From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Mon Sep  1 13:06:59 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 07:06:59 -0600
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.070659.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

I do truly hate to be a cynic, especially so early in the morning of a day
of changing seasons, and a holiday, but I went to this link, checked it out.
. . found the following. . .

"
Version 4.0 encodes over 96,000 characters, twice as many as Version 3.0,
and includes two record-breaking collections of encoded characters. The
largest encoded character collection for Chinese characters in the history
of
computing has doubled in size yet again to encompass over 2000 years of
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese literary usage, including all the
main classical dictionaries of these languages. Version 4.0 also encodes the
largest set of characters for mathematical and technical publishing in
existence. The character repertoires of Version 4.0 and International
Standard
ISO/IEC 10646 are fully synchronized.

"

What this says is that the Number of CHINESE characters DOUBLED. . .  how
many were there to begin with? I couldn't find a single printed number, but
this page will give you a clue as to how vast the collection is:
http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihan.html.

I will grant that the number of encoded characters is probably "record
breaking". . .  but I couldn't find any for Native American languages. . .

. . . and of course there are new characters for "mathematical and technical
publishing". . . new specifications for processing script. . . (who writes
in Script? The MIDDLE EAST writes in Script! Isn't it wonderful that the
Unicode Consortium is supporting the War on Terrorism.) The script people
met in Berlin, Paris, London and Athens. Anyone care to guess who the major
players are?

Finally, despite what this seems to say, you still need someone to IMPLEMENT
the functionality. Everyone thinks: Oh, Groovy, there is a Standard for our
language. We will be able to write in our language right out of the box.
NOT. Support for Native American languages has to be built from the bottom
up: fonts, input methodologies, spell-checkers, grammar-checkers .These two
are NOT the same; At Red Pony, we have a spell-check technology, and fonts,
but not a grammar-checker because the grammar checker requires much more
complex code than the lexicon that can be used as the spell-checker. Grammar
requires a not only major investments of time and money (and these two are
not necessarily the same) but also a substantial compendium of
knowledge.Unfortunately, the people who are native speakers don't know about
technology and linguistic sophistication, and those who know one
(technology), the other (linguistic sophistication), or both, are not native
speakers, don't know the old language(s), or lack linguistic sophistication
in the target.

So much for my rant this bright and cheery, crispy cool First Day of
September morning in Tularosa, NM.

Mia Kalish
Red Pony HLT & NMSU




----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Cash Cash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 10:53 AM
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)


> Dear ILAT,
>
> I thought this news article might be of interest.  Just follow the link.
>
> Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard
>
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www
/story/08-27-2003/0002007261&EDATE=WED+Aug+27+2003,+09:03+AM
>
> Phil
> UofA, ILAT
>
>


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Mon Sep  1 23:39:41 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 15:39:41 -0800
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)
In-Reply-To: <004701c37089$edc3d2d0$6400a8c0@computer>
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.153941.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 07:06 AM 2003-09-01 -0600, MiaKalish at RedPony yowled:
>I do truly hate to be a cynic, especially so early in the morning of a day
>of changing seasons, and a holiday, but I went to this link, checked it
>out. . . found the following. . .
[
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www
/story/08-27-2003/0002007261&EDATE=WED+Aug+27+2003,+09:03+AM
]
>I will grant that the number of encoded characters is probably "record
>breaking". . .  but I couldn't find any for Native American languages. . .

That's because you were only looking in the Chinese/Han character
database.  Unicode has a full repertory of Cherokee characters, and a very
large repertory for writing in "Canadian syllabics", a catch-all for all
the languages that use Cree-like syllabaries.

>Finally, despite what this seems to say, you still need someone to
>IMPLEMENT the functionality.

Where did it seem to say that you don't need implementations?

>new specifications for processing script. . . (who writes in Script? The
>MIDDLE EAST writes in Script! Isn't it wonderful that the Unicode
>Consortium is supporting the War on Terrorism.)

"script" is the Unicode technical term for a "writing system" possibly for
several languages.  For example, Cherokee syllabics is a script, Canadian
Syllabics is a script, Arabic Script is a script (used for Arabic and a few
dozen other languages), Latin Script is a script (a-z plus all the fancy
stuff), and so on.

I can't tell what you mean by mentioning the Middle East here.  Are you
feeling well?

>The script people met in Berlin, Paris, London and Athens. Anyone care to
>guess who the major
>players are?

We are linguists.

What do you want us to do?

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 03:28:51 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 20:28:51 -0700
Subject: Revitalizing Algonquian Languages (call for papers)
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.202851.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Revitalizing Algonquian Languages: Sharing Effective Language Renewal
Practices II

Call for Papers

Call Deadline: 15-Oct-2003

Papers are invited in the areas of Algonquian linguistic preservation,
revitalization, education programs, and innovational technologies.

Types of Presentations:

Workshops (2 hours):  Intensive sessions in which participants learn and
practice native language teaching methods, develop classroom teaching
materials, or do other hands-on type activities.

Papers (45 minutes):  A description and/or discussion of something the
presenter(s) is doing or have done related to indigenous/tribal
languages. Presenters are encouraged to use handouts and audio-visual
aids and to present a summary of the paper rather than a prepared text.

Demonstrations (45 minutes):  Presentation of a specific teaching or
testing technique.  Presenters are encouraged to use handouts and
audio-visual aids.

Panel Discussions (2 hours):  Panel presentations provide a forum for a
group to discuss issues related to the maintenance and renewal of
Algonquian languages.

Conference proceedings will be published.

All presenters are required to register for the conference. For a copy
of the registration form, e-mail  or phone 860-396-2052. Please
include: registration form, academic affiliation or area of research,
tribal affiliation, title of presentation, a one page abstract and a
summary for advertising purposes.

~~~

Source: Linguist List


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:45:26 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:45:26 -0700
Subject: No Child Left Behind: Grants from the Department of Education
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.094526.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

No Child Left Behind: Grants from the Department of Education

 Posted: September 02, 2003 -  8:56am EST
 by: E.S. Dempsey / Washington D.C. correspondent / Indian Country Today

 WASHINGTON - The Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education
disperses more than 1,200 grants to schools. The types of funding fall
under two categories: formula and discretionary.

         According to the National Indian Education Association,
President Bush’s fiscal year 2004 budget request for these programs is
level with 2003. The bulk of the money - almost $100 million - will go
to formula grants intended to improve the performance levels of
American Indian children in elementary and secondary schools.

         The discretionary funding includes $9 million towards
demonstration grants to establish Native language and culture programs
from preschool through high school. Discretionary monies also allot $11
million to professional development grants that emphasize teacher
training. More than 850 Native Americans have completed the American
Indian Teacher Corps program. After five years of training, its
graduates teach in schools having large numbers of Native students.

         Approximately $5 million is being allocated to National
Activities plans, which fund research, evaluation, and data collection
of Native American student performance.

         Victoria Vasques, director of the Office of Indian Education at
the Department of Education, says the grants complement the No Child
Left Behind legislation, and provide an excellent opportunity for
school districts to provide some type of supplemental service to their
students.

         "We try not to tell them what to design or do in their
curricula. But we want to show we are improving in reading skills and
math skills, starting at an earlier age," she said.

         Vasques had been involved in Indian education for two decades.
Early in her career she was director of Indian education programs for
the Whittier Union High School District in California. Over the years
she has consistently seen data showing the low scores for Indian
students in reading, math, and science.

         "Twenty years and I still see the same statistics - it’s sad
that for 20 years we are still doing the same thing. And we’re still
not succeeding. Our Indian kids experience a high dropout rate not only
in senior high school but we see it even in junior high and some cases
even elementary school."

         She says the most important message she wants to deliver is
that the No Child Left Behind Act is intended to help. It will help
American Indians move forward and provide the services that their
students need to be successful.

         Vasques is pleased that the Secretary of Education, Rod Paige,
is elevating the Indian Education office to report directly to the
Under Secretary, Eugene Hickok, effective Oct. 1. Previously Indian
Education fell under the Elementary and Secondary Education office. She
believes that increasing the visibility of American Indian education
programs is essential for raising new achievement levels for Indian
students.

         "Because now we’ll have authority to be responsible for the
administration of these grant programs a little more directly. We can
identify research priorities related to the education of our Indian
kids and facilitate change that might be necessary."

         Ultimately Vasques has one goal: "To make sure that no Indian
child is left behind and to do everything I can to make sure we are
included in the process from A to Z.


This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1062507500


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:47:29 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:47:29 -0700
Subject: Google Malaysia makes debut (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.094729.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Google Malaysia makes debut

By CHAN LEE MENG

PETALING JAYA: Since this Merdeka Day (Aug 31), local websurfers who use
the Google search engine have been redirected to www.google.com.my
instead of the usual www.google.com page. 

   You will see a Google Malaysia logo and get an option to search for
webpages in Malaysia. 

   The site still defaults to English, though you can set it show you
the Bahasa Malaysia page which will render the entire Google site in
BM. 

   Switching to the BM version will reveal somewhat amusing translations
of search engine terms. For example, Advanced Search is “Carian
Canggih” while Cached is “Disimpan Sementara.” And Google’s trademark
“I’m Feeling Lucky” button becomes “Saya Rasa Bertuah.” 

   The B.M. page has a few minor inconsistencies though, such as use of
the phrase “Bahasa Melayu” instead of Bahasa Malaysia, and references
to the Web which has been variously listed as “Jaringan” and “seluruh
Internet.” 

   Google’s Bahasa Malaysia page has actually been available for some
months (it was previously listed under “Malay”), although this is the
first time it is available at a local (.my) domain. 

   A quick check at the Mynic website (www.mynic.net.my) reveals that
the domain is owned by Kandiah & Associates Sdn Bhd located in Kuala
Lumpur.  

   The Google website has been translated into more than 140 languages,
including such diverse ones as Zulu, Tagalog, Swahili, and Scots
Gaelic. Google language options can be changed at
www.google.com.my/language_tools?hl=en. 

   The site is also available in synthetic languages like Esperanto and
Klingon. 

   In addition, Google is available in joke languages like Pig Latin,
Elmer Fudd, Hacker (leetspeak) and something called Borkborkbork. 

   Google website translations are the result of the Google in Your
Language programme (services.google.com/tc/Welcome.html), a largely
volunteer effort.  

   It should be noted that translations only cover the Google interface
and website – the search results still appear in their native
language. 


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:54:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:54:41 -0700
Subject: Workshop designed to give 'sleeping' Indian languages a breath of
 life (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.095441.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 4.0-cvs

Workshop designed to give 'sleeping' Indian languages a breath of life

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/uow-wdt090203.php

          Thirty-six participants from 13 Pacific Northwest Indian
tribes will gather at the University of Washington next week for a
workshop designed to open the linguistic riches of the UW campus and
assist in tribal efforts to revitalize indigenous languages.

        Members of the Nooksack, Chehalis, Cowlitz, Lummi, Tulalip,
Colville, Yakama, Samish, Skokomish, Muckleshoot, Squaxin Island, Lower
Rogue and Unangax tribes and nations will participate in the weeklong
Breath of Life workshop Sept. 8-12.  They will work with a dozen
linguists, primarily UW linguistics Ph.Ds. and graduate students, and
library archivists, to learn basics of linguistics and explore material
in their languages that is stored at the UW.

        "All of the participants are working to revitalize imperiled
languages, and some of these languages have no fluent speakers today,"
said Alice Taff, a research associate in the UW's linguistics
department who is coordinating the workshop.

        "We call these 'sleeping' languages when there are no speakers.
But you can wake up a language.  Hebrew, in the context of daily
conversation, was sleeping and is now quite awake."

        During the workshop, participants will go to class in the
mornings to learn linguistic skills that will aid them in their work in
the archives.  In the afternoons, archivists will help them explore and
sort through the material in their language.  To focus their archives
search, each participant will work on a project related to revitalizing
his or her language.

        The UW archives and the Burke Museum of Natural History and
Culture contain a number of collections with material devoted to the
languages of native peoples of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
The largest is the Melville Jacobs Collection.  Jacobs was chairman of
the UW's anthropology department for nearly 30 years, and from 1926 to
1939 did extensive field research documenting Indian language and music
in Washington.  The Jacobs collection includes numerous field
recordings, many originally made on wax cylinders, as well as his
notebooks and cards and material collected by some of his students. The
collection fills about 150 boxes.

        The Northwest Linguistics Collection contains miscellaneous
material that includes more than 800 audiotapes and countless microfilm
copies of linguistics field notes.  The Ethnomusicology Collection,
housed in the School of Music, is one of the largest in the country and
contains material related to the songs of Washington and Pacific
Northwest Indians.  The Metcalf Collection, stored in the Burke Museum
contains, 76 one-hour tapes, primarily of songs and music collected
around Puget Sound in the 1950s.

        "Many academics built their careers on the backs of linguistic
data that Indian people gave them, so it behooves the UW to turn around
and open the archives to their descendents who are working to
revitalize their language," said Taff.

        She hopes the workshop will continue in future years. But even
if it doesn't, she thinks the weeklong program will show participants
how to use the archives, know the university and feel comfortable
enough to come back at their convenience and continue their work.

        "What we are going to be doing and teaching is secondary, and
going through this material will be absolute detective work to help
sleeping languages awaken," she said.

        The UW workshop is modeled and named after a similar program
that has been held every other year since 1996 at the University of
California, Berkeley, to revitalize Indian languages in California.

###

For more information, contact Taff at taff at u.washington.edu or the UW
department of linguistics after Sept. 7 at 206-543-2046.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  2 19:43:06 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 12:43:06 -0700
Subject: From Another List
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.124306.0700.>

Compressed video in this case is an interconnected network between campuses
whereby courses can be delivered to more than one campus at the same time,
but the classes are generally not available online. Hopefully, and
probably, that will be possible in the future. I believe the Choctaw are
working with a closed circuit system from OU to satellite classes in
Albuquerque and Seattle, and some good examples of their online instruction
are at www.choctawindian.com . The Cherokee have their font, lessons, and
vocabulary online at www.cherokee.org . Of course, the Martin/Mauldin site
has a lot of good Mvskoke language materials: www.wm.edu/linguistics/creek/

--

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep  4 11:09:24 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 04:09:24 -0700
Subject: Saturn's moons named after Inuit characters (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.040924.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Saturn's moons named after Inuit characters
WebPosted Sep 2 2003 08:25 AM MDT
http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=sep02inuitnamemoon02092003

IQALUIT, Nunavut - Four of 12 new moons discovered around Saturn in the
fall of 2000 have now officially been given Inuktitut names.

The decision was announced late last month at the Astronomical Union's
meeting in Sydney Australia.

Canadian J.J. Kavelaars was one of the three astronomers who discovered
the new moons.

He named one of them after Ijiraq, a mythological Inuit creature he had
read about in a children's book written by Michael Kusugak.

Kusugak says he read an article about Kavelaars and found out the
astronomer was looking for Inuit names for three more moons.

"Apparently this Canadian, J.J. Kavelaars reads my books to his children
and he wanted to name one of those moons 'Ijiraq' after a character in
one of my books," he says.

Two of the moons are named after the mythological characters Kiviuq and
Siarnaq, or Sedna.

A third is named after Paaliaq, a character Kusugak created for a novel
he is working on.

The newly-discovered satellites are about 50 km across and likely icy
moons; the remnants of asteroids or comets captured by the planet's
gravity long-ago. The satellites orbit Saturn at distances of around 15
million kilometers from the planet.

"These are chunks of material left over from the formation of the solar
system", says Kavelaars.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep  4 16:10:04 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 09:10:04 -0700
Subject: Carry Over From Another List
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.091004.0700.>

>Whoever told you that lied.  I personally know at least 25 Sámi who speak
>their >language fluently and daily.  I certainly do not know every living
Sámi so >the >statement about 25 is an obvious lie. > >See;
><http://odin.dep.no/odinarkiv/norsk/dep/ud/1997/annet/032005-990462/index-dok000-b-f-a.html>
>

 Mike, I am getting back to you on this.  Although this is not a FN topic,
this was something that was started that I felt should be cleared up.  I
e-mailed my mom~Rs cousin in Sweden so I would get this right, because she
is the one I originally got the information from.  I received a reply back
this morning:

She said Sweden is a small, but very diverse country and many languages are
offered in the schools.  But Sweden requires that a certain percentage of
the population benefit from a  language instruction and there are some that
are not offered because of the low numbers of people requiring instruction.

Sweden is a little different than some of the other countries where the
Sami live.  She said that there are 6 primary schools that teach Sami in
Sweden and a few that offer 1 or 2 hours of instruction a day in their
language. There is radio instruction also.  Not all nine languages are
offered.  The problem even for those offered seems to be that there is
little opportunity to use the primary language outside of instruction and
the proficiency is not there.

She said at one point, in this past century, approximately 80% of the
population of Sami in Sweden did not speak the language.  She feels that
the functional value of speaking the indigenous languages is most of the
problem.  She said it is sad, but unless one is going to teach the language
to others or use it in business dealings with the Sami, there is little
opportunity to use the language.  She said there is more focus on learning
the language in Finland than there is in Sweden, although Finland has a
lower numbers of Sami.  All Sami have not made significant strides in
retaining their languages.  She said that there are 9 separate languages
with several Sami dialects.  The one she referred to is Pite.  Ume is
following closely as endangered.  Below are a couple of sites (in English)
that she sent.  I hope that this explains my comment from before. Carol

Most endangered in Sweden:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=LPB


Next in line of endangerment:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=LPU


This site lists the names of the languages and varieties (dialects):
http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/sami/an/i2/i2.html


--

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From fmarmole at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep  4 18:46:37 2003
From: fmarmole at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Francisco Marmolejo)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 11:46:37 -0700
Subject: Spanish Language Program
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.114637.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>


EASTFIELD COLLEGE


LANGUAGE & LITERATURE DIVISION


SPANISH 1311 TRIP TO SPAIN, SPRING 2004


 


TENTATIVE SIGHTSEEING


 

 

                     Pre-trip meeting – April 3, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

 

                     Pre-trip meeting – April 24, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

                                    Test #1

                     Post-trip meeting – May 29, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

 

                     May 10 Departure to Madrid, Spain, Handouts,
Reading about Spain

 

May 11  Arrive in Madrid.  Panoramic tour.  Lunch at leisure.  In the
afternoon visit with       

               the group the Park El Retiro.  Dinner in the hotel.
Briefing  and lecture in      

               preparation for sightseeing tour of Madrid, next day.

 

May 12  Visit Librería Nacional,  Museo Reina Bofia.  Lunch at leisure.
In the afternoon visit Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Plaza de las Cibeles
and Puerta del Sol.  Evening at leisure.  Lecture prior to sightseeing
trip and briefing following the tour  (Test # 2)

 

                              May 13  Visit Museo del Prado.  Lunch at
leisure.   In the afternoon trip to Segovia.    

Visit Aqueduct of Segovia, and Mercado al Aire Libre.  Back to Madrid.


                Evening at leisure.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip
and briefing following the 

                tour. 

 

                              May 14  Departures to Toledo.  Panoramic
view.  Lunch at leisure.  Visit house and  

                                             Museo del Greco, el Alcazar
and main Cathedral of Toledo.  Dinner at a local 

               restaurant.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip and
briefing following the tour.

 

May 15   Departure to Consuegra and visit the Windmills. Drive to
Cordoba. Panoramic   tour.  Visit Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos and
Mesquita de Cordoba.  Lunch at leisure.  In the afternoon visit Medinat
az-Zahra. Entrance to excavation. Dinner at leisure.  Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.

 

                      May 16  Departure to Sevilla.  Panoramic view of
the city.  Visit the Museo de Bellas  

                Artes.  Lunch at leisure.  In the afternoon visit the
Archeological Museum and   

                Paza  de Espana.  Dinner and Flaminco Dance show.
Lecture prior to   

                sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.
(Test#3)

 

                     May 17  Sevilla –  visit La Catedral de La Giralda,
Barrio de Triana.  Lunch at leisure.  

   In the afternoon visit El Alcazar, Torre del Oro.  Dinner at leisure.
Lecture 

               prior to  sightseeing trip and briefing following the
tour.

 

May 18  Departure to Granada.  Panoramic view of the city.  Visit the
Museo de Bellas    Artes and La Alhambra.  Lunch at leisure.  In the
afternoon visit El Alcazar.  Evening at leisure. Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.

 

                             May 19   Departure to El Toboso.  Panoramic
view of El Toboso.  Lunch  at leisure.  Visit Quixote Museum and The
Windmills. Drive to Albacete. Dinner at leisure.  Night in Albacete.
Lecture and summary of the second week

 

May 20  Departure to Valencia.  Panoramic view of the city.  Lunch at
leisure. In the afternoon visit Museo de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de
Ceramicas.  Dinner at the hotel.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip and
briefing following the tour.  Test #4.

 

May 21  In the morning visit Colegio del Patriarca and Museo Taurino.
Drive to Cuenca.  Dinner at leisure in Cuenca  Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing to following the tour.

 

May 22  Departure from Cuenca. In the morning, panoramic view of the
city including hanging houses “casas colgadas”.  Museo de Arte Abtracto
Espanol, and Puerta de San Pablo. Lunch at leisure.  Drive to Madrid.
Dinner at the hotel.  Final summary briefing of the trip.

 

                              May 23   Departure from Madrid to Dallas.

                               

 

         Bibliography: (Optional)

 

A.     Cultural History

The Structure of Iberian History, Americo Castro

Federico Garcia Lorca, A Life, Ian Gibson

Barcelona, Robert Hughes

Iberia, James Mitchner

 

B.      Literary Studies

Don Quijote, Cervantes

Tales of Alhambra, Washington Irving

Philosophy of Love in Spanish, Alexander A. Parker

 

C.     Art

Picasso, Maillard Elgar

Islamic Art, David Rice

Velazquez, The Complete Works, Lopez-Rey

                               




 

Estimated Cost: 

 

$2,874.00 plus tuition ($90, three hour credits) plus 1 textbook and
tips ($45). Plus personal expenses.  

 
Students at CCCC and other N. Texas Consortium of Schools qualify for
in-County tuition.

 

The $2,874.00 cost includes round trip airfare from DFW to Madrid and
return including all taxes and surcharges, hotels and breakfasts, many
meals, museum fees and entrances to sights visited on the itinerary, and
escorted transportation in Spain.  The cost does not include:  DCCCD
tuition (3 credits), one textbook, tips, passport fees, some meals,
incidental transportation (i.e., taxis for shopping, etc.).  Monthly
installments are permitted.  

 

For payment, please contact Sheneicka Flakes, at the EFC Business
Office, 

972-860-7301.

                              

In order to ensure air and hotel reservations,  a deposit of $400.00 is
mandatory and due no later than November 3, 2003.  The second payment of
$1,200.00 is due no later than February 9, 2004.  The third and final
payment is due no later than March 8, 2004. If you choose to make one
final payment for the total amount of $2,874.00 it will be due no later
than March 19, 2004.  The amount of $250 will be charged as a penalty
for any late registration.   Monthly installments are permitted, as
well.  

 

Throughout the trip, the students are expected to communicate with
locals in Spanish.   This experience with the Spanish language will help
you to develop your personal ability to communicate properly.

 

For more information, please contact Ana M. Piffardi, Spanish Professor,
at Eastfield College 972-860-7661/7124,  

e-mail: axp4426 at dcccd.edu 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030904/e70f6270/attachment.html>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  9 16:45:28 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 09:45:28 -0700
Subject: LLT Volume 7, Number 3 now available (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.094528.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

We are happy to announce that Volume 7, Number 3 of Language Learning &
Technology is now available at http://llt.msu.edu. This is a Special
Issue on Distance Learning and was guest edited by Margo Glew with the
assistance of Associate Editor Irene Thompson. The contents are listed
below.

Please visit the LLT Web site and be sure to enter your free
subscription if you have not already done so. Also, we welcome your
contributions for future issues. Check our guidelines for submission at
http://llt.msu.edu/contrib.html.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Chun, Editor
Language Learning & Technology (http://llt.msu.edu)

--- Feature Articles ---
Optimal Psycholinguistic Environments for Distance Foreign Language
Learning
Catherine J. Doughty & Michael H. Long

Flexibility and Interaction at a Distance: A Mixed-Mode Environment
for Language Learning
Antonella Strambi & Eric Bouvet

Meeting the Needs of Distance Learners
Nicholas Sampson

Online Learning: Patterns of Engagement and Interaction Among
In-Service Teachers
Faridah Pawan, Trena M. Paulus, Senom Yalcin, & Ching-Fen Chang

Using Native Speakers in Chat
Vincenza Tudini

--- Commentary ---

Extending the Scope of Tele-Collaborative Projects
A commentary inspired by Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio's
"Tele-Collaborative Projects: Monsters.com?"
Phillip A. Towndrow

--- Call for Papers ---
Theme: Technology and Oral Language Development

--- Columns ---
On the Net
Interactive and Multimedia Techniques in Online Language Lessons: A
Sampler
by Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio

Emerging Technologies
Tools for Distance Education: Towards Convergence and Integration
by Bob Godwin-Jones

--- Reviews ---
Edited by Rafael Salaberry

Computer-Mediated Communication: Human-to-Human Communication Across the
Internet (Susan B. Barnes)
Reviewed by Gillian Lord

Electronic Collaborators: Learner-Centered Technologies for Literacy,
Apprenticeship, and Discourse (Curtis Jay Bonk and Kira S. King, Eds.)
Reviewed by Joseph Collentine

Language Learning Online: Towards Best Practice (Uschi Felix, Ed.)
Reviewed by Steve Bird

Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom (Larry Cuban)
Reviewed by Lara Lomicka

Technology for Literacy Teaching and Learning (William J. Valmont)
Reviewed by Stephanie Throne


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  9 16:59:53 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 09:59:53 -0700
Subject: Heritage Web site gets boost (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.095953.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Heritage Web site gets boost
Canadian Press
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030909.wlang0909/BNStory/National/

Victoria — First Voices, a First Nations Internet-based archive
recording the province's rapidly disappearing aboriginal languages, was
given a near million-dollar boost Monday by Heritage Minister Sheila
Copps.

The First Peoples' Cultural Foundation will receive $774,000 during this
fiscal year.

With that money, the foundation will archive 200 proper nouns and 2,000
conversational phrases for up to 15 aboriginal language groups,
including the Sencoten of Saanich. Only about 30 elders are left who
speak the language.

"If you want to create a strong world, you have to have diversity in all
of its aspects," Ms. Copps  said. "If we don't manage to save these
languages they are going to be extinct within one generation."

There are more than 6,000 aboriginal languages around the world. More
than half are endangered.

About one language is lost every two weeks globally, according to Simon
Robinson, executive director of the cultural foundation.

In Canada alone, there are more than 50 indigenous languages, of which
32 are in B.C. There is an urgent need to document those languages
while enough fluent speaking elders are still alive, Mr. Robinson said.

Those native languages embody the deep history of First Nations people,
their stories and connection to the land.

"What is it to be human and not understand how we relate to the Earth,"
he said.

Ms.  Copps said she hopes staying connected to their heritage will
instill in children a sense of pride and self-esteem.

The first language families to be archived include the Haida, Tsimshian,
Wakashan, Coast Salish, Interior Salish and Ktunaxa. Within those
categories are languages such as Nisga'a and Gitxsan, which is under
the Tsimshian family.

First Voices is an on-line resource, the brainchild of Peter Brand and
John Elliott, that will archive the language database using text,
sound, images and video.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  9 17:12:04 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 10:12:04 -0700
Subject: Saving Culture
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.101204.0700.>

DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Saving culture depends on saving languages



My uncle, a prominent medicine man, died about 14 years ago. When he died,
he took his knowledge of an important Sahnish or Arikara ceremony with him.
He told several young men, who were trainees, that for him to teach them
this ceremony, they needed to know the Sahnish language. They knew only
"words" and not the speaking language.

The medicine man's refusal to teach his ceremony to these young men because
they weren't fluent in the language resulted in his way of the ceremony
being lost.

One of my aunts, who is Catholic but also believes in the Native way of
life, said that the ceremonies shouldn't be limited to the Native language.
Certainly, God wouldn't understand only one language, she said.

She has a good point that is difficult to counter.When the issue of whether
the Creator could understand all languages was asked of my uncle, he said,
yes, their God, our Creator, the Supreme Being is powerful. It is we who
might have difficulty communicating with the Spirit because different
languages differ in impact and meaning.

Take, for example, a joke told in Sahnish and then retold in English. In
the Sahnish language it is funny, but when translated it loses its punch -
the translated words just don't provide the same meaning.

So, when we talk to the Creator in a language different than how we were
taught, the meaning may change, he said. The Creator does understand all
languages, but the ceremonies were given to us in Sahnish and are best
practiced that way, he told me.

That communication dilemma is reaching a critical point on many
reservations. In fact, on some reservations, the language has all but
disappeared.

There are programs on many reservations to teach the young. My grandsons
and granddaughter are learning the Dakota language in a Sisseton, S.D.,
school. I am amazed to hear my grandsons rattle off Dakota as easily as
English. They are young and at an age where learning a language isn't
difficult, but when these children go home, the adults - the generations
who were indoctrinated into the white way - don't speak the language. The
learning stops when school is out and after awhile, the children start to
forget. In order for a language to thrive, it must be used and spoken
regularly.

Of course, we are in an English-speaking world. Most of us live our lives
in English.

But that isn't how it was 30 or 40 years ago, when Native languages were
common and less influenced by the media and society.

My father used to say that he dreamed in Sahnish. He spoke the Indian
language of the tribes in the Dakotas and was fluent in all four. His
English was poor. He said he had to listen to the English word and
translate it in his mind. There were too many foreigners, he called them,
whose language was influencing his family and the people. He was right.

Learning and understanding the language is important not only so that those
who wish to follow the Native way can participate, but also in order to
gain a clear understanding of the culture - our way of life.

One of the ways that this "language saving" is happening on some
reservations came from Arvol Looking Horse, the Keeper of the White Buffalo
Calf Peace Pipe, and other spiritual leaders and elders who said Native
ceremonies should be conducted in the Native language. If you don't know
the language, you can participate only on the periphery of the ceremony,
they said.

There was a lot of grumbling and naysaying around the reservations about
that decision, but there also are a lot more people who have begun to learn
the language. In order to participate in ceremonies, they said, it is
important - so learn it.

It is a tough and defining time for maintaining the languages of the
540-plus tribes in this nation. We are at a crossroads but the word is out.
Understanding the language is important for maintaining the ceremonies, and
the language has crucial ties to the culture of past generations. That
culture, in turn, is important to the future of Native people.

 Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at
780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at
dyellowbird at gfherald.com


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  9 19:28:06 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 12:28:06 -0700
Subject: Creek Langauge SIte
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.122806.0700.>

http://www.wm.edu/linguistics/creek/dictionary/english-creek.htm

 This is a great site (part of the one below) for learning to pronounce
Muscogee (Creek) words.  To hear the word pronounced, click on the blue
word.  The words are arranged in alphabetical order (English), so you can
see if the word you are looking for is actually in the list.   It is
usually good to try learning word in groups, so try to pick out the names
of things, like the kitchen (or whatever), learn all of those and practice
them when you are in the kitchen.  Foods are another good category to
learn.  You will have to put the words on a separate paper, grouping them
in the category you are working with.  You can learn some individual words
and then be ready to construct simple sentences when you learn some
grammar. Good luck.


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Wed Sep 10 02:18:31 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 18:18:31 -0800
Subject: PC tape deck
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.181831.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

This PlusDeck thing for automating turning audiotape into mp3s sounds
interesting.  Does anyone have any good/bad experience with it?
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008657.php
http://www.plusdeck.com/english/

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 10 19:23:21 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:23:21 -0700
Subject: Languages
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.122321.0700.>

http://www.nathpo.org/News/Language/News_Native-Languages15.htm


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 10 19:58:21 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:58:21 -0700
Subject: Plus deck Feedback
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.125821.0700.>

>From a  friend:

I think I would much rather have a general purpose adapter that allows me
to
hook up anything to my IBook, and record from Mic, or line input off my
home
cassette deck, or reel or reel, or 8-track, or live from the sound board,
or whatever...(the ability to record directly to mp3 is built into the
mac...)

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powerwave/index.html

--

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET  Wed Sep 10 20:09:58 2003
From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 13:09:58 -0700
Subject: PC tape deck
In-Reply-To: <5.2.1.1.1.20030909181651.025b42c0@mailstore.pobox.com>
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.130958.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

thanks Sean for pointing this out.  i have been using an ARCHOS Jukebox
Recorder 20 to transfer analog audio (tape) to digital format.  it
works fine but the sampling compression is limited to MP3 (MPEG-3).  i
wish though that it would have a greater range (.wav format) than just
MP3 compression and i suspect that the PlusDeck is similar.  so the
transfer would be analog > MP3 > .WAV format rather than straight from
analog to an uncompressed digital form.  i like Andre's idea too.

Phil Cash Cash

On Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 07:18  PM, Sean M. Burke wrote:

> This PlusDeck thing for automating turning audiotape into mp3s sounds
> interesting.  Does anyone have any good/bad experience with it?
> http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008657.php
> http://www.plusdeck.com/english/
>
> --
> Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 11 15:46:43 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 08:46:43 -0700
Subject: Hopi language project a reality for Tuba City school district
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.084643.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hopi language project a reality for Tuba City school district

By Rosanda Suetopka Thayer
TC District Media
http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/NAVAJOHOPIOBSERVER/sites/NAVAJOHOPIOBSERVER/0175edition/myarticles817335.asp?P=817335&S=392&PubID=11275

Tuba CIty — It’s taken years to get the local village support and
community interest past political obstacles, but this spring Tuba City
High and Tuba City Junior High Schools will begin offering a Hopi
language program, utilizing everyday Hopi conversation as its basic
foundation.

Many factors in the past year have propelled the Hopi Lavayi program
forward at Tuba City Unified School District. Support from TCHS
Principal Adelbert Goldtooth, District Associate Superintendent Dr.
Harold G. Begay and District Office of Public Relations Director
Rosanda Suetopka Thayer facilitated the program. Marvin Lalo, director
of the Hopi Lavayi Project at the Hopi Tribe, put forth relentlessly
optimistic efforts.

The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office completed a comprehensive study on
Hopi fluency in 1998 that assessed language loss in all 12 Hopi
villages.

Additional local village moral support came from Upper Mungapi’s
Governor Alene Garcia, Lt. Governor Yvonne Hoosava and their current
Board of Directors which include Danny Humetewa Sr., Robert Sakiestewa
Jr., Henry Seweyestewa, Florence Albert, Wilfred Moore, Ethel Gilbert,
Alden Seweyestewa and Wayne Kuwanhyoima.

Earlier this year the Village of Upper Mungapi’s Board of Directors
passed a unanimous vote of endorsement for their children thus making
the village and school partnership a solid reality.

Along with the language classes for students at Tuba City High and TC
Junior High, the village is discussing the possibility of conducting
classes for its own community members at the village level.

On Aug. 28, in the first of what will be a series of collaborative
meetings held at TCHS, representatives looked at several options for
implementing the Hopi Lavayi language program offered next semester.

Among those present were Leigh Kuwanwisima from the Hopi Tribe Office of
Cultural Preservation, Dawa Taylor director of the Hopi Lavayi Project
and Reanna Albert from Hopi Tribal Chairman’s Office. From TCUSD
attendees included Principal Goldtooth; TCJHS Principal Richard Grey;
Susie Store, Navajo Language coordinator; Harry Manygoats, parent
coordinator; Sarah Dallas, TCHS; and Eleanor Williams, Louise Kerley
and Sally McCabe, all Navajo Language teachers. Jessie Talaswaima, Lynn
Fredericks and Roger Mase were there from Hopi High School.

In the past, TCUSD only offered the Navajo and Spanish language as
“foreign” language options.

However, a record number of Hopi students currently attend Tuba City
District schools with both students and parents expressing their desire
to have the Hopi language offered.

Through the initial efforts of Dr. Begay, who said he believes “that
education also means equity in accessing culturally appropriate as well
as rigorous academic choices,” these student and parental wishes will
now become reality.

Prior to the spring semester, age appropriate materials for the new
junior high and high school Hopi language classes will be developed.
Also, TC district will need to find an accredited high school teacher
who is a fluent Hopi speaker to teach the classes—a different approach
than Hopi Jr/Sr High School has taken.

Although Hopi Jr/Sr High School currently offers a Hopi language class,
it does not have an accredited teacher who is a fluent Hopi speaker.
Hopi Jr/Sr creatively solved this problem by having an accredited
non-Hopi speaking teacher accompanied by a fluent Hopi speaking
teacher’s aide who does the actual language teaching and is in the
classroom the entire classroom period.

Hopi Lavayi Project Director Taylor sent a formal letter of appreciation
to the TC district administration.

“We are truly thankful for your vital role you played during our course
in preparing and finally receiving approval from the Hopi Tribal
Council to dedicate the $400,000 Phoenix Indian Trust Fund towards the
Hopi Lavayi Program,” Taylor’s letter states. “This has been a pivotal
moment in Hopi history where the commitment of the Hopi Tribe and the
Hopi Tribal Council has been reinforced to address this vital trend in
Hopi language loss surrounding the Hopi People.

“This is truly a milestone in our progression towards Hopi language
revitalization. Your continued Tuba City District efforts and support
are recognized as phenomenal.”

For more information about the proposed Hopi language classes offered at
TCUSD next semester, please call Principal Adelbert Goldtooth at Tuba
City High School (928-283-1047) or the Tuba City District Office of
Public Relations (928-283-1072).


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep 11 17:33:39 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 10:33:39 -0700
Subject: Dr. Bill Bright (Linguist-speaker)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.103339.0700.>

The Department of Anthropology, the Department of English, and the Center
for Indian Community Development invite you to a talk by



DR. WILLIAM BRIGHT University of Colorado
http://www.ncidc.org/bright/




Animal Names in Native Northwestern California



Thursday, September 18 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Founders Hall 25

William Bright was for many years the Editor of Language, the journal of
the Linguistic Society of America.  He has also been Editor in Chief of the
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (Oxford, 1992) and of the
forthcoming Native American Place names of the United States. As an
anthropological linguist, his research has focused on the languages of
native northwestern California, in particular Karuk.  His descriptive
grammar of Karuk, The Karok Language (1957), is regarded as one of the
classics of California Indian linguistics.  Prof. Bright remains in close
contact with the Karuk Tribe; he helped devise the writing system now in
use for the language and has recently been consulting with the Tribe on a
dictionary project.

In this talk he considers the  names for animals in the three major Indian
languages of north-western California Yurok, Hupa and Karuk.  The majority
of such names in Yurok consist of unanalyzable single morphemes, while the
majority in Hupa are "descriptive" combinations of several morphemes; the
Karuk language lies between the two others. A possible explanation is seen
in the historical operation of verbal taboo on the names of the deceased.
It is suggested that this is part of the status of native northwestern
California not as a linguistic area in a strict sense, but as an
ethnolinguistic area.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep 11 21:19:31 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:19:31 -0700
Subject: Inter-tribal Gathering 2003
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.141931.0700.>

Email me for a Color PDF of the map and poster
--
Go to:

http://www.ncidc.org
and click the email button
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MapITG03.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 121480 bytes
Desc: Unknown Document
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030911/06840254/attachment.pdf>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 04:16:09 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 21:16:09 -0700
Subject: Dine Education Web (link)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.211609.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

fyi,

here is a site of interest for language educators.  you will need to
download a set of Navajo fonts (Windows & Mac) to view the language
data.  qo'c (later),

Phil
UofA, ILAT

~~~

Dine Education Web
http://dine.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/index.html


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 16:18:43 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 09:18:43 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.091843.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Language influences the way you think
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html

Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
but think about it differently too, according to a new study.

Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.

Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
the action they had seen.

He found speakers of the three different languages used different
gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
the structure of their languages expressed that event.

For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
the motion but not the arc.

Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.

While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.

Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.

"In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
speaking."

Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003


From taniag at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 17:04:12 2003
From: taniag at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Tania Granadillo)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 10:04:12 -0700
Subject: Call for papers
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.100412.0700.>

Hello
Below and attached you will find a call for papers for Coyote Papers: The
University of Arizona Working Papers in Linguistics
Topic for Volume 13: Indigenous Languages of the Americas

Feel free to distribute it to interested parties.

Tania Granadillo
University of Arizona
Joint Anthropology and Linguistics PHD Program
taniag at u.arizona.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

Coyote Papers: The University of Arizona Working Papers in Linguistics
Topic for Volume 13: Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Submission Deadline:  October 15th, 2003

The University of Arizona Linguistics Circle invites you to submit papers on any
topic related to Language & the Indigenous Groups of the Americas.

Topics include, but are not limited to:
·	Linguistic Description & Analysis
·	Language Acquisition, Maintenance & Revitalization
·	Language Ideology
·	Ethnography of language
·	Language & Culture
·	Socio-linguistics
·	Pidgins & Creoles

Submitting authors may be students or faculty from any university. Papers should
be no longer than 25 double-spaced pages (excluding references, figures, and
appendices), and may be written in Spanish or English.

In addition to your abstract, please provide a 150 word abstract separate from
your paper.


If you choose to submit your paper electronically, please send it as an
attachment to one of the editors. Please include any necessary fonts and note
that you may be asked to submit a paper version also.
Editors:  Coyote Papers 13
Luis Barragan <lmbarrag at u.arizona.edu>
Tania Granadillo <taniag at u.arizona.edu>
Meghan O'Donnell <meghano at u.arizona.edu>

If you choose to submit a paper copies, please send three (3) copies to:

Coyote Papers, Department of Linguistics
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210028, Douglass Bldg., Room 200-E
Tucson, AZ 85721
U.S.A.

For more information about Coyote Papers, see our web site at:

http://linguistics.arizona.edu/webpages/Coyote.html


Questions may be addressed to any of the editors by e-mail.





-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: call for papers.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 22528 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030912/4eaad5fe/attachment.doc>

From lcrouch at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 21:48:32 2003
From: lcrouch at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Lori Crouch)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:48:32 -0700
Subject: Heritage Website Gets Boost
In-Reply-To: <20030911070846.8BDFE2CBF6@listserv.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.144832.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

----- Forwarded message from s.ortiz at utoronto.ca -----
     Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 10:32:56 -0600
     From: Simon Ortiz <s.ortiz at utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: Simon Ortiz <s.ortiz at utoronto.ca>
  Subject: Fw: [ien] Fwd: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article
       To: sheilahn at email.arizona.edu

Sheilah,

Good news about Indigenous languages.  Pass this on.  Who should be getting
this sort of thing now that you're not doing AILDI anymore?

Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zaawaa Miigwans" <zaawaamigwans at sprint.ca>
To: <unlisted-recipients:>; <no To-header on input>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 6:43 AM
Subject: [ien] Fwd: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article


 >
 > >X-eGroups-Return:
 >
 >sentto-7503056-1060-1063171167-zaawaamigwans=sprint.ca at returns.groups.yahoo
.com
 > >X-Sender: mhb_0250 at hotmail.com
 > >X-Apparently-To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >X-Originating-Email: [mhb_0250 at hotmail.com]
 > >To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >Bcc:
 > >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Sep 2003 05:19:25.0994 (UTC)
 > >FILETIME=[1A16D8A0:01C3775B]
 > >From: "Mitzi Brown" <mhb_0250 at hotmail.com>
 > >X-Originating-IP: [64.231.214.113]
 > >Mailing-List: list aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com; contact
 > >aboriginaljournalists-owner at yahoogroups.com
 > >Delivered-To: mailing list aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >List-Unsubscribe:
<mailto:aboriginaljournalists-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com>
 > >Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 05:19:25 +0000
 > >Subject: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article
 > >Reply-To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >
 > >Heritage Web site gets boost
 > >
 > >Globe and Mail--September 8
 > >
 > >Canadian Press
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > >Victoria - First Voices, a First Nations Internet-based archive recording
 > >the province's rapidly disappearing aboriginal languages, was given a
near
 > >million-dollar boost Monday by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps.
 > >
 > >The First Peoples' Cultural Foundation will receive $774,000 during this
 > >fiscal year.
 > >
 > >With that money, the foundation will archive 200 proper nouns and 2,000
 > >conversational phrases for up to 15 aboriginal language groups, including
 > >the Sencoten of Saanich. Only about 30 elders are left who speak the
 > >language.
 > >
 > >"If you want to create a strong world, you have to have diversity in all
of
 > >its aspects," Ms. Copps said. "If we don't manage to save these languages
 > >they are going to be extinct within one generation."
 > >
 > >There are more than 6,000 aboriginal languages around the world. More
than
 > >half are endangered.
 > >
 > >About one language is lost every two weeks globally, according to Simon
 > >Robinson, executive director of the cultural foundation.
 > >
 > >In Canada alone, there are more than 50 indigenous languages, of which 32
 > >are in B.C. There is an urgent need to document those languages while
enough
 > >fluent speaking elders are still alive, Mr. Robinson said.
 > >
 > >Those native languages embody the deep history of First Nations people,
 > >their stories and connection to the land.
 > >
 > >"What is it to be human and not understand how we relate to the Earth,"
he
 > >said.
 > >
 > >Ms. Copps said she hopes staying connected to their heritage will instill
in
 > >children a sense of pride and self-esteem.
 > >
 > >The first language families to be archived include the Haida, Tsimshian,
 > >Wakashan, Coast Salish, Interior Salish and Ktunaxa. Within those
categories
 > >are languages such as Nisga'a and Gitxsan, which is under the Tsimshian
 > >family.
 > >
 > >First Voices is an on-line resource, the brainchild of Peter Brand and
John
 > >Elliott, that will archive the language database using text, sound,
images
 > >and video.
 > >
 > >_________________________________________________________________
 > >Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8.
 > >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
 > >
 > >
 > >------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
 > >Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
 > >Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
 > >http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
 > >http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/KWmqlB/TM
 > >---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
 > >
 > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
 > >aboriginaljournalists-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 >
 >  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>  <>  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 >
 > Zaawaa Miigwans,
 > /Otsinekwar Onahs
 >
 > Houdenosaunee -
 > Kanienkehaka
 >
 > Skennen'ko:wa, Ka'statstenh:sera ta:non Ganigonhi:oh
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > _______________________________________________
 > ien mailing list
 > ien at listserv.oise.utoronto.ca
 > http://listserv.oise.utoronto.ca/mailman/listinfo/ien
 >



----- End forwarded message -----


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 14 22:23:03 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 15:23:03 -0700
Subject: Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke? (fwd)
Message-ID: <SUN.14.SEP.2003.152303.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke?
Oh, poo! Our capital's name seems to stem from rival potty mouths.

By MARY CHALLENDER
Register Staff Writer
09/14/2003
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/22247528.html

A linguist specializing in the extinct Miami-Illinois language says he's
come across a funny, 330-year-old story that gives "Des Moines" new
meaning.


And - chamber of commerce-types might want to brace themselves - it
appears we've been punked.

Michael McCafferty, a visiting lecturer at Indiana University who has
spent decades researching Algonquian languages, agrees with the
commonly held notion that the "Moines" in Des Moines is a French
derivation of Moingoana, an Indian tribe that once lived along the
banks of the Des Moines River.

But he insists that rather than denoting the tribe's true identity, the
name was a ribald joke offered up to French explorers Marquette and
Jolliet in 1673 as a bit of razzing between competing Indian
communities.

McCafferty based his conclusion on the work of another linguist, David
Costa, who wrote an article on the etymology of a number of
Miami-Illinois tribal names, Moingoana among them. Moingoana,
McCafferty cites Costa, originates from the word "mooyiinkweena" -
which translates, politely, to "the excrement-faces."

Obviously, this was either a tribe with very low self-esteem or there
was more to the name than first appeared. McCafferty says he
immediately recognized the work of a prankster and broke out laughing.

"Then I thought, "Bet the people of Des Moines are going to love this,"
" he said.

The tribe's name, McCafferty noted, was first recorded by Father Jacques
Marquette at the village of the Peoria near the mouth of the Des Moines
River and was, no doubt, supplied to him by the Peoria. Like most
western tribes at the time, the Peoria were competing to control as
much trade with the French as they could and prized their "middle-man"
status, McCafferty said.

So when Marquette got around on that late June day in 1673 to asking the
Peoria chief who else lived in the area, the chief wasn't inclined to
play up the neighboring tribe's virtues. Instead, McCafferty theorizes,
he shrewdly chose a name - mooyiinkweena or Moingoana - that he hoped
would put Marquette off.

The funny thing is that Marquette was fluent in Ojibwa and had studied
the Miami-Illinois language for two years, McCafferty said. But he
apparently accepted the name without question, never realizing he'd
been had.

"I can't imagine a Jesuit letting something like that go by," McCafferty
noted dryly.

No one else - at least no other non-Indians - got the joke either.

After the Marquette-Jolliet Mississippi expedition, the French, relying
on Marquette's research and following their usual practice of naming
rivers after the tribes that lived along them, began calling the Des
Moines River "Riviere de Moingoana." By the end of the 1700s, the
Moingoana - or whoever they actually were - had merged with other
Illinois Indians and ceased to exist as a tribal entity.

The Miami-Illinois language became extinct around 1900, reducing even
further the chances the true meaning of the name would ever be
unearthed. Eventually, few people even realized a tribe called the
Moingoana ever existed, and it became accepted that the shortened form
of the tribe name, les Moines, referred to the Trappist monks along the
river (although the name predated any monks, McCafferty said).

McCafferty, who has been studying the Miami-Illinois language for nearly
30 years and has done extensive work on place names, said he has "no
doubt at all" that his explanation is the correct one. He credits a
recent revival in interest in the Miami-Illinois language with helping
bring the city's "true" meaning to light.

"It's the knowledge of this language that has grown in the past 25 years
that has allowed us the ability to understand what past scholars
couldn't understand," he said. "So, yes, this particular place name is
definitely nailed down. Think the city fathers will a) give me the key
to the city? (or) b) call for my execution?"

The real question is whether Des Moines city officials will c) embrace
McCafferty's new theory on the city's Web site. The site already
proffers two possible explanations for the capital's moniker:

Some people feel that 'Des Moines' is derived from the Indian word
"moingona' meaning river of the mounds which referred to the burial
mounds that were located near the banks of the river. Others are of the
opinion that name applies to the Trappist Monks (Moines de la Trappe)
who lived in huts at the mouth of the Des Moines river.

Although Marylee Woods, customer service and training adviser for the
city, found McCafferty's take on things amusing, she said the city
would most likely want to do more investigating before adding a third
meaning.

The city has been working hard on promoting the idea that Des Moines is
one of the best places in the country to locate a company, she said.
Woods doesn't even want to contemplate the challenge of fitting
"excrement-faces" into current marketing plans.

"You know I'm resisting going there with ideas," she said with a laugh.
"This is just not quite the image we want people to think of when they
think of Des Moines."

The Girl Scouts of Moingona Council, which adopted its name in 1957 and
favors the "mounds" explanation, didn't seem overly concerned that they
might be named after a punch line.

"To be honest, I doubt if it will affect us much," said Brenda
Freshour-Johnston, marketing and communications director for the Girl
Scouts council. "People take the meaning of something and adapt it. To
us, Moingona is a beautiful word that says a lot about our council and
our history and some of Iowa's history."

Des Moines isn't the first city to have its onomastic underpinnings
yanked out from under it, McCafferty said.

The name "Chicago" is generally accepted by linguists today to mean
either"skunk" or "wild leek" (a foul-smelling plant), but the Chicago
Convention and Tourism Bureau is still in denial, primly proclaiming on
its Web site that the name comes from "an Indian word meaning strong or
great."

McCafferty, who published his observations in "Names, A Journal of
Onomastics," clearly admires the Peoria Indians' ability to pull off
what may be the longest-lived practical joke ever. He understands,
though, that civic leaders may not see as much humor in it.

"I guess we'll just have to be content with scholarly journals," he
mused.


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Mon Sep 15 10:41:44 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 02:41:44 -0800
Subject: Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke? (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <1063578183.8f2b7ed8d2193@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.024144.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 02:23 PM 2003-09-14, Phil CashCash forwarded:
>http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/22247528.html
>A linguist specializing in the extinct Miami-Illinois language says he's 
>come across a funny, 330-year-old story that gives "Des Moines" new meaning.

I wonder if non-Native Iowans will fall (or jump, or be pushed) into the 
same trap as some Natives have -- namely, histrionically conflating a 
word's nonapparent (and possibly spurious) etymology with its current 
meaning.  It would amuse me to see a Caucasian replay of the "squaw" daffiness.

Maybe we'll get even luckier and hear of some discovery like "nuuyôäksidi" 
being Ancient Hittite for "urinal".

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From hardman at UFL.EDU  Mon Sep 15 14:24:05 2003
From: hardman at UFL.EDU (MJ Hardman)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 10:24:05 -0400
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <1063383523.eb5e24d070185@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.102405.0400.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
Not difference, but hierarchy!

Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.

Dr. MJ Hardman
website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/


On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:

> Language influences the way you think
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>
> Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>
> Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>
> Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> the action they had seen.
>
> He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>
> For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> the motion but not the arc.
>
> Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>
> While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>
> Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>
> "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> speaking."
>
> Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:11:34 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:11:34 -0700
Subject: Mandan elder seen as language's last hope (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.091134.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mandan elder seen as language's last hope

By the Associated Press
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2003/09/15/news/local/nws03.txt

FARGO -- Edwin Benson stumbles through a few false starts before he
catches his rhythm telling an old story about how a coyote turned into
a buffalo.

He sits on a stool draped with a woolly buffalo hide across from a man
recording him with a digital video camera mounted on a tripod.

After only a few minutes, Benson holds up his hand to stop the camera.

"My throat got a tickle," he explains. "I didn't want to cough."

Then, once Benson catches his stride, his tale of a conniving, hungry
coyote tempted by a lame buffalo calf begins to unfold.

Benson's occasional apology in English interrupts his low rumble of
guttural sounds, with inflections that rise and fall like rolling
hills. He's speaking Mandan, the first language he spoke growing up in
his grandfather's house along the Little Missouri River.

Now, with more than seven decades behind him, Benson's command of his
native tongue is rusty from disuse.

He speaks Mandan mostly on ceremonial occasions and in the classroom,
where he teaches fundamentals of the language to children in a school
three miles from his rural home on the Fort Berthold Reservation, which
straddles Lake Sakakawea in west-central North Dakota.

Benson has watched as the language of his childhood has disappeared
around him, dying a little more with the passing of each elder in a
dwindling pool of fluent native speakers. Now only a handful remain.

Linguists consider Benson the last truly fluent speaker of Mandan. Even
his wife, Annette, who watches quietly from the corner as Benson tells
his story, can't speak the language.

"It's a lonely life, it's a lonely life," he said. "If I want to say any
Mandan words, I've got to say it to myself and I don't want to say it
too loud, otherwise people might think I'm going wacky."

When Edwin Benson dies, the main living library of the Mandan language,
a language spoken for thousands of years along the valley of the Upper
Missouri River and its tributaries, will die along with him.

The Mandan Edwin Benson learned while growing up often came to him as a
stream of stern paternalistic commands and lessons.

His teacher was his grandfather, who raised him and taught him some of
the old ways the Mandan had followed for centuries.

Ben Benson was a living link to the ancient practices of the Mandan. He
was born in the latter part of the 1800s in Like-a-Fishhook Village,
the last traditional earth-lodge village of the Mandan, Hidatsa and
Arikara, three neighboring tribes that came together as their numbers
dwindled from disease.

Traditional ways were in long decline when Edwin Benson was born in
1932. Like-a-Fishhook Village was abandoned in 1882 when its residents
were moved to the reservation's agency village, Elbowoods. Cabins made
from split logs replaced the domed earthen lodges.

After his mother died, his grandfather kept Edwin, the youngest of five
children, at home with him. Several sisters were sent to a boarding
school in Billings, Mont., where speaking native languages was
forbidden.

Growing up in his grandfather's household, Benson heard and spoke only
Mandan. He encountered English when he first attended school, at age 7.

"English language didn't make no sense at all when I attended classes,"
he said. "But I picked up the language watching what others did."

He served a tour in the Army, then spent a couple of years as an
itinerant laborer in the Pacific Northwest, a time when he drank
heavily.

After he returned to Fort Berthold, he married in 1955 and eventually
settled on high land that had been in his mother's family, three miles
from the Mandan community of Twin Buttes.

Occasionally, Benson drives down as close as the waters of Lake
Sakakawea will allow, to the place where the Little Missouri joins the
Missouri River, where his grandfather's house and father's cabin once
stood beneath the cottonwoods.

"I still feel bad when I go back down there to look," he said. "A lot of
our ways, how we did things, is all kind of buried there under water,
under the big body of water.

"My language is down there, my culture is down there," he said. "It's
not really with me."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:15:52 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:15:52 -0700
Subject: DJ's chatter is all in Apache (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.091552.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

DJ's chatter is all in Apache

Sept. 15, 2003 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0915ruelas15.html

GLOBE It's Lyle Keoke Jr.'s birthday. His sister, Liz, has called up
Ricardo Sneezy's all-request Apache-language radio show to dedicate a
traditional powwow song to him. Sneezy swings the microphone toward him
and sends out the dedication in his native language. Then he hits a
button on the CD player, causing tribal drums and chants to blare out
of the studio speakers and transmit throughout the reservations of
central Arizona.

 After about a minute, he fades it down. Sneezy knows both he and his
audience can only take so much powwow music. Plus, there are a lot of
requests to squeeze in. Next up, dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Lynell Davis
from their friends, is When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge.
Hammond organ chords replace the tom-toms.

 Sneezy, who was born, raised and still lives on the San Carlos
Reservation, took over the Indian Trails show on KRXS (97.3) about a
year ago. The previous host kept it traditional, lots of chants and
accordion-heavy chicken- scratch music. "Nobody went for it," Sneezy
says.

 He opened up the phone lines and the music selection. He pulled a Fats
Domino song out of the station's oldies' collection. He brought in a
Rod Stewart CD from home, sparking a request for Maggie May.

 It quickly changed from a show of Native American music to a show of
music Native Americans like. That still includes some Native American
artists like the Fenders or Jim Felix. But more and more, the song list
is not much different from the mix of country and oldies the station
plays the rest of the day.

 Sneezy presses a green button and speaks in the alternately breathy and
guttural tongue of his native people. Phonetically, it sounds like
this: "Konahona nesta aia shikab. Loshe shiwino Ricardo Sneezy K-R-X-S
F-M ninety-seven-point-three, iko."

 The station serves Globe, but its 50,000-watt signal can be heard
throughout central Arizona, including most of the Phoenix area.

 Next, Sneezy moves onto a spot for Cobre Valley Motors. The copy is
written in English on the stand near his microphone. He translates it
into Apache as he reads it. There are apparently no Apache words for "
'99 Mercury Grand Marquis," so he says that in English.

 Strands of requests

 Sneezy's wife, Victoria, and daughter, Rica, answer phones at a modular
desk outside the studio. They write requests on yellow Post-It notes
and bring them into the studio stuck end-to-end in long strands.

 Calls are mainly from the San Carlos Apache Tribe near Globe. But the
show also draws listeners from the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the
Gila River Indian Community outside Scottsdale. They also get requests
to and from prisoners in Florence.

 Loretta is sending out Made in Japan by Buck Owens to the Ward Family.

 Born on the Bayou goes out to Girly and Rebecca. "It's their birthday,"
Sneezy says energetically, in English.

 There's a lot of love sent out. Some belated birthdays. And a few
memorials. Sneezy plays a mournful gospel song "in loving memory of
Lesley Aaron Nash."

 "I'll try to ease out of it with maybe some country Western music," he
says, off the air. "Or, I know what I can do." He swivels his chair and
flips through the stack of CDs behind him. He pulls out one with the
greatest hits of Louis Armstrong.

 He leans into the microphone hanging in front of him. He asks softly,
in Apache, if the parents out there have hugged their children or told
them they loved them. "If you want to see somebody's good smile, do it
and try it and you can get a good smile out of someone."

 He says the next song is dedicated to his own wife and daughter. He
starts the cascading strings of Armstrong's What a Wonderful World

 He hits the red button to take himself off the air and says, "All
right, let's go to Lamont's Mortuary." He flips to the commercial copy
in his logbook.

 "That's one advertisement I don't like to do," he says. "Because
Indians when you talk about death, they think you're crazy." He tries
to translate the ad so it doesn't offend anybody. "But every time, I
have a problem with that. There's still a gray area there."

 On the air, he tells listeners "you never know when you're going to go.
You need to be prepared. You need to preplan and the people at Lamont
Mortuary . . . "

 Sneezy grew up with classic rock and oldies. He listens to Anne Murray
and jazz to mellow out after his job as director of surveillance at
Apache Gold casino, the largest private employer on the reservation.

 He initially turned down the job at KRXS because he weighed 400 pounds
and worried that he wouldn't be able to climb the stairs to reach the
second-floor studio. After a year going up and down the flights twice a
week, Sneezy says he has dropped 30 pounds.

 Halfway through the show, Sneezy has to cut off dedications. "Requests
eko stahalso ohiko. No more requests." His show runs two hours - 7 to 9
p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's popular enough that the station is
considering a third hour.

 Avoiding controversy

 Sneezy tries to avoid political songs by Native American artists and
avoids discussing controversial issues on the air.

 "I see a lot of people that just still - they have this cloud over
their head," he says. Some of that anger is from long-ago injustices,
some from current squabbles within the community. "I'm just trying to
put good thoughts into people's minds."

 The Bob Marley song is ending and it's time for the San Carlos Telecom
spot. He cues up Play that Funky Music, White Boy, and goes through the
requests. Justin wants to send Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones to
his girlfriend and Ramus wants to dedicate Hard Luck Woman to his
mother.

Reach Ruelas at richard.ruelas at arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8473.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:26:47 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:26:47 -0700
Subject: With land claims settled, tribe turns focus to culture (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.092647.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

With land claims settled, tribe turns focus to culture

By Grace Murphy, Staff Writer
http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/030915spiritside.shtml

PLEASANT POINT —  Dute Francis prayed as he raked the grass in front of
a sweat lodge built by Passamaquoddy students.

  The circle where Francis would heat the stones, and the altar where he
would lay offerings to the Great Spirit, needed cleaning before a
ceremony was held to honor the reservation's eighth-graders.

  As Francis prayed to the Great Spirit, his words grew faint, then
inaudible, as a school custodian approached with a lawnmower. Within
minutes, the sweat lodge, altar and fire circle were sprinkled with
grass.

  The unintentional desecration of a sacred site put a temporary stop to
the prayers and preparations.

  "It's just ignorance, total ignorance," Francis said, glaring after
the custodian. "I have to go sit down before I do something I regret."

  Both on the reservation and off, Passamaquoddies of all generations
are trying to educate themselves and others about the tribe's culture,
values and beliefs.

  The tribe, like others in Maine, is undergoing what anthropologist
Harald Prins calls a cultural and spiritual rebirth. Prins, a Kansas
State University professor who has studied Maine and Canadian Maritime
tribes in what is known as the Wabanaki confederacy, said the
land-claims settlement of 1980 began to resolve some of the most urgent
economic, legal and political concerns of the tribe.

  That gave tribal members more energy and resources to focus on
reviving the aspects of their culture that nearly died out following
colonization by European settlers. Examples abound:

   There is a Passamaquoddy culture course at the Beatrice Rafferty
Elementary School at Pleasant Point, where students learn the language
and tribal dances, drumming and prayers.

   Dute Francis' father, David Francis, is translating an ancient, oral
language into a digital Passamaquoddy-Maliseet-English dictionary. A
research assistant runs classes for adults and children at the
Waponahki Museum & Resource Center.

   The weekly tribal government newsletter includes coloring sheets for
children printed in Passamaquoddy.

  David Francis, 86, the oldest male tribal member living on the
reservation, feels a sense of urgency to finish the talking dictionary,
which will include a computer component.

  Francis grew up speaking Passamaquoddy decades before linguists
arrived in the 1970s to help assign the oral language an alphabet and
translate it on paper.

  Most of those who are fluent in Passamaquoddy are age 35 and older.
Francis can think of only 20 people who can both comprehend and read
and write the language, as he can.

  "I know the language is dying. It's my life ambition to save it," he
said.

  Francis hopes the dictionary will help younger generations carry the
language into the future.

  Preservation of the language also keeps the tribe connected with its
past. The Passamaquoddy lost many of their religious customs when
members converted to Catholicism in 1604.

  Catholic churches were built on Maine's reservations in the 1800s,
followed by religious schools. While spiritual traditions were lost or
suspended, the tribe kept the language alive.

  "If you have people that have lost their language, they've also lost
that sense of connectedness to their ancestors and nature," said Prins,
the Kansas State professor. "A lot of the concepts that express human
beings' attitudes toward nature, landscape, animals, the trees, it's
all in the language."

  The Roman Catholic church on the reservation is full on Sundays, and
it's unlike any service most Catholics ever have seen. Parishioners
recite the Lord's Prayer in Passamaquoddy, and use the Passamaquoddy
word for "the end" rather than the word "amen."

  Janice Murphy, a Sister of Mercy who lives at Pleasant Point and
ministers to the tribe, said native spiritual observances and the
Catholic church coexist on the reservation.

  "As long as the Blessed Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
are at the core and center of their life in addition to their native
beliefs, I can't say enough positive about their native traditions,
customs, and God-given gifts that they use," Murphy said.

  Some tribal members, like Dute Francis, do not rely on an institution
to worship. He prefers native religious rituals such as the sweat
lodge. Some Passamaquoddy participate in both native rituals and
Catholic services.

  Dute Francis is a cultural instructor at the school, and the sweat
lodge on school grounds was built by the fifth- through eighth-graders
he teaches. He has found healing and strength in beliefs shared by his
ancestors, and wants to give the rest of the community the same
opportunity.

  As a pipe carrier for the tribe, his job is to conduct ceremonies.

  "My purpose in life is to carry the language and culture. My life will
end here, where I was brought up, with daily practices of custom,
tradition and language," he said.

Staff Writer Grace Murphy can be contacted at 282-8228 or at:
gmurphy at pressherald.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 18:06:50 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 11:06:50 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.110650.0700.>

in Karuk the word for salmon is áama
http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html


what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
andrekar at ncidc.org


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 19:14:34 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:14:34 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.121434.0700.>

Place names containing the word ~Qsquaw~R are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented
three kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived
from a Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however,
that it is actually a Massachusett word for ~Qwoman~R. A second argument
presented is that ~Qsquaw~R has been used derogatorily by whites toward
Indian women. This argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but
more strongly by frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third
argument is that ~Qsquaw~R is offensive to Indians, in the same way that
~Qnigger~R is offensive to African Americans. This raises the question of
~Qpolitically correct~R vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic
question of the ideological values of words; in this context, subjective
associations are as important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @:
http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 19:25:08 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:25:08 -0700
Subject: Preservation
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.122508.0700.>

There are some impressive multimedia presentations at the following site on
the topic of language preservation and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
These include audio, video, and graphics.

http://www.in-forum.com/specials/DyingTongues/


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 16 17:23:39 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 10:23:39 -0700
Subject: Spelling Matters?
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.102339.0700.>

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't   mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is  taht
frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed
ervey lteter by itslef but  the wrod as a wlohe.


From JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US  Tue Sep 16 18:52:43 2003
From: JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US (Leary, JP DPI)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:52:43 -0500
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.135243.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From onursenarslan at YAHOO.COM  Tue Sep 16 19:09:45 2003
From: onursenarslan at YAHOO.COM (Onur Senarslan)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:09:45 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <BB8B43C5.5C7F%hardman@ufl.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.120945.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Sotaro Kita
Social Sciences Complex
8 Woodland Road
Clifton
Bristol
BS8 1TN

Dear listmembers and Dr. Kita,

The mentioned article appeared at http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2003/256

I think that Dr. Kita was misinformed. There is a word (verb) in Turkish that describes the motion mentioned here (that is swinging.)

The root of the word to describe this motion is "sal-." Sal-la-mak, sal-la-n-mak, sal-in-cak, sal-in-mak, sal-la-n-dir-mak, sal-kim.

Indeed there is even a syllabic sign dedicated to this verb in Kokturk script used as early as 732 BC (2735 BP) which is used to describe harvesting/swinging machete (orak). Moreover there is always ways to make noun verbs in Turkish, such as oraklamak (ormak) , capalamak, yabalamak, etc. In conclusion if there is a noun we'll always have a verb.

I checked my information with Azeri, Uzbek, Kazakh speakers as well (in addition to my native tongue Turkish.)

A small reminder: same verb used also to describe similar motions (hanging grapes in a vineyard, metaphorically a paricular way of walking etc)

All the best,

Onur Senarslan, Indiana University


MJ Hardman <hardman at UFL.EDU> wrote:
And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
Not difference, but hierarchy!

Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.

Dr. MJ Hardman
website: http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/


On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" wrote:

> Language influences the way you think
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>
> Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>
> Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>
> Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> the action they had seen.
>
> He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>
> For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> the motion but not the arc.
>
> Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>
> While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>
> Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>
> "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> speaking."
>
> Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>

Onur Senarslan
He Who Brought Back the Distant One.
�
� �
�<')}}}><<�)}}}><<')}}}><'�.��.���'�.��.���'�.�<')}}}><<�)}}}<')}}} ><((((�> ><(((('> ><((((�> '�.��.���'�.��.���'�.><(((('> ><(((('> ><((((�> ><((((�> '�.��.���'�.��.���'�.�

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/5bdb7ebb/attachment.html>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Tue Sep 16 23:40:10 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 17:40:10 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F65FFBA.DC8ADFEE@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.174010.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Salmon  
(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
(in nimipu)     naco'x

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
Cramblit
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?

in Karuk the word for salmon is áama
http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html


what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
andrekar at ncidc.org


From fnkrs at UAF.EDU  Wed Sep 17 01:05:29 2003
From: fnkrs at UAF.EDU (Hishinlai')
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 17:05:29 -0800
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.170529.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

In Alaskan Athabascan Gwich'in, you have to specify the type of salmon.
Hishinlai'

>===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> =====
>Salmon
>(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>(in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>John E. Sirois (say' ay')
>Cultural Preservation Administrator
>Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
>PO Box 150
>Nespelem, WA  99155
>Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
>Mobile  (509) 631-1049
>Fax    (509) 634-2714
>john.sirois at colvilletribes.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
>Cramblit
>Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
>
>in Karuk the word for salmon is �ama
>http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html
>
>
>what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
>andrekar at ncidc.org

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hishinlai'
"Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center
P. O. Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK  99775-7680
P (907) 474-7875
F (907) 474-7876
E fnkrs at uaf.edu
ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/

Hah! Nakhweet'ihthan t'ihch'yaa!


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Wed Sep 17 02:30:06 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 20:30:06 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.203006.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Hi, MJ,

Nice to hear from you . . . hope all is well with you.

I wonder did anyone notice this paragraph:
He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>

"Structure" is grammar. . . and yet he goes on to say, "Japanese and Turkish
speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.
> >
> > Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> > corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'."

Having or not having a word is "semantics". I wonder that someone who uses
the English language and Linguistic concepts so poorly should be analysing
others' use of language.

Note also that he only "suggests". . . in Psychology, you use this word when
you don't have empirical evidence, and have only a guess. The equivalent
sentence would be "Dr Kita GUESSES this is because Japanese and Turkish have
no verb. . .  "  !  Unless Dr Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and
Turkish, he/she has no idea whether that statement is true, or not.

So many people buy into these deficit analyses because they are swayed by
the English, made to feel "less than" simply because they don't know how the
English is working.


Mia Kalish


----- Original Message -----
From: "MJ Hardman" <hardman at UFL.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: Language influences the way you think


> And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on
top!
> Not difference, but hierarchy!
>
> Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.
>
> Dr. MJ Hardman
> website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
>
>
> On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
wrote:
>
> > Language influences the way you think
> > http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
> >
> > Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> > but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
> >
> > Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> > study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
> >
> > Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> > Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> > and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> > the action they had seen.
> >
> > He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> > gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> > the structure of their languages expressed that event.
> >
> > For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> > the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> > Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> > the motion but not the arc.
> >
> > Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> > corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
> >
> > While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> > express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> > and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> > with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
> >
> > Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> > generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> > matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
> >
> > "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> > speaking."
> >
> > Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
> >
>
>


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Wed Sep 17 03:07:37 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 21:07:37 -0600
Subject: Fw: one liner
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.210737.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Along the lines of my last message (but different), I send you all this glorious line (yes from a commercial. . . . )

Mia


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Depree 
To: Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:02 PM
Subject: one liner


about the use of the word shaman......
 "please don't squeeze the shaman."


LOL
Depree
Red Pony Heritage Language Team
"Heritage languages: Don't Leave home without one!~"
www.RedPony.us
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/8c0ef73d/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: hoofbg.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 1288 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/8c0ef73d/attachment.gif>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Wed Sep 17 13:36:58 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 07:36:58 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F659BB7@webmail.uaf.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.073658.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

We have several names and different species of salmon as well.  I just
mentioned the kind that are running now...

We have a long list of salmon names and types....too many to list...

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Hishinlai'
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 7:05 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: How Do you say Salmon?

In Alaskan Athabascan Gwich'in, you have to specify the type of salmon.
Hishinlai'

>===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> =====
>Salmon
>(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>(in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>John E. Sirois (say' ay')
>Cultural Preservation Administrator
>Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
>PO Box 150
>Nespelem, WA  99155
>Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
>Mobile  (509) 631-1049
>Fax    (509) 634-2714
>john.sirois at colvilletribes.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
>Cramblit
>Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
>
>in Karuk the word for salmon is  ama
>http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html
>
>
>what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
>andrekar at ncidc.org

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hishinlai'
"Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center
P. O. Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK  99775-7680
P (907) 474-7875
F (907) 474-7876
E fnkrs at uaf.edu
ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/

Hah! Nakhweet'ihthan t'ihch'yaa!


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 17 16:23:00 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:23:00 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.092300.0700.>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030917/14fd519f/attachment.html>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Wed Sep 17 16:52:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:52:41 -0700
Subject: Mixtec Revival: Mexican Indigenous Language on the Rise (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.095241.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mixtec Revival: Mexican Indigenous Language on the Rise

News Feature,  Eduardo Stanley,
Pacific News Service, Sep 16, 2003
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=bf1b09953e17d2157b3d391e5d4a34af

  Editor's Note: For Mixtecs, indigenous people from the mountains of
southern Mexico, neither the Spanish conquest of Mexico nor the
migration of hundreds of thousands of their people to the United States
has destroyed their "language of rain."

 FRESNO, Calif.--Its speakers know the name of their language, one of
the oldest in the Americas, means "the language of rain."

 But far from having the evanescence of a rainstorm, the indigenous
language Mixtec is enjoying a renaissance in the 21st century.

 Spoken for at least 1,000 years in the mountainous countryside of the
present-day Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero, Mixtec
already has survived cataclysms such as the Spanish conquest and
centuries of brutal colonial administration.

 More recently, the language has faced a more beguiling force: the
phenomenon of immigration. Hundreds of thousands of Mixtecs have left
their homes in southern Mexico, journeying to the industrial centers of
northern Mexico or crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to labor in
California, especially in the agribusinesses of the Central Valley.

 Still, despite the ubiquity of Spanish and English, Mixtec is
prospering on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

 Partly due to a cultural revival in indigenous Mexico sparked by the
Zapatista uprising in 1994, and thanks to the grassroots persistence of
Mixtec educators and scholars, more people than ever are speaking the
language, one of many in a worldwide movement that seeks to preserve
and revive indigenous languages, from Hmong to Evank to Welsh to Maori.

 More than half a million people speak Mixtec today, According to the
Mexico-based Academy of the Mixtec Language. In 1930, less than 200,000
spoke it.

 "Many anthropologists said that urbanization was going to modernize us
and that we would no longer speak our language and turn to Spanish, but
it didn't turn out that way -- today our languages have a new life,"
says Tiburcio Pérez Castro, a member of the academy, who teaches Mixtec
in the United States.

 Not only that, but the oral lingua franca of some of the most remote
villages in southern Mexico now is being established as a written
language.

 "To keep a language alive, writing it is fundamental," says Gaspar
Rivera, a Mixtec and University of Southern California sociologist. For
Mixtecs living in the United States, the challenges of maintaining
fluency in their native tongue "are doubled, because in addition to all
the pressures of the Spanish-speaking world, we also have to face the
pressures of English," he adds.

 Rivera notes that Mixtec communities, both in the United States and in
Mexico, suffer from high rates of illiteracy. The spread of written
Mixtec, he says, could help address this educational deficiency, and
also make it easier for Mixtecs to learn Spanish and English, since
knowing how to read and write aids lessons in any language.

 Already, mainly through the Office of the Development of the Indigenous
people, Mexico is planning to fund programs that will teach Mixtec and
other indigenous languages to migrants living in the United States. The
cabinet-level office has an annual budget of $180 million.

 One epicenter of the Mixtec diaspora is California's inland
agricultural heartland. An estimated 65,000 Mixtecs live in the Central
Valley. At a Fresno community center recently, almost 50 people
attended a workshop on written Mixtec. Tiburcio Peréz Castro, the
teacher from the Mexican government-funded Academy of the Mixtec
Language, taught participants how to write out the language's basic
sounds and words using the Roman alphabet.

 "I feel that I learned a lot today," says Leonor Morales, a 33-year-old
Mixtec who lives in California and speaks only Spanish. "I want to
learn it, and this is a good opportunity."

 For Fidelina Espinoza, a 23-year-old Mixtec and the mother of two
girls, the motivations are different. "I speak Mixtec, but I don't
write it. I know that maintaining my language is very important for my
daughters and I."

 Their teacher was sent to Fresno, the largest city in the Central
Valley, by the academy, which was founded in 1997 and headquartered in
Tlaxiaco, in Oaxaca state, Mexico. The academy aims to establish the
norms of written Mixtec, lead research and disseminate Mixtec language
and culture.

 In the Fresno workshop, different variations of spoken Mixtec filled
the room. Different Mixtec dialects may use different words for the
same object, even though the Mixtecs come from villages in Mexico
separated by only a half-day's walk.

 Pérez Castro explains that a written script for Mixtec will help
inhabitants from different villages communicate with one another, since
the creation of a standardized vocabulary will smooth over linguistic
variants in the rugged countryside where the language originated.

 Rufino Domínguez, coordinator of the Fresno-based Binational Oaxacan
Indigenous Front, says he believes that regular Mixtec-language courses
eventually will replace occasional seminars taught by teachers sent
from Mexico.

 Domínguez notes the prestige of a written system may also help erase
stigma attached to native languages by centuries of discrimination
against indigenous Mexicans.

 "The practical benefits of a written language are obvious," says
Domínguez. "From public health messages to family correspondence, the
writing of our language is a historical necessity."

