The DoBeS project ‘Tongues of the Semang: documenting endangered languages and indigenous knowledge among foragers of the Malay Peninsula’ was launched in 2005. The aim of the project is three-fold:

1. to survey the current linguistic situation of the Semang communities, providing an assessment of their relationships and degree of endangerment
2. to document and describe the grammar and lexicon of Lanoh, a highly endangered and so far unstudied language spoken by some 360 Semang in the Perak Valley, Peninsular Malaysia
3. to study and document in-depth aspects of indigenous biological knowledge among the Jahai, a language community of about 1,000 Semang in Perak and Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia

The project is carried out in close collaboration with the DoBeS project ‘Documentation of hunter-gatherer languages in contact: Semoq Beri and Batek of Peninsular Malaysia’, led by Dr. Nicole Kruspe.