UH given $160,000 for language project

The Henry Luce Foundation has awarded $160,000 to the University of Hawaii at Manoa for research on endangered languages in China and mainland Southeast Asia.

The grant, announced Thursday, will go to the UH-Manoa Department of Linguistics to update the Catalogue of Endangered Languages, or ELCat, an initiative to produce a comprehensive, reliable, up-to-date source of information about which languages are in danger of dying out.

"China has both a large number of Chinese languages (often inaccurately called ‘dialects’ of Chinese) and minority languages which are very different from the Chinese languages," said UH linguistics professor Lyle Campbell, director of the project, in a statement. "The exact number of languages in China is simply unknown, though many of them are endangered. In China alone (not including Taiwan), 85 languages are considered endangered, but we do not know the real number."

The ELCat project, begun in the fall of 2011, is a joint undertaking by UH-Manoa and Eastern Michigan University, with support from the National Science Foundation and Google.

Donations aid outreach to abuse victims

Jewish Women International is seeking donations for its Mother’s Day Flower Project, which will deliver flowers to victims of domestic violence now staying in an Ewa Beach women’s shelter.

With each $25 contribution, the organization will send a Mother’s Day card to a woman of the sender’s choosing, and bouquets of flowers and baskets of beauty products to the shelter.

People can donate via www.jwi.org/fp or by calling toll-free 800-343-2823.

Mother’s Day is May 12.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

HCC classes on agriculture start May 30

Hawaii Community College will offer new noncredit agriculture classes designed for people with a variety of horticultural goals.

The classes will appeal to people with interests ranging from developing an agriculture business to growing their own food, Hawaii CC agriculture instructor Chris Jacobsen said.

The college will hold an "AgCurious" information session from 6 to 7:30 p.m. May 15 in Building 388 at the Hawaii CC campus in Hilo. RSVP by contacting Amy Shi­ma­bu­kuro at amysanae@hawaii. edu or 934-2687.

Classes begin May 30 and will continue through October.