 PNS contributor Eduardo Stanley (nuestroforo2001 at yahoo.com) is a
freelance writer based in the San Joaquin Valley. He hosts the
bi-lingual "Nuestro Foro" weekly radio program on KFCF in Fresno,
Calif.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Wed Sep 17 16:59:54 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:59:54 -0700
Subject: Tribal elder who helped preserve language dies (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.095954.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

fyi,
here is an article of interest on a Modoc speaker.  as far as i can tell
there are only one or two speakers remaing for Klamath/Modoc.  i did
not include the entire message due to its nature.

~~~
Tribal elder who helped preserve language dies
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/09/16/news/top_stories/elder.txt


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 17 20:17:24 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:17:24 -0700
Subject: Spelling Matters? Follow Up
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.131724.0700.>

Julia Sallabank wrote:

> Dear Andre and everybody
>
> I think that this reasearch is probably correct, given what is known about
> reading processes. Fluent readers do not usually decode each letter of every
> word, but use word-recognition to take a mental snapshot of words and
> phrases, and fit them to a schema of what they think the text is saying
> (Wallace 1992: 40-42). But more random spelling is a different matter and
> does interfere with processing.  Fluent readers of English can see how
> difficult it is to decode random or unexpected spelling by trying to read
> the following extract from 'Feersum Endjinn' by Iain M. Banks:
>
> Well, Ergates sez (& u can juss tel she's tryin 2 b payshint) aside from the
> fact that it is folly 2 fro away even 1 life out ov 8, & thi eekwilly
> sailyent poynt that in thi present     emerginsy it mite b fullish 2 rely on
> thi effishint funkshining ov thi reeincarnative prossess, ther is my own
> safety 2 think about. (Banks 1994: 18) (The whole book is written like
> this.)
>
> This is relevant to endangered and minority languages which have no support
> from the establishment, as it leads to yet another disadvantage for those
> who wish to express themselves in their language.
>
> I have written a paper on 'Writing in an unwritten language' in Reading
> Working Papers in Linguistics 6 (2002)
> (http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/cl/slals/wp6/index.htm). There is no
> accepted, consistent standard spelling for the langauge I'm studying,
> Guernsey Norman French. Although there is a dictionary that many speakers
> say they follow if they write in GNF, an analysis of recent writings shows
> that in practice they do not follow it. Since GNF is very low-status and is
> not taught in schools, nobody has had any literacy training in it; it is not
> uncommon to find the same word spelt several different ways on the same
> page. 'Feersum Endjinn' is in fact more consistent than many GNF texts.
>
> Mauvoison (1979), commenting on the multiplicity of spellings suggested for
> Norman, points out that a standard spelling makes it easier to decipher what
> is meant when reading. This is perhaps a rather obvious point, but it is
> even more true if the reader is not a native speaker and has to guess at the
> structure and pronunciation due to the lack of a standard spelling. The lack
> of consistency in spelling makes it particularly difficult to develop
> fluency in reading. I myself find it easiest to read works in Guernsey
> French aloud, in order to gauge the pronunciation and then mentally match
> what I have read with phrases I have heard spoken and thus decipher them.
>
> I would be grateful if you could give the full reference for the research
> you cite.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Julia
>
> References:
>
> Mauvoisin, J. (1979). Principes essentiels d'orthographe normand. Parlers et
> traditions populaires de Normandie 45 (reprinted on
> www.multimania.com/bulot/cauchois/ Principe.html)
>
> Wallace, C. (1992). Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Andre Cramblit" <andrekar at NCIDC.ORG>
> To: <ENDANGERED-LANGUAGES-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 6:23 PM
> Subject: Spelling Matters?
>
> > Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't   mttaer in
> > waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is  taht
> > frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses
> > and you can sitll raed it wouthit  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed
> > ervey lteter by itslef but  the wrod as a wlohe.


From Tony.Johnson at GRANDRONDE.ORG  Wed Sep 17 22:14:14 2003
From: Tony.Johnson at GRANDRONDE.ORG (Tony Johnson)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 15:14:14 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.151414.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

An introduction:

My name is Tony A. Johnson.  I am a Chinook Tribal member, and, amongst other things, run the language program for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in Western, OR.  I am a default linguist.  Of interest to folks would be that we have the only language immersion preschool in the area, and that our language is the only living Native American Creole language.  It is called Chinuk Wawa, and became the community language here because of the twenty plus dialects of languages that were spoken on the early reservation.  Anyway, ...

I did not believe this would be the topic to take me out of lurking status, but I have had a little experience with changing a few "squaw" place names within the ceeded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  The incentive for this action really was people believing the derogatory etymologies given for the word.  We, however, educated the people involved as to the likely origins of the word.  Despite this though, we felt the need to continue with the name change efforts.  We did this because all elders that we spoke to here universally agreed that it is derogatory.  They generally said that it is a way that white people put down Indian women.  Most expressed first hand experience with the word, and I can tell you that many younger people here in the NW will attest to it continuing to be a term applied in a derogatory manner to Native women.

I do agree with the issue of not making these decisions out of political correctness.  However, continuing the use of derogatory words, or asking people affected by them to use them seems inappropriate.  Anyway, a means of our making sure that our actions do not simply white wash history is that we have added several of the "squaw" signs that were taken down and replaced in our area into our museum collection.  Whether or not they will ever be used I cannot say, but they are stored here as a part of our history.

Tony A. Johnson
Sawash-Ili7i
(Grand ROnde, OR)

>>> JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US 09/16/03 11:52AM >>>
I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us 
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html 

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG] 
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Thu Sep 18 04:13:22 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 20:13:22 -0800
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <3F660F9A.66E13FEA@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.201322.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 11:14 AM 2003-09-15, Andre Cramblit wrote:
>The  third argument is that 'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same
>way that
>'nigger' is offensive to African Americans.

My only criterion for whether a word is offensive is whether people
generally use the word to offend.  Etymological rumors and notions that
people might think that people might think that people meant to offend with
it, are aimlessly exasperating.


I once knew a lady who told me she found the word "lady" offensive.
I deduced that she had too much free time, and spent it badly.

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM  Thu Sep 18 13:31:10 2003
From: mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM (Mona Smith)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:31:10 -0500
Subject: "I was just kidding" or the road to hell is paved...
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.083110.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

of·fen·sive  (ɘ-fĕnʼsĭv) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1.      Disagreeable to the senses: an offensive odor.
2.      Causing anger, displeasure, resentment, or affront: an offensive 
gesture.
3.	
a.      Making an attack: The offensive troops gained ground quickly.
b.      Of, relating to, or designed for attack: offensive weapons.
4.      (ŏfʼĕn-) Sports. Of or relating to a team having possession of a 
ball or puck: the offensive line.


n.

1.      An attitude or position of attack: go on the offensive in chess.
2.      An attack or assault: led a massive military offensive.

of·fenʼsive·ly adv.
of·fenʼsive·ness n.

Synonyms: offensive, disgusting, loathsome, nasty, repellent, 
repulsive, revolting, vile
These adjectives mean extremely unpleasant to the senses or feelings: 
an offensive remark; disgusting language; a loathsome disease; a nasty 
smell; a repellent demand; repulsive behavior; revolting food; vile 
thoughts. See also synonyms at hateful

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 1569 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030918/40d4eb64/attachment.bin>

From anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET  Thu Sep 18 15:40:49 2003
From: anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET (annie ross)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:40:49 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <6.0.0.22.1.20030917200732.02661050@mailstore.pobox.com>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.084049.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

hello

to clarify, the term 'lady' can be used to imply a set of behaviors; i.e, one who behaves in a certain prescribed manner (one who obeys) is a 'lady'.
often, a woman who has attempted to be assertive, present in the world, one who attempts to effect positive social change, et cetera, has been called 'un-lady -like'.
as if female-ness was tied to submission.
so, that is what offends certain women - to have an imposition of obedience placed upon them.

thankfully, in the past twenty years, i have seen this term 'lady' has been evolving to mean a female person.  so, the meaning of the word in common usage has been changing.  thank goodness!

p.s.
even though i am a mix-blood, i have been called a 'squaw' by non-native men and i did not like it.  and it was meant in a bad way.

annie

"Sean M. Burke" <sburke at CPAN.ORG> wrote:
At 11:14 AM 2003-09-15, Andre Cramblit wrote:
>The third argument is that 'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same
>way that
>'nigger' is offensive to African Americans.

My only criterion for whether a word is offensive is whether people
generally use the word to offend. Etymological rumors and notions that
people might think that people might think that people meant to offend with
it, are aimlessly exasperating.


I once knew a lady who told me she found the word "lady" offensive.
I deduced that she had too much free time, and spent it badly.

--
Sean M. Burke http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030918/c981a450/attachment.html>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 18 15:50:07 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:50:07 -0700
Subject: Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into history
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.085007.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into history
By the Associated Press
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2003/09/18/news/local/nws04.txt

MANDAREE (AP) -- Alex Gwin stands behind the lectern and asks his high
school students what sounds like a disarmingly simple question: "What
day of the week is it?"

But he asks the question in Hidatsa, not English, and they have to
answer in Hidatsa.

One student needs to be reminded that the Hidatsa have a different start
to the week.

"Sunday's not the first day of the week," Gwin says in English. "Monday
is."

Then, the Hidatsa words "Dami mape" ripple around the room. Third day,
Wednesday.

The Hidatsa language classes at the school in Mandaree operate as close
as possible to immersion.

If a student wants to be excused to go to the restroom, he or she had
better have a strong bladder or be able to ask permission in Hidatsa.

The approach, called Total Physical Response, has been used to teach
native languages in Hawaii and among the Blackfeet in Montana. At
Mandaree, the Hidatsa community on the Fort Berthold Reservation,
educators hope it will revive the tribe's language, spoken by perhaps
100 or 150 residents.

Most are elderly. A few, like Alex Gwin, are middle-aged.

He continues his verbal drill, keeping the students guessing by
peppering them with questions that defy any predictable pattern.

"How much water?" he asks in Hidatsa. Then, a few moments later, "What's
the month?"

Next he directs his students' attention to a lesson sheet, where phrases
written in Hidatsa must be converted to English.

The last phrase, it turns out, carries inadvertent relevance: "Niishub
nihaad:" Hurry up and finish.

Pearl Burr Young Bear made a pact decades ago with four of her friends
in the boiler room of their boarding school.

The girls gathered in the basement at night to covertly speak their
native languages, which were forbidden at Indian boarding schools. They
vowed that when they got out, they would never speak English.

Years later, Young Bear saw to it that her grandchildren, including
brothers Alex and Lyle Gwin and their cousins, Arvella White and Martha
Bird Bear, spoke Hidatsa at home.

Now the four cousins form the teaching staff for the Hidatsa language
program at Mandaree. White and Bird Bear teach grades K-sixth and the
Gwin brothers continue with grades seven-12 -- the front line in
guarding their language from extinction.

Working as two-member teams in the classroom, they expose students to
extended dialogue spoken by fluent Native speakers.

While they were growing up, their grandmother took a rule of the
boarding school and turned it upside down: Children were to speak only
Hidatsa in the household; English was forbidden.

The ban was so complete that when White first attended school, she
scarcely spoke a word of English.

"It's reversed now," Bird Bear said. Her students "don't know the
Hidatsa."

Alex Gwin's tenure teaching Hidatsa began four years ago. After serving
on the school board for more than a decade, he decided to try his hand
in the classroom.

The Hidatsa language instruction program, established more than 20 years
ago by one of his sisters, had been discontinued for two years, so his
first task was one of resurrection.

"Two years running, it just went dead," he said. "When I first came
here, they said here's a classroom, go teach Hidatsa. There was
nothing, no desks or chairs."

Younger brother Lyle joined Alex in the classroom after stints as a
school bus driver and a Marine.

While in high school, Lyle Gwin was one of the first students at
Mandaree to study Hidatsa, though for him it merely reinforced what he
had already learned at home. When he returned home after serving with
the Marines, he said, he was alarmed at the erosion he found in the
state of the language.

The generations that followed his own had not grown up with the same
value given to preserving the native tongue, he said.

More is at stake for the Gwins than the language itself. They also want
to preserve the traditions that are tied to it.

"Language and culture, you can't divide them," Lyle Gwin said. "They're
one and the same."

But there are not enough families still speaking Hidatsa to ensure that
the language will survive on its own.

"Contrary to all belief, a language doesn't die gradually," Alex Gwin
said. "It dies abruptly, from one generation to another."

A few years ago, Alex Gwin decided to collaborate with linguist John
Boyle, who is working on his doctoral dissertation on Hidatsa at the
University of Chicago.

Boyle has been visiting the extended Gwin family for several years,
collecting stories, writing a grammar primer and compiling a dictionary
database. He has studied transcripts and recordings collected by
linguists who visited Fort Berthold around the turn of the previous
century.

"It's really interesting to see how the language has changed from most
speakers a hundred years ago and speakers today," he said.

One sign of a dying language, he said, is the tendency inexperienced
speakers have of imposing the grammatical structure of the dominant
language spoken around them.

That borrowed sentence structure doesn't show up in the speech of the
Gwin siblings, for whom Hidatsa was their first language, but it is
common for those who learn it as a second language, Boyle said.

For example, an English speaker would say, "We wanted to get our
skulls," but that would be "Our skulls get want," in a literal
translation from Hidatsa.

Boyle, who teaches English and history at a Chicago high school, also is
working to preserve the Mandan language. But he said his work on
Hidatsa, in partnership with the Gwins, remains his focus.

"Hopefully I can help them, if not revive the language, at least
document it and preserve it for future generations," he said.


From delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Thu Sep 18 17:36:49 2003
From: delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (Scott DeLancey)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:36:49 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F688A63.D806C95@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.103649.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Nsxlcin = "Colville"
Nimipu = "Nez Perce"

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, Andre Cramblit wrote:

> "John E. Sirois" wrote:
>       Salmon
>       (in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>       (in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>
> What would I also know nsxlcin and nimipu as?
>
>


From delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Thu Sep 18 17:52:20 2003
From: delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (Scott DeLancey)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:52:20 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <sf687a47.029@mail.grandronde.org>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.105220.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

The reason why "squaw" is offensive has nothing to do with its origins.
And it's not just a matter of who thinks or doesn't think that it's
offensive, either.  In English, we have separate words for the male
and female of barnyard animals, but not for ethnic groups of people.
We have 'mare' and 'hen', but no 'Frenchette' or 'Russianess'.  And
because of that, English uses a separate word, like "squaw", as a
way of diminishing the humanity of the people being referred to.

Not that long ago, the English language had two other words of the same
kind--"Negress" and "Jewess".  It's no coincidence that it is exactly those
two groups that the language made up special female forms for--people
said "Jewess" but not "Germaness" because they thought of Germans as
just people who spoke a different language, but of Jews as something
different--not quite the same as real people.

Nowadays no one would use either of these words, and anyone hearing
them would immediately recognize them as racist.  This isn't because
of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
"Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically racist,
because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html


From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Thu Sep 18 18:00:53 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 12:00:53 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181034450.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.120053.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Scott,

Close, but not quite right: 

Nimipu is the language spoken by the Nez Perce and Palus People

Nsxlcin is the salish language spoken by the Okanagan, Methow, Nespelem, San
Poil, Lakes, and Swelxu People

We also have the Nax'amcin language spoken by the Wenatchi, Chelan, Entiat,
and Moses Columbia People

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Scott DeLancey
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 11:37 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: How Do you say Salmon?

Nsxlcin = "Colville"
Nimipu = "Nez Perce"

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, Andre Cramblit wrote:

> "John E. Sirois" wrote:
>       Salmon
>       (in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>       (in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>
> What would I also know nsxlcin and nimipu as?
>
>


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Fri Sep 19 05:15:15 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 21:15:15 -0800
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181044030.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.211515.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 09:52 AM 2003-09-18, Scott DeLancey wrote:
>of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
>"Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
>special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically racist,
>because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.

So "waitress" is a vulgar vulgar word.
Automatically.
QED.

The trail of semantics here is growing colder and blander, as it winds thru
onomastics, etymology, and now, automatically, thru animal husbandry.

I think that a good compromise is if all the placenames involving "squaw"
were to have that word replaced with "Earthling".  It would impart a nice
"take me to your leader!" feel to a mental environment currently blighted
with dour huff.

An alternative would be to actually promote Native languages by replacing
the word for "squaw" with an actual current word for "vagina" in a local
Native language.  This simplification of local onomastic semantics would be
the best thing to happen to us all since we all went metric!
Of course, there is the messy issue of which spelling system to use for the
relevent languages.  I say whichever has the most accents.  Mapmakers in
North America have had things too easy for far too long.  Let them learn
how to make an a-umlaut-acute-ogonek for a change!  It'd drum up biz for us
language tech consultants too.

Or, failing all else, one could simply replace "squaw" in placenames with
the English word "vagina".  After all, if there can be the /Vagina
Monogues/ on Broadway, maybe it's time for a North America dotted with a
Vagina Peak here, a Vagina Falls there, and so on.  And let us not forget
the ages-old tradition of Vagina Dances in the Southwest.

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Fri Sep 19 13:46:49 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 07:46:49 -0600
Subject: Fw:      [AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L] CFP:  2nd Annual New Voices
 Conference
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.074649.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Hi,

This is from the American Indian Causcus List, from Steve Brandon. It is a
call for papers for the 2nd Annual New Voices in Indigenous Research
GRADUATE STUDENT Conference.

People on this list have students who will be interested. Please encourage
them to participate. What will also help is if the professors learn where to
apply for travel money, and point the students in these directions. I know
here, people just expect you to know all these things as if the knowledge
were genetically endowed from birth (kind of like Chomsky's view of semantic
knowledge).

Mia


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Brandon" <steve.brandon at CHEROKEENATION.ZZN.COM>
To: <AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L at LIST.UNM.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 6:06 PM
Subject: [AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L] CFP: 2nd Annual New Voices Conference


> Attached in a virus checked word document is the CFP for the 2nd Annual
New
> Voices in Indigenous Research graduate student conference.
>
> Steve
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2004NewVoicesCall.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 567296 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030919/b5805c79/attachment.doc>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Fri Sep 19 14:46:16 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 08:46:16 -0600
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <sf687a47.029@mail.grandronde.org>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.084616.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Just a short reply about the use of the word Squaw.  I agree that squaw is a
derogatory term and should not be used.  In the general context, it is
difficult for the mainstream population to grow and learn about the
diversity of all Indian people when they continually use and lean on
cultural stereotypes like squaw or braves, chiefs, and other mascots.  They
program their computers (minds) with garbage and that is all that comes out.
In a productive way, forcing them to change their usage of squaw will do
some good in educating the general public about Indian people, culture and
issues. 

Let's replace those names with local names that come from our aboriginal
languages!!  Let's make our presence felt in maps!!  

Respectfully,

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Tony Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 4:14 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)

An introduction:

My name is Tony A. Johnson.  I am a Chinook Tribal member, and, amongst
other things, run the language program for the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde in Western, OR.  I am a default linguist.  Of interest to folks would
be that we have the only language immersion preschool in the area, and that
our language is the only living Native American Creole language.  It is
called Chinuk Wawa, and became the community language here because of the
twenty plus dialects of languages that were spoken on the early reservation.
Anyway, ...

I did not believe this would be the topic to take me out of lurking status,
but I have had a little experience with changing a few "squaw" place names
within the ceeded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  The
incentive for this action really was people believing the derogatory
etymologies given for the word.  We, however, educated the people involved
as to the likely origins of the word.  Despite this though, we felt the need
to continue with the name change efforts.  We did this because all elders
that we spoke to here universally agreed that it is derogatory.  They
generally said that it is a way that white people put down Indian women.
Most expressed first hand experience with the word, and I can tell you that
many younger people here in the NW will attest to it continuing to be a term
applied in a derogatory manner to Native women.

I do agree with the issue of not making these decisions out of political
correctness.  However, continuing the use of derogatory words, or asking
people affected by them to use them seems inappropriate.  Anyway, a means of
our making sure that our actions do not simply white wash history is that we
have added several of the "squaw" signs that were taken down and replaced in
our area into our museum collection.  Whether or not they will ever be used
I cannot say, but they are stored here as a part of our history.

Tony A. Johnson
Sawash-Ili7i
(Grand ROnde, OR)

>>> JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US 09/16/03 11:52AM >>>
I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us 
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG] 
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From language-labs at UCHICAGO.EDU  Fri Sep 19 15:55:03 2003
From: language-labs at UCHICAGO.EDU (Language Laboratories and Archives)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 10:55:03 -0500
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <001e01c37cc3$9bb89ca0$6400a8c0@computer>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.105503.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 20:30 -0600 16/9/03, MiaKalish at RedPony wrote:
>Note also that he only "suggests". . . in Psychology, you use this word when
>you don't have empirical evidence, and have only a guess. The equivalent
>sentence would be "Dr Kita GUESSES this is because Japanese and Turkish have
>no verb. . .  "  !  Unless Dr Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and
>Turkish, he/she has no idea whether that statement is true, or not.

For the record, Dr. Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and I know
he has professional ties to native speakers of Turkish.

Barbara Need
University of Chicago
Linguistics
and
Language Laboratories and Archives


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 19 17:08:01 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 10:08:01 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181044030.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.100801.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I really like your take on this word Scott.  It is an interpretation I
have not yet seen and it is quite appropriate since the male counter
part to squaw is "buck" which would support rather than deny the animal
reference.

One other dehumanizing aspect present in the use of the term squaw is
the reference on the sexual availability of native women to white
males.  It seems to be more a romanticized notion of the west due in
part to movies like "Squaw Man" by Cecile B. Demille (1914, 1931) and
other popular American culture.  Squaw Man even has an entry in the
American Heritgae Dictionary.  Nonetheless, its use is dehumanizing
because it objectifies native woman and denies them their essential
humanity.

thanks, yóx kál'o (that's all),

Phil Cash Cash (cayuse/nez perce)
UofA


> ----- Message from delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU ---------
>     Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:52:20 -0700
>     From: Scott DeLancey <delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU>
> Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>  Subject: Re: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
>       To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>
> The reason why "squaw" is offensive has nothing to do with its
> origins.
> And it's not just a matter of who thinks or doesn't think that it's
> offensive, either.  In English, we have separate words for the male
> and female of barnyard animals, but not for ethnic groups of people.
> We have 'mare' and 'hen', but no 'Frenchette' or 'Russianess'.  And
> because of that, English uses a separate word, like "squaw", as a
> way of diminishing the humanity of the people being referred to.
>
> Not that long ago, the English language had two other words of the
> same
> kind--"Negress" and "Jewess".  It's no coincidence that it is exactly
> those
> two groups that the language made up special female forms for--people
> said "Jewess" but not "Germaness" because they thought of Germans as
> just people who spoke a different language, but of Jews as something
> different--not quite the same as real people.
>
> Nowadays no one would use either of these words, and anyone hearing
> them would immediately recognize them as racist.  This isn't because
> of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
> "Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
> special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically
> racist,
> because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.
>
> Scott DeLancey
> Department of Linguistics
> 1290 University of Oregon
> Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA
>
> delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
> http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html
>
>
> ----- End message from delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU -----


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 17:18:21 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 10:18:21 -0700
Subject: Cherokee tribe tries to save a dying language (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.101821.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Cherokee tribe tries to save a dying language

JENNY BURNS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 19, 2003
©2003 Associated Press

URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/09/19/state1618EDT7535.DTL

(09-19) 15:54 PDT   LOST CITY, Okla. (AP) --

The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in Cherokee, telling the
children to pull out their mats for nap time. Using their Cherokee
names, she instructs "Yo-na," or Bear, to place his mat away from
"A-wi," or Deer. Soft Cherokee music lulls them to sleep.

These youngsters' parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their
grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these
children will speak in their public school classroom.

By immersing the youngsters in the language of their ancestors, tribal
leaders are hoping to save one of the many endangered American Indian
tongues.

It is a modest start, consisting of just 10 kindergartners in a single
classroom at the Lost City School, 50 miles east of Tulsa. But their
Cherokee language instruction will continue throughout their school
years.

"The language is going to be gone if we don't do something, and the best
people to learn are kids in the developmental stage of kindergarten,"
said Annette Millard, a non-Cherokee who is superintendent of the Lost
City School, with about 100 students, two-thirds of them from the
tribe.

Around the country, other Indian languages are disappearing as well. The
native speakers are dying off, and the language cannot compete against
English, which is pervasive through television and other forms of pop
culture.

While many tribes are trying to reinvigorate their languages, doing so
can be particularly difficult in places like Oklahoma, where Indians
generally attend public schools and do not live on reservations.

On the vast Navajo reservation in the Southwest, for example, the Navajo
language is taught on reservation schools and most tribal members speak
it. In Oklahoma, fewer than 8,000 of the 100,000 Cherokees can speak
the language fluently, and most of those who can are over 45.

In fact, assimilation policies once discouraged Cherokees from speaking
their native language in schools.

The father of Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith was punished for speaking
Cherokee at Sequoyah High School, located at the seat of Cherokee
government in Tahlequah.

"If you spoke the language, your mouth was washed out with soap," Smith
said. "It was an effort to destroy the language and it was fairly
successful."

In Lost City, Millard offered a classroom -- and started learning the
language along with her staff -- after hearing a plea from the chief.
The Cherokee Nation is paying the salaries of the teacher and an
assistant.

The school has a weekly "Rise and Shine" assembly where all grades begin
with the greeting "o-si-yo" and discuss the word for the week. One
recent week, the word was truthfulness, or "du-yu-go-dv."

Millard calls students by their Cherokee names and encourages them by
saying "o-sta" -- "good" -- with a smile. Her office is adorned with
Cherokee words and pronunciations posted on objects like the telephone
and her desk chair. (The Cherokee alphabet, which now consists of 84
symbols, each representing a syllable, was codified by Sequoyah in
1821.)

The children are encouraged to speak Cherokee at home.

After five weeks of school, Lane Smith, or "A-wi," told his mother in
Cherokee that he was going outside to play. She was not quite sure what
he said, but she is now starting to relearn the language she knew at
age 5.

"My family has asked Lane what he has learned today and they are
learning right along with him," said Kristal Smith, who is not related
to the Cherokee chief. "I plan to have him keep going with the
language."

Tribal leaders say it is vital that the language survive.

"We have our medicine, our plant life, our universe and the language the
Creator has given us," said Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language
projects supervisor. "Our medicine doesn't understand other languages
but Cherokee. All this is interconnected."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:24:30 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:24:30 -0700
Subject: Supreme Court rules some mixed-blood Metis have full native
 rights in Canada (link)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.162430.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

...including language.  go to link.

~~~
Supreme Court rules some mixed-blood Metis have full native rights in
Canada

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap09-19-122326.asp?reg=AMERICAS

TORONTO, Sept. 19 —    Canada's Supreme Court ruled Friday that
mixed-blood descendants of French settlers and Indians who can show a
direct link to their historical community have the same broad hunting
rights as so-called full-status Indians.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:28:24 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:28:24 -0700
Subject: Pokagons mark 9th year of sovereignty (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.162824.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Pokagons mark 9th year of sovereignty

Tribune Staff Report
http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2003/09/19/local.20030919-sbt-MICH-D1-Pokagons_mark_9th_ye.sto

DOWAGIAC -- This is more than just a powwow.

It is a celebration of sovereignty on Saturday for the Pokagon Band of
Potawatomi Indians.

The members of the Dowagiac-based tribe are going to be celebrating
their 1994 recognition by the United States with Pokagon Day, tribal
officials said Thursday.

The ninth anniversary celebration will run from sunrise to dinnertime at
the tribe's Rodgers Lake compound.

The keynote event will be the Unity Drum & Flag Ceremony on Saturday
morning with addresses from Pokagon Chairman John Miller and former
chairman Joe Winchester along with members of the tribe's Youth
Council.

Full tribal recognition was restored with President Clinton's signature.

The 2,764-member tribe, which includes 1,833 members in Michigan and
Indiana, took a step forward for its proposed Four Winds Casino near
New Buffalo with its cross-deputization agreement with the Berrien
County Sheriff's Department for the Pokagon Band Police Department,
which at this point has a chief but no officers.

It also has a tribal court and other tribal operations, including
teaching its Native American language restored with President Clinton's
signature.

The 2,764-member tribe, which includes 1,833 members in Michigan and
Indiana, took a step forward for its proposed Four Winds Casino near
New Buffalo with its cross-deputization agreement with the Berrien
County Sheriff's Department for the Pokagon Band Police Department,
which at this point has a chief but no officers.

It also has a tribal court and other tribal operations, including
teaching its Native American language. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Indians has a 10-county service area of Berrien, Cass, Van Buren and
Allegan counties in Michigan; and St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko,
LaPorte, Marshall and Starke counties in Indiana.

It has land for reservation sites near Dowagiac and Hartford in
southwestern Michigan and near North Liberty in northern Indiana.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:35:53 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:35:53 -0700
Subject: Pocket change (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.163553.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Pocket change

By JOHN STROMNES of the Missoulian
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/09/17/news/mtregional/news08.txt

Salish artists crafting beaded pouches to hold commemorative Lewis and
Clark silver dollars

PABLO - The U.S. Mint has put 30 Salish craftsmen of the Flathead Indian
Reservation to work this fall, tanning, sewing and beading leather
medicine pouches much as Indians did some 200 years ago, when the Lewis
and Clark Expedition came through western Montana.

The tribal artists are to provide 7,500 beaded pouches over the next 12
months or so. Like the medicine pouches of old, these will contain good
medicine - specially minted silver dollars authorized by Congress to
commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06.

Congress authorized 500,000 of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial silver
dollar coins to be produced. But only 50,000 of them will come in
traditional medicine pouches made of brain-tanned buckskin with
certificates of authenticity individually signed by each tribal artist.

The Salish pouches sport one of two bead designs popular in Salish
tradition. The remainder of the 50,000 pouches are being made by
craftspeople from other tribes across the West that came in contact
with the famous voyage of discovery.

Marie Torosian, education director for the People's Center, tribal
museum, gallery and gift shop operated by the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes in Pablo, said the bead patterns are traditional motifs
but original designs. One is a floral design, the other geometric. The
designs were selected from several submitted to the Bicentennial
Commission by the People's Center for consideration, she said. The
winning designs are by contemporary Salish beadworkers Germaine White
and Lucy Vanderburg.

Two weeks ago, the first kits of beads and local brain-tanned buckskin
and lacing were distributed to the 30 or so artists who will sew and
bead the final products. Torosian said each Salish beadworker receives
$20 a pouch. Each one takes an experienced beadworker less than an hour
to produce, and each is inspected for quality of craftsmanship before
it is accepted.

The pouches will be packaged in boxes of 500, with a signed certificate
of authenticity attached to each one, and sent in secure mail to the
U.S. Mint in Washington, where each pouch will be vested with a
commemorative silver dollar. The coins and products will be sold by the
Mint to collectors all over the world.

The idea for the limited-edition pouches originated with the U.S. Mint,
which approached the Circle of Tribal Advisers of the Bicentennial
Commission with the idea as a means of helping the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial program, said Martha Watson, a Mint spokeswoman.

The pouches and contents may go on sale as early as next May. The price
has not been determined.

In the enabling legislation, passed in 1999, Congress provides that each
of the commemorative dollars must weigh 26.73 grams, have a diameter of
1.5 inches, contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, and can be
used for legal tender. It makes no mention of the medicine pouches. The
coins may be minted only during calendar year 2004 at no net cost to
the U.S. government.

Torosian said a grant associated with the program will pay for a Salish
language immersion school for tribal members scheduled to begin at the
end of September at the People's Center.

During the language immersion program, participants will learn to tan
hides the traditional Salish way, Torosian said.

Tribal language revitalization and cultural resource protection are
stated aims of the program, according to the certificate of
authenticity.

There are 114 North American Indian tribes represented by 54 existing
tribal governments involved in the bicentennial observance, all of
whose homelands Lewis and Clark explored 200 years ago.

John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at
jstromnes at missoulian.com

Copyright © 2003


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Sun Sep 21 14:52:02 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 08:52:02 -0600
Subject: Fw: Miami Indian language
Message-ID: <SUN.21.SEP.2003.085202.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

I didn't know if there might be some people who would be interested in these
search results, or people who didn't know how many sources we have for very
old information and recordings of Native languages.

Mia

----- Original Message -----
From: "NAA" <NAA at NMNH.SI.EDU>
To: <VIARC.Info at mnh.si.edu>; <Mia at RedPony.us>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: Miami Indian language


> Dear Ms. Kalish,
>
> I have searched the National Anthropological Archives' online catalog (at
> http://www.siris.si.edu , choose the Archival and Manuscripts section of
> the catalog) and found only one manuscript and no sound recordings
relating
> to the language of the Miami Indians of the Midwest, detailed below.
>
> You are welcome to search the catalog yourself to determine whether there
> are additional materials of interest to you.
>
> Most collections of sound recordings in the NAA's collections relate to
> tribes in the West (e.g., California), Southwest (e.g., Arizona), and
Upper
> Midwest (e.g., Minnesota).
>
> Title:  Comparative Miami vocabularies 1908
> Phy. Description:  15 pages
> Summary:  Miami words obtained by J.P. Dunn in 1908 from a Miami Indian
> named Gabriel Godfroy, of Peru, Indiana; compared with Miami words
collected
> by Volney, 1797. (published; see manuscript for reference); and Miami
words
> collected by Charles N. Handy, 1850 (published; see manuscript). Also
sample
> conjugation of verbs and grammatical discussion by Dunn.
> Cite as:  Manuscript 1701, Smithsonian Institution National
Anthropological
> Archives
> Culture:  Miami
> Repository Loc:  National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum
> Support Center, Suitland, Maryland
>
> I would suggest that you contact the Library of Congress' Archives of Folk
> Culture (in the American Folklife Center) which has numerous recordings.
See
> the LC website at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ for details and more
> information.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeannie Sklar
> Reference Archivist
>
> ****************************************
> National Anthropological Archives
> Smithsonian Institution
> Museum Support Center
> 4210 Silver Hill Road
> Suitland, MD 20746
> (301) 238-2873 (tel)
> (301) 238-2883 (fax)
>
> >>> "Smithsonian Information" <VIARC.Info at mnh.si.edu> 07/15/03 04:48PM >>>
> Mia Kalish
>
> Your correspondence of July 6, 2003, regarding Miami Indian language, has
> been received  in the Smithsonian's Public Inquiry Mail Service for
> response.  We have forwarded your inquiry to the Institution's Department
> of Anthropology, at the National Museum of Natural History from which a
> response will be forwarded if helpful information is available.
>
> Thank you for your interest in the Smithsonian Institution.
>
>
>
>
> >>> "RPHLT Director (Mia)" <Mia at RedPony.us> 07/06/03 07:55PM >>>
> Hello,
>
> Do you have any recordings of the language of the Miami Indians of
> Indiana?
> I thought perhaps you might have some old records, perhaps some wax
> cylinders?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mia Kalish
>
>


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 22 16:39:49 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 09:39:49 -0700
Subject: [Fwd: Modoc Elder Passes]
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.093949.0700.>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030922/6e07cca8/attachment.html>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Mon Sep 22 17:45:49 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:45:49 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.114549.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Yes, and I have to add:  language undoubtedly reflects the unique ways
that various cultures look at the world, and that is one of the many
reasons why language preservation is so important.  But, the popular
view that people are somehow RESTRICTED from thinking in certain ways,
due to the languages that they speak, has not held up to a half century
of studies on the subject.  Indeed, the whole idea that "language =
thinking" has been greatly exaggerated.  I would guess this to be
especially true of words relating to motion--for example, I am very poor
at giving directions in any language that I speak, but that does not
mean that I am poor at having a mental understanding of how to get to
places.  Also, I highly doubt that people without language are somehow
restricted in terms of spatial understanding simply because they cannot
describe motions verbally.

As for this study, I speak Japanese at home, and it is true that the
Japanese intransitive verb "yureru" could be translated either as
"swing" (with a trajectory) or as "rock" (without a trajectory).  But, I
highly doubt that this means that Japanese people cannot imagine a
rocking motion with an arc (something that could, at any rate, be easily
described in Japanese, or any other language on earth--somehow people
think that meaning is conveyed solely by individual words, as if
paraphasing was impossible!).  I fact, after reading this article, I
tried the experiment out on my Japanese wife, and she had no trouble
duplicating the motion of swinging after watching me act it out.  I have
a suspicion that the researcher went into this study expecting a certain
result, and that he allowed this to influence what actually happened.

At any rate, I cannot help but notice that deficit grammars, when
posited, usually end up putting the more powerful languages on top.  You
have got to wonder about that!

MJ Hardman wrote:

>And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
>Not difference, but hierarchy!
>
>Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.
>
>Dr. MJ Hardman
>website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
>
>
>On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Language influences the way you think
>>http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>>
>>Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
>>but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>>
>>Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
>>study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>>
>>Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
>>Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
>>the action they had seen.
>>
>>He found speakers of the three different languages used different
>>gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
>>the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>>
>>For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
>>the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
>>Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
>>the motion but not the arc.
>>
>>Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
>>corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>>
>>While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
>>express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
>>with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>>
>>Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
>>generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
>>matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>>
>>"In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
>>speaking."
>>
>>Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030922/00732e32/attachment.html>

From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 22 18:12:28 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:12:28 -0700
Subject: Kindgardners Learn
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.111228.0700.>

 "Kindergartners get lessons in ancestors' lost language"

By JENNY BURNS


LOST CITY, Okla. (AP) - "The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in
Cherokee, telling the children to pull out their mats for nap time. Using
their Cherokee names, she instructs "Yo-na," or Bear, to place his mat away

from "A-wi," or Deer. Soft Cherokee music lulls them to sleep.

Thesee youngsters' parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their
grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these
children
will speak in their public school classroom."

Complete at:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/6818556.htm


From rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 21:45:36 2003
From: rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Rudolph C Troike)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 14:45:36 -0700
Subject: Etymological fallacy
In-Reply-To: <20030920070051.1007C2D04F@listserv.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.144536.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

     I've read the accounts of the etymology of "squaw", and have no doubt
that they are accurate. However, linguists have long argued against the
notion that words have a "real" meaning that is knowable by determining
the earliest discoverable or reconstructable meaning (a favorite topic-
generating rhetorical ploy of public speakers). Words mean what people at
any given time understand them to mean, and these shared understandings
change over time. "Hussy" no longer means "housewife", "knave" no longer
means a young boy, and "nice" no longer means "ignorant" in the minds of
current English speakers, and it would be absurd to insist that it is
perfectly all right to call a woman a "hussy" because she is a housewife,
or that it is insulting to say that a girl is "nice" (except in Liberia,
where the older meaning lingers, or in African American slang, where the
idea of sexually available has become attached to the word). Even if we
could go around prescriptively restoring words to their centuries-old or
millenia-old meanings, we would have to remember that further
irrecoverable millenia lie behind those, and we can never know what the
sources of any word might have meant 30,000 or 60,000 years ago.

        In modern American English, "squaw", while its sense may have
ameliorated from its strongly depreciative 19th-century meaning, still
carries a stigmatizing or negative quality in many contexts. This fact,
and not any argument as to its etymological innocence, should guide
decisions about whether it should be retained in geographic designations
today.

Rudy Troike
Dept. of English
University of Arizona


From ni-raueiser at WEB.DE  Tue Sep 23 20:53:49 2003
From: ni-raueiser at WEB.DE (Nina Raueiser)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 22:53:49 +0200
Subject: Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into
 history (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.225349.0200.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030923/a407c9e6/attachment.html>

From nwarner at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 21:31:42 2003
From: nwarner at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Natasha L Warner)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:31:42 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.143142.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hello,

Dr. Kita, whose work has been discussed on this list lately, asked me to
post the following message for him.  (He is a former colleague of mine.)
As he suggests at the end of his message, please copy him at
sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk on any responses.  Also, I am afraid my email
program is not encoding the characters of Dr. Kita's collaborator's last
name correctly in the message below.  For clarity, her name is Asli
OEzyuerek.

Thanks,

Natasha Warner

Dear Dr. Senarslan and readers of ILAT,

One of my colleagues has told me that some discussions are going on in
ILAT about our work, which was recently covered by mass media.  The
difficulty of such a situation is that what people see is not our work
itself, but a journalist's summary of our work (or, in many cases, a
journalist's summary of another journalist's summary).

Some of the messages in ILAT (not Dr. Senarslan's) seem to interpret our
work to be a "deficit grammar" study,  making an English superiority
claim.  This characterization is completely inaccurate.  The study has
been published in the following journal.

Kita, Sotaro, & �zy�rek, Asli (2003). What does cross-linguistic
variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?:
Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and
speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 16-32.

I would appreciate it if you could base your scholary criticisms on our
publication, from now on.  If you do not have access to this journal, I
am happy to send you a PDF version of the published article.

Another thing that did not get through the media is that this is a
collaborative work between myself and Dr. Asli �zy�rek (Max Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Netherlands).

Back to linguistics,  there are a couple of messages that point out that
Turkish (Dr. Senarslan) and Japanese (Dr. Ward) do have a verb to
swing.  As I will explain later, whether or not Turkish and Japanese
have a certain verb or not is not really the central issue in our study.
But, let me discuss the issue of the existence of swinging verbs in
Japanese and Turkish first.

Dr. Senarslan pointed out that Turkish sal could refer to swinging.
According to my collaborator, who is a Turkish speaker, sal  roughly
means dangling (one end of a long thin object is fixed, and the other
end is free and is capable of moving about).  Though sal and swing have
some referential overlap, sal is not really felicitous in description of
an event in which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to
Point B.

Dr. Ward recently pointed out that Japanese yureru could refer to
swinging. Yureru roughly means swaying (one end of a long thin object is
fixed, and the other end is free and moves about). Unlike in sal, yureru
entails movement (but the movement is not directed). In addition, yureru
does not refer to intentional action; thus yureru cannot refer to Tarzan
swinging from one tree to another.   Yureru has referential overlap with
swing, but it is not really felicitous in description of an event in
which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to Point B.

The precise semantics of these related verbs is not really the crucial
point of our study.  The crucial point is that the English speakers
encoded different set of information from Japanese and Turkish speakers
when they described a scene from an animated cartoon.  This is the scene
in which Sylvester the cat swings on a rope from one building to another
in his attempt to catch Tweetie bird. None of the 15 Japanese and 17
Turkish speakers, who talked about this event, did not encode the arc
trajectory (they simply said something like, "the cat went/flew to the
other side"), where as 16 English speakers all used the verb "swing" and
thus encoded the arc trajectory.  Obviously, there are many other
differences.  All Turkish speakers encoded evidentiality, and most
speakers of the other languages did not, and all Japanese spakers
encoded addressee-honorification but most speakers of the other
languages did not.  We focused on encoding of spatial information in
speech in our study since iconic co-speech gesture is believed to be
driven by underlying spatial and motoric imagery that the speaker
activates at the moment of speaking (McNeill, 1992).  We found that
Japanese and Turkish speakers are more likely to produce a gesture that
moves straight, namely, that does NOT encode the arc trajectory than
English speakers.  Based on the assumption that co-speech iconic
gestures reveal important aspects of the speaker's imagery at the moment
of speaking, we concluded that the imagery that speaker generates at the
moment of speaking is influenced by how the speech production process
organizes information.  We suggested that adjusting the content of
imagery according to the preference of the speech production process
might facilitate verbalization of thought.

The above article include analysis of how Manner and Path of a motion
event is expressed in speech and in gesture in the three languages.  All
three languages expressed both Manner and Path of a particular event in
the cartoon, but the syntax they used were different.  And, the
linguistic difference was mirrored in a gestural difference.  For the
sake of brevity, I will not go into further details.

One caveat is that our study only makes a claim about linguistic
influence on the imagery that the speaker generates at the moment of
speaking.  It does not make any claim about  lingusitic effects on
thoughts outside the context of speaking.

I hope that this clarifies things a bit.  As I do not subscribe to ILAT,
please CC your posting to ILAT also to <Sotaro.Kita at bristol.ac.uk>.
Thank you very much!

Reference
McNeill, David. (1992). Hand and mind. University of Chicago Press.

Best regards,
Sotaro Kita

-- 
Dr. Sotaro Kita

University of Bristol
Dept. of Experimental Psychology
8 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TN
United Kingdom

(Tel) +44-(0)117-928-8562
(Fax) +44-(0)117-928-8588
From outside of UK, skip the 0 in ().

sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk


*******************************************************************************
Natasha Warner
Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics
University of Arizona
PO Box 210028
Tucson, AZ 85721-0028


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 23 22:13:01 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:13:01 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.161301.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I appreciate Dr. Kita's explanation.  I would suggest that part of the
problem is how the media reports language issues.  Decades of half-baked
ideas about linguistic determinism have made a huge impression on the
public consciousness, leading many educated people to believe that
people's thoughts are sometimes constrained by the languages they speak.
 The media is fond of such stories, and usually misinterprets them.

For example, the article which was posted on this list-serve made it
sound as though Japanese and Turkish speakers were unable to conceive of
the action described, simply because their language does not have a
specific verb for that action (in the case of Japanese, the verb
encompasses both the meanings of "swing" and "sway;" as Dr. Kita points
out, it is only an intransitive verb, Japanese also has a separate
transitive verbs ("yuru," "yusuburu") for these actions).

In other words, the idea is created that Japanese and Turkish speakers
are not able to express themselves as well as English speakers, simply
because of their native language.  This not only has damaging
connotations, but it also has very little scientific basis--decades of
studies have confirmed only weak versions of this kind of idea, such as
"It is slightly easier for speakers to remember colors for which their
language has words," and have generally disconfirmed that people's
thinking is in any way limited by their native languages.

I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should, if
possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
them, because the effects can be quite damaging.  I remember, for
example, a book published in Japan with a title which would translate
something like "Lack of English Ability is Destroying the Nation," which
posited the ridiculous idea that Japanese people cannot express
themselves clearly, due to the language they speak, and that English was
the solution.

Actually, of course, the Japanese LANGUAGE can express anything it needs
to, but Japanese CULTURE often requires its members to express
themselves indirectly.  Of course, this cultural convention is reflected
in the language, (for example, many indirect phrases that can be used to
make a request more polite) but it does not mean, by any standards, that
Japanese (or any other language) is not capable of being clear, it's
just that doing so, in certain situations, can be percieved as rude.

Unfortunately, because of the many myths about language that exist in
the public consciousness, this kind of distinction is too often lost.
 In the case of a large, powerful language like Japanese, the damage is
probably not significant, but in the case of indigenous languages, these
myths (such as the old Sapir-Whorf saw "Hopi has no words relating to
time") can be very destructive indeed.

