In this workshop, Papuan language specialists will come together to take stock of the latest research into Papuan languages, assess what has been achieved, and discuss what the focus of future research would be in relation to the documentation and description of Papuan languages.

Topics to be addressed and issues to be discussed will take the following questions as their starting points:

• What is the state of language documentation and description of Papuan languages? How should the highest priority languages and regions be selected for immediate action?

• What is the current status of the Papuan language speaker communities? Why are more and more Papuan languages becoming endangered? Can linguists working on Papuan languages help communities find solutions to arrest the decline of their languages?

• What are the best practices for documenting and describing Papuan languages? What are best practices and methods for returning the results of language documentation to the local community?

• How does the critical endangerment which many Papuan languages are now facing impact the way in which language documentation and description is done? 

• Are there optimal methods for data collection for the documentation of endangered Papuan languages, and for the publication, archiving and utilisation of that data into the future? What specific data standards and processing methods, such as metadata specifications and structured organisation should be established to ensure the greatest reusability of Papuan linguistic data into the future?