VOVA MISSION
VOVA's primary mission is to preserve endangered indigenous languages and other vocal and verbal art traditions through digital documentation of community performances. The materials collected may be used for research and for developing teaching tools for communities seeking to revitalize their native languages. They may also serve as resources in language classes at all levels. More broadly, VOVA seeks to strengthen appreciation of cultural expressions and values of communities so often ignored in today’s world.
WHAT IS A SPEECH GENRE?
As we humans speak together, we construct meticulous codes and rules for language use. From the pronunciation of tiny vocal sound bytes called phonemes to the delivery of larger groups of sentences that build into a full discourse, we organize our speech into recognizable verbal genres (jokes, personal anecdotes, historical narratives, etc.). Such speech genres are practiced and appreciated by groups of individuals who share the same dialect and culture.
Some genres are identifiable by group members at the very start of a discourse. The formula, “Once upon a time”, for example, signals that a folktale will unfold. Tone of voice may also indicate to listeners what is coming: a reprimand, good news, bad news, and a joyful announcement may be anticipated from the vocal tone of the speaker.
Speech genres are dependent upon social context providing rules about how we practice them. For example, in most cultures, we anticipate a lesson in a classroom while we are shocked by a joke at a funeral. Speech genres have deep set cultural and social functions and values that reach back to ancestral lineages. They have served to give form to knowledge, histories, artistic tastes, cultural values, and ideologies for a very long time.
WHAT IS A SPEECH STYLE
Verbal communication codes itself into speech styles that are evaluated and modified everyday by community members. Our choice of words is inspired by the way their sounds and meanings make us feel about ourselves, and by the response that they get from those around us.
These choices create personal and social styles that lend color and music to our discussions. Poetic patterning is also an integral part of social life. It reveals personalities, makes suffering bearable, strengthens relationships, clarifies the unspeakable, and seals contracts.
Speech styles give rise to cultural ways of speaking that characterize both oral and written literatures. Poetry is a worldwide phenomena in which speakers and writers construct verbal patterns that will draw attention to the form and act of speaking itself.
Lastly, poetic speech emerges from a deep set pleasure of making verbal patterns. Like all symbolic codes, language is a social convention, and part of that convention is that we enjoy the exchange.
Genres documented by VOVA researchers
Endangered language documentation projects
Recovering VoicesArchive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
Endangered Languages Archive
Endangered Languages Project
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages
Magène: Norman Language and Songs
National Geographic's Enduring Voices
Philippine Epics and Ballads Archive
Sorosoro
The Paunaka Documentation Project
World Oral Literature Project
Archivo des lenguas y culturas des Ecuador
If you would like us to add your project to the liste, please send us the link to .