Matthew Ward

Natasha L Warner wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Dr. Kita, whose work has been discussed on this list lately, asked me to
>post the following message for him.  (He is a former colleague of mine.)
>As he suggests at the end of his message, please copy him at
>sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk on any responses.  Also, I am afraid my email
>program is not encoding the characters of Dr. Kita's collaborator's last
>name correctly in the message below.  For clarity, her name is Asli
>OEzyuerek.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Natasha Warner
>
>Dear Dr. Senarslan and readers of ILAT,
>
>One of my colleagues has told me that some discussions are going on in
>ILAT about our work, which was recently covered by mass media.  The
>difficulty of such a situation is that what people see is not our work
>itself, but a journalist's summary of our work (or, in many cases, a
>journalist's summary of another journalist's summary).
>
>Some of the messages in ILAT (not Dr. Senarslan's) seem to interpret our
>work to be a "deficit grammar" study,  making an English superiority
>claim.  This characterization is completely inaccurate.  The study has
>been published in the following journal.
>
>Kita, Sotaro, & ?zy?rek, Asli (2003). What does cross-linguistic
>variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?:
>Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and
>speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 16-32.
>
>I would appreciate it if you could base your scholary criticisms on our
>publication, from now on.  If you do not have access to this journal, I
>am happy to send you a PDF version of the published article.
>
>Another thing that did not get through the media is that this is a
>collaborative work between myself and Dr. Asli ?zy?rek (Max Planck
>Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Netherlands).
>
>Back to linguistics,  there are a couple of messages that point out that
>Turkish (Dr. Senarslan) and Japanese (Dr. Ward) do have a verb to
>swing.  As I will explain later, whether or not Turkish and Japanese
>have a certain verb or not is not really the central issue in our study.
>But, let me discuss the issue of the existence of swinging verbs in
>Japanese and Turkish first.
>
>Dr. Senarslan pointed out that Turkish sal could refer to swinging.
>According to my collaborator, who is a Turkish speaker, sal  roughly
>means dangling (one end of a long thin object is fixed, and the other
>end is free and is capable of moving about).  Though sal and swing have
>some referential overlap, sal is not really felicitous in description of
>an event in which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to
>Point B.
>
>Dr. Ward recently pointed out that Japanese yureru could refer to
>swinging. Yureru roughly means swaying (one end of a long thin object is
>fixed, and the other end is free and moves about). Unlike in sal, yureru
>entails movement (but the movement is not directed). In addition, yureru
>does not refer to intentional action; thus yureru cannot refer to Tarzan
>swinging from one tree to another.   Yureru has referential overlap with
>swing, but it is not really felicitous in description of an event in
>which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to Point B.
>
>The precise semantics of these related verbs is not really the crucial
>point of our study.  The crucial point is that the English speakers
>encoded different set of information from Japanese and Turkish speakers
>when they described a scene from an animated cartoon.  This is the scene
>in which Sylvester the cat swings on a rope from one building to another
>in his attempt to catch Tweetie bird. None of the 15 Japanese and 17
>Turkish speakers, who talked about this event, did not encode the arc
>trajectory (they simply said something like, "the cat went/flew to the
>other side"), where as 16 English speakers all used the verb "swing" and
>thus encoded the arc trajectory.  Obviously, there are many other
>differences.  All Turkish speakers encoded evidentiality, and most
>speakers of the other languages did not, and all Japanese spakers
>encoded addressee-honorification but most speakers of the other
>languages did not.  We focused on encoding of spatial information in
>speech in our study since iconic co-speech gesture is believed to be
>driven by underlying spatial and motoric imagery that the speaker
>activates at the moment of speaking (McNeill, 1992).  We found that
>Japanese and Turkish speakers are more likely to produce a gesture that
>moves straight, namely, that does NOT encode the arc trajectory than
>English speakers.  Based on the assumption that co-speech iconic
>gestures reveal important aspects of the speaker's imagery at the moment
>of speaking, we concluded that the imagery that speaker generates at the
>moment of speaking is influenced by how the speech production process
>organizes information.  We suggested that adjusting the content of
>imagery according to the preference of the speech production process
>might facilitate verbalization of thought.
>
>The above article include analysis of how Manner and Path of a motion
>event is expressed in speech and in gesture in the three languages.  All
>three languages expressed both Manner and Path of a particular event in
>the cartoon, but the syntax they used were different.  And, the
>linguistic difference was mirrored in a gestural difference.  For the
>sake of brevity, I will not go into further details.
>
>One caveat is that our study only makes a claim about linguistic
>influence on the imagery that the speaker generates at the moment of
>speaking.  It does not make any claim about  lingusitic effects on
>thoughts outside the context of speaking.
>
>I hope that this clarifies things a bit.  As I do not subscribe to ILAT,
>please CC your posting to ILAT also to <Sotaro.Kita at bristol.ac.uk>.
>Thank you very much!
>
>Reference
>McNeill, David. (1992). Hand and mind. University of Chicago Press.
>
>Best regards,
>Sotaro Kita
>
>
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:36:45 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:36:45 -0700
Subject: New ISO fees on the horizon? (fwd link)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.163645.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

New ISO fees on the horizon?
September 19, 2003, 5:55 PM PDT

Information technology standards groups are raising warning flags over a
proposal that could raise fees for commonly used industry codes,
including two-letter country abbreviations, used in many commercial
software products.

http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5079256.html


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:48:08 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:48:08 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think =?us-ascii?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <3F70C56D.4060109@luna.cc.nm.us>
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.164808.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Dear all,
I have cut n paste the issue below;


> I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should,
if
> possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
> them, because the effects can be quite damaging.


This is a common problem with the media. Two years ago I had an
article published on the origin of the word Oregon and the media chose
several different ways to report our theory. I think this problem
occurs because their scientific experts are, manytimes, from a
previous generation of education and had preconceived (old school)
scientific notions in their analysis. This may also be why many new
and interesting theories on social science and linguistics don't make
it into the media, because it may be considered too avant garde or
radical for the mainstream. These media scientific analysts could then
be considered gatekeeping and straining current theory for the
mainstream.  I'm at a loss as to see how the original authors of such
articles can have any control over this process. For my article, I was
only ever questioned by local media and the AP never saw fit to call
me to clarify anything before publishing their anaylsis.

I have also found that many people never actually read the original
published articles and rely upon media reports of those articles. I
think this is a cultural phenomenon of the information age, where we
have so much information thrust upon us that we must rely on second
hand media analysis to take much of it in. I know this happens with
myself. But I find that for those few specialized subjects that I am
studying and interested in that I will go get the original articles
when possible.

Perhaps this is the best way we can proceed, and seek to correct media
errors on a case by case basis.

David Lewis


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:51:18 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:51:18 -0700
Subject: Native American firms climb small biz ladder (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.165118.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

09/15/03; Vol. 18 No. 12
Washington Technology

Native American firms climb small biz ladder
Companies more 'entrepreneurial' in government market

By Nick Wakeman
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/18_12/federal/21635-1.html

When Barney Uhart came to work for Chugach Alaska Corp. in 1993, the
company was emerging from bankruptcy.

The corporation and its Alaskan Native members in the coastal area of
Prince William Sound had been devastated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill,
which severely damaged the fisheries they depended on as major source
of revenue.

"I came on board to find another line of business for the corporation,"
said Uhart, president and chief executive officer.

Chugach decided to pursue government support services, particularly base
operations and maintenance work. The company won its first contract for
$5 million in 1994 to operate and maintain the King Salmon Airport in
Alaska, an Air Force facility.

>From that humble start, the corporation has built a $500 million annual
business with operations in 24 states and six foreign countries. The
majority of the work is base operations and maintenance.

"We do everything that it takes to run a facility, and a lot of IT
services are included," Uhart said.

The IT portion of its work was enough to land Chugach the No. 6 spot on
this year's Washington Technology Top 25 8(a) list, which ranks the
largest 8(a) firms doing business with the federal government. The
company had about $38.8 million in overall IT during fiscal 2002, with
about $2.4 million from 8(a) contracts.

Chugach is one of eight Native American-owned firms on this year's list.
Six of the eight are tribally owned or Alaskan Native Settlement Act
corporations: Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Bowhead Support Services
Inc., Choctaw Management Services Enterprise, Chugach, S&K Technologies
Inc. and TKC Communications LLC.

Individuals of Native American ancestry own two of the eight companies:
Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc. and Cherokee Information Services.

The top ranked Native American company is Choctaw of Durant, Okla.,
which was ranked No. 3 with $47.7 million in overall IT revenue and
$40.8 million in 8(a) contracts. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma owns
the company.

The prominence of the Native American companies on this year's list
stands in contrast to last year, when only four Native American
companies -- Choctaw, Arctic Slope, Datatrac Information Services Inc.
and Wyandotte Net Tel -- made the list. Arctic Slope of Barrow, Alaska,
is ranked No. 8 this year with $36.2 million in overall IT revenue and
$35.6 million in 8(a) revenue.

Other 8(a) companies that provide a range of services join these
companies.

At No. 1 is Force3 Inc. of Crofton, Md., which had $105.8 million in
overall IT revenue and $38.6 million in 8(a) revenue. The companies on
the list are ranked by overall IT revenue, not 8(a) revenue.

Force3 provides IT services, particularly in networking. Ranked No. 3
last year, Force3 is one of 11 companies on the list making a repeat
appearance. In fact, the top four companies are veteran Top 25
companies: Force3, Artel Inc., Choctaw and Computer & Hi-tech
Management Inc.

Several notable companies from last year's list have graduated from the
8(a) program, including 2002 top company Datatrac of Richardson, Texas,
and the No. 2 company RS Information Systems Inc. of McLean, Va.

The rise of the Native American companies isn't attributable to any
single factor, industry and government officials said.

There are 513 Native American-owned 8(a) companies, according to the
Small Business Administration. Tribes own some, and individuals of
Native American ancestry own some.

"There were two or three things that helped us," said Greg Dumontier,
president of S&K Technologies of St. Ignatius, Mont., the No. 7 company
with about $38 million in overall IT dollars and $2.4 million from 8(a)
contracts.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Indian
Reservation own the company in western Montana. S&K Technologies got a
fast start, Dumontier said, because it used the business infrastructure
of S&K Electronics, a former 8(a) company that the tribes owned. Under
the 8(a) laws, tribal governments and Alaskan Native corporations are
allowed to own multiple 8(a) companies.

S&K Technologies started as a three-person unit of S&K Electronics in
1997, Dumontier said. It became its own company in 1999, and today has
250 employees, he said.

"The tribe has a reputation of being one of the more progressive ones,"
he said.

Companies owned by tribal governments and Alaskan Native corporations
have benefits not available to other 8(a) companies, such as no ceiling
on sole-source awards. In addition, prime contractors can apply for a 5
percent fee if they use a Native American company as a subcontractor on
Defense Department work.

The tribal-owned and Alaskan Native corporations get these benefits
because the profits from their businesses go back to the tribe or
corporation shareholders to be used for training, education and other
government services.

"The villages are historically poor and lack many resources," said
Katharine Boyce, a partner at the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP,
who specializes in Native American issues. "And federal funds have
never met the requirements under the treaty obligations."

But many of the 8(a) benefits for Native American companies have been in
place for more than 20 years, and likely are not the reason for the
recent growth of the Native American contractors, said Darryl
Harriston, SBA deputy associate deputy administrator for government
contracting and business development.

SBA has been trying to increase awareness of these programs, but "what
you are seeing is Native American companies being more aggressive and
understanding the procurement process better," he said. "Over the last
few years, the tribes have become much more entrepreneurial."

The Army, Air Force and Navy have been particularly good at creating
opportunities for Native American-owned companies, Boyce said.

"It used to be weird to see a Native American company on someone's
team," said James Kane, president of Federal Sources Inc., McLean, Va.
"Now it isn't." *


From mshawaway at WSTRIBES.ORG  Wed Sep 24 22:08:44 2003
From: mshawaway at WSTRIBES.ORG (Myra Shawaway)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:08:44 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.150844.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Thank you DL,  It is dis-heartening to see your words become something else
from a media source.  MJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Gene Lewis" <coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: Language influences the way you think (fwd)


> Dear all,
> I have cut n paste the issue below;
>
>
> > I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should,
> if
> > possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
> > them, because the effects can be quite damaging.
>
>
> This is a common problem with the media. Two years ago I had an
> article published on the origin of the word Oregon and the media chose
> several different ways to report our theory. I think this problem
> occurs because their scientific experts are, manytimes, from a
> previous generation of education and had preconceived (old school)
> scientific notions in their analysis. This may also be why many new
> and interesting theories on social science and linguistics don't make
> it into the media, because it may be considered too avant garde or
> radical for the mainstream. These media scientific analysts could then
> be considered gatekeeping and straining current theory for the
> mainstream.  I'm at a loss as to see how the original authors of such
> articles can have any control over this process. For my article, I was
> only ever questioned by local media and the AP never saw fit to call
> me to clarify anything before publishing their anaylsis.
>
> I have also found that many people never actually read the original
> published articles and rely upon media reports of those articles. I
> think this is a cultural phenomenon of the information age, where we
> have so much information thrust upon us that we must rely on second
> hand media analysis to take much of it in. I know this happens with
> myself. But I find that for those few specialized subjects that I am
> studying and interested in that I will go get the original articles
> when possible.
>
> Perhaps this is the best way we can proceed, and seek to correct media
> errors on a case by case basis.
>
> David Lewis


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:06:04 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:06:04 -0700
Subject: Inuit talk the talk (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.190604.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Inuit talk the talk

By OLIVER MOORE
Globe and Mail Update
Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2003
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030924.wlang0924/BNStory/National/

Inuktitut remains widely understood in Canada's North, a new report
finds. Statistics Canada researchers found that 90 per cent of all
off-reserve Inuit say that they can speak or understand Inuktitut.

After centuries of colonization and assimilation, Inuktitut is the only
major native language group to be flourishing off the reserve in
Canada. It is the only substantial positive amid a report chock full of
bleak news about the low use of aboriginal languages.

The report's authors analyzed the data of the 2001 Aboriginal Peoples
Survey, crunching the numbers to draw conclusions about the entire
off-reserve native population of Canada. They found that, in spite of
evidence that some people are deliberately learning an aboriginal
language later in life, comprehension of these languages is found in
only a small minority of Indians and Métis living off the reserve.

Less than one-third (32 per cent) of off-reserve Indians over the age of
15 said they could speak or understand even a single aboriginal
language.

Less than 15 per cent of adults said their comprehension was either
“very” or “reasonably” good. Among children, less than 15 per cent said
they could speak or understand an aboriginal language.

Métis fared even more poorly. Barely one in six Métis (16 per cent) were
able to speak an aboriginal language, and only 5 per cent said they
knew it well. Comprehension was lower among children than adults, with
only 11 per cent of Métis children saying they knew how to speak an
aboriginal language.

Impressive as they are by comparison to Indians or Métis, the Inuit
success story is diluted somewhat by the diminishing ability of their
young to speak the language well. While 80 per cent of adults say they
can speak their native tongue “very well,” only 63 per cent of those
under the age of 15 said they could speak it “very” or “reasonably”
well.

A clear majority of aboriginal people told researchers that they
recognize the importance of keeping their languages alive.

The same proportion (about 60 per cent) said that it is either very or
somewhat important that their children learn an aboriginal language.
That desire may account for the small but significant group of people
who learn an aboriginal tongue later in life.

The 2001 census showed that, while only 12 per cent had an aboriginal
mother tongue,15 per cent claimed proficiency in an aboriginal
language.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:10:44 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:10:44 -0700
Subject: More funds sought to save Indigenous dialects (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.191044.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

More funds sought to save Indigenous dialects

Thursday, 25 September 2003
http://www.abc.net.au/northwestwa/news/200309/s953311.htm

 An international endangered languages conference in Broome, in
north-west Western Australia, has renewed calls for an increase in
funding to help preserve some of the Kimberley's rare Aboriginal
dialects.

 The UK-based group, the Foundation for Endangered Languages, has hosted
its seventh annual conference to discuss how to best preserve minority
language groups.

 There are 30 different Aboriginal languages in the Kimberley, some of
which have already become extinct, while many have only a small number
of remaining speakers.

 The chairwoman of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, June Oscar,
says funding for language preservation has not kept pace with real
costs.

 "I hope that it doesn't remain forever at the same level, that through
continued advocacy on the part of endangered language speakers and
their languages that we're able to bring some positive benefits and
changes," she said.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:17:16 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:17:16 -0700
Subject: Aboriginal Peoples Survey show =?iso-8859-1?b?Tel0aXM=?= at high
 risk for chronic ailments (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.191716.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Aboriginal Peoples Survey show Métis at high risk for chronic ailments
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/September2003/24/c4365.html

    OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 24 /CNW/ - The release today of the initial
findings of Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) shows the Métis Nation at
highest risk for chronic pain and for life threatening health
conditions. In the finding entitled "Well-being of the non-reserve
Aboriginal Population" it showed that Métis over the age of 15 had the
highest rates for heart problems and high blood pressure. The Métis
also had the highest rates for stomach problems and intestinal ulcers
and were nearly equal to North American Indian population for high
rates of asthma and rheumatism or arthritis.  The Inuit population had
the lowest rates in all categories. (The APS numbers do not include the
on-reserve population of First Nations.)

    Clem Chartier, Vice-President of the Métis National Council and
Minister of Métis Rights and Self-government said, "It is important for
the Canadian government to come to terms with the health needs of the
Métis population. At the same time our people are struggling with these
urgent health issues; we receive minimal support from the federal
government for our health care needs."

    Harley Desjarlais, Minister of Health said, "the numbers released
today regarding the chronic ailments are of great concern to the Métis
Nation. They paint a picture of pain, people living with arthritis and
stomach problems that are much higher than the Canadian norm. Our
people are also at the risk of some of the biggest killers, heart
problems and high blood pressure."

    Other factors of interest to the Métis Nation include the lowest
rates in learning an Aboriginal language. Aboriginal language being
spoken in the home also dropped precipitously from 1996, when this
factor was last recorded. In 1996 ability to converse in an Aboriginal
language was at 4%, in 2001 the
number dropped to 3%. More telling is the factor of "Aboriginal language
spoken most often at home." In this category the number dropped to 1%
from 3%.

    "This factor tells us that an important part of the Métis culture is
in critical danger. The Michif language, which is unique to the Métis
is being threatened but so are other Aboriginal languages that are a
part of the Métis heritage," said Interim President and National
Spokesperson Audrey Poitras.
"Now is a time for change. We are committed to turning things around. We
now live in a world where our Aboriginal rights are respected in the
constitution of Canada and recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada.
We are determined to make things better for the health and the culture
of the Métis Nation."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 16:39:03 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 09:39:03 -0700
Subject: Province aids native language organization (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.093903.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Province aids native language organization
http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_ablang20030924

WINNIPEG - The province has announced it will provide significant
funding to help preserve native languages.

Just over $73,000 will go to Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba, a
non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the seven main native
languages spoken in Manitoba: Cree, Dene, Dakota, Michif, Inuktituq,
Ojibwe (Saulteaux) and Oji-Cree, a dialect spoken in Island Lake.

Part of the money will go to updating and compiling dictionaries and
books of grammar, as well as translation services and language lessons.

A new survey released by Statistics Canada shows fewer and fewer First
Nations people are speaking their traditional languages. The report
shows only 16 per cent of aboriginal people living off-reserve can
carry on a conversation in their native language, down from 21 per cent
in 1996.

"It's still a struggle, a continuous struggle," says Carol Beaulieu, of
Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba. "I think we have come back, because
now we're able to use new technology to preserve it, for example CDs,
tapes, videos, things like that.That has assisted a lot in the coming
back of languages and the preservation."

Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba, which was founded in 1984, is one of
only a handful of similar organizations across the country.  The
funding announced Thursday amounts to just under one-third of the
organization's annual budget.


From liko at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Thu Sep 25 16:35:19 2003
From: liko at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Liko Puha)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 06:35:19 -1000
Subject: Province aids native language organization (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.063519.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Aloha mai käua,

I mea e ÿike ai ÿoe, ÿaÿole au ma ka hana i nä lä 25-26 o Kepakemapa. Inä
he mea koÿikoÿi Leoki käu, e leka mai ÿoe iä Kamalu Perreira a i'ole iä
Keola Donaghy.

Me ka mahalo nui i ka hoÿomanawanui mau,
na Liko


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 17:44:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 10:44:41 -0700
Subject: Program Coordinator AILDI (fwd announcement)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.104441.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Program Coordinator, Senior for the American Indian Language Development
Institute (AILDI)

The University of Arizona, Department of Language, Reading & Culture,
seeks a full-time Program Coordinator, Senior for the American Indian
Language Development Institute (AILDI).  The AILDI is a four-week
summer teacher preparation program in American Indian linguistics and
bilingual/multicultural curriculum development, with significant
outreach and recruitment/retention functions throughout the academic
year.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030925/920cbb45/attachment.html>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 26 18:13:23 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:13:23 -0700
Subject: Native odyssey highlights importance of language (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.26.SEP.2003.111323.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Native odyssey highlights importance of language

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/09/26/news/local/news12.txt

WASHINGTON — It wasn't the blisters and shin splints that John
LaFountain remembered as he walked the last three miles of a 1,700-mile
odyssey, but the language of his ancestors.

La Fountain, 48, and 16 other Lakota people finished a 77-day journey
from Pine Ridge to Washington, D.C.

LaFountain, joined by members of the Seven Fires Foundation, concluded
the Spirit Walk 2003 Race Against Time Thursday with prayers at the
Washington Monument.

"This is the first step to ensure that the Lakota language is not lost
like many other languages of the Americas," LaFountain said in a
telephone interview.

The Reno, Nev., man had dreamed about this walk more than a year ago. It
was the realization of a dream to conclude this important mission of
language awareness, he said.

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota,
LaFountain wanted to bring attention to the dwindling population of
fluent speakers and the apathy of those left about learning the
language.

"It's been tremendous. A lot of people had no idea about what was
happening to our language. They thought it was thriving, while it's
actually on the doorstep of extinction," he said.

Roger LaMere, 51, of Rapid City agrees.

LaMere says a lot of people are concerned, and education is vital to
keep not only the language alive, but the culture as well.

"It has to do with our culture and even our way of praying," he said.

Through forced assimilation, the majority of native languages have
disappeared from the Americas "and ours is on the brink."

Of South Dakota's American Indian population of about 59,355 people,
only several hundred are fluent. Of those, 75 percent are elders and
irreplaceable once they've died.

Part of losing the language is the loss of the Lakota's traditional
ways.

"For a lot of youth, being a Lakota is to dance and sing at powwows, and
that's the extent of it. There's more to it than that," LaMere said.

LaFountain and his group walked the first 100 miles to Winner. After
that, they walked relay-fashion, covering 25 miles a day. Walking at
the height of summer with temperatures soaring to the high 90s and even
100 degrees, the marchers would begin at 5 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m.
"It was brutal," LaFountain recalled.

As the seasons began to change, the group started at 7 a.m. and
concluded by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.

"It's an experience that all of us will hold close to our hearts, and
it's been a very harmonious, a very powerful and moving event,"
LaFountain said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen at rapidcityjournal.com


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 26 18:30:49 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:30:49 -0700
Subject: Language of life (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.26.SEP.2003.113049.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Language of life

New trilingual curriculum in Greenland strengthens English-language
education
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/features/30926_01.html

AASIAAT, Greenland — The students in the senior English class at
Gammeqarfik elementary school stare intently at their guest, a genuine
Canadian — from the Arctic no less. And they're anxious to hear what
the language they've been studying actually sounds like.

Trouble is, few of them can understand a word of it.

English is a required subject for students in Greenland, though they are
unlikely to learn enough of it in their nine mandatory years of
education to gain even a basic understanding.

The phrase scrawled on the blackboard at the front of the room says
something about a brown-haired girl and a small dog, and the workbook
asks questions like "What is your favourite food?" and "What is your
favourite colour?"

The more advanced of the students have managed to answer the question
that asks them to fill in their name.

But a working knowledge of English is not necessary for daily life in
Greenland. For the vast majority of the 600 students at Gammeqarfik,
their first language is Greenlandic, a dialect of Inuktitut. And as the
secondary school curriculum is largely a copy of the Danish system, it
fosters a strong knowledge of Danish as well.

But Greenland educators are discovering that if Greenlandic students are
to become citizens of the world — to use the Internet and pursue higher
education — they must be able to communicate in it.

So just last month, as a new school year began, primary schools in
Greenland introduced a new trilingual curriculum, meant to provide the
next generation of students with a solid foundation in Greenlandic,
Danish and English.

Work began on the new curriculum in 1998. In early 2001, Greenlandic
educators discussed their plans with education officials in Nunavut,
saying Greenland schools are producing a generation of young adults who
can speak only one language,    Greenlandic.

And as Nunavut education officials look to Greenland for direction in
developing a curriculum to strengthen Inuktitut education, they might
also take some lessons in the importance of English.

The "new law," as Sara Brandt, the leader, or principal of Gammeqarfik,
calls it, introduces not just a new language of study, but also a new
type of education.

It's an experimental system, she says, that will introduce English in
the 4th Grade instead of the 7th.

"English — here it's the second foreign language they learn,"    she
says.

But the "new law" is not just about language-instruction, it will   
also create a new type of educational environment, one that will allow
parents to direct their child's education.

"It's a completely new form of school study — at your own level instead
of classes," Brandt says.

Parent involvement allows Greenland schools to focus strictly on
academics and modern studies, while leaving traditional education to
the family. Gammeqarfik's music room is filled with enough equipment to
outfit several rock bands, but not one cultural troupe.

"There is not much drum dancing, but drums, guitar, the new music,"    a
school official says.

So by the time they get to secondary school, there's much more time for
subjects like chemistry and biology, because students already have a
thorough background in kayaking and whale hunting.

In fact, despite the school system's focus on academics, Aasiaat, a
fishing village in the Disko Bay region of northern Greenland with a
population of 3,500, remains one of the most traditional communities in
the country.

"The dream of every young boy in Greenland is to stand on a boat and be
in command," says Gert Molgaard, a math teacher and administrator at
Avannaani Ilinniarnertuunngorniarfik, Aasiaat's secondary school.

The school, known commonly as GU Aasiaat, unabashedly immerses its 250
students in a strict academic system — based almost entirely in Danish.

"The goal in public school is teaching in Greenlandic, but not here,"
Molgaard says. "It's important they learn to work with Danish as a
language. If they go on from here, they have to go somewhere to get
higher education."

But too few students go on to higher education, Molgaard says,
estimating less than half of his school's students will pursue
university training.

A strong background in English may give future students more options,
and even the confidence to go abroad.

But studies in Danish and English won't change the importance of
Greenlandic in village life. Molgaard says his job, as an educator, is
not to alter that reality.

"If you have any job whatsoever, you have to understand Greenlandic."


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Sun Sep 28 00:44:34 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 18:44:34 -0600
Subject: Scents/smells
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.184434.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

My materials for Apache contain very few words for scents and smells. yet the Sense of Smell is the only one that goes directly to the inner brain, bypassing the corpus collosum that mediates the input of the other senses. The brain reads the scents directly, through the two-dimension receptor activation map. . . and is capable of recognizing 10,000 or more individual scents. 

Ants communicate with each other via scents, ant eaters communicate with the ants via scents. . . humans tell whether fruit is ripe and meat is rotten by their smells. . . in the desert, when it rains, a unique plant infuses the air with its unique, water-activated, scent. . . and yet, in our languages, we have no words to discuss this more primitive of our perceptual senses? Does anyone have any conflicting evidence, that is, a language that is rich in words that describe scents? 

Thanks, 
Mia


"Heritage Languages: Don't leave home without one."

Mia Kalish, M.A. 
Director, Red Pony Heritage Language Team
PhD Student, Computer Science
Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352
www.redpony.us 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030927/2810bafc/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ivy.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 5665 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030927/2810bafc/attachment.gif>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 03:27:30 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:27:30 -0700
Subject: COMANCHE CODE TALKERS HONORED (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.202730.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

COMANCHE CODE TALKERS HONORED

Friday, September 26, 2003
http://216.87.159.49/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=3017

The highlight of today`s ceremony was a tribute paid to the brave
warriors who played a vital role in the United State`s World War Two
victory. The Comanche Code Talkers relayed their secret language to
fellow troops, an undecipherable code that German forces couldn`t
crack. At today`s ceremony, the last living Comanche Code Talker showed
he`s still got it. Charles Chibitty spoke several phrases to the crowd
this afternoon in his native Comanche tongue. A language he still
cherishes to this day.

Centuries of rich history honored at the Comanche Nation tribal complex.
A ceremony commemorating all fallen Comanche heroes. A bronze statue
unveiled as a special tribute to the 17 Comanche Code Talkers that led
the U.S. to victory in World War Two, who before the war, were
forbidden to speak their native language in school. "If they were
caught talking their language, they would be whipped, put on detail,
and in some cases they had they`re mouths washed out with soapy water."

But the same language that led to severe punishment before, became a
thing of legend during World War Two. 17 Comanche Code Talkers are
credited with preventing Germans from intercepting vital, tactical
information. "We want to honor Charles Chibitty, who is 82 years of
age, because brother, you`re the last one remaining and I think you
deserve a round of applause.

Charles Chibitty was one of 17 Comanche Code Talkers who relayed
information during the southern invasion of Germany and on Utah Beach
in Normandy on D-Day. "Many times I said to myself, while the others
was living, we was crazy as hell to join up for this, but we used our
language on the battlefield, just like I am talking English here
today."

The Comanche Code Talkers are all listed on a commemorative quilt and
the bronze statue, capturing the spirit of the Comanche Code Talkers
and that vital role they played in our nations history. "I still talk
Comanche, once in a while I make a slip and I was trying to say
mosquito, I say mosiqua, but that was close enough, mosiqua."

It`s the language and the sacrifice he and other Code Talkers made that
Chibitty hopes his words and this statue honor forever.

Chibitty has lived in Tulsa since 1945 and he says for the rest of his
days, he`ll continue to spread the word to younger genrations so the
Code Talkers history doesn`t fade away.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 03:33:18 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:33:18 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.203318.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Microsoft translates software into African languages
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp

A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.

Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.

The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
get to grips with technology.

"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
Africa.

Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.

Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
to the public to make suggestions."

He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
that used indigenous languages.

"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
that we also develop local languages in order to address the
population's communication needs," said Gondwe.

Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
during the translation.

"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 22:21:59 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:21:59 -0700
Subject: Hear our words (fwd)
Message-ID: <SUN.28.SEP.2003.152159.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hear our words

Language retreat at Glacier Bay Lodge affords an opportunity to speak
Tlingit 24 hours a day

Sunday, September 28, 2003

By Scott Foster
For the Juneau Empire © 2003
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/092803/loc_language.shtml

Study German or French in school and you can look forward to a European
trip as a reward and an opportunity to further develop language skills
in the real world.

"Unfortunately, there's not a Tlingit-speaking world for us to go to,"
said Roy Mitchell, a sociolinguist at the Sealaska Heritage Institute.
"We're trying to do the next best thing, which is make one ourselves."

That next best thing was a 10-day Tlingit language immersion retreat.

"For many people, including most of the elders, this is the first
opportunity they've had in 50 or 60 years to be in a situation where
they're speaking Tlingit with each other on a 24-hour-a-day basis,"
said Mitchell, the retreat's coordinator.

More than 30 people attended the most recent retreat from Sept. 8 to 18
at Glacier Bay Lodge. Most of the participants were descendants of the
people of Glacier Bay, according to Mitchell.

"It's been very powerful for the people here to be literally on the site
where their ancestors lived," he said.

Those ancestors' Tlingit descendants today number between 13,000 and
14,000, said John Martin, who was in charge of protocol at the retreat.

"Only 140 to 200 of those are fluent Tlingit speakers," he said.

The retreat, funded by a $446,000, three-year federal grant to SHI, is
intended to help increase Tlingit-language fluency among students and
train Native language teachers.

Goldbelt Inc., Huna Heritage Foundation and the National Park Service
were partners in the Glacier Bay retreat, contributing about $150,000
in travel, lodging and other in-kind services. An earlier retreat was
held this summer in Sitka. Four more will take place in the next two
years.

Rosita Worl, SHI president, said the grant was a "significant step
toward perpetuating Native language." With fewer than 200 fluent
Tlingit speakers, that may seem a daunting, but not impossible, task -
at least according to participants at the Glacier Bay retreat.

"I am determined to learn this language," said Lance Twitchell,
president of the Skagway Tribal Council and a retreat participant. His
passion comes in part from a book he read in college that gave the
Tlingit language only a 30-year life span.

"That became a major goal," Twitchell said. "To assist to make sure that
prediction never comes true."

Sociolinguist Mitchell admits saving the Tlingit language won't be easy.
"But at the same time, I know it is possible," he said.

Among all the Alaska Native languages, he estimates the number of young
people now learning Tlingit is the second highest, behind those
learning Yup'ik.

The immersion technique used at the retreat meant only Tlingit was
spoken for 10 days. Those who are fluent helped those who were
learning. For example, Tlingit speaker Nora Dauenhauer described
herself as being used as a dictionary. To help those with fewer
language skills get started, a small card with phrases was distributed.
They included words such as Daa sa, for "what's that?" and Tsu ax éen
sa for "name it again."

A group of fluent-speaking elders taught throughout the retreat. In
addition to casual conversations, students also practiced Tlingit while
learning to make baskets, carving and beading. Two language classes
were held each day, and sessions in singing, drumming and dancing were
held in the evenings.

Being immersed in a world where only Tlingit was spoken wasn't always
easy. Linda Belarde is from Juneau but left in 1964 and most recently
was a school principal in Zuni, N.M. She wrote a poem about learning
Tlingit that included the lines, "Stupider and stupider. I must be from
Jupiter."

Frustrations, however, were overpowered by determination.

Daphne Wright, who teaches in the Hoonah City Schools, held a water cup
and used it as a metaphor.

"This cup is how much language I know," she said.

Then looking out the lodge windows to the waters of Glacier Bay, she
said, "Out there is the whole Tlingit language. I came here to try to
get a little more."

Kahlil Hudson came from Africa, where he is a Peace Corps volunteer
teaching English in Benin, to attend the retreat along with his
grandmother, mother and sister. During the last evening he admitted,
"Growing up (in Juneau) I didn't always feel proud of being a Tlingit.
That's a terrible thing to have to say. After these 10 days, I can say
I've never been more proud to be a Tlingit."

Many felt similar emotions and pride. At 15, Nikka Mork from Juneau was
the youngest to take part in the retreat. She said the experience
changed her.

"I didn't want to come back (home)," she said.

Like many participants, Mary Folletti knew only a few Tlingit words
growing up in Haines. But, like many others attending the retreat, she
is determined to speak the language.

"I want to be able to teach my kids and grandkids the Tlingit language,"
she said. "I want to be able to pass on from my ancestors what they
passed on to us."

"Knock on wood," Mitchell said, "I think in a few years we're going to
see a few young families where the mother and father - maybe both of
them - speaking Tlingit as a second language, will be raising their
children as first-language speakers again."

Hans Chester grew up in Juneau speaking English. In 1996 he started
studying Tlingit and has recognized what he calls "a fire inside" that
keeps growing.

"Each year more firewood gets put on," he said.

Chester, one of the teachers at the Glacier Bay retreat, turned 26
recently. He is recognized as the youngest fluent Tlingit speaker in
the world, an honor he tends to downplay.

"He (Chester) and others now have demonstrated it is possible in the
21st century to learn and become fluent in Tlingit," Mitchell said.

It was that realization that gives hope to the elders. Agnes Bellinger
of Juneau told the students: "I won't lose sleep anymore. I know our
language is safe."

The evidence for Bellinger's optimism was everywhere at the retreat,
including a poem written and read by student Lily Hudson during the
group's last night together:

   "I looked in the mirror this morning

   and saw your face as my reflection.

  I opened my mouth to speak

  and your words came pouring forth.

  I sang and danced this afternoon

  and felt your spirit dancing too.

  Your art flows through my hands.

  I crave the food you crave.

  Your passions are my passions

  And your path to pain is my own

  Gunalchéesh my elders.

  Gunalchéesh my ancestors.

  Your seeds have well been sown."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 29 16:23:46 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:23:46 -0700
Subject: 25-year plan to lift Maori language (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.092346.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

25-year plan to lift Maori language

29.09.2003
By AUDREY YOUNG
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3526058&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Government departments will have to develop five-year plans to make the
Maori language part of their services.

The measure is part of a 25-year plan, being issued today, to revitalise
the Maori language through use in the community, rather than through
formal education.

Maori has been an official language of New Zealand since 1987.

A report on the plan says it is important for people to be able to use
Maori in dealing with public services.

It says this will "support the increased use of the Maori language and
will enhance the value of the Maori language within New Zealand
society".

Making the speaking of Maori a normal part of family and community
settings is the key to the plan.

Its key goal says: "By 2028, Maori language will be widely spoken by
Maori.

 In particular, the Maori language will be in common use within Maori
whanau, homes and communities. All New Zealanders will appreciate the
value of the Maori language to New Zealand society."

Government measures will include providing public services in the Maori
language, continuing support for Maori broadcasting and education,
Maori language arts such as kapa haka and speech competitions, and
having Maori language archives in the National Library.

The Ministry of Maori Development, Te Puni Kokiri, will monitor the
progress of all agencies.

But much of the way the plan will work is yet to be determined. This
will be done by communities themselves.

"Maori have the lead role to play in revitalising the Maori language
because ultimately the language is a Maori taonga," says the report.

Language revitalisation requires planning at community level, it says,
and iwi, hapu and other Maori organisations are best placed to do this.

The report says tribal and regional differences in Maori must be
maintained.

Since the 1970s, the revitalisation of the language has depended on
building a critical mass of speakers through formal education.

While that has to continue, the report says, the plan will focus on
greater use of the Maori language in the community.

"By normalising the use of Maori language in whanau settings, language
acquisition by future generations will become an accepted feature of
everyday life and this will see the language flourish."

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia says in the report that the
health of the Maori language was severely compromised through the 20th
century.

Maori initiated ways to retain it, supported by the Government.

That provided a solid foundation, but greater planning and co-ordination
are required for the next 25 years.

Facts on te reo

* About 130,000 people - 25 per cent of the Maori population - speak
Maori.

* 68 per cent of Maori believe having more Maori spoken in public is
good.

* Fewer than 1 per cent of non-Maori speak Maori.

* Most non-Maori have a positive or neutral attitude towards Maori
learning and speaking Maori in Maori settings.

* 40 per cent of non-Maori support the use of Maori in wider society.

* About 600 Maori language immersion early childhood services, mainly
kohanga reo, are educating 10,000 children, or about 15 per cent of
Maori children.

* About 14 per cent of Maori school students - 21,500 pupils - are
completing some of their learning in Maori language.


From CMcMillan at WVC.EDU  Tue Sep 30 00:10:37 2003
From: CMcMillan at WVC.EDU (McMillan, Carol)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:10:37 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.171037.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>


I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary supporters of apartheid. 

The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this as the language of aparthied and of the oppressors.  The people of Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk through town.  The police opened fire on them, killing at least 70 elementary school children and wounding many others.

We often think in terms of English being the only language of oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English. I am glad that the software for African language translation has been developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.

tac' halaxp,
Carol McMillan


-----Original Message-----
From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)


Microsoft translates software into African languages
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp

A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.

Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.

The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
get to grips with technology.

"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
Africa.

Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.

Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
to the public to make suggestions."

He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
that used indigenous languages.

"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
that we also develop local languages in order to address the
population's communication needs," said Gondwe.

Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
during the translation.

"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 01:30:10 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 18:30:10 -0700
Subject: A Life of Struggle (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.183010.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

A Life of Struggle
Don Andrés: Elder of Mexico’s Indigenous National Congress

By Annalena Oeffner
Narco News Authentic Journalism Scholar
September 29, 2003
http://www.narconews.com/Issue31/article876.html

Sitting on an old, worn-out bed in a tiny, broken-down shack whose floor
is covered in red corncobs, Andrés Vasquez de Santiago, 93 years old
and maybe one meter forty (4 feet 7 inches) in height, looks fragile.
He has the coffee-brown skin of the Mexican Otomí-indigenous,
strikingly full and white hair and is dressed in old green trousers,
sneakers, a white shirt and a towel thrown on his shoulders. Asked to
tell about his life, he laughs and says, there is nothing to tell
about. But then he begins anyway. Don Andrés, as people call him, has
struggled all his life for the rights of the indigenous people in
Mexico. He is one of the founders of the Indigenous National Congress
(CNI in its Spanish acronym) and its oldest delegate. And he is a
walking history book about the indigenous' situation of the last
century.

"A lot has changed," observes the man born in 1910, the year of the
Mexican revolution against the leadership of General Díaz, led by
Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Many indigenous
rights supporters (including don Andrés' grandson, Juan) gathered this
summer of 2003 in Oventik, Chiapas to see the birth of the latest
progress of their cause: the formation of regional, autonomous Good
Government Councils, which have assumed roles in the self-management of
communities formerly handled only by the State. Although many of don
Andrés' colleagues from the Indigenous National Congress were present
in Oventik, seven years after its foundation the organization remains
an enigma to a lot of the global and Mexican supporters of the
indigenous cause. It has no office, no paid staff, and it does not
receive grants. Like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, the CNI
has often gone for many months in silence, without making a public
statement. But in Oventik, for the first time since the Zapatista march
to Mexico City in 2001, it suddenly reappeared again, at center stage
of the struggle, an important voice that joins 56 of Mexico's 62
indigenous ethnicities.

The struggle of the indigenous people in Mexico has a long history and
is still ongoing. Despite programs by the government and international
organizations aimed at the indigenous population, their situation is
far from what don Andrés, the CNI delegate, thinks it should be.
Speaking with don Andrés, the long history begins to unfold for the
outsider.

"His memory goes back 90 years," a good friend of his and fellow
delegate of the CNI, Miguel Alvarez, explains. "Many indigenous have
good memories because of all the bad things that have happened to them.
You don't forget those things." Alvarez, who describes himself as
"mestizo con corazón" ("mestizo with heart" – mestizo meaning someone
of mixed indigenous/white ancestry), portrays don Andrés as "very wise
and very, very intelligent." He is tiny, but "his real greatness is in
his head." Don Andrés went to school for only a year and has been a
campesino (peasant farmer) all his life. Asking Miguel Alvarez when don
Andrés started to engage in politics, he replies: "At the age of
reason, when he was about nine years old."

Don Andrés has been an elected town council leader for Apaseo el Grande,
Guanajuato. "I have always been with the campesinos, with those who
don't have capital," he says. "They respect me, they are my people. I
was always in opposition to the political figures." He also explains
that he would accompany people whenever they had problems with the
authorities. For the last three years, however, he has not gone. "I
can't. I don't hear, I see very little." Still, even in recent years,
he participated in various national meetings of the CNI, the Zapatista
caravan of 2001, delivered remarks at last February’s drug legalization
summit in Mérida, and worked as a professor there and on Isla Mujeres
with the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism.

Don Andrés is poor, in the economic sense of the word. This becomes
obvious immediately when squeezing one's way through the crooked wooden
gate, crossing the bumps, holes and mud of the small strip of garden to
his house with its crumbling walls. There is hardly any furniture
inside. Having been a peasant farmer, don Andrés does not receive any
government aid. Those people like him without family do not have any
source of income. Yet, don Andrés says, a lot has improved since the
time when he was little: "After the revolution [of 1910] came the
hunger, we didn't have anything to eat, all the people were hungry. We
only lived of wild herbs such as nopales (cactus) and beans, well, bean
soup because we didn't have enough. It was all natural, we didn't have
mills or tortilla makers. Even when the revolution had finished, there
was a lot of food shortage and illness and many people died of it. In
the year 1920, when I was ten, we boys earned 18 centavos daily, so
that we would not go to school, because the priests did not want us to
go to school. So they paid us 18 centavos for a whole day. It was a
misery. Like nowadays, those who knew how to read could escape
slavery."

