether journals or books. The Project Descriptions and Pedagogical Materials can be published elsewhere either previously, in the future or at the same time they are submitted to the journal.
5. Rights and Responsibilities of Authors and ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst
As further described in our submission agreement (the Submission Agreement), in consideration for publication of the article, the authors assign to ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst non exclusive license for their article, subject to the CC-BY-SA license.
Open Access Statement
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Attribution and Usage Policies
All the articles in Living Languages • Lenguas Vivas • Línguas Vivas are licensed under a "share alike" CC-BY-SA license.
Personal-use Exceptions
All uses are permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst provided the author cite appropriately the initial publication in ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. Including but not limited to:
- Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
- Posting of the article on any website;
- Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
- Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.
General Terms and Conditions of Use
Users of the ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst website and/or software agree not to misuse the ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst service or software in any way.
The failure of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.