Small Languages?

[Megan Crowhurst]

Okay, clearly I read the comment out of context!  I stand humbly
corrected. (Thinking about this was a lot more fun than prepping
undergrad phonology for tomorrow though...)  Best to all, Megan

At 8:53 PM -0500 2/11/04, Claire Bowern wrote:
>Megan, I agree with you absolutely. I meant my comment in relation to the
>original posting, which I read as implying that no information (in
>general, not specifically language data) was publicaly available. I used
>the phrasing of the original post. I certainly did not mean to imply that
>I do not think that these are serious and complex issues.
>Claire
>
>
>On Wed, 11 Feb 2004, Megan Crowhurst wrote:
>
>>
>>  >I'm wondering (re the "houseofthesmalllanguages.org" posting) in what way
>>  >information about endangered languages languages is held like military
>>  >secrets.
>>
>>  I'm sure the comment must not have been intended this way, but it
>>  seems to make light of some important issues around the main concern
>>  of what sorts of information are proprietary.  This, as well as who
>>  should have access to proprietary information and under what
>>  circumstances (etc.) are touchy now in part because of the history of
>>  exploitation experienced by native peoples (or substitute your
>>  favourite term) under colonization in many parts of the world.  That
>>  would be, colonization first by, say, Europeans, and then again (in
>>  the eyes of many) by other outsiders like, say, scholars.  We've
>>  often been perceived as gathering information from native
>>  communities, then using it to further academic careers, with no
>>  return of anything of practical use to the source community.  Small
>>  groups with a history like this may naturally want to retain some
>>  control over what happens to information about them that they feel is
>>  privileged.  In the case of major world languages like English or
>>  Italian, what we do with data we gather and analyse isn't
>>  particularly sensitive.  There are no huge issues around who owns the
>>  data - realistically, who would we ask? (...if it's just a matter of
>>  what we do with, say, verb paradigms and the like.)  But, in the case
>>  of smaller communities whose language may now be endangered precisely
>>  because of a history of contact with outsiders, (and who may feel
>>  they've been ill served by scholars in the past) there often is an
>>  easily identifiable community that can be said to "own" the language.
>>  And often, these communities wish to restrict access, in different
>>  degrees, to information about them and their language.  (As an
>>  example that isn't hard to understand, it may not be appropriate to
>  > distribute transcripts of events with deep ritual significance to
>  > those participating in them. If language is sacred, then outsiders
>  > may have no right to access; or, dissecting it outside the context
>>  for which it was intended might be considered a major violation. But
>>  even for more mundane language,  for very small groups, how it's used
>>  can be sensitive.)  As for information that's freely available on
>>  some sites - how many speakers of language X there are may not be
>>  sensitive, but in the case of  language data, just because it's there
>>  doesn't necessarily mean its presence there is ethical.   A lot of
>>  archive designers now understand these issues and are being careful
>>  about the issue of access (check out the AILLA site at the University
>>  of Texas).  Well, this has begun to sound a bit preachy, and it's
>>  possible that I joined the discussion late, and have misunderstood
>>  points that have been made.  But, "military secrets" analogy struck
>>  me as problematic; my point in response is that it isn't a question
>>  of treating data like military secrets - it's fundamentally about
>>  rights, and respect,  and accommodating a range of perspectives
>>  beyond the usual privileged ones.
>>
>>  Megan Crowhurst
>>
>>
>>  >  Ethnologue, for example, isn't exactly subject to the thirty year
>  > >rule, and numerous sites exist for the languages of the Americas (links
>>  >off www.ssila.org), Australia (www.dnathan.com), there's one for minor
>>  >languages of Russia whose address I can't remember, one for Turkic, Juno
>>  >Mahi's great sub-saharan African site for info on Khoi-San languages ...
>>  >Titus, for dead and minor IE and Caucasian languages.
>>  >
>>  >Claire
>>  >
>>  >-----------------------------
>>  >Claire Bowern
>>  >Department of Linguistics
>>  >Harvard University
>>  >305 Boylston Hall
>>  >Cambridge, MA, 02138
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>  Megan J. Crowhurst, Ph.D.
>>  Assistant Professor
>>
>>  Snail mail address:
>>
>>  The University of Texas at Austin
>>  Dr. Crowhurst
>>  Department of Linguistics
>>  1 University Station B5100
>>  Austin, TX   78712-5100
>>  USA
>>
>>  Phone:  512-471-1701
>>  Fax:    512-471-4340
>>
>>  Home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crowhurs/index.html
>>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>-----------------------------
>Claire Bowern
>Department of Linguistics
>Harvard University
>305 Boylston Hall
>Cambridge, MA, 02138


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Megan J. Crowhurst, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Snail mail address:

The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Crowhurst
Department of Linguistics
1 University Station B5100
Austin, TX   78712-5100
USA

Phone:  512-471-1701
Fax:    512-471-4340

Home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crowhurs/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~