"I hate the priests," don Andrés says. "I consider them traitors to
human beings. They were brought by the Spaniards and were the most
powerful weapon you can imagine. And they are still being used as such.
The priests came to intimidate us, talking about excommunication and
hell. 'You will condemn yourselves, my children,' they would say at
those times, 'if you take over land. The rich have the land, because
they worked for it.'"

Up to 1935, don Andrés recalls, the campesinos never wore trousers. Then
the governor of Querétaro, the nearest city, decreed that he would
imprison anyone who did not wear trousers. Because of this "rat", as
don Andrés calls him, many people were never able to go to the city.

Don Andrés was born to parents who spoke Otomí-Ñahñú, the language of
the Otomí-indigenous. In Miguel Alvarez’ opinion, the government
figures undercount the number of Otomí-speakers (about 292,000 in 2000,
according to the Mexican National Institute of Geographic and
Information Technology statistics, given that there are still five
million people with Otomí roots in Mexico.  Some of those continue to
live according to old traditions in secluded communities often
difficult to access. When he first met Miguel Alvarez in 1992, don
Andrés "had lost contact with his people and believed that the Otomís
had disappeared and their language become extinct. He lives very
isolated and doesn't speak Otomí anymore, but he understands it. His
parents spoke Otomí, but the children were not allowed to speak it in
school. If they did, their teachers would beat them. People thus lost
the relations with their ancestors, their customs etc." According to
the Christian Science Monitor, Yolandra Lastra, a Mexican linguist,
argues: "Some people think a language can die out, but the culture and
the knowledge will persist. I do not. I think the language and culture
die together."

Nobody can tell me exactly how many descendants the old man has. He has
eleven children and is by now great-great-grandfather. Many of his
family live in his little village, San Bartolomé Aguacaliente, in the
state of Guanajuato, a half-hour's drive from the city of Querétaro,
north of Mexico City. Don Andrés was born there in 1910. The number of
human lives lost during the 11-yearlong revolution that began the same
year varies from "official" estimates of circa six percent to about a
fifth of the population (according to Robert McCaa from the University
of Minnesota Population Center). That revolution, says Mexican author
and La Jornada columnist Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar, was the beginning of
the modern Mexico. Its product was the "ideal nation": la nación
mestiza. In this nation, everyone was supposed to have the same
opportunities, as a popular saying illustrates: "My father was a slave
on a farm, and I am a revolutionary, my children set up a store, and my
grandson is a government functionary." In the 1980s, the Mexican
markets were opened to foreign competition, neoliberalism made its way
to Mexico. The situation for many people worsened, as educational
programs (such as grants for university education) were stopped. "The
rich became richer, the public facilities started deteriorating," says
Raquel Gutiérrez.

In 1992, the U.S. Congress established a Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee
Commission for the celebration of Columbus Day on October 12. It was
the year of the 500th anniversary of the "Encounter of the Two Worlds."
According to Miguel Alvarez, many indigenous did not accept the
celebrations in memory of the invasion of their lands, and instead
protested. He says, "the Spaniards and the other Europeans came to
steal. They didn't bring anything, they just took. They didn't bring
more than the sword and they imposed their religion by force. They
didn't know how to talk. They enslaved the people, took pure gold and
brought little mirrors and beads in exchange."

All these factors led to the rising up of the Zapatistas in 1994 in the
southeastern state of Chiapas to demand indigenous autonomy over their
land and ways of living. Previously, there had only been indigenous
organizations of national significance that fought for their rights as
peasant farmers as opposed to indigenous rights. There was a government
office for indigenous people, called Instituto Nacional Indigenista.
Raquel Gutiérrez describes how it assisted people in selling their
handicrafts, benefiting the market. "They helped them not to be
indigenous. So these people were beginning to become someone else." In
her point of view, only when the Zapatistas appeared on the scene did
Mexicans truly realize that there were so many indigenous in their
country. Also, "we began to feel that we were indigenous too, that they
were our ancestors. It was really the Zapatistas who managed to make
people aware of that."

In 1996, the San Andrés Accords were signed but have never been
implemented. They set out the restoration of autonomy to all aspects of
indigenous life, such as control over local government, its form and
judicial processes, the media and, most importantly, their land and its
resources. The same year, leaders of the various indigenous groups met
in Mexico City. Among them were the Zapatista Comandanta Ramona and don
Andrés. This was the first Indigenous National Congress. Although the
vast majority of its members are poor farmers, they have nevertheless
managed to meet several times since then.

The CNI acts as umbrella organization for most indigenous ethnic groups.
Its main goal (identical with that of the Zapatistas) is the compliance
with the San Andrés Accords. The PRI government's failure to enact the
agreements was a major factor for the ending of the party's reign after
71 years in 2000. Present president Vicente Fox, who had pledged to
solve the Chiapas conflict (in effect the question of indigenous
self-rule) "in fifteen minutes," has not, however, kept his promise.
The reform the Mexican government did ratify in April 2001 was rejected
by the Zapatistas and the CNI, for it ignored the main demands of the
indigenous peoples.

According to Raquel Gutiérrez, the CNI can be both weak and strong:
"It's an organization that's not really an organization. Only when
everyone meets, it exists. If not, well, it exists because it can exist
again." When the Zapatistas marched to Mexico City in 2001, for
example, they asked the CNI to mobilize the communities outside
Chiapas. "But when the Indigenous Law was introduced, the CNI didn't
appear. So it is sometimes strong and sometimes not." The problem
Gutiérrez sees is the "lack of capacity to struggle on a local level."
Each community has distinct forms of living, of producing food etc.
Other ones may have a similar organization, but they are not related to
each other. "At the CNI meetings are regional leaders that are very
representative of their communities, who live there and talk to the
people. But at the meetings, they will speak about their very specific
problems and they just don't see a little bit wider. The CNI, as
compared to indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador for example,
doesn't have the capacity to work on a regional level, to link between
communities."

Concerning the indigenous population, the Fox government "is doing
stupid things," claims Raquel Gutiérrez. Policies such as continuing to
open the markets to foreign competition have resulted in "huge
organizations of peasant farmers to demand that frontiers be closed for
agricultural products." An example of a government aid program for
indigenous people is Procampo, which has since 1996 made payments to
farmers based on their historical production and to make more efficient
use of their resources. Gutiérrez points out that it serves the
government's interests far more than the people at whom it is aimed.
"They go to the communities, register everyone and then give the women
about 200 or 300 pesos [20 to 30 US dollars] per child. These children
are being weighed and measured every two months. If they don't grow and
gain the weight expected by the government, they are forced to leave
the program. Instead of giving the children more, since they are
lacking, they are being punished for their parents' 'bad use of the
money'. All of a sudden, these women have become rivals and start to
fight among themselves. To administer such program is stupid. They are
simply handout-programs, which don't serve the people. Instead, they
create conflict within communities, making it more difficult for the
people to unite and to struggle for common objectives. This form of
giving money is a way of controlling people. The government doesn't
only have a perfect list of them and knows what is happening, but it
has a way of causing trouble, of controlling the rebellions."

In a report for the Canadian International Development Agency, Raymond
Obomsawin mentions a study in a Mexican village which revealed that
Otomí school-age children knew the names and uses of 138 plants,
compared to 37 for non-Amerindian children, but were considered
'ignorant' and in need of an education. He quotes L. Arizpe, who said
that "focusing on culture and on the preservation of people's knowledge
is central in the fight against poverty."

>From personal experience, Raquel Gutiérrez talks about the "development
aid" given by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Mexico: "They
impose their own political agendas, or worse, the agendas of those who
support them. Instead of listening to the people about their needs,
they do things that were decided in other places, with other interests.
When you live with indigenous, you learn and you give. But it should be
an interchanging relation. You could offer to teach them one thing,
maybe how to use a computer, and they might teach you in return which
plants are good for you when you have a cold. You have to build up a
relation where you respect the people. I've seen many NGO workers who
are good people, well-intentioned, but who do stupid things. If I only
give to you and give to you and give to you, I end up treating you like
a child, a minor, like someone who doesn't know what's good for him."

Treating the indigenous like minors, calling their knowledge "ignorant"
- nothing could apply less to don Andrés, by now a living embodiment of
the history of the indigenous struggle in Mexico. Whoever has met don
Andrés will have nothing but respect for the wisdom of this man,
acquired during 93 years of surviving in a world that does not give the
same rights to everyone. And they will laugh with him when he claims
there is nothing in his life to tell about. After a life on the fields,
don Andrés knows how to predict the weather, he knows "when it will
rain." "The air is changing," he explains, "next year will be a good
year." Nevertheless, looking at the present situation of the indigenous
people, a lot still has to be done for the next years to be "good
years" for everyone in Mexico. The life-long struggle of don Andrés and
many others might have led to improvements, but, as he points out: "The
poor continue being poor."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 01:33:04 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 18:33:04 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.183304.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS'
Sep 29 2003

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13459583_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-GAELIC--EXTINCT-IN-40-YEARS--name_page.html

GAELIC is in terminal decline and could be extinct as an everyday
language within 40 years, it was claimed yesterday.

Just one per cent of the country admits to having a working knowledge of
it, with 1500 speakers dying each year.

Last year, the number of Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552 the lowest
number ever.

American academic Dr Daniel Abrams studied the language and found that
if Gaelic declines at its current rate, it will vanish as a working
tongue by 2040.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 02:17:02 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:17:02 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <57664317D605B044AD13399A5817166542D7C2@mail.wvc.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.191702.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

qe'ciyéew'yew' (thanks) Carol,

Phil Cash Cash
UofA, ILAT



> ----- Message from CMcMillan at WVC.EDU ---------
>     Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:10:37 -0700
>     From: "McMillan, Carol" <CMcMillan at WVC.EDU>
> Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>  Subject: Re: Microsoft translates software into African languages
(fwd)
>       To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>
>
> I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement
> below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language
> of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary
> supporters of apartheid.
>
> The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the
> aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would
> no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this
> as the language of aparthied and of the oppressors.  The people of
> Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on
> the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to
> Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk
> through town.  The police opened fire on them, killing at least 70
> elementary school children and wounding many others.
>
> We often think in terms of English being the only language of
> oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other
> non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English.
> I am glad that the software for African language translation has been
> developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly
> indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.
>
> tac' halaxp,
> Carol McMillan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
>
>
> Microsoft translates software into African languages
> http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp
>
> A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated
> into
> six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.
>
> Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
> months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The
> other
> languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.
>
> The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages
> to
> get to grips with technology.
>
> "During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
> building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We
> believe
> there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
> equipped with the information and communication tools in their
> language
> of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
> Africa.
>
> Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
> Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
> computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
> development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.
>
> Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
> struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
> Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
> understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are
> looking
> to the public to make suggestions."
>
> He said the idea started when they looked at certain European
> countries
> that used indigenous languages.
>
> "We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
> able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was
> imperative
> that we also develop local languages in order to address the
> population's communication needs," said Gondwe.
>
> Government departments and academics at universities were also
> consulted
> during the translation.
>
> "We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve
> the
> Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the
> Department
> of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
> Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.
>
>
> ----- End message from CMcMillan at WVC.EDU -----


From keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Tue Sep 30 05:48:59 2003
From: keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Keola Donaghy)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:48:59 -1000
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <1064885584.83d772eed3f69@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.194859.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I spent a month in Ireland last summer, and met with a number of the
individuals involved in the perpetuation of the language, via the
gaelscoileanna (Irish immersion schools), the Linguistics Institute of
Ireland and other efforts. While there was concern, I never encountered a
the sense of desperation that this story imparts. Has anyone seen the
"report" alluded to? I searched the web and could not find it. The
situation there is far more complex than simply 50,000 speakers and 1,500
speakers dying each year, and it would be useful to know what other facts
were assembled to draw this conclusion.

I also wonder what "country" is being referred to. "Gaelic"  is spoken in
more than one. James McCloskey at UC-Santa Cruz ("Voices Silenced: Has
Irish a Future?", 2001) says that there are 20,000-30,000 native Irish
speakers, and 100,000 who use it to some degree in their daily lives. I
was told during my visit that somewhere between 6 and 8 percent of the
elementary through high school students in Ireland attend schools in the
gaelscoileanna program.

Toward the end of my visit, I was informed that legislation had been
proposed that would guarantee Irish speakers the right to interact with
their government in their own language, and it seems to have passed
(http://www.cnag.ie/). They interpretted this to me that if someone called
or walked into a government office, that office would be compelled to
provide an Irish-speaking employee whom that person could conduct
business.

There is Irish language TV programming, radio stations, newspapers and
websites. While it may indeed require a considerable effort to maintain
the current number of speakers or increase it, I certainly don't share
this reports' pessimism. I hope I live long enough to see it proved wrong.

Keola

=======================================================================
Keola Donaghy
Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
University of Hawai'i at Hilo

keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
=======================================================================


Penei ka ~Qölelo a Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>:
>GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS'
>Sep 29 2003
>
>http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13459583_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-GAELIC--EXTINCT-IN-40-YEARS--name_page.html
>
>GAELIC is in terminal decline and could be extinct as an everyday
>language within 40 years, it was claimed yesterday.
>
>Just one per cent of the country admits to having a working knowledge of
>it, with 1500 speakers dying each year.
>
>Last year, the number of Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552 the lowest
>number ever.
>
>American academic Dr Daniel Abrams studied the language and found that
>if Gaelic declines at its current rate, it will vanish as a working
>tongue by 2040.


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 16:43:21 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 10:43:21 -0600
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.104321.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

McMillan, Carol wrote:

"We often think in terms of English being the only language of
oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous
languages gaining power as a replacement for English."

This is a good point.  I've often had the experience of reading articles
in the mainstream press about the issue of global language loss,
mentioning areas like China, Indonesia, or Latin America, where the
indigenous languages are threatened by dominant tongues like Mandarin
Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Then, suddenly, the
writer concludes that it's all due to the global dominance of English!

English does have a unique position among the world's languages, and
this creates many legitimate issues (for example, many EU countries are
concerned that English not become the only language of the EU
government), but in large parts of the world, it is not the primary
threat to indigenous languages.  Of course,  in places where English is
the dominant mother tongue, English IS indeed the major threat to other
languages, so when we look at language issues in North America, the
dominance of English is our main concern.  But, minority languages of
mainland Europe like Basque and Romansch, for example, are being
replaced by languages like Spanish, French, and German, not English.
 The minority languages of China and Taiwan are being replaced by
Mandarin Chinese, and not English.  The minority languages of Mexico,
Guatemala, Bolivia, and Peru are being threatened by Spanish, not
English.  (In fact, in Central America, English-based creole languages
are among those threatened by the growing dominance of Spanish).
 Indeed, even in places like Anglophone Africa and India, where English
enjoys official status, minority languages are being replaced by
dominant indigenous languages like Hindi and Hausa, not by English.

Another irony:  the percentage of native speakers of English among the
world's population has been falling since the 1950's, and is projected
to continue to fall for another half century or so, mostly due to
changing demographic patterns worldwide.  Meanwhile, the percentage of
native speakers of languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Arabic
has risen very sharply, due in part to the replacement of indigenous
languages by dominant ones, but more due, again, simply to changing
demographics.

So, the real problem is not English per se, it is the general pattern of
powerful languages replacing less powerful ones.

Having said all that, I must say that it is highly possible for the same
language to be both a language of power and an oppressed language,
depending on the circumstance.  Here in NE New Mexico, Spanish once
played the role of a colonial language which was imposed on the
indigenous people.  However, at this point, it is threatened by English,
the latter which was imposed on Spanish-speaking people who were living
in New Mexico before the English speakers arrived, and indigenous
languages are now being threatened by English, not Spanish.  In Taiwan,
the resurgence of Taiwanese against Mandarin Chinese is a wonderful
example of a local language regaining power and prestige, but it also
makes some of the speakers of minority languages nervous, as they
believe that a resurgent Taiwanese could have the same damaging effect
on their own languages that Mandarin Chinese has had.  In mainland
China, Cantonese is a minority language, albeit a powerful one, while in
Hong Kong, Cantonese is the official language as well as the dominant
native language, and threatens other languages like Hakka.  In South
Africa, English was used as a language of liberation against apartheid,
and Afrikaans was seen as the language of oppression, but now that
apartheid is over, the tables have turned:  Afrikaans has lost power,
and the S. African government is concerned that Afrikaans, along with
other languages of S. Africa (indigenous or otherwise) do not become too
dominated by English.  So, these issues are not always simple.

At any rate, I do share your hope that at least the same amount of
attention is paid to developing technology for truly indigenous S.
African languages as is paid to Afrikaans.






McMillan, Carol wrote:

>I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary supporters of apartheid.
>
>The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this as the language of aparthied and of the oppresso
rs.  The people of Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk through town.  The police opene
d fire on them, killing at least 70 elementary school children and wounding many others.
>
>We often think in terms of English being the only language of oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English. I am glad that the software for African language translation has b
een developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.
>
>tac' halaxp,
>Carol McMillan
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
>Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
>
>
>Microsoft translates software into African languages
>http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp
>
>A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
>six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.
>
>Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
>months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
>languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.
>
>The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
>get to grips with technology.
>
>"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
>building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
>there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
>equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
>of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
>Africa.
>
>Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
>Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
>computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
>development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.
>
>Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
>struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
>Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
>understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
>to the public to make suggestions."
>
>He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
>that used indigenous languages.
>
>"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
>able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
>that we also develop local languages in order to address the
>population's communication needs," said Gondwe.
>
>Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
>during the translation.
>
>"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
>Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
>of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
>Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.
>
>


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 17:59:55 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 10:59:55 -0700
Subject: 'Status' drives extinction of languages
In-Reply-To: <1064885584.83d772eed3f69@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.105955.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

'Status' drives extinction of languages
Bob Beale
ABC Science Online
 Thursday, 21 August  2003



A language's status in society is the best way to predict if it is
headed for extinction


Languages evolve and compete with each other much like plants and
animals, but those driven to extinction are almost always tongues with
a low social status, U.S. research shows.

The social status of a language is the most accurate way of predicting
whether it will survive, argue researchers in a paper appearing today
in the journal, Nature. They also suggest that active intervention to
boost the status of rare and endangered languages can save them.

"Thousands of the world's languages are vanishing at an alarming rate,
with 90% of them being expected to disappear with the current
generation," warned Dr Daniel Abrams and Professor Steven Strogatz,
both of Cornell University in New York.

The pair have developed a simple mathematical model of language
competition to explain how dialects such as Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and
Quechua - the most common surviving indigenous language in the
Americas - have lost out to more dominant tongues.

The model is based on data they collected on the number of speakers of
endangered languages - in 42 regions of Peru, Scotland, Wales,
Bolivia, Ireland and Alsaçe-Lorraine - over time. All have been in
steep decline over the past century or so, and the model suggests that
Scottish Gaelic and Quechua will be close to extinct by about 2030.

Previous models of language dynamics have focused on the transmission
and evolution of syntax, grammar or other structural properties of a
language itself.

Yet by comparing various influences that help to explain the steadily
declining numbers of speakers of each language, Abrams and Strogatz
singled out status as the single most significant factor that could
predict its extinction threat.

"Quechua, for example, still has many speakers in Huanuco, Peru," they
note. "But its low status is driving a rapid shift to Spanish, which
leads to an unfortunate situation in which a child cannot communicate
with his or her grandparents."

A language's fate generally depends on both its number of speakers and
its perceived status, the latter usually reflecting the social or
economic opportunities afforded to its speakers, they said. When two
languages are in competition, the one that offers the greatest
opportunities to its speakers will usually prevail.

The researchers point out that bilingual societies do exist: "But the
histories of countries where two languages co-exist today generally
involve split populations that lived without significant interaction,
effectively in separate, monolingual societies. Only recently have
these communities begun to mix, allowing language competition to
begin."

They urged active intervention to slow the global rate of language
decline, pointing out that their model also predicts that higher
status will keep a language alive.

They also cite a real-life instance where this has happened: "The
example of Québec French demonstrates that language decline can be
slowed by strategies such as policy-making, education and advertising,
in essence increasing an endangered language's status."

Similar measures may make a difference elsewhere, they argued.


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:03:33 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:03:33 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' =?iso-8859-1?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <fc.000f4a09004d6bc03b9aca007b78318a.4d6e61@leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.110333.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi Keola,
It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
David


From keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:11:56 2003
From: keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Keola Donaghy)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 08:11:56 -1000
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <200309301803.h8UI3bXo006902@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.081156.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
article.

There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
the whole report:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html

Keola


Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.


=======================================================================
Keola Donaghy
Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
University of Hawai'i at Hilo

keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
=======================================================================


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:31:37 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:31:37 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' =?iso-8859-1?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <fc.000f4a09004d73073b9aca007b78318a.4d730c@leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.113137.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi Keola,
I searched for Dr. Abrams at Cornell and it appears that there is a
graduate student of that name there. I wrote him to find out if it is
the same person. They probably have a more academic report of there
work that the Nature article is based on, or are producing one at
least.
David


-------------------
> Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and
apparently
> they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is
on the
> nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the
full
> article.
>
> There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but
still not
> the whole report:
>
> http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
> Keola
>
>
> Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
writes:
> >It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably
the
> >current issue. Although there might be another report behind that
one.
>
>
>
======================================================================
=
> Keola Donaghy
> Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
> Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
> University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
> keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
> Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>
======================================================================
=
>


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 19:43:57 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:43:57 -0600
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.134357.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I've read a lot about the situation with various forms of Gaelic as
spoken throughout Britain and Ireland, and I have a close friend who was
involved with the political movement which revived Welsh.  This is my
impression:

Welsh is doing very well--it is being passed on to the young, it is
being used in all levels of society, even as the medium of instruction
for university programs, and the number of native speakers is actually
increasing.  It is often cited as one of the greatest success stories in
terms of revitalizing an indigenous language.  Of course, there are
still questions as to its long-term survival, but, at this point, there
is no possibility that it will be extinct in 40 years, and it is
reasonably possible that it will actually be doing better in 40 years.
 There are generations of children growing up as native speakers of
Welsh--even if it suddenly stopped being passed on to children tomorrow,
(unlikely considering the currently situation) it would not become
extinct for quite a bit longer than 40 years.  David Crystal, one of the
best-known and most respected linguists in the world, is from Wales, and
he, among many others, reports the reality that Welsh is being passed on
to the younger generations.  He often cites Welsh as an example of how a
traditional language can remain viable in the modern world.

The situation with Irish and Scottish Gaelic is much less secure.  It is
my impression that many in Ireland are able to speak Irish Gaelic to
some level, as it is a required subject for all in school, but I believe
that it is still declining as a native language, and that, at any rate,
the situation is not nearly as good as that of Welsh.

Scottish Gaelic has an even weaker position, since it is not required
that everybody in Scotland study it.  The reason for this is that, in
much of Scotland, the traditional language was/is Scots, an
English-related language, and not Gaelic, which was historically mostly
spoken in the Highlands.

If the article in question was about Scottish Gaelic, I would find it
believable, if it was about Irish Gaelic, less so, and if it was about
Welsh, then the writer has been misinformed.


Keola Donaghy wrote:

>Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
>they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
>nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
>article.
>
>There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
>the whole report:
>
>http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
>Keola
>
>
>Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>
>
>>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
>>
>>
>
>
>=======================================================================
>Keola Donaghy
>Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
>Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
>University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
>keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
>Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>=======================================================================
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/b0b964d8/attachment.html>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 20:18:30 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:18:30 -0600
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.141830.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Also, looking at the link to the article, I found this quote:

"But in a lot of other places, Abrams said, English has a very high
status and, "This is driving the disappearance of languages around the
world.""

As I noted in my post earlier today, this is just nonsense--a case of
confusing apples with oranges.  The article cites the example of
Quechua, the decline of which, obviously, has exactly nothing to do with
the status of English.  The same could be said about most of the
endangered languages in the world.  English does indeed have a high
status as a FOREIGN LANGUAGE in most countries around the world, but
that does not mean that it is "driving the disappearance of languages
around the world."  Indigenous languages are being replaced by the
dominant native languages of their societies, which, in most cases, are
not English.  English is, after all, spoken by a relatively small
(depending on who is counting, 5 to 7) and shrinking percentage of the
world's people.  I've lived in countries like Taiwan, Japan, and
Thailand, where English has been the most popular foreign language for
more than a century, and I've never met anyone in the non-English
speaking world whose native language was replaced by English, though I
have met many people who could not speak their parents' or grandparents'
minority languages or dialects, due to the increasing dominance of
powerful national languages.

If people cannot distinguish between the issue of English as an
international language and the issue of thousands of smaller languages
being replaced by a relatively small number of dominant national
languages, then I can't see how they can be taken seriously on their
timestable for the extinction of Gaelic.

The idea ""Multilingual" societies, like Switzerland, really consist of
mostly separate monolingual populations living side by side" also sounds
suspect to me.  From what I've heard, the multilingualism that exists in
Africa and S. Asia, for example, has existed for generations--long
before the arrival of colonial languages.  It may be a true statement
regarding Europe, but I highly doubt if it applies to the rest of the
world.

Keola Donaghy wrote:

>Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
>they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
>nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
>article.
>
>There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
>the whole report:
>
>http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
>Keola
>
>
>Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>
>
>>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
>>
>>
>
>
>=======================================================================
>Keola Donaghy
>Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
>Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
>University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
>keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
>Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>=======================================================================
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/4cce2a66/attachment.html>

From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 20:43:01 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:43:01 -0700
Subject: Fwd: from Danny Abram; Gaelic issues
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0309301537440.20738-101000@audiophile.tam.cornell.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.134301.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

------ Forwarded message -------


From: Danny Abrams <dma32 at tam.cornell.edu>
To: David Gene Lewis <coyotez at darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:51:16 -0400 (EDT)

Hi David,

I am the correct person to contact regarding that article.  I'm a
graduate student at Cornell University, and I published a paper about
language death with my advisor, Steve Strogatz, in the August 21
edition
of Nature.

Unfortunately, the author of the Daily Record article oversimplified
the
idea a bit too much.  First of all, the report is referring to data on

Scots (not Irish) Gaelic, and we never made any claims about
predicting a
particular year for language death.  The paper is focused more on a
very
simple model that can match much of existing data, and I would be the
first to say that it is not accurate enough to be useful in later
stages
of language decline.

I've attached a copy of the paper to this email (it's only one page)
in
case you're interested.

Danny

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: AbramsStrogatz_finalversion.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 68608 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/30fda9fc/attachment.pdf>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 20:56:57 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:56:57 -0600
Subject: Fwd: from Danny Abram; Gaelic issues
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.145657.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

...as usual, an accurate article is completely distorted by the
mainstream media.

Abrams' article does not mention that language death in general is due
to the status of English worldwide, it does not make any claims about a
date of language death, and it was referring to Scottish Gaelic, which
is the most endangered indigenous language remaining in Britain/Ireland,
not Irish Gaelic or Welsh, two languages which remain more viable.

Why can't newspaper/magazine writers report on linguistic articles
without completely distorting their contents?

David Gene Lewis wrote:

>------ Forwarded message -------
>
>
>From: Danny Abrams <dma32 at tam.cornell.edu>
>To: David Gene Lewis <coyotez at darkwing.uoregon.edu>
>Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:51:16 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Hi David,
>
>I am the correct person to contact regarding that article.  I'm a
>graduate student at Cornell University, and I published a paper about
>language death with my advisor, Steve Strogatz, in the August 21
>edition
>of Nature.
>
>Unfortunately, the author of the Daily Record article oversimplified
>the
>idea a bit too much.  First of all, the report is referring to data on
>
>Scots (not Irish) Gaelic, and we never made any claims about
>predicting a
>particular year for language death.  The paper is focused more on a
>very
>simple model that can match much of existing data, and I would be the
>first to say that it is not accurate enough to be useful in later
>stages
>of language decline.
>
>I've attached a copy of the paper to this email (it's only one page)
>in
>case you're interested.
>
>Danny
>
>
>


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 30 21:51:41 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:51:41 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.145141.0700.>

Keola Donaghy wrote:

> I never encountered a
> the sense of desperation that this story imparts. Has anyone seen the
> "report" alluded to? I searched the web and could not find it. The
> situation there is far more complex than simply 50,000 speakers and 1,500
> speakers dying each year, and it would be useful to know what other facts
> were assembled to draw this conclusion.

what ever the true number it is better than the Karuk people have with 10 fluent speakers (all over 70) and a total population of around 3500


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 30 22:03:17 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:03:17 -0700
Subject: Elders Gathering
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.150317.0700.>

The Northern California Indian Development Council is pleased to host the
22nd annual Elders Dinner to be held from noon-4 PM on November 15, 2003 at
Redwood Acres in Eureka, CA.  The event also features an Inter-Tribal
Gathering with California and Inter-Tribal dances throughout the day and
ends at 10 PM. There is no charge for entrance to the Gathering. The dinner
is free to all Elders (Age 55 & Over).  For those under 55 a $6.00 donation
for dinner tickets is requested.

Last year the Elders Dinner and Inter-Tribal Gathering was a great
success.  We returned to our usual time of holding the event in November
and were quite pleased with the turnout.  We served over 1200 meals with
600+ being given away to community Elders.  Overall attendance was in
excess of 3500 people and an honoring ceremony was also held to provide
gifts to ALL Elders in attendance.

This event is sponsored by The Northern California Indian Development
Council but relies on the assistance of community partners and volunteers
to help make the day a success.  Donations are needed to support this
effort. If you would like to make a monetary gift or volunteer please
contact Anna House at (707) 445-8451.  For more information or to download
the event Poster please see: http://www.ncidc.org/nwit2001.htm .  We would
like to encourage all local business and Tribes to help support this worthy
event.

Much Appreciation For Your Continued Support,



André Cramblit (Karuk)
NCIDC Operations Director

PS
If You have any great ideas about where to get Cash Donations, please let
me know!!!!!!

--

André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 22:52:15 2003
From: langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Terry Langendoen)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:52:15 -0700
Subject: ISO reaffirms free-of-charge use of its country,
 currency and language codes
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.155215.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi everyone, in response to the recent posting to this list
regarding the possibility that ISO (the International
Organization for Standardization) would begin charging for the
use of certain of its codes, it issued the following press
release, which I obtained from its website
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/pressreleases/2003/Ref871.html

Terry
*****

Ref.: 871
30 September 2003

ISO reaffirms free-of-charge use of its country, currency and
language codes


ISO issues the following statement in response to recently
publicized misunderstandings of its current practice and
intentions regarding its widely used country, currency and
language codes.


ISO is to continue with its established practice of allowing
free-of-charge use of its country, currency and language codes
from, respectively, the ISO 3166, ISO 4127 and ISO 639 standards,
in commercial and other applications.


There is no proposal currently being considered by ISO to impose
charges for use of these codes, including on the World Wide Web
and in software applications.

Based on international consensus reached within the ISO standards
development system, these codes reduce the confusion that could
be created if there were multiple, conflicting codes in common
use. The development of the Web and of electronic commerce has
been facilitated by the existence of the ISO standardized codes
and their use has become pervasive.


ISO encourages such developments by making the two-letter country
codes contained in ISO 3166 available free of charge on ISO's Web
site, along with a great deal of regularly updated information
related to the codes and their use. The ISO Web site also has
hyperlinks to the sites of the British Standards Institution
(BSI) and the US Library of Congress - where the currency and
language codes are, respectively, publicly available.


The full ISO 3166, ISO 4127 and ISO 639 standards from which
these codes are drawn are available from ISO and its members on a
sales basis, as a contribution to supporting the standards
development process. However, ISO and its members do not charge
for the use made of the codes contained in these standards,
subject to this being consistent with ISO's copyright. For
example, ISO does not charge organizations for the inclusion of
the country codes in their Internet domain names, and ISO does
not charge banks for using the currency codes in their electronic
financial transactions.


If a user of the codes, such as a software developer, wishes to
claim that its product incorporates the codes in conformity with
the ISO standards (which could be perceived by the market as an
added value), then it would have an interest in buying the
standards to make sure that this is indeed the case. But this is
a "one-off" transaction for purchase of the standards; ISO does
not subsequently charge a fee for use of the codes in the
software product and has no plans for doing so.


Like many organizations, ISO continually reviews its practices
and products in order to provide added value to its customers.
With regard to ISO 3166, ISO is considering a proposal to develop
an optional software service package that would facilitate
incorporation and maintenance of the country codes in IT
products. The service package being considered would include
regular updating of the codes, which would add value to products
because they would be conforming to the International Standard
ISO 3166. The service package being considered would be a charged
option. However, no decision has yet been made to go ahead and
even if this option were developed, ISO will continue to allow
use of its country, currency and language codes free of charge.

Press contact:

Roger Frost
Press and Communication Manager
Public Relations Services
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 733 34 30
E-mail frost at iso.org


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Mon Sep  1 13:06:59 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 07:06:59 -0600
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.070659.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

I do truly hate to be a cynic, especially so early in the morning of a day
of changing seasons, and a holiday, but I went to this link, checked it out.
. . found the following. . .

"
Version 4.0 encodes over 96,000 characters, twice as many as Version 3.0,
and includes two record-breaking collections of encoded characters. The
largest encoded character collection for Chinese characters in the history
of
computing has doubled in size yet again to encompass over 2000 years of
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese literary usage, including all the
main classical dictionaries of these languages. Version 4.0 also encodes the
largest set of characters for mathematical and technical publishing in
existence. The character repertoires of Version 4.0 and International
Standard
ISO/IEC 10646 are fully synchronized.

"

What this says is that the Number of CHINESE characters DOUBLED. . .  how
many were there to begin with? I couldn't find a single printed number, but
this page will give you a clue as to how vast the collection is:
http://www.unicode.org/charts/unihan.html.

I will grant that the number of encoded characters is probably "record
breaking". . .  but I couldn't find any for Native American languages. . .

. . . and of course there are new characters for "mathematical and technical
publishing". . . new specifications for processing script. . . (who writes
in Script? The MIDDLE EAST writes in Script! Isn't it wonderful that the
Unicode Consortium is supporting the War on Terrorism.) The script people
met in Berlin, Paris, London and Athens. Anyone care to guess who the major
players are?

Finally, despite what this seems to say, you still need someone to IMPLEMENT
the functionality. Everyone thinks: Oh, Groovy, there is a Standard for our
language. We will be able to write in our language right out of the box.
NOT. Support for Native American languages has to be built from the bottom
up: fonts, input methodologies, spell-checkers, grammar-checkers .These two
are NOT the same; At Red Pony, we have a spell-check technology, and fonts,
but not a grammar-checker because the grammar checker requires much more
complex code than the lexicon that can be used as the spell-checker. Grammar
requires a not only major investments of time and money (and these two are
not necessarily the same) but also a substantial compendium of
knowledge.Unfortunately, the people who are native speakers don't know about
technology and linguistic sophistication, and those who know one
(technology), the other (linguistic sophistication), or both, are not native
speakers, don't know the old language(s), or lack linguistic sophistication
in the target.

So much for my rant this bright and cheery, crispy cool First Day of
September morning in Tularosa, NM.

Mia Kalish
Red Pony HLT & NMSU




----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Cash Cash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 10:53 AM
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)


> Dear ILAT,
>
> I thought this news article might be of interest.  Just follow the link.
>
> Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard
>
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www
/story/08-27-2003/0002007261&EDATE=WED+Aug+27+2003,+09:03+AM
>
> Phil
> UofA, ILAT
>
>


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Mon Sep  1 23:39:41 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 15:39:41 -0800
Subject: Major Enhancements to the Unicode Standard (link)
In-Reply-To: <004701c37089$edc3d2d0$6400a8c0@computer>
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.153941.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 07:06 AM 2003-09-01 -0600, MiaKalish at RedPony yowled:
>I do truly hate to be a cynic, especially so early in the morning of a day
>of changing seasons, and a holiday, but I went to this link, checked it
>out. . . found the following. . .
[
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www
/story/08-27-2003/0002007261&EDATE=WED+Aug+27+2003,+09:03+AM
]
>I will grant that the number of encoded characters is probably "record
>breaking". . .  but I couldn't find any for Native American languages. . .

That's because you were only looking in the Chinese/Han character
database.  Unicode has a full repertory of Cherokee characters, and a very
large repertory for writing in "Canadian syllabics", a catch-all for all
the languages that use Cree-like syllabaries.

>Finally, despite what this seems to say, you still need someone to
>IMPLEMENT the functionality.

Where did it seem to say that you don't need implementations?

>new specifications for processing script. . . (who writes in Script? The
>MIDDLE EAST writes in Script! Isn't it wonderful that the Unicode
>Consortium is supporting the War on Terrorism.)

"script" is the Unicode technical term for a "writing system" possibly for
several languages.  For example, Cherokee syllabics is a script, Canadian
Syllabics is a script, Arabic Script is a script (used for Arabic and a few
dozen other languages), Latin Script is a script (a-z plus all the fancy
stuff), and so on.

I can't tell what you mean by mentioning the Middle East here.  Are you
feeling well?

>The script people met in Berlin, Paris, London and Athens. Anyone care to
>guess who the major
>players are?

We are linguists.

What do you want us to do?

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 03:28:51 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 20:28:51 -0700
Subject: Revitalizing Algonquian Languages (call for papers)
Message-ID: <MON.1.SEP.2003.202851.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Revitalizing Algonquian Languages: Sharing Effective Language Renewal
Practices II

Call for Papers

Call Deadline: 15-Oct-2003

Papers are invited in the areas of Algonquian linguistic preservation,
revitalization, education programs, and innovational technologies.

Types of Presentations:

Workshops (2 hours):  Intensive sessions in which participants learn and
practice native language teaching methods, develop classroom teaching
materials, or do other hands-on type activities.

Papers (45 minutes):  A description and/or discussion of something the
presenter(s) is doing or have done related to indigenous/tribal
languages. Presenters are encouraged to use handouts and audio-visual
aids and to present a summary of the paper rather than a prepared text.

Demonstrations (45 minutes):  Presentation of a specific teaching or
testing technique.  Presenters are encouraged to use handouts and
audio-visual aids.

Panel Discussions (2 hours):  Panel presentations provide a forum for a
group to discuss issues related to the maintenance and renewal of
Algonquian languages.

Conference proceedings will be published.

