A new heritage language project, Multilingual Minnesota, began this past summer to create a searchable video database documenting the voices, languages, and cultural narratives of Minnesota’s heritage language communities. It features first-person narratives in the speakers’ heritage languages framed around ten culturally focused themes such as family, celebrations and traditions, food, and challenges and resilience. The project was launched this past summer with support from the University’s Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) to fund a summer graduate research assistantship. Emma Reeder, a PhD student in Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, was selected to work with Amanda Dalola, director of the Language Center and associate professor of Linguistics at the University of Minnesota, to establish the framework for the project.
