MIT Indigenous Languages Initiative

08/12/2026

NPR's Curiosity Desk had interviews today with Yale linguist Claire Bowern and with Jessie Littledoe Baird of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, about linguistic diversity, the factors that put languages in danger, and efforts to reclaim and revive languages that are under threat.

Jessie's career at MIT was one of the inspirations for the MITILI program, and it's always great to hear what she has to say. Claire Bowern's part starts around 30:00 or so, and Jessie's at 38:43.

First up, MIT economist Jon Gruber on economic incentives to get people out of cars and onto public transportation.Then, we’re welcoming back Gal Tziperman Lotan, who’s got Four Things to Know for August 11th. Lastly, Yale Linguist Claire Bowern joins with Wampanoag Linguist Jessie Little Doe Ba...

05/29/2026

Congratulations to our newest MITILI alums! Ukhengching Marma, William Pacheco, and Ogloo Jurkhaichin were officially given their Master's degrees from MIT yesterday.

05/22/2026

Congratulations to the amazing William Pacheco! We celebrated his thesis in the department today. We're all looking forward to seeing what he does next, as he enters the linguistics program at the University of New Mexico. He's promised to stay in touch, which is good news for all of us. What new complexities of his language will he illuminate? And how many new software apps will he create while he's doing it? We can't wait to find out.

05/11/2026

Congratulations to MITILI alum Devon Denny!

Devon Denny, a 3rd year graduate student in our Ph.D. program, was just awarded a "Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research" grant from the American Philosophical Society to develop his "Diné Bizaad Language Project", which will involve working with speakers of the Navajo Nation to better understand aspects of questions in Diné Bizaad (Navajo). Congratulations, Devon!

03/20/2026

William Pacheco in MIT news!

William Pacheco, a linguistics graduate student in MIT's Indigenous Languages Initiative, seeks to preserve his native language, Keres, and create a community of educators and scholars focused on its preservation.

03/08/2026

pictured here: MITILI folks enjoying fine Uyghur cuisine, and celebrating the achievements of Ogloo (accepted to MIT's doctoral program in Linguistics) and William (accepted to the Masters program at the University of New Mexico). Ogloo and William, we're hugely proud of you both--can't wait to see what you do next!

12/04/2025

Nice list of things not to do...

We want our languages to exist but we don't want to learn them

10/13/2025

Good day for thinking about the words of our alum Roger Paul. Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!

06/21/2025

Our amazing MITILI alum Annauk Olin, working for the future of Iñupiaq!