All presenters are required to register for the conference. For a copy
of the registration form, e-mail  or phone 860-396-2052. Please
include: registration form, academic affiliation or area of research,
tribal affiliation, title of presentation, a one page abstract and a
summary for advertising purposes.

~~~

Source: Linguist List


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:45:26 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:45:26 -0700
Subject: No Child Left Behind: Grants from the Department of Education
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.094526.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

No Child Left Behind: Grants from the Department of Education

 Posted: September 02, 2003 -  8:56am EST
 by: E.S. Dempsey / Washington D.C. correspondent / Indian Country Today

 WASHINGTON - The Department of Education?s Office of Indian Education
disperses more than 1,200 grants to schools. The types of funding fall
under two categories: formula and discretionary.

         According to the National Indian Education Association,
President Bush?s fiscal year 2004 budget request for these programs is
level with 2003. The bulk of the money - almost $100 million - will go
to formula grants intended to improve the performance levels of
American Indian children in elementary and secondary schools.

         The discretionary funding includes $9 million towards
demonstration grants to establish Native language and culture programs
from preschool through high school. Discretionary monies also allot $11
million to professional development grants that emphasize teacher
training. More than 850 Native Americans have completed the American
Indian Teacher Corps program. After five years of training, its
graduates teach in schools having large numbers of Native students.

         Approximately $5 million is being allocated to National
Activities plans, which fund research, evaluation, and data collection
of Native American student performance.

         Victoria Vasques, director of the Office of Indian Education at
the Department of Education, says the grants complement the No Child
Left Behind legislation, and provide an excellent opportunity for
school districts to provide some type of supplemental service to their
students.

         "We try not to tell them what to design or do in their
curricula. But we want to show we are improving in reading skills and
math skills, starting at an earlier age," she said.

         Vasques had been involved in Indian education for two decades.
Early in her career she was director of Indian education programs for
the Whittier Union High School District in California. Over the years
she has consistently seen data showing the low scores for Indian
students in reading, math, and science.

         "Twenty years and I still see the same statistics - it?s sad
that for 20 years we are still doing the same thing. And we?re still
not succeeding. Our Indian kids experience a high dropout rate not only
in senior high school but we see it even in junior high and some cases
even elementary school."

         She says the most important message she wants to deliver is
that the No Child Left Behind Act is intended to help. It will help
American Indians move forward and provide the services that their
students need to be successful.

         Vasques is pleased that the Secretary of Education, Rod Paige,
is elevating the Indian Education office to report directly to the
Under Secretary, Eugene Hickok, effective Oct. 1. Previously Indian
Education fell under the Elementary and Secondary Education office. She
believes that increasing the visibility of American Indian education
programs is essential for raising new achievement levels for Indian
students.

         "Because now we?ll have authority to be responsible for the
administration of these grant programs a little more directly. We can
identify research priorities related to the education of our Indian
kids and facilitate change that might be necessary."

         Ultimately Vasques has one goal: "To make sure that no Indian
child is left behind and to do everything I can to make sure we are
included in the process from A to Z.


This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1062507500


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:47:29 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:47:29 -0700
Subject: Google Malaysia makes debut (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.094729.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Google Malaysia makes debut

By CHAN LEE MENG

PETALING JAYA: Since this Merdeka Day (Aug 31), local websurfers who use
the Google search engine have been redirected to www.google.com.my
instead of the usual www.google.com page.?

   You will see a Google Malaysia logo and get an option to search for
webpages in Malaysia.?

   The site still defaults to English, though you can set it show you
the Bahasa Malaysia page which will render the entire Google site in
BM.?

   Switching to the BM version will reveal somewhat amusing translations
of search engine terms. For example, Advanced Search is ?Carian
Canggih? while Cached is ?Disimpan Sementara.? And Google?s trademark
?I?m Feeling Lucky? button becomes ?Saya Rasa Bertuah.??

   The B.M. page has a few minor inconsistencies though, such as use of
the phrase ?Bahasa Melayu? instead of Bahasa Malaysia, and references
to the Web which has been variously listed as ?Jaringan? and ?seluruh
Internet.??

   Google?s Bahasa Malaysia page has actually been available for some
months (it was previously listed under ?Malay?), although this is the
first time it is available at a local (.my) domain.?

   A quick check at the Mynic website (www.mynic.net.my) reveals that
the domain is owned by Kandiah & Associates Sdn Bhd located in Kuala
Lumpur. ?

   The Google website has been translated into more than 140 languages,
including such diverse ones as Zulu, Tagalog, Swahili, and Scots
Gaelic. Google language options can be changed at
www.google.com.my/language_tools?hl=en.?

   The site is also available in synthetic languages like Esperanto and
Klingon.?

   In addition, Google is available in joke languages like Pig Latin,
Elmer Fudd, Hacker (leetspeak) and something called Borkborkbork.?

   Google website translations are the result of the Google in Your
Language programme (services.google.com/tc/Welcome.html), a largely
volunteer effort. ?

   It should be noted that translations only cover the Google interface
and website ? the search results still appear in their native
language.?


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  2 16:54:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 09:54:41 -0700
Subject: Workshop designed to give 'sleeping' Indian languages a breath of
 life (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.095441.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 4.0-cvs

Workshop designed to give 'sleeping' Indian languages a breath of life

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/uow-wdt090203.php

          Thirty-six participants from 13 Pacific Northwest Indian
tribes will gather at the University of Washington next week for a
workshop designed to open the linguistic riches of the UW campus and
assist in tribal efforts to revitalize indigenous languages.

        Members of the Nooksack, Chehalis, Cowlitz, Lummi, Tulalip,
Colville, Yakama, Samish, Skokomish, Muckleshoot, Squaxin Island, Lower
Rogue and Unangax tribes and nations will participate in the weeklong
Breath of Life workshop Sept. 8-12.  They will work with a dozen
linguists, primarily UW linguistics Ph.Ds. and graduate students, and
library archivists, to learn basics of linguistics and explore material
in their languages that is stored at the UW.

        "All of the participants are working to revitalize imperiled
languages, and some of these languages have no fluent speakers today,"
said Alice Taff, a research associate in the UW's linguistics
department who is coordinating the workshop.

        "We call these 'sleeping' languages when there are no speakers.
But you can wake up a language.  Hebrew, in the context of daily
conversation, was sleeping and is now quite awake."

        During the workshop, participants will go to class in the
mornings to learn linguistic skills that will aid them in their work in
the archives.  In the afternoons, archivists will help them explore and
sort through the material in their language.  To focus their archives
search, each participant will work on a project related to revitalizing
his or her language.

        The UW archives and the Burke Museum of Natural History and
Culture contain a number of collections with material devoted to the
languages of native peoples of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
The largest is the Melville Jacobs Collection.  Jacobs was chairman of
the UW's anthropology department for nearly 30 years, and from 1926 to
1939 did extensive field research documenting Indian language and music
in Washington.  The Jacobs collection includes numerous field
recordings, many originally made on wax cylinders, as well as his
notebooks and cards and material collected by some of his students. The
collection fills about 150 boxes.

        The Northwest Linguistics Collection contains miscellaneous
material that includes more than 800 audiotapes and countless microfilm
copies of linguistics field notes.  The Ethnomusicology Collection,
housed in the School of Music, is one of the largest in the country and
contains material related to the songs of Washington and Pacific
Northwest Indians.  The Metcalf Collection, stored in the Burke Museum
contains, 76 one-hour tapes, primarily of songs and music collected
around Puget Sound in the 1950s.

        "Many academics built their careers on the backs of linguistic
data that Indian people gave them, so it behooves the UW to turn around
and open the archives to their descendents who are working to
revitalize their language," said Taff.

        She hopes the workshop will continue in future years. But even
if it doesn't, she thinks the weeklong program will show participants
how to use the archives, know the university and feel comfortable
enough to come back at their convenience and continue their work.

        "What we are going to be doing and teaching is secondary, and
going through this material will be absolute detective work to help
sleeping languages awaken," she said.

        The UW workshop is modeled and named after a similar program
that has been held every other year since 1996 at the University of
California, Berkeley, to revitalize Indian languages in California.

###

For more information, contact Taff at taff at u.washington.edu or the UW
department of linguistics after Sept. 7 at 206-543-2046.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  2 19:43:06 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 12:43:06 -0700
Subject: From Another List
Message-ID: <TUE.2.SEP.2003.124306.0700.>

Compressed video in this case is an interconnected network between campuses
whereby courses can be delivered to more than one campus at the same time,
but the classes are generally not available online. Hopefully, and
probably, that will be possible in the future. I believe the Choctaw are
working with a closed circuit system from OU to satellite classes in
Albuquerque and Seattle, and some good examples of their online instruction
are at www.choctawindian.com . The Cherokee have their font, lessons, and
vocabulary online at www.cherokee.org . Of course, the Martin/Mauldin site
has a lot of good Mvskoke language materials: www.wm.edu/linguistics/creek/

--

Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep  4 11:09:24 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil Cash Cash)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 04:09:24 -0700
Subject: Saturn's moons named after Inuit characters (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.040924.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Saturn's moons named after Inuit characters
WebPosted Sep 2 2003 08:25 AM MDT
http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=sep02inuitnamemoon02092003

IQALUIT, Nunavut - Four of 12 new moons discovered around Saturn in the
fall of 2000 have now officially been given Inuktitut names.

The decision was announced late last month at the Astronomical Union's
meeting in Sydney Australia.

Canadian J.J. Kavelaars was one of the three astronomers who discovered
the new moons.

He named one of them after Ijiraq, a mythological Inuit creature he had
read about in a children's book written by Michael Kusugak.

Kusugak says he read an article about Kavelaars and found out the
astronomer was looking for Inuit names for three more moons.

"Apparently this Canadian, J.J. Kavelaars reads my books to his children
and he wanted to name one of those moons 'Ijiraq' after a character in
one of my books," he says.

Two of the moons are named after the mythological characters Kiviuq and
Siarnaq, or Sedna.

A third is named after Paaliaq, a character Kusugak created for a novel
he is working on.

The newly-discovered satellites are about 50 km across and likely icy
moons; the remnants of asteroids or comets captured by the planet's
gravity long-ago. The satellites orbit Saturn at distances of around 15
million kilometers from the planet.

"These are chunks of material left over from the formation of the solar
system", says Kavelaars.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep  4 16:10:04 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 09:10:04 -0700
Subject: Carry Over From Another List
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.091004.0700.>

>Whoever told you that lied.  I personally know at least 25 S?mi who speak
>their >language fluently and daily.  I certainly do not know every living
S?mi so >the >statement about 25 is an obvious lie. > >See;
><http://odin.dep.no/odinarkiv/norsk/dep/ud/1997/annet/032005-990462/index-dok000-b-f-a.html>
>

 Mike, I am getting back to you on this.  Although this is not a FN topic,
this was something that was started that I felt should be cleared up.  I
e-mailed my mom~Rs cousin in Sweden so I would get this right, because she
is the one I originally got the information from.  I received a reply back
this morning:

She said Sweden is a small, but very diverse country and many languages are
offered in the schools.  But Sweden requires that a certain percentage of
the population benefit from a  language instruction and there are some that
are not offered because of the low numbers of people requiring instruction.

Sweden is a little different than some of the other countries where the
Sami live.  She said that there are 6 primary schools that teach Sami in
Sweden and a few that offer 1 or 2 hours of instruction a day in their
language. There is radio instruction also.  Not all nine languages are
offered.  The problem even for those offered seems to be that there is
little opportunity to use the primary language outside of instruction and
the proficiency is not there.

She said at one point, in this past century, approximately 80% of the
population of Sami in Sweden did not speak the language.  She feels that
the functional value of speaking the indigenous languages is most of the
problem.  She said it is sad, but unless one is going to teach the language
to others or use it in business dealings with the Sami, there is little
opportunity to use the language.  She said there is more focus on learning
the language in Finland than there is in Sweden, although Finland has a
lower numbers of Sami.  All Sami have not made significant strides in
retaining their languages.  She said that there are 9 separate languages
with several Sami dialects.  The one she referred to is Pite.  Ume is
following closely as endangered.  Below are a couple of sites (in English)
that she sent.  I hope that this explains my comment from before. Carol

Most endangered in Sweden:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=LPB


Next in line of endangerment:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=LPU


This site lists the names of the languages and varieties (dialects):
http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/sami/an/i2/i2.html


--

Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From fmarmole at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep  4 18:46:37 2003
From: fmarmole at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Francisco Marmolejo)
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 11:46:37 -0700
Subject: Spanish Language Program
Message-ID: <THU.4.SEP.2003.114637.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>


EASTFIELD COLLEGE


LANGUAGE & LITERATURE DIVISION


SPANISH 1311 TRIP TO SPAIN, SPRING 2004


 


TENTATIVE SIGHTSEEING


 

 

                     Pre-trip meeting ? April 3, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

 

                     Pre-trip meeting ? April 24, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

                                    Test #1

                     Post-trip meeting ? May 29, 2004, Room TBA from
9:30 AM-1:00 PM

 

                     May 10 Departure to Madrid, Spain, Handouts,
Reading about Spain

 

May 11  Arrive in Madrid.  Panoramic tour.  Lunch at leisure.  In the
afternoon visit with       

               the group the Park El Retiro.  Dinner in the hotel.
Briefing  and lecture in      

               preparation for sightseeing tour of Madrid, next day.

 

May 12  Visit Librer?a Nacional,  Museo Reina Bofia.  Lunch at leisure.
In the afternoon visit Museo Arqueol?gico Nacional, Plaza de las Cibeles
and Puerta del Sol.  Evening at leisure.  Lecture prior to sightseeing
trip and briefing following the tour  (Test # 2)

 

                              May 13  Visit Museo del Prado.  Lunch at
leisure.   In the afternoon trip to Segovia.    

Visit Aqueduct of Segovia, and Mercado al Aire Libre.  Back to Madrid.


                Evening at leisure.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip
and briefing following the 

                tour. 

 

                              May 14  Departures to Toledo.  Panoramic
view.  Lunch at leisure.  Visit house and  

                                             Museo del Greco, el Alcazar
and main Cathedral of Toledo.  Dinner at a local 

               restaurant.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip and
briefing following the tour.

 

May 15   Departure to Consuegra and visit the Windmills. Drive to
Cordoba. Panoramic   tour.  Visit Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos and
Mesquita de Cordoba.  Lunch at leisure.  In the afternoon visit Medinat
az-Zahra. Entrance to excavation. Dinner at leisure.  Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.

 

                      May 16  Departure to Sevilla.  Panoramic view of
the city.  Visit the Museo de Bellas  

                Artes.  Lunch at leisure.  In the afternoon visit the
Archeological Museum and   

                Paza  de Espana.  Dinner and Flaminco Dance show.
Lecture prior to   

                sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.
(Test#3)

 

                     May 17  Sevilla ?  visit La Catedral de La Giralda,
Barrio de Triana.  Lunch at leisure.  

   In the afternoon visit El Alcazar, Torre del Oro.  Dinner at leisure.
Lecture 

               prior to  sightseeing trip and briefing following the
tour.

 

May 18  Departure to Granada.  Panoramic view of the city.  Visit the
Museo de Bellas    Artes and La Alhambra.  Lunch at leisure.  In the
afternoon visit El Alcazar.  Evening at leisure. Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing following the tour.

 

                             May 19   Departure to El Toboso.  Panoramic
view of El Toboso.  Lunch  at leisure.  Visit Quixote Museum and The
Windmills. Drive to Albacete. Dinner at leisure.  Night in Albacete.
Lecture and summary of the second week

 

May 20  Departure to Valencia.  Panoramic view of the city.  Lunch at
leisure. In the afternoon visit Museo de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de
Ceramicas.  Dinner at the hotel.  Lecture prior to sightseeing trip and
briefing following the tour.  Test #4.

 

May 21  In the morning visit Colegio del Patriarca and Museo Taurino.
Drive to Cuenca.  Dinner at leisure in Cuenca  Lecture prior to
sightseeing trip and briefing to following the tour.

 

May 22  Departure from Cuenca. In the morning, panoramic view of the
city including hanging houses ?casas colgadas?.  Museo de Arte Abtracto
Espanol, and Puerta de San Pablo. Lunch at leisure.  Drive to Madrid.
Dinner at the hotel.  Final summary briefing of the trip.

 

                              May 23   Departure from Madrid to Dallas.

                               

 

         Bibliography: (Optional)

 

A.     Cultural History

The Structure of Iberian History, Americo Castro

Federico Garcia Lorca, A Life, Ian Gibson

Barcelona, Robert Hughes

Iberia, James Mitchner

 

B.      Literary Studies

Don Quijote, Cervantes

Tales of Alhambra, Washington Irving

Philosophy of Love in Spanish, Alexander A. Parker

 

C.     Art

Picasso, Maillard Elgar

Islamic Art, David Rice

Velazquez, The Complete Works, Lopez-Rey

                               




 

Estimated Cost: 

 

$2,874.00 plus tuition ($90, three hour credits) plus 1 textbook and
tips ($45). Plus personal expenses.  

 
Students at CCCC and other N. Texas Consortium of Schools qualify for
in-County tuition.

 

The $2,874.00 cost includes round trip airfare from DFW to Madrid and
return including all taxes and surcharges, hotels and breakfasts, many
meals, museum fees and entrances to sights visited on the itinerary, and
escorted transportation in Spain.  The cost does not include:  DCCCD
tuition (3 credits), one textbook, tips, passport fees, some meals,
incidental transportation (i.e., taxis for shopping, etc.).  Monthly
installments are permitted.  

 

For payment, please contact Sheneicka Flakes, at the EFC Business
Office, 

972-860-7301.

                              

In order to ensure air and hotel reservations,  a deposit of $400.00 is
mandatory and due no later than November 3, 2003.  The second payment of
$1,200.00 is due no later than February 9, 2004.  The third and final
payment is due no later than March 8, 2004. If you choose to make one
final payment for the total amount of $2,874.00 it will be due no later
than March 19, 2004.  The amount of $250 will be charged as a penalty
for any late registration.   Monthly installments are permitted, as
well.  

 

Throughout the trip, the students are expected to communicate with
locals in Spanish.   This experience with the Spanish language will help
you to develop your personal ability to communicate properly.

 

For more information, please contact Ana M. Piffardi, Spanish Professor,
at Eastfield College 972-860-7661/7124,  

e-mail: axp4426 at dcccd.edu 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030904/e70f6270/attachment.htm>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  9 16:45:28 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 09:45:28 -0700
Subject: LLT Volume 7, Number 3 now available (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.094528.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

We are happy to announce that Volume 7, Number 3 of Language Learning &
Technology is now available at http://llt.msu.edu. This is a Special
Issue on Distance Learning and was guest edited by Margo Glew with the
assistance of Associate Editor Irene Thompson. The contents are listed
below.

Please visit the LLT Web site and be sure to enter your free
subscription if you have not already done so. Also, we welcome your
contributions for future issues. Check our guidelines for submission at
http://llt.msu.edu/contrib.html.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Chun, Editor
Language Learning & Technology (http://llt.msu.edu)

--- Feature Articles ---
Optimal Psycholinguistic Environments for Distance Foreign Language
Learning
Catherine J. Doughty & Michael H. Long

Flexibility and Interaction at a Distance: A Mixed-Mode Environment
for Language Learning
Antonella Strambi & Eric Bouvet

Meeting the Needs of Distance Learners
Nicholas Sampson

Online Learning: Patterns of Engagement and Interaction Among
In-Service Teachers
Faridah Pawan, Trena M. Paulus, Senom Yalcin, & Ching-Fen Chang

Using Native Speakers in Chat
Vincenza Tudini

--- Commentary ---

Extending the Scope of Tele-Collaborative Projects
A commentary inspired by Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio's
"Tele-Collaborative Projects: Monsters.com?"
Phillip A. Towndrow

--- Call for Papers ---
Theme: Technology and Oral Language Development

--- Columns ---
On the Net
Interactive and Multimedia Techniques in Online Language Lessons: A
Sampler
by Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio

Emerging Technologies
Tools for Distance Education: Towards Convergence and Integration
by Bob Godwin-Jones

--- Reviews ---
Edited by Rafael Salaberry

Computer-Mediated Communication: Human-to-Human Communication Across the
Internet (Susan B. Barnes)
Reviewed by Gillian Lord

Electronic Collaborators: Learner-Centered Technologies for Literacy,
Apprenticeship, and Discourse (Curtis Jay Bonk and Kira S. King, Eds.)
Reviewed by Joseph Collentine

Language Learning Online: Towards Best Practice (Uschi Felix, Ed.)
Reviewed by Steve Bird

Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom (Larry Cuban)
Reviewed by Lara Lomicka

Technology for Literacy Teaching and Learning (William J. Valmont)
Reviewed by Stephanie Throne


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep  9 16:59:53 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 09:59:53 -0700
Subject: Heritage Web site gets boost (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.095953.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Heritage Web site gets boost
Canadian Press
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030909.wlang0909/BNStory/National/

Victoria ? First Voices, a First Nations Internet-based archive
recording the province's rapidly disappearing aboriginal languages, was
given a near million-dollar boost Monday by Heritage Minister Sheila
Copps.

The First Peoples' Cultural Foundation will receive $774,000 during this
fiscal year.

With that money, the foundation will archive 200 proper nouns and 2,000
conversational phrases for up to 15 aboriginal language groups,
including the Sencoten of Saanich. Only about 30 elders are left who
speak the language.

"If you want to create a strong world, you have to have diversity in all
of its aspects," Ms. Copps  said. "If we don't manage to save these
languages they are going to be extinct within one generation."

There are more than 6,000 aboriginal languages around the world. More
than half are endangered.

About one language is lost every two weeks globally, according to Simon
Robinson, executive director of the cultural foundation.

In Canada alone, there are more than 50 indigenous languages, of which
32 are in B.C. There is an urgent need to document those languages
while enough fluent speaking elders are still alive, Mr. Robinson said.

Those native languages embody the deep history of First Nations people,
their stories and connection to the land.

"What is it to be human and not understand how we relate to the Earth,"
he said.

Ms.  Copps said she hopes staying connected to their heritage will
instill in children a sense of pride and self-esteem.

The first language families to be archived include the Haida, Tsimshian,
Wakashan, Coast Salish, Interior Salish and Ktunaxa. Within those
categories are languages such as Nisga'a and Gitxsan, which is under
the Tsimshian family.

First Voices is an on-line resource, the brainchild of Peter Brand and
John Elliott, that will archive the language database using text,
sound, images and video.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  9 17:12:04 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 10:12:04 -0700
Subject: Saving Culture
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.101204.0700.>

DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Saving culture depends on saving languages



My uncle, a prominent medicine man, died about 14 years ago. When he died,
he took his knowledge of an important Sahnish or Arikara ceremony with him.
He told several young men, who were trainees, that for him to teach them
this ceremony, they needed to know the Sahnish language. They knew only
"words" and not the speaking language.

The medicine man's refusal to teach his ceremony to these young men because
they weren't fluent in the language resulted in his way of the ceremony
being lost.

One of my aunts, who is Catholic but also believes in the Native way of
life, said that the ceremonies shouldn't be limited to the Native language.
Certainly, God wouldn't understand only one language, she said.

She has a good point that is difficult to counter.When the issue of whether
the Creator could understand all languages was asked of my uncle, he said,
yes, their God, our Creator, the Supreme Being is powerful. It is we who
might have difficulty communicating with the Spirit because different
languages differ in impact and meaning.

Take, for example, a joke told in Sahnish and then retold in English. In
the Sahnish language it is funny, but when translated it loses its punch -
the translated words just don't provide the same meaning.

So, when we talk to the Creator in a language different than how we were
taught, the meaning may change, he said. The Creator does understand all
languages, but the ceremonies were given to us in Sahnish and are best
practiced that way, he told me.

That communication dilemma is reaching a critical point on many
reservations. In fact, on some reservations, the language has all but
disappeared.

There are programs on many reservations to teach the young. My grandsons
and granddaughter are learning the Dakota language in a Sisseton, S.D.,
school. I am amazed to hear my grandsons rattle off Dakota as easily as
English. They are young and at an age where learning a language isn't
difficult, but when these children go home, the adults - the generations
who were indoctrinated into the white way - don't speak the language. The
learning stops when school is out and after awhile, the children start to
forget. In order for a language to thrive, it must be used and spoken
regularly.

Of course, we are in an English-speaking world. Most of us live our lives
in English.

But that isn't how it was 30 or 40 years ago, when Native languages were
common and less influenced by the media and society.

My father used to say that he dreamed in Sahnish. He spoke the Indian
language of the tribes in the Dakotas and was fluent in all four. His
English was poor. He said he had to listen to the English word and
translate it in his mind. There were too many foreigners, he called them,
whose language was influencing his family and the people. He was right.

Learning and understanding the language is important not only so that those
who wish to follow the Native way can participate, but also in order to
gain a clear understanding of the culture - our way of life.

One of the ways that this "language saving" is happening on some
reservations came from Arvol Looking Horse, the Keeper of the White Buffalo
Calf Peace Pipe, and other spiritual leaders and elders who said Native
ceremonies should be conducted in the Native language. If you don't know
the language, you can participate only on the periphery of the ceremony,
they said.

There was a lot of grumbling and naysaying around the reservations about
that decision, but there also are a lot more people who have begun to learn
the language. In order to participate in ceremonies, they said, it is
important - so learn it.

It is a tough and defining time for maintaining the languages of the
540-plus tribes in this nation. We are at a crossroads but the word is out.
Understanding the language is important for maintaining the ceremonies, and
the language has crucial ties to the culture of past generations. That
culture, in turn, is important to the future of Native people.

 Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at
780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at
dyellowbird at gfherald.com


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep  9 19:28:06 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 12:28:06 -0700
Subject: Creek Langauge SIte
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.122806.0700.>

http://www.wm.edu/linguistics/creek/dictionary/english-creek.htm

 This is a great site (part of the one below) for learning to pronounce
Muscogee (Creek) words.  To hear the word pronounced, click on the blue
word.  The words are arranged in alphabetical order (English), so you can
see if the word you are looking for is actually in the list.   It is
usually good to try learning word in groups, so try to pick out the names
of things, like the kitchen (or whatever), learn all of those and practice
them when you are in the kitchen.  Foods are another good category to
learn.  You will have to put the words on a separate paper, grouping them
in the category you are working with.  You can learn some individual words
and then be ready to construct simple sentences when you learn some
grammar. Good luck.


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Wed Sep 10 02:18:31 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 18:18:31 -0800
Subject: PC tape deck
Message-ID: <TUE.9.SEP.2003.181831.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

This PlusDeck thing for automating turning audiotape into mp3s sounds
interesting.  Does anyone have any good/bad experience with it?
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008657.php
http://www.plusdeck.com/english/

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 10 19:23:21 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:23:21 -0700
Subject: Languages
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.122321.0700.>

http://www.nathpo.org/News/Language/News_Native-Languages15.htm


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 10 19:58:21 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:58:21 -0700
Subject: Plus deck Feedback
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.125821.0700.>

>From a  friend:

I think I would much rather have a general purpose adapter that allows me
to
hook up anything to my IBook, and record from Mic, or line input off my
home
cassette deck, or reel or reel, or 8-track, or live from the sound board,
or whatever...(the ability to record directly to mp3 is built into the
mac...)

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powerwave/index.html

--

Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET  Wed Sep 10 20:09:58 2003
From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 13:09:58 -0700
Subject: PC tape deck
In-Reply-To: <5.2.1.1.1.20030909181651.025b42c0@mailstore.pobox.com>
Message-ID: <WED.10.SEP.2003.130958.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

thanks Sean for pointing this out.  i have been using an ARCHOS Jukebox
Recorder 20 to transfer analog audio (tape) to digital format.  it
works fine but the sampling compression is limited to MP3 (MPEG-3).  i
wish though that it would have a greater range (.wav format) than just
MP3 compression and i suspect that the PlusDeck is similar.  so the
transfer would be analog > MP3 > .WAV format rather than straight from
analog to an uncompressed digital form.  i like Andre's idea too.

Phil Cash Cash

On Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 07:18  PM, Sean M. Burke wrote:

> This PlusDeck thing for automating turning audiotape into mp3s sounds
> interesting.  Does anyone have any good/bad experience with it?
> http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/008657.php
> http://www.plusdeck.com/english/
>
> --
> Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 11 15:46:43 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 08:46:43 -0700
Subject: Hopi language project a reality for Tuba City school district
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.084643.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hopi language project a reality for Tuba City school district

By Rosanda Suetopka Thayer
TC District Media
http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/NAVAJOHOPIOBSERVER/sites/NAVAJOHOPIOBSERVER/0175edition/myarticles817335.asp?P=817335&S=392&PubID=11275

Tuba CIty ??It?s taken years to get the local village support and
community interest past political obstacles, but this spring Tuba City
High and Tuba City Junior High Schools will begin offering a Hopi
language program, utilizing everyday Hopi conversation as its basic
foundation.

Many factors in the past year have propelled the Hopi Lavayi program
forward at Tuba City Unified School District. Support from TCHS
Principal Adelbert Goldtooth, District Associate Superintendent Dr.
Harold G. Begay and District Office of Public Relations Director
Rosanda Suetopka Thayer facilitated the program. Marvin Lalo, director
of the Hopi Lavayi Project at the Hopi Tribe, put forth relentlessly
optimistic efforts.

The Hopi Cultural Preservation Office completed a comprehensive study on
Hopi fluency in 1998 that assessed language loss in all 12 Hopi
villages.

Additional local village moral support came from Upper Mungapi?s
Governor Alene Garcia, Lt. Governor Yvonne Hoosava and their current
Board of Directors which include Danny Humetewa Sr., Robert Sakiestewa
Jr., Henry Seweyestewa, Florence Albert, Wilfred Moore, Ethel Gilbert,
Alden Seweyestewa and Wayne Kuwanhyoima.

Earlier this year the Village of Upper Mungapi?s Board of Directors
passed a unanimous vote of endorsement for their children thus making
the village and school partnership a solid reality.

Along with the language classes for students at Tuba City High and TC
Junior High, the village is discussing the possibility of conducting
classes for its own community members at the village level.

On Aug. 28, in the first of what will be a series of collaborative
meetings held at TCHS, representatives looked at several options for
implementing the Hopi Lavayi language program offered next semester.

Among those present were Leigh Kuwanwisima from the Hopi Tribe Office of
Cultural Preservation, Dawa Taylor director of the Hopi Lavayi Project
and Reanna Albert from Hopi Tribal Chairman?s Office. From TCUSD
attendees included Principal Goldtooth; TCJHS Principal Richard Grey;
Susie Store, Navajo Language coordinator; Harry Manygoats, parent
coordinator; Sarah Dallas, TCHS; and Eleanor Williams, Louise Kerley
and Sally McCabe, all Navajo Language teachers. Jessie Talaswaima, Lynn
Fredericks and Roger Mase were there from Hopi High School.

In the past, TCUSD only offered the Navajo and Spanish language as
?foreign? language options.

However, a record number of Hopi students currently attend Tuba City
District schools with both students and parents expressing their desire
to have the Hopi language offered.

Through the initial efforts of Dr. Begay, who said he believes ?that
education also means equity in accessing culturally appropriate as well
as rigorous academic choices,? these student and parental wishes will
now become reality.

Prior to the spring semester, age appropriate materials for the new
junior high and high school Hopi language classes will be developed.
Also, TC district will need to find an accredited high school teacher
who is a fluent Hopi speaker to teach the classes?a different approach
than Hopi Jr/Sr High School has taken.

Although Hopi Jr/Sr High School currently offers a Hopi language class,
it does not have an accredited teacher who is a fluent Hopi speaker.
Hopi Jr/Sr creatively solved this problem by having an accredited
non-Hopi speaking teacher accompanied by a fluent Hopi speaking
teacher?s aide who does the actual language teaching and is in the
classroom the entire classroom period.

Hopi Lavayi Project Director Taylor sent a formal letter of appreciation
to the TC district administration.

?We are truly thankful for your vital role you played during our course
in preparing and finally receiving approval from the Hopi Tribal
Council to dedicate the $400,000 Phoenix Indian Trust Fund towards the
Hopi Lavayi Program,? Taylor?s letter states. ?This has been a pivotal
moment in Hopi history where the commitment of the Hopi Tribe and the
Hopi Tribal Council has been reinforced to address this vital trend in
Hopi language loss surrounding the Hopi People.

?This is truly a milestone in our progression towards Hopi language
revitalization. Your continued Tuba City District efforts and support
are recognized as phenomenal.?

For more information about the proposed Hopi language classes offered at
TCUSD next semester, please call Principal Adelbert Goldtooth at Tuba
City High School (928-283-1047) or the Tuba City District Office of
Public Relations (928-283-1072).


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep 11 17:33:39 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 10:33:39 -0700
Subject: Dr. Bill Bright (Linguist-speaker)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.103339.0700.>

The Department of Anthropology, the Department of English, and the Center
for Indian Community Development invite you to a talk by



DR. WILLIAM BRIGHT University of Colorado
http://www.ncidc.org/bright/




Animal Names in Native Northwestern California



Thursday, September 18 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Founders Hall 25

William Bright was for many years the Editor of Language, the journal of
the Linguistic Society of America.  He has also been Editor in Chief of the
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (Oxford, 1992) and of the
forthcoming Native American Place names of the United States. As an
anthropological linguist, his research has focused on the languages of
native northwestern California, in particular Karuk.  His descriptive
grammar of Karuk, The Karok Language (1957), is regarded as one of the
classics of California Indian linguistics.  Prof. Bright remains in close
contact with the Karuk Tribe; he helped devise the writing system now in
use for the language and has recently been consulting with the Tribe on a
dictionary project.

In this talk he considers the  names for animals in the three major Indian
languages of north-western California Yurok, Hupa and Karuk.  The majority
of such names in Yurok consist of unanalyzable single morphemes, while the
majority in Hupa are "descriptive" combinations of several morphemes; the
Karuk language lies between the two others. A possible explanation is seen
in the historical operation of verbal taboo on the names of the deceased.
It is suggested that this is part of the status of native northwestern
California not as a linguistic area in a strict sense, but as an
ethnolinguistic area.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Thu Sep 11 21:19:31 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:19:31 -0700
Subject: Inter-tribal Gathering 2003
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.141931.0700.>

Email me for a Color PDF of the map and poster
--
Go to:

http://www.ncidc.org
and click the email button
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MapITG03.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 121480 bytes
Desc: Unknown Document
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030911/06840254/attachment.pdf>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 04:16:09 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 21:16:09 -0700
Subject: Dine Education Web (link)
Message-ID: <THU.11.SEP.2003.211609.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

fyi,

here is a site of interest for language educators.  you will need to
download a set of Navajo fonts (Windows & Mac) to view the language
data.  qo'c (later),

Phil
UofA, ILAT

~~~

Dine Education Web
http://dine.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/index.html


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 16:18:43 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 09:18:43 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.091843.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Language influences the way you think
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html

Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
but think about it differently too, according to a new study.

Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.

Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
the action they had seen.

He found speakers of the three different languages used different
gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
the structure of their languages expressed that event.

For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
the motion but not the arc.

Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.

While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.

Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.

"In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
speaking."

Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003


From taniag at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 17:04:12 2003
From: taniag at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Tania Granadillo)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 10:04:12 -0700
Subject: Call for papers
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.100412.0700.>

Hello
Below and attached you will find a call for papers for Coyote Papers: The
University of Arizona Working Papers in Linguistics
Topic for Volume 13: Indigenous Languages of the Americas

Feel free to distribute it to interested parties.

Tania Granadillo
University of Arizona
Joint Anthropology and Linguistics PHD Program
taniag at u.arizona.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

Coyote Papers: The University of Arizona Working Papers in Linguistics
Topic for Volume 13: Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Submission Deadline:  October 15th, 2003

The University of Arizona Linguistics Circle invites you to submit papers on any
topic related to Language & the Indigenous Groups of the Americas.

Topics include, but are not limited to:
?	Linguistic Description & Analysis
?	Language Acquisition, Maintenance & Revitalization
?	Language Ideology
?	Ethnography of language
?	Language & Culture
?	Socio-linguistics
?	Pidgins & Creoles

Submitting authors may be students or faculty from any university. Papers should
be no longer than 25 double-spaced pages (excluding references, figures, and
appendices), and may be written in Spanish or English.

In addition to your abstract, please provide a 150 word abstract separate from
your paper.


If you choose to submit your paper electronically, please send it as an
attachment to one of the editors. Please include any necessary fonts and note
that you may be asked to submit a paper version also.
Editors:  Coyote Papers 13
Luis Barragan <lmbarrag at u.arizona.edu>
Tania Granadillo <taniag at u.arizona.edu>
Meghan O'Donnell <meghano at u.arizona.edu>

If you choose to submit a paper copies, please send three (3) copies to:

Coyote Papers, Department of Linguistics
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210028, Douglass Bldg., Room 200-E
Tucson, AZ 85721
U.S.A.

For more information about Coyote Papers, see our web site at:

http://linguistics.arizona.edu/webpages/Coyote.html


Questions may be addressed to any of the editors by e-mail.





-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: call for papers.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 22528 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030912/4eaad5fe/attachment.doc>

From lcrouch at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 12 21:48:32 2003
From: lcrouch at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Lori Crouch)
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:48:32 -0700
Subject: Heritage Website Gets Boost
In-Reply-To: <20030911070846.8BDFE2CBF6@listserv.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.12.SEP.2003.144832.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

----- Forwarded message from s.ortiz at utoronto.ca -----
     Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 10:32:56 -0600
     From: Simon Ortiz <s.ortiz at utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: Simon Ortiz <s.ortiz at utoronto.ca>
  Subject: Fw: [ien] Fwd: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article
       To: sheilahn at email.arizona.edu

Sheilah,

Good news about Indigenous languages.  Pass this on.  Who should be getting
this sort of thing now that you're not doing AILDI anymore?

Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zaawaa Miigwans" <zaawaamigwans at sprint.ca>
To: <unlisted-recipients:>; <no To-header on input>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 6:43 AM
Subject: [ien] Fwd: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article


 >
 > >X-eGroups-Return:
 >
 >sentto-7503056-1060-1063171167-zaawaamigwans=sprint.ca at returns.groups.yahoo
.com
 > >X-Sender: mhb_0250 at hotmail.com
 > >X-Apparently-To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >X-Originating-Email: [mhb_0250 at hotmail.com]
 > >To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >Bcc:
 > >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Sep 2003 05:19:25.0994 (UTC)
 > >FILETIME=[1A16D8A0:01C3775B]
 > >From: "Mitzi Brown" <mhb_0250 at hotmail.com>
 > >X-Originating-IP: [64.231.214.113]
 > >Mailing-List: list aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com; contact
 > >aboriginaljournalists-owner at yahoogroups.com
 > >Delivered-To: mailing list aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >List-Unsubscribe:
<mailto:aboriginaljournalists-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com>
 > >Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 05:19:25 +0000
 > >Subject: [aboriginaljournalists] globe and mail article
 > >Reply-To: aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com
 > >
 > >Heritage Web site gets boost
 > >
 > >Globe and Mail--September 8
 > >
 > >Canadian Press
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > >Victoria - First Voices, a First Nations Internet-based archive recording
 > >the province's rapidly disappearing aboriginal languages, was given a
near
 > >million-dollar boost Monday by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps.
 > >
 > >The First Peoples' Cultural Foundation will receive $774,000 during this
 > >fiscal year.
 > >
 > >With that money, the foundation will archive 200 proper nouns and 2,000
 > >conversational phrases for up to 15 aboriginal language groups, including
 > >the Sencoten of Saanich. Only about 30 elders are left who speak the
 > >language.
 > >
 > >"If you want to create a strong world, you have to have diversity in all
of
 > >its aspects," Ms. Copps said. "If we don't manage to save these languages
 > >they are going to be extinct within one generation."
 > >
 > >There are more than 6,000 aboriginal languages around the world. More
than
 > >half are endangered.
 > >
 > >About one language is lost every two weeks globally, according to Simon
 > >Robinson, executive director of the cultural foundation.
 > >
 > >In Canada alone, there are more than 50 indigenous languages, of which 32
 > >are in B.C. There is an urgent need to document those languages while
enough
 > >fluent speaking elders are still alive, Mr. Robinson said.
 > >
 > >Those native languages embody the deep history of First Nations people,
 > >their stories and connection to the land.
 > >
 > >"What is it to be human and not understand how we relate to the Earth,"
he
 > >said.
 > >
 > >Ms. Copps said she hopes staying connected to their heritage will instill
in
 > >children a sense of pride and self-esteem.
 > >
 > >The first language families to be archived include the Haida, Tsimshian,
 > >Wakashan, Coast Salish, Interior Salish and Ktunaxa. Within those
categories
 > >are languages such as Nisga'a and Gitxsan, which is under the Tsimshian
 > >family.
 > >
 > >First Voices is an on-line resource, the brainchild of Peter Brand and
John
 > >Elliott, that will archive the language database using text, sound,
images
 > >and video.
 > >
 > >_________________________________________________________________
 > >Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8.
 > >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
 > >
 > >
 > >------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
 > >Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
 > >Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
 > >http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
 > >http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/KWmqlB/TM
 > >---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
 > >
 > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
 > >aboriginaljournalists-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
 > >
 > >
 > >
 > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 >
 >  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>  <>  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 >
 > Zaawaa Miigwans,
 > /Otsinekwar Onahs
 >
 > Houdenosaunee -
 > Kanienkehaka
 >
 > Skennen'ko:wa, Ka'statstenh:sera ta:non Ganigonhi:oh
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > _______________________________________________
 > ien mailing list
 > ien at listserv.oise.utoronto.ca
 > http://listserv.oise.utoronto.ca/mailman/listinfo/ien
 >



----- End forwarded message -----


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 14 22:23:03 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 15:23:03 -0700
Subject: Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke? (fwd)
Message-ID: <SUN.14.SEP.2003.152303.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke?
Oh, poo! Our capital's name seems to stem from rival potty mouths.

By MARY CHALLENDER
Register Staff Writer
09/14/2003
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/22247528.html

A linguist specializing in the extinct Miami-Illinois language says he's
come across a funny, 330-year-old story that gives "Des Moines" new
meaning.


And - chamber of commerce-types might want to brace themselves - it
appears we've been punked.

Michael McCafferty, a visiting lecturer at Indiana University who has
spent decades researching Algonquian languages, agrees with the
commonly held notion that the "Moines" in Des Moines is a French
derivation of Moingoana, an Indian tribe that once lived along the
banks of the Des Moines River.

But he insists that rather than denoting the tribe's true identity, the
name was a ribald joke offered up to French explorers Marquette and
Jolliet in 1673 as a bit of razzing between competing Indian
communities.

McCafferty based his conclusion on the work of another linguist, David
Costa, who wrote an article on the etymology of a number of
Miami-Illinois tribal names, Moingoana among them. Moingoana,
McCafferty cites Costa, originates from the word "mooyiinkweena" -
which translates, politely, to "the excrement-faces."

Obviously, this was either a tribe with very low self-esteem or there
was more to the name than first appeared. McCafferty says he
immediately recognized the work of a prankster and broke out laughing.

"Then I thought, "Bet the people of Des Moines are going to love this,"
" he said.

The tribe's name, McCafferty noted, was first recorded by Father Jacques
Marquette at the village of the Peoria near the mouth of the Des Moines
River and was, no doubt, supplied to him by the Peoria. Like most
western tribes at the time, the Peoria were competing to control as
much trade with the French as they could and prized their "middle-man"
status, McCafferty said.

So when Marquette got around on that late June day in 1673 to asking the
Peoria chief who else lived in the area, the chief wasn't inclined to
play up the neighboring tribe's virtues. Instead, McCafferty theorizes,
he shrewdly chose a name - mooyiinkweena or Moingoana - that he hoped
would put Marquette off.

The funny thing is that Marquette was fluent in Ojibwa and had studied
the Miami-Illinois language for two years, McCafferty said. But he
apparently accepted the name without question, never realizing he'd
been had.

"I can't imagine a Jesuit letting something like that go by," McCafferty
noted dryly.

No one else - at least no other non-Indians - got the joke either.

After the Marquette-Jolliet Mississippi expedition, the French, relying
on Marquette's research and following their usual practice of naming
rivers after the tribes that lived along them, began calling the Des
Moines River "Riviere de Moingoana." By the end of the 1700s, the
Moingoana - or whoever they actually were - had merged with other
Illinois Indians and ceased to exist as a tribal entity.

The Miami-Illinois language became extinct around 1900, reducing even
further the chances the true meaning of the name would ever be
unearthed. Eventually, few people even realized a tribe called the
Moingoana ever existed, and it became accepted that the shortened form
of the tribe name, les Moines, referred to the Trappist monks along the
river (although the name predated any monks, McCafferty said).

McCafferty, who has been studying the Miami-Illinois language for nearly
30 years and has done extensive work on place names, said he has "no
doubt at all" that his explanation is the correct one. He credits a
recent revival in interest in the Miami-Illinois language with helping
bring the city's "true" meaning to light.

"It's the knowledge of this language that has grown in the past 25 years
that has allowed us the ability to understand what past scholars
couldn't understand," he said. "So, yes, this particular place name is
definitely nailed down. Think the city fathers will a) give me the key
to the city? (or) b) call for my execution?"

The real question is whether Des Moines city officials will c) embrace
McCafferty's new theory on the city's Web site. The site already
proffers two possible explanations for the capital's moniker:

Some people feel that 'Des Moines' is derived from the Indian word
"moingona' meaning river of the mounds which referred to the burial
mounds that were located near the banks of the river. Others are of the
opinion that name applies to the Trappist Monks (Moines de la Trappe)
who lived in huts at the mouth of the Des Moines river.

Although Marylee Woods, customer service and training adviser for the
city, found McCafferty's take on things amusing, she said the city
would most likely want to do more investigating before adding a third
meaning.

The city has been working hard on promoting the idea that Des Moines is
one of the best places in the country to locate a company, she said.
Woods doesn't even want to contemplate the challenge of fitting
"excrement-faces" into current marketing plans.

"You know I'm resisting going there with ideas," she said with a laugh.
"This is just not quite the image we want people to think of when they
think of Des Moines."

The Girl Scouts of Moingona Council, which adopted its name in 1957 and
favors the "mounds" explanation, didn't seem overly concerned that they
might be named after a punch line.

"To be honest, I doubt if it will affect us much," said Brenda
Freshour-Johnston, marketing and communications director for the Girl
Scouts council. "People take the meaning of something and adapt it. To
us, Moingona is a beautiful word that says a lot about our council and
our history and some of Iowa's history."

Des Moines isn't the first city to have its onomastic underpinnings
yanked out from under it, McCafferty said.

The name "Chicago" is generally accepted by linguists today to mean
either"skunk" or "wild leek" (a foul-smelling plant), but the Chicago
Convention and Tourism Bureau is still in denial, primly proclaiming on
its Web site that the name comes from "an Indian word meaning strong or
great."

McCafferty, who published his observations in "Names, A Journal of
Onomastics," clearly admires the Peoria Indians' ability to pull off
what may be the longest-lived practical joke ever. He understands,
though, that civic leaders may not see as much humor in it.

"I guess we'll just have to be content with scholarly journals," he
mused.


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Mon Sep 15 10:41:44 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 02:41:44 -0800
Subject: Is 'Des Moines' just some dirty joke? (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <1063578183.8f2b7ed8d2193@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.024144.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 02:23 PM 2003-09-14, Phil CashCash forwarded:
>http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/22247528.html
>A linguist specializing in the extinct Miami-Illinois language says he's 
>come across a funny, 330-year-old story that gives "Des Moines" new meaning.

I wonder if non-Native Iowans will fall (or jump, or be pushed) into the 
same trap as some Natives have -- namely, histrionically conflating a 
word's nonapparent (and possibly spurious) etymology with its current 
meaning.  It would amuse me to see a Caucasian replay of the "squaw" daffiness.

Maybe we'll get even luckier and hear of some discovery like "nuuy??ksidi" 
being Ancient Hittite for "urinal".

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From hardman at UFL.EDU  Mon Sep 15 14:24:05 2003
From: hardman at UFL.EDU (MJ Hardman)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 10:24:05 -0400
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <1063383523.eb5e24d070185@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.102405.0400.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
Not difference, but hierarchy!

Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.

Dr. MJ Hardman
website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/


On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:

> Language influences the way you think
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>
> Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>
> Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>
> Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> the action they had seen.
>
> He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>
> For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> the motion but not the arc.
>
> Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>
> While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>
> Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>
> "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> speaking."
>
> Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:11:34 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:11:34 -0700
Subject: Mandan elder seen as language's last hope (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.091134.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mandan elder seen as language's last hope

By the Associated Press
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2003/09/15/news/local/nws03.txt

FARGO -- Edwin Benson stumbles through a few false starts before he
catches his rhythm telling an old story about how a coyote turned into
a buffalo.

He sits on a stool draped with a woolly buffalo hide across from a man
recording him with a digital video camera mounted on a tripod.

After only a few minutes, Benson holds up his hand to stop the camera.

"My throat got a tickle," he explains. "I didn't want to cough."

Then, once Benson catches his stride, his tale of a conniving, hungry
coyote tempted by a lame buffalo calf begins to unfold.

Benson's occasional apology in English interrupts his low rumble of
guttural sounds, with inflections that rise and fall like rolling
hills. He's speaking Mandan, the first language he spoke growing up in
his grandfather's house along the Little Missouri River.

Now, with more than seven decades behind him, Benson's command of his
native tongue is rusty from disuse.

He speaks Mandan mostly on ceremonial occasions and in the classroom,
where he teaches fundamentals of the language to children in a school
three miles from his rural home on the Fort Berthold Reservation, which
straddles Lake Sakakawea in west-central North Dakota.

Benson has watched as the language of his childhood has disappeared
around him, dying a little more with the passing of each elder in a
dwindling pool of fluent native speakers. Now only a handful remain.

Linguists consider Benson the last truly fluent speaker of Mandan. Even
his wife, Annette, who watches quietly from the corner as Benson tells
his story, can't speak the language.

"It's a lonely life, it's a lonely life," he said. "If I want to say any
Mandan words, I've got to say it to myself and I don't want to say it
too loud, otherwise people might think I'm going wacky."

When Edwin Benson dies, the main living library of the Mandan language,
a language spoken for thousands of years along the valley of the Upper
Missouri River and its tributaries, will die along with him.

The Mandan Edwin Benson learned while growing up often came to him as a
stream of stern paternalistic commands and lessons.

His teacher was his grandfather, who raised him and taught him some of
the old ways the Mandan had followed for centuries.

Ben Benson was a living link to the ancient practices of the Mandan. He
was born in the latter part of the 1800s in Like-a-Fishhook Village,
the last traditional earth-lodge village of the Mandan, Hidatsa and
Arikara, three neighboring tribes that came together as their numbers
dwindled from disease.

Traditional ways were in long decline when Edwin Benson was born in
1932. Like-a-Fishhook Village was abandoned in 1882 when its residents
were moved to the reservation's agency village, Elbowoods. Cabins made
from split logs replaced the domed earthen lodges.

After his mother died, his grandfather kept Edwin, the youngest of five
children, at home with him. Several sisters were sent to a boarding
school in Billings, Mont., where speaking native languages was
forbidden.

Growing up in his grandfather's household, Benson heard and spoke only
Mandan. He encountered English when he first attended school, at age 7.

"English language didn't make no sense at all when I attended classes,"
he said. "But I picked up the language watching what others did."

He served a tour in the Army, then spent a couple of years as an
itinerant laborer in the Pacific Northwest, a time when he drank
heavily.

After he returned to Fort Berthold, he married in 1955 and eventually
settled on high land that had been in his mother's family, three miles
from the Mandan community of Twin Buttes.

Occasionally, Benson drives down as close as the waters of Lake
Sakakawea will allow, to the place where the Little Missouri joins the
Missouri River, where his grandfather's house and father's cabin once
stood beneath the cottonwoods.

"I still feel bad when I go back down there to look," he said. "A lot of
our ways, how we did things, is all kind of buried there under water,
under the big body of water.

"My language is down there, my culture is down there," he said. "It's
not really with me."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:15:52 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:15:52 -0700
Subject: DJ's chatter is all in Apache (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.091552.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

DJ's chatter is all in Apache

Sept. 15, 2003 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0915ruelas15.html

GLOBE It's Lyle Keoke Jr.'s birthday. His sister, Liz, has called up
Ricardo Sneezy's all-request Apache-language radio show to dedicate a
traditional powwow song to him. Sneezy swings the microphone toward him
and sends out the dedication in his native language. Then he hits a
button on the CD player, causing tribal drums and chants to blare out
of the studio speakers and transmit throughout the reservations of
central Arizona.

 After about a minute, he fades it down. Sneezy knows both he and his
audience can only take so much powwow music. Plus, there are a lot of
requests to squeeze in. Next up, dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Lynell Davis
from their friends, is When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge.
Hammond organ chords replace the tom-toms.

 Sneezy, who was born, raised and still lives on the San Carlos
Reservation, took over the Indian Trails show on KRXS (97.3) about a
year ago. The previous host kept it traditional, lots of chants and
accordion-heavy chicken- scratch music. "Nobody went for it," Sneezy
says.

 He opened up the phone lines and the music selection. He pulled a Fats
Domino song out of the station's oldies' collection. He brought in a
Rod Stewart CD from home, sparking a request for Maggie May.

 It quickly changed from a show of Native American music to a show of
music Native Americans like. That still includes some Native American
artists like the Fenders or Jim Felix. But more and more, the song list
is not much different from the mix of country and oldies the station
plays the rest of the day.

 Sneezy presses a green button and speaks in the alternately breathy and
guttural tongue of his native people. Phonetically, it sounds like
this: "Konahona nesta aia shikab. Loshe shiwino Ricardo Sneezy K-R-X-S
F-M ninety-seven-point-three, iko."

 The station serves Globe, but its 50,000-watt signal can be heard
throughout central Arizona, including most of the Phoenix area.

 Next, Sneezy moves onto a spot for Cobre Valley Motors. The copy is
written in English on the stand near his microphone. He translates it
into Apache as he reads it. There are apparently no Apache words for "
'99 Mercury Grand Marquis," so he says that in English.

 Strands of requests

 Sneezy's wife, Victoria, and daughter, Rica, answer phones at a modular
desk outside the studio. They write requests on yellow Post-It notes
and bring them into the studio stuck end-to-end in long strands.

 Calls are mainly from the San Carlos Apache Tribe near Globe. But the
show also draws listeners from the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the
Gila River Indian Community outside Scottsdale. They also get requests
to and from prisoners in Florence.

 Loretta is sending out Made in Japan by Buck Owens to the Ward Family.

 Born on the Bayou goes out to Girly and Rebecca. "It's their birthday,"
Sneezy says energetically, in English.

 There's a lot of love sent out. Some belated birthdays. And a few
memorials. Sneezy plays a mournful gospel song "in loving memory of
Lesley Aaron Nash."

 "I'll try to ease out of it with maybe some country Western music," he
says, off the air. "Or, I know what I can do." He swivels his chair and
flips through the stack of CDs behind him. He pulls out one with the
greatest hits of Louis Armstrong.

 He leans into the microphone hanging in front of him. He asks softly,
in Apache, if the parents out there have hugged their children or told
them they loved them. "If you want to see somebody's good smile, do it
and try it and you can get a good smile out of someone."

 He says the next song is dedicated to his own wife and daughter. He
starts the cascading strings of Armstrong's What a Wonderful World

 He hits the red button to take himself off the air and says, "All
right, let's go to Lamont's Mortuary." He flips to the commercial copy
in his logbook.

 "That's one advertisement I don't like to do," he says. "Because
Indians when you talk about death, they think you're crazy." He tries
to translate the ad so it doesn't offend anybody. "But every time, I
have a problem with that. There's still a gray area there."

 On the air, he tells listeners "you never know when you're going to go.
You need to be prepared. You need to preplan and the people at Lamont
Mortuary . . . "

 Sneezy grew up with classic rock and oldies. He listens to Anne Murray
and jazz to mellow out after his job as director of surveillance at
Apache Gold casino, the largest private employer on the reservation.

 He initially turned down the job at KRXS because he weighed 400 pounds
and worried that he wouldn't be able to climb the stairs to reach the
second-floor studio. After a year going up and down the flights twice a
week, Sneezy says he has dropped 30 pounds.

 Halfway through the show, Sneezy has to cut off dedications. "Requests
eko stahalso ohiko. No more requests." His show runs two hours - 7 to 9
p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's popular enough that the station is
considering a third hour.

 Avoiding controversy

 Sneezy tries to avoid political songs by Native American artists and
avoids discussing controversial issues on the air.

 "I see a lot of people that just still - they have this cloud over
their head," he says. Some of that anger is from long-ago injustices,
some from current squabbles within the community. "I'm just trying to
put good thoughts into people's minds."

 The Bob Marley song is ending and it's time for the San Carlos Telecom
spot. He cues up Play that Funky Music, White Boy, and goes through the
requests. Justin wants to send Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones to
his girlfriend and Ramus wants to dedicate Hard Luck Woman to his
mother.

Reach Ruelas at richard.ruelas at arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8473.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 15 16:26:47 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 09:26:47 -0700
Subject: With land claims settled, tribe turns focus to culture (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.092647.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

With land claims settled, tribe turns focus to culture

By Grace Murphy, Staff Writer
http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/030915spiritside.shtml

PLEASANT POINT ?  Dute Francis prayed as he raked the grass in front of
a sweat lodge built by Passamaquoddy students.

  The circle where Francis would heat the stones, and the altar where he
would lay offerings to the Great Spirit, needed cleaning before a
ceremony was held to honor the reservation's eighth-graders.

  As Francis prayed to the Great Spirit, his words grew faint, then
inaudible, as a school custodian approached with a lawnmower. Within
minutes, the sweat lodge, altar and fire circle were sprinkled with
grass.

  The unintentional desecration of a sacred site put a temporary stop to
the prayers and preparations.

  "It's just ignorance, total ignorance," Francis said, glaring after
the custodian. "I have to go sit down before I do something I regret."

  Both on the reservation and off, Passamaquoddies of all generations
are trying to educate themselves and others about the tribe's culture,
values and beliefs.

  The tribe, like others in Maine, is undergoing what anthropologist
Harald Prins calls a cultural and spiritual rebirth. Prins, a Kansas
State University professor who has studied Maine and Canadian Maritime
tribes in what is known as the Wabanaki confederacy, said the
land-claims settlement of 1980 began to resolve some of the most urgent
economic, legal and political concerns of the tribe.

  That gave tribal members more energy and resources to focus on
reviving the aspects of their culture that nearly died out following
colonization by European settlers. Examples abound:

   There is a Passamaquoddy culture course at the Beatrice Rafferty
Elementary School at Pleasant Point, where students learn the language
and tribal dances, drumming and prayers.

   Dute Francis' father, David Francis, is translating an ancient, oral
language into a digital Passamaquoddy-Maliseet-English dictionary. A
research assistant runs classes for adults and children at the
Waponahki Museum & Resource Center.

   The weekly tribal government newsletter includes coloring sheets for
children printed in Passamaquoddy.

  David Francis, 86, the oldest male tribal member living on the
reservation, feels a sense of urgency to finish the talking dictionary,
which will include a computer component.

  Francis grew up speaking Passamaquoddy decades before linguists
arrived in the 1970s to help assign the oral language an alphabet and
translate it on paper.

  Most of those who are fluent in Passamaquoddy are age 35 and older.
Francis can think of only 20 people who can both comprehend and read
and write the language, as he can.

  "I know the language is dying. It's my life ambition to save it," he
said.

  Francis hopes the dictionary will help younger generations carry the
language into the future.

  Preservation of the language also keeps the tribe connected with its
past. The Passamaquoddy lost many of their religious customs when
members converted to Catholicism in 1604.

  Catholic churches were built on Maine's reservations in the 1800s,
followed by religious schools. While spiritual traditions were lost or
suspended, the tribe kept the language alive.

  "If you have people that have lost their language, they've also lost
that sense of connectedness to their ancestors and nature," said Prins,
the Kansas State professor. "A lot of the concepts that express human
beings' attitudes toward nature, landscape, animals, the trees, it's
all in the language."

  The Roman Catholic church on the reservation is full on Sundays, and
it's unlike any service most Catholics ever have seen. Parishioners
recite the Lord's Prayer in Passamaquoddy, and use the Passamaquoddy
word for "the end" rather than the word "amen."

  Janice Murphy, a Sister of Mercy who lives at Pleasant Point and
ministers to the tribe, said native spiritual observances and the
Catholic church coexist on the reservation.

  "As long as the Blessed Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
are at the core and center of their life in addition to their native
beliefs, I can't say enough positive about their native traditions,
customs, and God-given gifts that they use," Murphy said.

  Some tribal members, like Dute Francis, do not rely on an institution
to worship. He prefers native religious rituals such as the sweat
lodge. Some Passamaquoddy participate in both native rituals and
Catholic services.

  Dute Francis is a cultural instructor at the school, and the sweat
lodge on school grounds was built by the fifth- through eighth-graders
he teaches. He has found healing and strength in beliefs shared by his
ancestors, and wants to give the rest of the community the same
opportunity.

  As a pipe carrier for the tribe, his job is to conduct ceremonies.

  "My purpose in life is to carry the language and culture. My life will
end here, where I was brought up, with daily practices of custom,
tradition and language," he said.

Staff Writer Grace Murphy can be contacted at 282-8228 or at:
gmurphy at pressherald.


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 18:06:50 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 11:06:50 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.110650.0700.>

in Karuk the word for salmon is ?ama
http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html


what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
andrekar at ncidc.org


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 19:14:34 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:14:34 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.121434.0700.>

Place names containing the word ~Qsquaw~R are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented
three kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived
from a Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however,
that it is actually a Massachusett word for ~Qwoman~R. A second argument
presented is that ~Qsquaw~R has been used derogatorily by whites toward
Indian women. This argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but
more strongly by frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third
argument is that ~Qsquaw~R is offensive to Indians, in the same way that
~Qnigger~R is offensive to African Americans. This raises the question of
~Qpolitically correct~R vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic
question of the ideological values of words; in this context, subjective
associations are as important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @:
http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 15 19:25:08 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:25:08 -0700
Subject: Preservation
Message-ID: <MON.15.SEP.2003.122508.0700.>

There are some impressive multimedia presentations at the following site on
the topic of language preservation and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
These include audio, video, and graphics.

http://www.in-forum.com/specials/DyingTongues/


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 16 17:23:39 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 10:23:39 -0700
Subject: Spelling Matters?
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.102339.0700.>

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't   mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is  taht
frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses
and you can sitll raed it wouthit  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed
ervey lteter by itslef but  the wrod as a wlohe.


From JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US  Tue Sep 16 18:52:43 2003
From: JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US (Leary, JP DPI)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:52:43 -0500
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.135243.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From onursenarslan at YAHOO.COM  Tue Sep 16 19:09:45 2003
From: onursenarslan at YAHOO.COM (Onur Senarslan)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:09:45 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <BB8B43C5.5C7F%hardman@ufl.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.120945.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Sotaro Kita
Social Sciences Complex
8 Woodland Road
Clifton
Bristol
BS8 1TN

Dear listmembers and Dr. Kita,

The mentioned article appeared at http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2003/256

I think that Dr. Kita was misinformed. There is a word (verb) in Turkish that describes the motion mentioned here (that is swinging.)

The root of the word to describe this motion is "sal-." Sal-la-mak, sal-la-n-mak, sal-in-cak, sal-in-mak, sal-la-n-dir-mak, sal-kim.

Indeed there is even a syllabic sign dedicated to this verb in Kokturk script used as early as 732 BC (2735 BP) which is used to describe harvesting/swinging machete (orak). Moreover there is always ways to make noun verbs in Turkish, such as oraklamak (ormak) , capalamak, yabalamak, etc. In conclusion if there is a noun we'll always have a verb.

I checked my information with Azeri, Uzbek, Kazakh speakers as well (in addition to my native tongue Turkish.)

A small reminder: same verb used also to describe similar motions (hanging grapes in a vineyard, metaphorically a paricular way of walking etc)

All the best,

Onur Senarslan, Indiana University


MJ Hardman <hardman at UFL.EDU> wrote:
And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
Not difference, but hierarchy!

Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.

Dr. MJ Hardman
website: http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/


On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" wrote:

> Language influences the way you think
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>
> Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>
> Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>
> Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> the action they had seen.
>
> He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>
> For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> the motion but not the arc.
>
> Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>
> While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>
> Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>
> "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> speaking."
>
> Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>

Onur Senarslan
He Who Brought Back the Distant One.
?
? ?
?<')}}}><<?)}}}><<')}}}><'?.??.???'?.??.???'?.?<')}}}><<?)}}}<')}}} ><((((?> ><(((('> ><((((?> '?.??.???'?.??.???'?.><(((('> ><(((('> ><((((?> ><((((?> '?.??.???'?.??.???'?.?

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/5bdb7ebb/attachment.htm>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Tue Sep 16 23:40:10 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 17:40:10 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F65FFBA.DC8ADFEE@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.174010.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Salmon  
(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
(in nimipu)     naco'x

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
Cramblit
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?

in Karuk the word for salmon is ?ama
http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html


what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
andrekar at ncidc.org


From fnkrs at UAF.EDU  Wed Sep 17 01:05:29 2003
From: fnkrs at UAF.EDU (Hishinlai')
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 17:05:29 -0800
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.170529.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

In Alaskan Athabascan Gwich'in, you have to specify the type of salmon.
Hishinlai'

>===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> =====
>Salmon
>(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>(in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>John E. Sirois (say' ay')
>Cultural Preservation Administrator
>Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
>PO Box 150
>Nespelem, WA  99155
>Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
>Mobile  (509) 631-1049
>Fax    (509) 634-2714
>john.sirois at colvilletribes.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
>Cramblit
>Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
>
>in Karuk the word for salmon is ?ama
>http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html
>
>
>what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
>andrekar at ncidc.org

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hishinlai'
"Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center
P. O. Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK  99775-7680
P (907) 474-7875
F (907) 474-7876
E fnkrs at uaf.edu
ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/

Hah! Nakhweet'ihthan t'ihch'yaa!


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Wed Sep 17 02:30:06 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 20:30:06 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.203006.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Hi, MJ,

Nice to hear from you . . . hope all is well with you.

I wonder did anyone notice this paragraph:
He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>

"Structure" is grammar. . . and yet he goes on to say, "Japanese and Turkish
speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.
> >
> > Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> > corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'."

Having or not having a word is "semantics". I wonder that someone who uses
the English language and Linguistic concepts so poorly should be analysing
others' use of language.

Note also that he only "suggests". . . in Psychology, you use this word when
you don't have empirical evidence, and have only a guess. The equivalent
sentence would be "Dr Kita GUESSES this is because Japanese and Turkish have
no verb. . .  "  !  Unless Dr Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and
Turkish, he/she has no idea whether that statement is true, or not.

So many people buy into these deficit analyses because they are swayed by
the English, made to feel "less than" simply because they don't know how the
English is working.


Mia Kalish


----- Original Message -----
From: "MJ Hardman" <hardman at UFL.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: Language influences the way you think


> And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on
top!
> Not difference, but hierarchy!
>
> Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.
>
> Dr. MJ Hardman
> website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
>
>
> On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
wrote:
>
> > Language influences the way you think
> > http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
> >
> > Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
> > but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
> >
> > Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
> > study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
> >
> > Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
> > Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
> > and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
> > the action they had seen.
> >
> > He found speakers of the three different languages used different
> > gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
> > the structure of their languages expressed that event.
> >
> > For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
> > the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
> > Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
> > the motion but not the arc.
> >
> > Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
> > corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
> >
> > While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
> > express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
> > and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
> > with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
> >
> > Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
> > generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
> > matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
> >
> > "In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
> > speaking."
> >
> > Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
> >
>
>


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Wed Sep 17 03:07:37 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 21:07:37 -0600
Subject: Fw: one liner
Message-ID: <TUE.16.SEP.2003.210737.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Along the lines of my last message (but different), I send you all this glorious line (yes from a commercial. . . . )

Mia


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Depree 
To: Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 2:02 PM
Subject: one liner


about the use of the word shaman......
 "please don't squeeze the shaman."


LOL
Depree
Red Pony Heritage Language Team
"Heritage languages: Don't Leave home without one!~"
www.RedPony.us
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/8c0ef73d/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: hoofbg.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 1288 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030916/8c0ef73d/attachment.gif>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Wed Sep 17 13:36:58 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 07:36:58 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F659BB7@webmail.uaf.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.073658.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

We have several names and different species of salmon as well.  I just
mentioned the kind that are running now...

We have a long list of salmon names and types....too many to list...

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Hishinlai'
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 7:05 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: How Do you say Salmon?

In Alaskan Athabascan Gwich'in, you have to specify the type of salmon.
Hishinlai'

>===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> =====
>Salmon
>(in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>(in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>John E. Sirois (say' ay')
>Cultural Preservation Administrator
>Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
>PO Box 150
>Nespelem, WA  99155
>Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
>Mobile  (509) 631-1049
>Fax    (509) 634-2714
>john.sirois at colvilletribes.com
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:] On Behalf Of Andre
>Cramblit
>Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 12:07 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
>
>in Karuk the word for salmon is ?ama
>http://www.ncidc.org/karuk/index.html
>
>
>what is it in other languages (please email me the word and the language):
>andrekar at ncidc.org

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hishinlai'
"Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center
P. O. Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK  99775-7680
P (907) 474-7875
F (907) 474-7876
E fnkrs at uaf.edu
ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/

Hah! Nakhweet'ihthan t'ihch'yaa!


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 17 16:23:00 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:23:00 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.092300.0700.>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030917/14fd519f/attachment.htm>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Wed Sep 17 16:52:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:52:41 -0700
Subject: Mixtec Revival: Mexican Indigenous Language on the Rise (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.095241.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mixtec Revival: Mexican Indigenous Language on the Rise

News Feature,  Eduardo Stanley,
Pacific News Service, Sep 16, 2003
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=bf1b09953e17d2157b3d391e5d4a34af

  Editor's Note: For Mixtecs, indigenous people from the mountains of
southern Mexico, neither the Spanish conquest of Mexico nor the
migration of hundreds of thousands of their people to the United States
has destroyed their "language of rain."

 FRESNO, Calif.--Its speakers know the name of their language, one of
the oldest in the Americas, means "the language of rain."

 But far from having the evanescence of a rainstorm, the indigenous
language Mixtec is enjoying a renaissance in the 21st century.

 Spoken for at least 1,000 years in the mountainous countryside of the
present-day Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero, Mixtec
already has survived cataclysms such as the Spanish conquest and
centuries of brutal colonial administration.

 More recently, the language has faced a more beguiling force: the
phenomenon of immigration. Hundreds of thousands of Mixtecs have left
their homes in southern Mexico, journeying to the industrial centers of
northern Mexico or crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to labor in
California, especially in the agribusinesses of the Central Valley.

 Still, despite the ubiquity of Spanish and English, Mixtec is
prospering on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

 Partly due to a cultural revival in indigenous Mexico sparked by the
Zapatista uprising in 1994, and thanks to the grassroots persistence of
Mixtec educators and scholars, more people than ever are speaking the
language, one of many in a worldwide movement that seeks to preserve
and revive indigenous languages, from Hmong to Evank to Welsh to Maori.

 More than half a million people speak Mixtec today, According to the
Mexico-based Academy of the Mixtec Language. In 1930, less than 200,000
spoke it.

 "Many anthropologists said that urbanization was going to modernize us
and that we would no longer speak our language and turn to Spanish, but
it didn't turn out that way -- today our languages have a new life,"
says Tiburcio P?rez Castro, a member of the academy, who teaches Mixtec
in the United States.

 Not only that, but the oral lingua franca of some of the most remote
villages in southern Mexico now is being established as a written
language.

 "To keep a language alive, writing it is fundamental," says Gaspar
Rivera, a Mixtec and University of Southern California sociologist. For
Mixtecs living in the United States, the challenges of maintaining
fluency in their native tongue "are doubled, because in addition to all
the pressures of the Spanish-speaking world, we also have to face the
pressures of English," he adds.

 Rivera notes that Mixtec communities, both in the United States and in
Mexico, suffer from high rates of illiteracy. The spread of written
Mixtec, he says, could help address this educational deficiency, and
also make it easier for Mixtecs to learn Spanish and English, since
knowing how to read and write aids lessons in any language.

 Already, mainly through the Office of the Development of the Indigenous
people, Mexico is planning to fund programs that will teach Mixtec and
other indigenous languages to migrants living in the United States. The
cabinet-level office has an annual budget of $180 million.

 One epicenter of the Mixtec diaspora is California's inland
agricultural heartland. An estimated 65,000 Mixtecs live in the Central
Valley. At a Fresno community center recently, almost 50 people
attended a workshop on written Mixtec. Tiburcio Per?z Castro, the
teacher from the Mexican government-funded Academy of the Mixtec
Language, taught participants how to write out the language's basic
sounds and words using the Roman alphabet.

 "I feel that I learned a lot today," says Leonor Morales, a 33-year-old
Mixtec who lives in California and speaks only Spanish. "I want to
learn it, and this is a good opportunity."

 For Fidelina Espinoza, a 23-year-old Mixtec and the mother of two
girls, the motivations are different. "I speak Mixtec, but I don't
write it. I know that maintaining my language is very important for my
daughters and I."

 Their teacher was sent to Fresno, the largest city in the Central
Valley, by the academy, which was founded in 1997 and headquartered in
Tlaxiaco, in Oaxaca state, Mexico. The academy aims to establish the
norms of written Mixtec, lead research and disseminate Mixtec language
and culture.

 In the Fresno workshop, different variations of spoken Mixtec filled
the room. Different Mixtec dialects may use different words for the
same object, even though the Mixtecs come from villages in Mexico
separated by only a half-day's walk.

 P?rez Castro explains that a written script for Mixtec will help
inhabitants from different villages communicate with one another, since
the creation of a standardized vocabulary will smooth over linguistic
variants in the rugged countryside where the language originated.

 Rufino Dom?nguez, coordinator of the Fresno-based Binational Oaxacan
Indigenous Front, says he believes that regular Mixtec-language courses
eventually will replace occasional seminars taught by teachers sent
from Mexico.

 Dom?nguez notes the prestige of a written system may also help erase
stigma attached to native languages by centuries of discrimination
against indigenous Mexicans.

 "The practical benefits of a written language are obvious," says
Dom?nguez. "From public health messages to family correspondence, the
writing of our language is a historical necessity."

 PNS contributor Eduardo Stanley (nuestroforo2001 at yahoo.com) is a
freelance writer based in the San Joaquin Valley. He hosts the
bi-lingual "Nuestro Foro" weekly radio program on KFCF in Fresno,
Calif.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Wed Sep 17 16:59:54 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 09:59:54 -0700
Subject: Tribal elder who helped preserve language dies (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.095954.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

fyi,
here is an article of interest on a Modoc speaker.  as far as i can tell
there are only one or two speakers remaing for Klamath/Modoc.  i did
not include the entire message due to its nature.

~~~
Tribal elder who helped preserve language dies
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/09/16/news/top_stories/elder.txt


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Wed Sep 17 20:17:24 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:17:24 -0700
Subject: Spelling Matters? Follow Up
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.131724.0700.>

Julia Sallabank wrote:

> Dear Andre and everybody
>
> I think that this reasearch is probably correct, given what is known about
> reading processes. Fluent readers do not usually decode each letter of every
> word, but use word-recognition to take a mental snapshot of words and
> phrases, and fit them to a schema of what they think the text is saying
> (Wallace 1992: 40-42). But more random spelling is a different matter and
> does interfere with processing.  Fluent readers of English can see how
> difficult it is to decode random or unexpected spelling by trying to read
> the following extract from 'Feersum Endjinn' by Iain M. Banks:
>
> Well, Ergates sez (& u can juss tel she's tryin 2 b payshint) aside from the
> fact that it is folly 2 fro away even 1 life out ov 8, & thi eekwilly
> sailyent poynt that in thi present     emerginsy it mite b fullish 2 rely on
> thi effishint funkshining ov thi reeincarnative prossess, ther is my own
> safety 2 think about. (Banks 1994: 18) (The whole book is written like
> this.)
>
> This is relevant to endangered and minority languages which have no support
> from the establishment, as it leads to yet another disadvantage for those
> who wish to express themselves in their language.
>
> I have written a paper on 'Writing in an unwritten language' in Reading
> Working Papers in Linguistics 6 (2002)
> (http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/cl/slals/wp6/index.htm). There is no
> accepted, consistent standard spelling for the langauge I'm studying,
> Guernsey Norman French. Although there is a dictionary that many speakers
> say they follow if they write in GNF, an analysis of recent writings shows
> that in practice they do not follow it. Since GNF is very low-status and is
> not taught in schools, nobody has had any literacy training in it; it is not
> uncommon to find the same word spelt several different ways on the same
> page. 'Feersum Endjinn' is in fact more consistent than many GNF texts.
>
> Mauvoison (1979), commenting on the multiplicity of spellings suggested for
> Norman, points out that a standard spelling makes it easier to decipher what
> is meant when reading. This is perhaps a rather obvious point, but it is
> even more true if the reader is not a native speaker and has to guess at the
> structure and pronunciation due to the lack of a standard spelling. The lack
> of consistency in spelling makes it particularly difficult to develop
> fluency in reading. I myself find it easiest to read works in Guernsey
> French aloud, in order to gauge the pronunciation and then mentally match
> what I have read with phrases I have heard spoken and thus decipher them.
>
> I would be grateful if you could give the full reference for the research
> you cite.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Julia
>
> References:
>
> Mauvoisin, J. (1979). Principes essentiels d'orthographe normand. Parlers et
> traditions populaires de Normandie 45 (reprinted on
> www.multimania.com/bulot/cauchois/ Principe.html)
>
> Wallace, C. (1992). Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Andre Cramblit" <andrekar at NCIDC.ORG>
> To: <ENDANGERED-LANGUAGES-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 6:23 PM
> Subject: Spelling Matters?
>
> > Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't   mttaer in
> > waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is  taht
> > frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses
> > and you can sitll raed it wouthit  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed
> > ervey lteter by itslef but  the wrod as a wlohe.


From Tony.Johnson at GRANDRONDE.ORG  Wed Sep 17 22:14:14 2003
From: Tony.Johnson at GRANDRONDE.ORG (Tony Johnson)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 15:14:14 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.151414.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

An introduction:

My name is Tony A. Johnson.  I am a Chinook Tribal member, and, amongst other things, run the language program for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in Western, OR.  I am a default linguist.  Of interest to folks would be that we have the only language immersion preschool in the area, and that our language is the only living Native American Creole language.  It is called Chinuk Wawa, and became the community language here because of the twenty plus dialects of languages that were spoken on the early reservation.  Anyway, ...

I did not believe this would be the topic to take me out of lurking status, but I have had a little experience with changing a few "squaw" place names within the ceeded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  The incentive for this action really was people believing the derogatory etymologies given for the word.  We, however, educated the people involved as to the likely origins of the word.  Despite this though, we felt the need to continue with the name change efforts.  We did this because all elders that we spoke to here universally agreed that it is derogatory.  They generally said that it is a way that white people put down Indian women.  Most expressed first hand experience with the word, and I can tell you that many younger people here in the NW will attest to it continuing to be a term applied in a derogatory manner to Native women.

I do agree with the issue of not making these decisions out of political correctness.  However, continuing the use of derogatory words, or asking people affected by them to use them seems inappropriate.  Anyway, a means of our making sure that our actions do not simply white wash history is that we have added several of the "squaw" signs that were taken down and replaced in our area into our museum collection.  Whether or not they will ever be used I cannot say, but they are stored here as a part of our history.

Tony A. Johnson
Sawash-Ili7i
(Grand ROnde, OR)

>>> JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US 09/16/03 11:52AM >>>
I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us 
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html 

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG] 
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Thu Sep 18 04:13:22 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 20:13:22 -0800
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <3F660F9A.66E13FEA@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <WED.17.SEP.2003.201322.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 11:14 AM 2003-09-15, Andre Cramblit wrote:
>The  third argument is that 'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same
>way that
>'nigger' is offensive to African Americans.

My only criterion for whether a word is offensive is whether people
generally use the word to offend.  Etymological rumors and notions that
people might think that people might think that people meant to offend with
it, are aimlessly exasperating.


I once knew a lady who told me she found the word "lady" offensive.
I deduced that she had too much free time, and spent it badly.

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM  Thu Sep 18 13:31:10 2003
From: mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM (Mona Smith)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:31:10 -0500
Subject: "I was just kidding" or the road to hell is paved...
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.083110.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

of?fen?sive  (?-fe?n?s?v)?Pronunciation Key
adj.

1.      Disagreeable to the senses: an offensive odor.
2.      Causing anger, displeasure, resentment, or affront: an offensive 
gesture.
3.	
a.      Making an attack: The offensive troops gained ground quickly.
b.      Of, relating to, or designed for attack: offensive weapons.
4.      (o?f?e?n-) Sports. Of or relating to a team having possession of a 
ball or puck: the offensive line.


n.

1.      An attitude or position of attack: go on the offensive in chess.
2.      An attack or assault: led a massive military offensive.

of?fen?sive?ly adv.
of?fen?sive?ness n.

Synonyms: offensive, disgusting, loathsome, nasty, repellent, 
repulsive, revolting, vile
These adjectives mean extremely unpleasant to the senses or feelings: 
an offensive remark; disgusting language; a loathsome disease; a nasty 
smell; a repellent demand; repulsive behavior; revolting food; vile 
thoughts. See also synonyms at hateful

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 1569 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030918/40d4eb64/attachment.bin>

From anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET  Thu Sep 18 15:40:49 2003
From: anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET (annie ross)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:40:49 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <6.0.0.22.1.20030917200732.02661050@mailstore.pobox.com>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.084049.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

hello

to clarify, the term 'lady' can be used to imply a set of behaviors; i.e, one who behaves in a certain prescribed manner (one who obeys) is a 'lady'.
often, a woman who has attempted to be assertive, present in the world, one who attempts to effect positive social change, et cetera, has been called 'un-lady -like'.
as if female-ness was tied to submission.
so, that is what offends certain women - to have an imposition of obedience placed upon them.

thankfully, in the past twenty years, i have seen this term 'lady' has been evolving to mean a female person.  so, the meaning of the word in common usage has been changing.  thank goodness!

p.s.
even though i am a mix-blood, i have been called a 'squaw' by non-native men and i did not like it.  and it was meant in a bad way.

annie

"Sean M. Burke" <sburke at CPAN.ORG> wrote:
At 11:14 AM 2003-09-15, Andre Cramblit wrote:
>The third argument is that 'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same
>way that
>'nigger' is offensive to African Americans.

My only criterion for whether a word is offensive is whether people
generally use the word to offend. Etymological rumors and notions that
people might think that people might think that people meant to offend with
it, are aimlessly exasperating.


I once knew a lady who told me she found the word "lady" offensive.
I deduced that she had too much free time, and spent it badly.

--
Sean M. Burke http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030918/c981a450/attachment.htm>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 18 15:50:07 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 08:50:07 -0700
Subject: Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into history
 (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.085007.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into history
By the Associated Press
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2003/09/18/news/local/nws04.txt

MANDAREE (AP) -- Alex Gwin stands behind the lectern and asks his high
school students what sounds like a disarmingly simple question: "What
day of the week is it?"

But he asks the question in Hidatsa, not English, and they have to
answer in Hidatsa.

One student needs to be reminded that the Hidatsa have a different start
to the week.

"Sunday's not the first day of the week," Gwin says in English. "Monday
is."

Then, the Hidatsa words "Dami mape" ripple around the room. Third day,
Wednesday.

The Hidatsa language classes at the school in Mandaree operate as close
as possible to immersion.

If a student wants to be excused to go to the restroom, he or she had
better have a strong bladder or be able to ask permission in Hidatsa.

The approach, called Total Physical Response, has been used to teach
native languages in Hawaii and among the Blackfeet in Montana. At
Mandaree, the Hidatsa community on the Fort Berthold Reservation,
educators hope it will revive the tribe's language, spoken by perhaps
100 or 150 residents.

Most are elderly. A few, like Alex Gwin, are middle-aged.

He continues his verbal drill, keeping the students guessing by
peppering them with questions that defy any predictable pattern.

"How much water?" he asks in Hidatsa. Then, a few moments later, "What's
the month?"

Next he directs his students' attention to a lesson sheet, where phrases
written in Hidatsa must be converted to English.

The last phrase, it turns out, carries inadvertent relevance: "Niishub
nihaad:" Hurry up and finish.

Pearl Burr Young Bear made a pact decades ago with four of her friends
in the boiler room of their boarding school.

The girls gathered in the basement at night to covertly speak their
native languages, which were forbidden at Indian boarding schools. They
vowed that when they got out, they would never speak English.

Years later, Young Bear saw to it that her grandchildren, including
brothers Alex and Lyle Gwin and their cousins, Arvella White and Martha
Bird Bear, spoke Hidatsa at home.

Now the four cousins form the teaching staff for the Hidatsa language
program at Mandaree. White and Bird Bear teach grades K-sixth and the
Gwin brothers continue with grades seven-12 -- the front line in
guarding their language from extinction.

Working as two-member teams in the classroom, they expose students to
extended dialogue spoken by fluent Native speakers.

While they were growing up, their grandmother took a rule of the
boarding school and turned it upside down: Children were to speak only
Hidatsa in the household; English was forbidden.

The ban was so complete that when White first attended school, she
scarcely spoke a word of English.

"It's reversed now," Bird Bear said. Her students "don't know the
Hidatsa."

Alex Gwin's tenure teaching Hidatsa began four years ago. After serving
on the school board for more than a decade, he decided to try his hand
in the classroom.

The Hidatsa language instruction program, established more than 20 years
ago by one of his sisters, had been discontinued for two years, so his
first task was one of resurrection.

"Two years running, it just went dead," he said. "When I first came
here, they said here's a classroom, go teach Hidatsa. There was
nothing, no desks or chairs."

Younger brother Lyle joined Alex in the classroom after stints as a
school bus driver and a Marine.

While in high school, Lyle Gwin was one of the first students at
Mandaree to study Hidatsa, though for him it merely reinforced what he
had already learned at home. When he returned home after serving with
the Marines, he said, he was alarmed at the erosion he found in the
state of the language.

The generations that followed his own had not grown up with the same
value given to preserving the native tongue, he said.

More is at stake for the Gwins than the language itself. They also want
to preserve the traditions that are tied to it.

"Language and culture, you can't divide them," Lyle Gwin said. "They're
one and the same."

But there are not enough families still speaking Hidatsa to ensure that
the language will survive on its own.

"Contrary to all belief, a language doesn't die gradually," Alex Gwin
said. "It dies abruptly, from one generation to another."

A few years ago, Alex Gwin decided to collaborate with linguist John
Boyle, who is working on his doctoral dissertation on Hidatsa at the
University of Chicago.

Boyle has been visiting the extended Gwin family for several years,
collecting stories, writing a grammar primer and compiling a dictionary
database. He has studied transcripts and recordings collected by
linguists who visited Fort Berthold around the turn of the previous
century.

"It's really interesting to see how the language has changed from most
speakers a hundred years ago and speakers today," he said.

One sign of a dying language, he said, is the tendency inexperienced
speakers have of imposing the grammatical structure of the dominant
language spoken around them.

That borrowed sentence structure doesn't show up in the speech of the
Gwin siblings, for whom Hidatsa was their first language, but it is
common for those who learn it as a second language, Boyle said.

For example, an English speaker would say, "We wanted to get our
skulls," but that would be "Our skulls get want," in a literal
translation from Hidatsa.

Boyle, who teaches English and history at a Chicago high school, also is
working to preserve the Mandan language. But he said his work on
Hidatsa, in partnership with the Gwins, remains his focus.

"Hopefully I can help them, if not revive the language, at least
document it and preserve it for future generations," he said.


From delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Thu Sep 18 17:36:49 2003
From: delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (Scott DeLancey)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:36:49 -0700
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <3F688A63.D806C95@ncidc.org>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.103649.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Nsxlcin = "Colville"
Nimipu = "Nez Perce"

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, Andre Cramblit wrote:

> "John E. Sirois" wrote:
>       Salmon
>       (in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>       (in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>
> What would I also know nsxlcin and nimipu as?
>
>


From delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Thu Sep 18 17:52:20 2003
From: delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (Scott DeLancey)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:52:20 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <sf687a47.029@mail.grandronde.org>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.105220.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

The reason why "squaw" is offensive has nothing to do with its origins.
And it's not just a matter of who thinks or doesn't think that it's
offensive, either.  In English, we have separate words for the male
and female of barnyard animals, but not for ethnic groups of people.
We have 'mare' and 'hen', but no 'Frenchette' or 'Russianess'.  And
because of that, English uses a separate word, like "squaw", as a
way of diminishing the humanity of the people being referred to.

Not that long ago, the English language had two other words of the same
kind--"Negress" and "Jewess".  It's no coincidence that it is exactly those
two groups that the language made up special female forms for--people
said "Jewess" but not "Germaness" because they thought of Germans as
just people who spoke a different language, but of Jews as something
different--not quite the same as real people.

Nowadays no one would use either of these words, and anyone hearing
them would immediately recognize them as racist.  This isn't because
of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
"Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically racist,
because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html


From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Thu Sep 18 18:00:53 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 12:00:53 -0600
Subject: How Do you say Salmon?
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181034450.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.120053.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Scott,

Close, but not quite right: 

Nimipu is the language spoken by the Nez Perce and Palus People

Nsxlcin is the salish language spoken by the Okanagan, Methow, Nespelem, San
Poil, Lakes, and Swelxu People

We also have the Nax'amcin language spoken by the Wenatchi, Chelan, Entiat,
and Moses Columbia People

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Scott DeLancey
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 11:37 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: How Do you say Salmon?

Nsxlcin = "Colville"
Nimipu = "Nez Perce"

Scott DeLancey
Department of Linguistics
1290 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA

delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, Andre Cramblit wrote:

> "John E. Sirois" wrote:
>       Salmon
>       (in nsxlcin)    ntitiyix
>       (in nimipu)     naco'x
>
>
> What would I also know nsxlcin and nimipu as?
>
>


From sburke at CPAN.ORG  Fri Sep 19 05:15:15 2003
From: sburke at CPAN.ORG (Sean M. Burke)
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 21:15:15 -0800
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181044030.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.18.SEP.2003.211515.0800.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 09:52 AM 2003-09-18, Scott DeLancey wrote:
>of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
>"Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
>special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically racist,
>because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.

So "waitress" is a vulgar vulgar word.
Automatically.
QED.

The trail of semantics here is growing colder and blander, as it winds thru
onomastics, etymology, and now, automatically, thru animal husbandry.

I think that a good compromise is if all the placenames involving "squaw"
were to have that word replaced with "Earthling".  It would impart a nice
"take me to your leader!" feel to a mental environment currently blighted
with dour huff.

An alternative would be to actually promote Native languages by replacing
the word for "squaw" with an actual current word for "vagina" in a local
Native language.  This simplification of local onomastic semantics would be
the best thing to happen to us all since we all went metric!
Of course, there is the messy issue of which spelling system to use for the
relevent languages.  I say whichever has the most accents.  Mapmakers in
North America have had things too easy for far too long.  Let them learn
how to make an a-umlaut-acute-ogonek for a change!  It'd drum up biz for us
language tech consultants too.

Or, failing all else, one could simply replace "squaw" in placenames with
the English word "vagina".  After all, if there can be the /Vagina
Monogues/ on Broadway, maybe it's time for a North America dotted with a
Vagina Peak here, a Vagina Falls there, and so on.  And let us not forget
the ages-old tradition of Vagina Dances in the Southwest.

--
Sean M. Burke    http://search.cpan.org/~sburke/


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Fri Sep 19 13:46:49 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 07:46:49 -0600
Subject: Fw:      [AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L] CFP:  2nd Annual New Voices
 Conference
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.074649.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

Hi,

This is from the American Indian Causcus List, from Steve Brandon. It is a
call for papers for the 2nd Annual New Voices in Indigenous Research
GRADUATE STUDENT Conference.

People on this list have students who will be interested. Please encourage
them to participate. What will also help is if the professors learn where to
apply for travel money, and point the students in these directions. I know
here, people just expect you to know all these things as if the knowledge
were genetically endowed from birth (kind of like Chomsky's view of semantic
knowledge).

Mia


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Brandon" <steve.brandon at CHEROKEENATION.ZZN.COM>
To: <AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L at LIST.UNM.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 6:06 PM
Subject: [AMEINDIANCAUCUS-L] CFP: 2nd Annual New Voices Conference


> Attached in a virus checked word document is the CFP for the 2nd Annual
New
> Voices in Indigenous Research graduate student conference.
>
> Steve
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2004NewVoicesCall.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 567296 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030919/b5805c79/attachment.doc>

From john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM  Fri Sep 19 14:46:16 2003
From: john.sirois at COLVILLETRIBES.COM (John E. Sirois)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 08:46:16 -0600
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <sf687a47.029@mail.grandronde.org>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.084616.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Just a short reply about the use of the word Squaw.  I agree that squaw is a
derogatory term and should not be used.  In the general context, it is
difficult for the mainstream population to grow and learn about the
diversity of all Indian people when they continually use and lean on
cultural stereotypes like squaw or braves, chiefs, and other mascots.  They
program their computers (minds) with garbage and that is all that comes out.
In a productive way, forcing them to change their usage of squaw will do
some good in educating the general public about Indian people, culture and
issues. 

Let's replace those names with local names that come from our aboriginal
languages!!  Let's make our presence felt in maps!!  

Respectfully,

John E. Sirois (say' ay')
Cultural Preservation Administrator
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation
PO Box 150
Nespelem, WA  99155
Phone  (509) 634 - 2712
Mobile  (509) 631-1049
Fax    (509) 634-2714
john.sirois at colvilletribes.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Tony Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 4:14 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)

An introduction:

My name is Tony A. Johnson.  I am a Chinook Tribal member, and, amongst
other things, run the language program for the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde in Western, OR.  I am a default linguist.  Of interest to folks would
be that we have the only language immersion preschool in the area, and that
our language is the only living Native American Creole language.  It is
called Chinuk Wawa, and became the community language here because of the
twenty plus dialects of languages that were spoken on the early reservation.
Anyway, ...

I did not believe this would be the topic to take me out of lurking status,
but I have had a little experience with changing a few "squaw" place names
within the ceeded lands of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  The
incentive for this action really was people believing the derogatory
etymologies given for the word.  We, however, educated the people involved
as to the likely origins of the word.  Despite this though, we felt the need
to continue with the name change efforts.  We did this because all elders
that we spoke to here universally agreed that it is derogatory.  They
generally said that it is a way that white people put down Indian women.
Most expressed first hand experience with the word, and I can tell you that
many younger people here in the NW will attest to it continuing to be a term
applied in a derogatory manner to Native women.

I do agree with the issue of not making these decisions out of political
correctness.  However, continuing the use of derogatory words, or asking
people affected by them to use them seems inappropriate.  Anyway, a means of
our making sure that our actions do not simply white wash history is that we
have added several of the "squaw" signs that were taken down and replaced in
our area into our museum collection.  Whether or not they will ever be used
I cannot say, but they are stored here as a part of our history.

Tony A. Johnson
Sawash-Ili7i
(Grand ROnde, OR)

>>> JP.Leary at DPI.STATE.WI.US 09/16/03 11:52AM >>>
I am very interested in this discussion because the issue often comes up
when discussing stereotypes of Native people in my work at the K-12 level.
I am respectfully asking for list members' assistance so as to be able to
clearly and completely explain this commonly asked question.

I am particularly interested in learning more about the Mohawk etymology
because it either seems to be incompletely dismissed or I am
misunderstanding the heart of the explanation.  I have heard one Mohawk
speaker confirm the commonly repeated story, while another told me that
although it was not related to their language it was not acceptable to use
it to refer to any woman at any time.

My own academic background in history suggests that there may be something
to the story of Mohawk roots of this word, or perhaps multiple roots in both
language families.  It is safe to say that most of the French and English
traders may have learned some of the languages of the tribes they traded
with.  However, most were not linguists and while they certainly recognized
separate languages, they were not likely to recognize separate
classifications of Iroquoian and Algonquian languages.  It seems reasonable
to expect that there could be a shift in meaning as non-native speakers
bring the words into English.

As a non-linguist, it seems that the issue is also at least partially one of
similar sounding words/word parts.  For example, "say" in English and
"c'est" in French sound quite similar (at least with the diction of average
US college French) but they come from different language families and mean
quite different things.  Because squaw is a loanword, how do we know which
language or language family a sound belongs to when it is removed from its
original context?  The etymology seems murky at best, so I have trouble
seeing how the statement "Linguistic data show, however, that it is actually
a Massachusett word for 'woman'" follows from the previous statement about
the Mohawk language.

These are likely simple questions for many members of this list.  I would
greatly appreciate some assistance and clarification so that I can fully and
accurately respond to this issue when it arises.  I am a layperson so please
do not worry about 'overexplaining,' I won't be insulted.

Wado,

J P

J P Leary, Consultant
American Indian Studies Program
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
608/267-2283 or 800/441-4563
FAX:  608/266-3643
jp.leary at dpi.state.wi.us 
AIS Program Web Page:  www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/equity/aisintro.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Andre Cramblit [mailto:andrekar at NCIDC.ORG] 
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:15 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)


Place names containing the word 'squaw' are numerous throughout the United
States, but have become controversial. American Indians have presented three
kinds of argument against the term. The first is that it is derived from a
Mohawk word for the female genitalia. Linguistic data show, however, that it
is actually a Massachusett word for 'woman'. A second argument presented is
that 'squaw' has been used derogatorily by whites toward Indian women. This
argument is supported weakly by literary documents, but more strongly by
frontier memoirs and journalistic writing. The  third argument is that
'squaw' is offensive to Indians, in the same way that 'nigger' is offensive
to African Americans. This raises the question of 'politically correct'
vocabulary, or in broader terms, the sociolinguistic question of the
ideological values of words; in this context, subjective associations are as
important as objective ones.

Full Linguistics @: http://www.ncidc.org/bright/unpublished.html


From language-labs at UCHICAGO.EDU  Fri Sep 19 15:55:03 2003
From: language-labs at UCHICAGO.EDU (Language Laboratories and Archives)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 10:55:03 -0500
Subject: Language influences the way you think
In-Reply-To: <001e01c37cc3$9bb89ca0$6400a8c0@computer>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.105503.0500.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

At 20:30 -0600 16/9/03, MiaKalish at RedPony wrote:
>Note also that he only "suggests". . . in Psychology, you use this word when
>you don't have empirical evidence, and have only a guess. The equivalent
>sentence would be "Dr Kita GUESSES this is because Japanese and Turkish have
>no verb. . .  "  !  Unless Dr Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and
>Turkish, he/she has no idea whether that statement is true, or not.

For the record, Dr. Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and I know
he has professional ties to native speakers of Turkish.

Barbara Need
University of Chicago
Linguistics
and
Language Laboratories and Archives


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 19 17:08:01 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 10:08:01 -0700
Subject: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.58.0309181044030.12634@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.19.SEP.2003.100801.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I really like your take on this word Scott.  It is an interpretation I
have not yet seen and it is quite appropriate since the male counter
part to squaw is "buck" which would support rather than deny the animal
reference.

One other dehumanizing aspect present in the use of the term squaw is
the reference on the sexual availability of native women to white
males.  It seems to be more a romanticized notion of the west due in
part to movies like "Squaw Man" by Cecile B. Demille (1914, 1931) and
other popular American culture.  Squaw Man even has an entry in the
American Heritgae Dictionary.  Nonetheless, its use is dehumanizing
because it objectifies native woman and denies them their essential
humanity.

thanks, y?x k?l'o (that's all),

Phil Cash Cash (cayuse/nez perce)
UofA


> ----- Message from delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU ---------
>     Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 10:52:20 -0700
>     From: Scott DeLancey <delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU>
> Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>  Subject: Re: Squaw Daffiness (sociolinguistics)
>       To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>
> The reason why "squaw" is offensive has nothing to do with its
> origins.
> And it's not just a matter of who thinks or doesn't think that it's
> offensive, either.  In English, we have separate words for the male
> and female of barnyard animals, but not for ethnic groups of people.
> We have 'mare' and 'hen', but no 'Frenchette' or 'Russianess'.  And
> because of that, English uses a separate word, like "squaw", as a
> way of diminishing the humanity of the people being referred to.
>
> Not that long ago, the English language had two other words of the
> same
> kind--"Negress" and "Jewess".  It's no coincidence that it is exactly
> those
> two groups that the language made up special female forms for--people
> said "Jewess" but not "Germaness" because they thought of Germans as
> just people who spoke a different language, but of Jews as something
> different--not quite the same as real people.
>
> Nowadays no one would use either of these words, and anyone hearing
> them would immediately recognize them as racist.  This isn't because
> of their origin or etymology.  There's nothing racist about "Jew" or
> "Negro" (even if that one is kind of out of fashion), but to use a
> special, distinct word for the women of a group is automatically
> racist,
> because it's treating that group like animals instead of people.
>
> Scott DeLancey
> Department of Linguistics
> 1290 University of Oregon
> Eugene, OR 97403-1290, USA
>
> delancey at darkwing.uoregon.edu
> http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/prohp.html
>
>
> ----- End message from delancey at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU -----


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 17:18:21 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 10:18:21 -0700
Subject: Cherokee tribe tries to save a dying language (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.101821.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Cherokee tribe tries to save a dying language

JENNY BURNS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 19, 2003
?2003 Associated Press

URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/09/19/state1618EDT7535.DTL

(09-19) 15:54 PDT   LOST CITY, Okla. (AP) --

The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in Cherokee, telling the
children to pull out their mats for nap time. Using their Cherokee
names, she instructs "Yo-na," or Bear, to place his mat away from
"A-wi," or Deer. Soft Cherokee music lulls them to sleep.

These youngsters' parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their
grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these
children will speak in their public school classroom.

By immersing the youngsters in the language of their ancestors, tribal
leaders are hoping to save one of the many endangered American Indian
tongues.

It is a modest start, consisting of just 10 kindergartners in a single
classroom at the Lost City School, 50 miles east of Tulsa. But their
Cherokee language instruction will continue throughout their school
years.

"The language is going to be gone if we don't do something, and the best
people to learn are kids in the developmental stage of kindergarten,"
said Annette Millard, a non-Cherokee who is superintendent of the Lost
City School, with about 100 students, two-thirds of them from the
tribe.

Around the country, other Indian languages are disappearing as well. The
native speakers are dying off, and the language cannot compete against
English, which is pervasive through television and other forms of pop
culture.

While many tribes are trying to reinvigorate their languages, doing so
can be particularly difficult in places like Oklahoma, where Indians
generally attend public schools and do not live on reservations.

On the vast Navajo reservation in the Southwest, for example, the Navajo
language is taught on reservation schools and most tribal members speak
it. In Oklahoma, fewer than 8,000 of the 100,000 Cherokees can speak
the language fluently, and most of those who can are over 45.

In fact, assimilation policies once discouraged Cherokees from speaking
their native language in schools.

The father of Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith was punished for speaking
Cherokee at Sequoyah High School, located at the seat of Cherokee
government in Tahlequah.

"If you spoke the language, your mouth was washed out with soap," Smith
said. "It was an effort to destroy the language and it was fairly
successful."

In Lost City, Millard offered a classroom -- and started learning the
language along with her staff -- after hearing a plea from the chief.
The Cherokee Nation is paying the salaries of the teacher and an
assistant.

The school has a weekly "Rise and Shine" assembly where all grades begin
with the greeting "o-si-yo" and discuss the word for the week. One
recent week, the word was truthfulness, or "du-yu-go-dv."

Millard calls students by their Cherokee names and encourages them by
saying "o-sta" -- "good" -- with a smile. Her office is adorned with
Cherokee words and pronunciations posted on objects like the telephone
and her desk chair. (The Cherokee alphabet, which now consists of 84
symbols, each representing a syllable, was codified by Sequoyah in
1821.)

The children are encouraged to speak Cherokee at home.

After five weeks of school, Lane Smith, or "A-wi," told his mother in
Cherokee that he was going outside to play. She was not quite sure what
he said, but she is now starting to relearn the language she knew at
age 5.

"My family has asked Lane what he has learned today and they are
learning right along with him," said Kristal Smith, who is not related
to the Cherokee chief. "I plan to have him keep going with the
language."

Tribal leaders say it is vital that the language survive.

"We have our medicine, our plant life, our universe and the language the
Creator has given us," said Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language
projects supervisor. "Our medicine doesn't understand other languages
but Cherokee. All this is interconnected."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:24:30 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:24:30 -0700
Subject: Supreme Court rules some mixed-blood Metis have full native
 rights in Canada (link)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.162430.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

...including language.  go to link.

~~~
Supreme Court rules some mixed-blood Metis have full native rights in
Canada

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap09-19-122326.asp?reg=AMERICAS

TORONTO, Sept. 19 ?    Canada's Supreme Court ruled Friday that
mixed-blood descendants of French settlers and Indians who can show a
direct link to their historical community have the same broad hunting
rights as so-called full-status Indians.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:28:24 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:28:24 -0700
Subject: Pokagons mark 9th year of sovereignty (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.162824.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Pokagons mark 9th year of sovereignty

Tribune Staff Report
http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2003/09/19/local.20030919-sbt-MICH-D1-Pokagons_mark_9th_ye.sto

DOWAGIAC -- This is more than just a powwow.

It is a celebration of sovereignty on Saturday for the Pokagon Band of
Potawatomi Indians.

The members of the Dowagiac-based tribe are going to be celebrating
their 1994 recognition by the United States with Pokagon Day, tribal
officials said Thursday.

The ninth anniversary celebration will run from sunrise to dinnertime at
the tribe's Rodgers Lake compound.

The keynote event will be the Unity Drum & Flag Ceremony on Saturday
morning with addresses from Pokagon Chairman John Miller and former
chairman Joe Winchester along with members of the tribe's Youth
Council.

Full tribal recognition was restored with President Clinton's signature.

The 2,764-member tribe, which includes 1,833 members in Michigan and
Indiana, took a step forward for its proposed Four Winds Casino near
New Buffalo with its cross-deputization agreement with the Berrien
County Sheriff's Department for the Pokagon Band Police Department,
which at this point has a chief but no officers.

It also has a tribal court and other tribal operations, including
teaching its Native American language restored with President Clinton's
signature.

The 2,764-member tribe, which includes 1,833 members in Michigan and
Indiana, took a step forward for its proposed Four Winds Casino near
New Buffalo with its cross-deputization agreement with the Berrien
County Sheriff's Department for the Pokagon Band Police Department,
which at this point has a chief but no officers.

It also has a tribal court and other tribal operations, including
teaching its Native American language. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Indians has a 10-county service area of Berrien, Cass, Van Buren and
Allegan counties in Michigan; and St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko,
LaPorte, Marshall and Starke counties in Indiana.

It has land for reservation sites near Dowagiac and Hartford in
southwestern Michigan and near North Liberty in northern Indiana.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 23:35:53 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 16:35:53 -0700
Subject: Pocket change (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.163553.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Pocket change

By JOHN STROMNES of the Missoulian
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/09/17/news/mtregional/news08.txt

Salish artists crafting beaded pouches to hold commemorative Lewis and
Clark silver dollars

PABLO - The U.S. Mint has put 30 Salish craftsmen of the Flathead Indian
Reservation to work this fall, tanning, sewing and beading leather
medicine pouches much as Indians did some 200 years ago, when the Lewis
and Clark Expedition came through western Montana.

The tribal artists are to provide 7,500 beaded pouches over the next 12
months or so. Like the medicine pouches of old, these will contain good
medicine - specially minted silver dollars authorized by Congress to
commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06.

Congress authorized 500,000 of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial silver
dollar coins to be produced. But only 50,000 of them will come in
traditional medicine pouches made of brain-tanned buckskin with
certificates of authenticity individually signed by each tribal artist.

The Salish pouches sport one of two bead designs popular in Salish
tradition. The remainder of the 50,000 pouches are being made by
craftspeople from other tribes across the West that came in contact
with the famous voyage of discovery.

Marie Torosian, education director for the People's Center, tribal
museum, gallery and gift shop operated by the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes in Pablo, said the bead patterns are traditional motifs
but original designs. One is a floral design, the other geometric. The
designs were selected from several submitted to the Bicentennial
Commission by the People's Center for consideration, she said. The
winning designs are by contemporary Salish beadworkers Germaine White
and Lucy Vanderburg.

Two weeks ago, the first kits of beads and local brain-tanned buckskin
and lacing were distributed to the 30 or so artists who will sew and
bead the final products. Torosian said each Salish beadworker receives
$20 a pouch. Each one takes an experienced beadworker less than an hour
to produce, and each is inspected for quality of craftsmanship before
it is accepted.

The pouches will be packaged in boxes of 500, with a signed certificate
of authenticity attached to each one, and sent in secure mail to the
U.S. Mint in Washington, where each pouch will be vested with a
commemorative silver dollar. The coins and products will be sold by the
Mint to collectors all over the world.

The idea for the limited-edition pouches originated with the U.S. Mint,
which approached the Circle of Tribal Advisers of the Bicentennial
Commission with the idea as a means of helping the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial program, said Martha Watson, a Mint spokeswoman.

The pouches and contents may go on sale as early as next May. The price
has not been determined.

In the enabling legislation, passed in 1999, Congress provides that each
of the commemorative dollars must weigh 26.73 grams, have a diameter of
1.5 inches, contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, and can be
used for legal tender. It makes no mention of the medicine pouches. The
coins may be minted only during calendar year 2004 at no net cost to
the U.S. government.

Torosian said a grant associated with the program will pay for a Salish
language immersion school for tribal members scheduled to begin at the
end of September at the People's Center.

During the language immersion program, participants will learn to tan
hides the traditional Salish way, Torosian said.

Tribal language revitalization and cultural resource protection are
stated aims of the program, according to the certificate of
authenticity.

There are 114 North American Indian tribes represented by 54 existing
tribal governments involved in the bicentennial observance, all of
whose homelands Lewis and Clark explored 200 years ago.

John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at
jstromnes at missoulian.com

Copyright ? 2003


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Sun Sep 21 14:52:02 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 08:52:02 -0600
Subject: Fw: Miami Indian language
Message-ID: <SUN.21.SEP.2003.085202.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

I didn't know if there might be some people who would be interested in these
search results, or people who didn't know how many sources we have for very
old information and recordings of Native languages.

Mia

----- Original Message -----
From: "NAA" <NAA at NMNH.SI.EDU>
To: <VIARC.Info at mnh.si.edu>; <Mia at RedPony.us>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: Miami Indian language


> Dear Ms. Kalish,
>
> I have searched the National Anthropological Archives' online catalog (at
> http://www.siris.si.edu , choose the Archival and Manuscripts section of
> the catalog) and found only one manuscript and no sound recordings
relating
> to the language of the Miami Indians of the Midwest, detailed below.
>
> You are welcome to search the catalog yourself to determine whether there
> are additional materials of interest to you.
>
> Most collections of sound recordings in the NAA's collections relate to
> tribes in the West (e.g., California), Southwest (e.g., Arizona), and
Upper
> Midwest (e.g., Minnesota).
>
> Title:  Comparative Miami vocabularies 1908
> Phy. Description:  15 pages
> Summary:  Miami words obtained by J.P. Dunn in 1908 from a Miami Indian
> named Gabriel Godfroy, of Peru, Indiana; compared with Miami words
collected
> by Volney, 1797. (published; see manuscript for reference); and Miami
words
> collected by Charles N. Handy, 1850 (published; see manuscript). Also
sample
> conjugation of verbs and grammatical discussion by Dunn.
> Cite as:  Manuscript 1701, Smithsonian Institution National
Anthropological
> Archives
> Culture:  Miami
> Repository Loc:  National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum
> Support Center, Suitland, Maryland
>
> I would suggest that you contact the Library of Congress' Archives of Folk
> Culture (in the American Folklife Center) which has numerous recordings.
See
> the LC website at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ for details and more
> information.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeannie Sklar
> Reference Archivist
>
> ****************************************
> National Anthropological Archives
> Smithsonian Institution
> Museum Support Center
> 4210 Silver Hill Road
> Suitland, MD 20746
> (301) 238-2873 (tel)
> (301) 238-2883 (fax)
>
> >>> "Smithsonian Information" <VIARC.Info at mnh.si.edu> 07/15/03 04:48PM >>>
> Mia Kalish
>
> Your correspondence of July 6, 2003, regarding Miami Indian language, has
> been received  in the Smithsonian's Public Inquiry Mail Service for
> response.  We have forwarded your inquiry to the Institution's Department
> of Anthropology, at the National Museum of Natural History from which a
> response will be forwarded if helpful information is available.
>
> Thank you for your interest in the Smithsonian Institution.
>
>
>
>
> >>> "RPHLT Director (Mia)" <Mia at RedPony.us> 07/06/03 07:55PM >>>
> Hello,
>
> Do you have any recordings of the language of the Miami Indians of
> Indiana?
> I thought perhaps you might have some old records, perhaps some wax
> cylinders?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mia Kalish
>
>


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 22 16:39:49 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 09:39:49 -0700
Subject: [Fwd: Modoc Elder Passes]
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.093949.0700.>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030922/6e07cca8/attachment.htm>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Mon Sep 22 17:45:49 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:45:49 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.114549.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Yes, and I have to add:  language undoubtedly reflects the unique ways
that various cultures look at the world, and that is one of the many
reasons why language preservation is so important.  But, the popular
view that people are somehow RESTRICTED from thinking in certain ways,
due to the languages that they speak, has not held up to a half century
of studies on the subject.  Indeed, the whole idea that "language =
thinking" has been greatly exaggerated.  I would guess this to be
especially true of words relating to motion--for example, I am very poor
at giving directions in any language that I speak, but that does not
mean that I am poor at having a mental understanding of how to get to
places.  Also, I highly doubt that people without language are somehow
restricted in terms of spatial understanding simply because they cannot
describe motions verbally.

As for this study, I speak Japanese at home, and it is true that the
Japanese intransitive verb "yureru" could be translated either as
"swing" (with a trajectory) or as "rock" (without a trajectory).  But, I
highly doubt that this means that Japanese people cannot imagine a
rocking motion with an arc (something that could, at any rate, be easily
described in Japanese, or any other language on earth--somehow people
think that meaning is conveyed solely by individual words, as if
paraphasing was impossible!).  I fact, after reading this article, I
tried the experiment out on my Japanese wife, and she had no trouble
duplicating the motion of swinging after watching me act it out.  I have
a suspicion that the researcher went into this study expecting a certain
result, and that he allowed this to influence what actually happened.

At any rate, I cannot help but notice that deficit grammars, when
posited, usually end up putting the more powerful languages on top.  You
have got to wonder about that!

MJ Hardman wrote:

>And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
>Not difference, but hierarchy!
>
>Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.
>
>Dr. MJ Hardman
>website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
>
>
>On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Language influences the way you think
>>http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>>
>>Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
>>but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>>
>>Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
>>study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>>
>>Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
>>Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
>>the action they had seen.
>>
>>He found speakers of the three different languages used different
>>gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
>>the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>>
>>For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
>>the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
>>Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
>>the motion but not the arc.
>>
>>Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
>>corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>>
>>While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
>>express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
>>with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>>
>>Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
>>generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
>>matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>>
>>"In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
>>speaking."
>>
>>Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030922/00732e32/attachment.htm>

From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Mon Sep 22 18:12:28 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 11:12:28 -0700
Subject: Kindgardners Learn
Message-ID: <MON.22.SEP.2003.111228.0700.>

 "Kindergartners get lessons in ancestors' lost language"

By JENNY BURNS


LOST CITY, Okla. (AP) - "The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in
Cherokee, telling the children to pull out their mats for nap time. Using
their Cherokee names, she instructs "Yo-na," or Bear, to place his mat away

from "A-wi," or Deer. Soft Cherokee music lulls them to sleep.

Thesee youngsters' parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their
grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these
children
will speak in their public school classroom."

Complete at:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/6818556.htm


From rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Sat Sep 20 21:45:36 2003
From: rtroike at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Rudolph C Troike)
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2003 14:45:36 -0700
Subject: Etymological fallacy
In-Reply-To: <20030920070051.1007C2D04F@listserv.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <SAT.20.SEP.2003.144536.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

     I've read the accounts of the etymology of "squaw", and have no doubt
that they are accurate. However, linguists have long argued against the
notion that words have a "real" meaning that is knowable by determining
the earliest discoverable or reconstructable meaning (a favorite topic-
generating rhetorical ploy of public speakers). Words mean what people at
any given time understand them to mean, and these shared understandings
change over time. "Hussy" no longer means "housewife", "knave" no longer
means a young boy, and "nice" no longer means "ignorant" in the minds of
current English speakers, and it would be absurd to insist that it is
perfectly all right to call a woman a "hussy" because she is a housewife,
or that it is insulting to say that a girl is "nice" (except in Liberia,
where the older meaning lingers, or in African American slang, where the
idea of sexually available has become attached to the word). Even if we
could go around prescriptively restoring words to their centuries-old or
millenia-old meanings, we would have to remember that further
irrecoverable millenia lie behind those, and we can never know what the
sources of any word might have meant 30,000 or 60,000 years ago.

        In modern American English, "squaw", while its sense may have
ameliorated from its strongly depreciative 19th-century meaning, still
carries a stigmatizing or negative quality in many contexts. This fact,
and not any argument as to its etymological innocence, should guide
decisions about whether it should be retained in geographic designations
today.

Rudy Troike
Dept. of English
University of Arizona


From ni-raueiser at WEB.DE  Tue Sep 23 20:53:49 2003
From: ni-raueiser at WEB.DE (Nina Raueiser)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 22:53:49 +0200
Subject: Educators seek to save Hidatsa language from fading into
 history (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.225349.0200.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030923/a407c9e6/attachment.htm>

From nwarner at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 21:31:42 2003
From: nwarner at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Natasha L Warner)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:31:42 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.143142.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hello,

Dr. Kita, whose work has been discussed on this list lately, asked me to
post the following message for him.  (He is a former colleague of mine.)
As he suggests at the end of his message, please copy him at
sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk on any responses.  Also, I am afraid my email
program is not encoding the characters of Dr. Kita's collaborator's last
name correctly in the message below.  For clarity, her name is Asli
OEzyuerek.

Thanks,

Natasha Warner

Dear Dr. Senarslan and readers of ILAT,

One of my colleagues has told me that some discussions are going on in
ILAT about our work, which was recently covered by mass media.  The
difficulty of such a situation is that what people see is not our work
itself, but a journalist's summary of our work (or, in many cases, a
journalist's summary of another journalist's summary).

Some of the messages in ILAT (not Dr. Senarslan's) seem to interpret our
work to be a "deficit grammar" study,  making an English superiority
claim.  This characterization is completely inaccurate.  The study has
been published in the following journal.

Kita, Sotaro, & ?zy?rek, Asli (2003). What does cross-linguistic
variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?:
Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and
speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 16-32.

I would appreciate it if you could base your scholary criticisms on our
publication, from now on.  If you do not have access to this journal, I
am happy to send you a PDF version of the published article.

Another thing that did not get through the media is that this is a
collaborative work between myself and Dr. Asli ?zy?rek (Max Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Netherlands).

Back to linguistics,  there are a couple of messages that point out that
Turkish (Dr. Senarslan) and Japanese (Dr. Ward) do have a verb to
swing.  As I will explain later, whether or not Turkish and Japanese
have a certain verb or not is not really the central issue in our study.
But, let me discuss the issue of the existence of swinging verbs in
Japanese and Turkish first.

Dr. Senarslan pointed out that Turkish sal could refer to swinging.
According to my collaborator, who is a Turkish speaker, sal  roughly
means dangling (one end of a long thin object is fixed, and the other
end is free and is capable of moving about).  Though sal and swing have
some referential overlap, sal is not really felicitous in description of
an event in which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to
Point B.

Dr. Ward recently pointed out that Japanese yureru could refer to
swinging. Yureru roughly means swaying (one end of a long thin object is
fixed, and the other end is free and moves about). Unlike in sal, yureru
entails movement (but the movement is not directed). In addition, yureru
does not refer to intentional action; thus yureru cannot refer to Tarzan
swinging from one tree to another.   Yureru has referential overlap with
swing, but it is not really felicitous in description of an event in
which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to Point B.

The precise semantics of these related verbs is not really the crucial
point of our study.  The crucial point is that the English speakers
encoded different set of information from Japanese and Turkish speakers
when they described a scene from an animated cartoon.  This is the scene
in which Sylvester the cat swings on a rope from one building to another
in his attempt to catch Tweetie bird. None of the 15 Japanese and 17
Turkish speakers, who talked about this event, did not encode the arc
trajectory (they simply said something like, "the cat went/flew to the
other side"), where as 16 English speakers all used the verb "swing" and
thus encoded the arc trajectory.  Obviously, there are many other
differences.  All Turkish speakers encoded evidentiality, and most
speakers of the other languages did not, and all Japanese spakers
encoded addressee-honorification but most speakers of the other
languages did not.  We focused on encoding of spatial information in
speech in our study since iconic co-speech gesture is believed to be
driven by underlying spatial and motoric imagery that the speaker
activates at the moment of speaking (McNeill, 1992).  We found that
Japanese and Turkish speakers are more likely to produce a gesture that
moves straight, namely, that does NOT encode the arc trajectory than
English speakers.  Based on the assumption that co-speech iconic
gestures reveal important aspects of the speaker's imagery at the moment
of speaking, we concluded that the imagery that speaker generates at the
moment of speaking is influenced by how the speech production process
organizes information.  We suggested that adjusting the content of
imagery according to the preference of the speech production process
might facilitate verbalization of thought.

The above article include analysis of how Manner and Path of a motion
event is expressed in speech and in gesture in the three languages.  All
three languages expressed both Manner and Path of a particular event in
the cartoon, but the syntax they used were different.  And, the
linguistic difference was mirrored in a gestural difference.  For the
sake of brevity, I will not go into further details.

One caveat is that our study only makes a claim about linguistic
influence on the imagery that the speaker generates at the moment of
speaking.  It does not make any claim about  lingusitic effects on
thoughts outside the context of speaking.

I hope that this clarifies things a bit.  As I do not subscribe to ILAT,
please CC your posting to ILAT also to <Sotaro.Kita at bristol.ac.uk>.
Thank you very much!

Reference
McNeill, David. (1992). Hand and mind. University of Chicago Press.

Best regards,
Sotaro Kita

-- 
Dr. Sotaro Kita

University of Bristol
Dept. of Experimental Psychology
8 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TN
United Kingdom

(Tel) +44-(0)117-928-8562
(Fax) +44-(0)117-928-8588
From outside of UK, skip the 0 in ().

sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk


*******************************************************************************
Natasha Warner
Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics
University of Arizona
PO Box 210028
Tucson, AZ 85721-0028


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 23 22:13:01 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:13:01 -0600
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.161301.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I appreciate Dr. Kita's explanation.  I would suggest that part of the
problem is how the media reports language issues.  Decades of half-baked
ideas about linguistic determinism have made a huge impression on the
public consciousness, leading many educated people to believe that
people's thoughts are sometimes constrained by the languages they speak.
 The media is fond of such stories, and usually misinterprets them.

For example, the article which was posted on this list-serve made it
sound as though Japanese and Turkish speakers were unable to conceive of
the action described, simply because their language does not have a
specific verb for that action (in the case of Japanese, the verb
encompasses both the meanings of "swing" and "sway;" as Dr. Kita points
out, it is only an intransitive verb, Japanese also has a separate
transitive verbs ("yuru," "yusuburu") for these actions).

In other words, the idea is created that Japanese and Turkish speakers
are not able to express themselves as well as English speakers, simply
because of their native language.  This not only has damaging
connotations, but it also has very little scientific basis--decades of
studies have confirmed only weak versions of this kind of idea, such as
"It is slightly easier for speakers to remember colors for which their
language has words," and have generally disconfirmed that people's
thinking is in any way limited by their native languages.

I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should, if
possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
them, because the effects can be quite damaging.  I remember, for
example, a book published in Japan with a title which would translate
something like "Lack of English Ability is Destroying the Nation," which
posited the ridiculous idea that Japanese people cannot express
themselves clearly, due to the language they speak, and that English was
the solution.

Actually, of course, the Japanese LANGUAGE can express anything it needs
to, but Japanese CULTURE often requires its members to express
themselves indirectly.  Of course, this cultural convention is reflected
in the language, (for example, many indirect phrases that can be used to
make a request more polite) but it does not mean, by any standards, that
Japanese (or any other language) is not capable of being clear, it's
just that doing so, in certain situations, can be percieved as rude.

Unfortunately, because of the many myths about language that exist in
the public consciousness, this kind of distinction is too often lost.
 In the case of a large, powerful language like Japanese, the damage is
probably not significant, but in the case of indigenous languages, these
myths (such as the old Sapir-Whorf saw "Hopi has no words relating to
time") can be very destructive indeed.

Matthew Ward

Natasha L Warner wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Dr. Kita, whose work has been discussed on this list lately, asked me to
>post the following message for him.  (He is a former colleague of mine.)
>As he suggests at the end of his message, please copy him at
>sotaro.kita at bristol.ac.uk on any responses.  Also, I am afraid my email
>program is not encoding the characters of Dr. Kita's collaborator's last
>name correctly in the message below.  For clarity, her name is Asli
>OEzyuerek.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Natasha Warner
>
>Dear Dr. Senarslan and readers of ILAT,
>
>One of my colleagues has told me that some discussions are going on in
>ILAT about our work, which was recently covered by mass media.  The
>difficulty of such a situation is that what people see is not our work
>itself, but a journalist's summary of our work (or, in many cases, a
>journalist's summary of another journalist's summary).
>
>Some of the messages in ILAT (not Dr. Senarslan's) seem to interpret our
>work to be a "deficit grammar" study,  making an English superiority
>claim.  This characterization is completely inaccurate.  The study has
>been published in the following journal.
>
>Kita, Sotaro, & ?zy?rek, Asli (2003). What does cross-linguistic
>variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?:
>Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and
>speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 16-32.
>
>I would appreciate it if you could base your scholary criticisms on our
>publication, from now on.  If you do not have access to this journal, I
>am happy to send you a PDF version of the published article.
>
>Another thing that did not get through the media is that this is a
>collaborative work between myself and Dr. Asli ?zy?rek (Max Planck
>Institute for Psycholinguistics, the Netherlands).
>
>Back to linguistics,  there are a couple of messages that point out that
>Turkish (Dr. Senarslan) and Japanese (Dr. Ward) do have a verb to
>swing.  As I will explain later, whether or not Turkish and Japanese
>have a certain verb or not is not really the central issue in our study.
>But, let me discuss the issue of the existence of swinging verbs in
>Japanese and Turkish first.
>
>Dr. Senarslan pointed out that Turkish sal could refer to swinging.
>According to my collaborator, who is a Turkish speaker, sal  roughly
>means dangling (one end of a long thin object is fixed, and the other
>end is free and is capable of moving about).  Though sal and swing have
>some referential overlap, sal is not really felicitous in description of
>an event in which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to
>Point B.
>
>Dr. Ward recently pointed out that Japanese yureru could refer to
>swinging. Yureru roughly means swaying (one end of a long thin object is
>fixed, and the other end is free and moves about). Unlike in sal, yureru
>entails movement (but the movement is not directed). In addition, yureru
>does not refer to intentional action; thus yureru cannot refer to Tarzan
>swinging from one tree to another.   Yureru has referential overlap with
>swing, but it is not really felicitous in description of an event in
>which an animate figure swings on a rope from Point A to Point B.
>
>The precise semantics of these related verbs is not really the crucial
>point of our study.  The crucial point is that the English speakers
>encoded different set of information from Japanese and Turkish speakers
>when they described a scene from an animated cartoon.  This is the scene
>in which Sylvester the cat swings on a rope from one building to another
>in his attempt to catch Tweetie bird. None of the 15 Japanese and 17
>Turkish speakers, who talked about this event, did not encode the arc
>trajectory (they simply said something like, "the cat went/flew to the
>other side"), where as 16 English speakers all used the verb "swing" and
>thus encoded the arc trajectory.  Obviously, there are many other
>differences.  All Turkish speakers encoded evidentiality, and most
>speakers of the other languages did not, and all Japanese spakers
>encoded addressee-honorification but most speakers of the other
>languages did not.  We focused on encoding of spatial information in
>speech in our study since iconic co-speech gesture is believed to be
>driven by underlying spatial and motoric imagery that the speaker
>activates at the moment of speaking (McNeill, 1992).  We found that
>Japanese and Turkish speakers are more likely to produce a gesture that
>moves straight, namely, that does NOT encode the arc trajectory than
>English speakers.  Based on the assumption that co-speech iconic
>gestures reveal important aspects of the speaker's imagery at the moment
>of speaking, we concluded that the imagery that speaker generates at the
>moment of speaking is influenced by how the speech production process
>organizes information.  We suggested that adjusting the content of
>imagery according to the preference of the speech production process
>might facilitate verbalization of thought.
>
>The above article include analysis of how Manner and Path of a motion
>event is expressed in speech and in gesture in the three languages.  All
>three languages expressed both Manner and Path of a particular event in
>the cartoon, but the syntax they used were different.  And, the
>linguistic difference was mirrored in a gestural difference.  For the
>sake of brevity, I will not go into further details.
>
>One caveat is that our study only makes a claim about linguistic
>influence on the imagery that the speaker generates at the moment of
>speaking.  It does not make any claim about  lingusitic effects on
>thoughts outside the context of speaking.
>
>I hope that this clarifies things a bit.  As I do not subscribe to ILAT,
>please CC your posting to ILAT also to <Sotaro.Kita at bristol.ac.uk>.
>Thank you very much!
>
>Reference
>McNeill, David. (1992). Hand and mind. University of Chicago Press.
>
>Best regards,
>Sotaro Kita
>
>
>


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:36:45 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:36:45 -0700
Subject: New ISO fees on the horizon? (fwd link)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.163645.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

New ISO fees on the horizon?
September 19, 2003, 5:55 PM PDT

Information technology standards groups are raising warning flags over a
proposal that could raise fees for commonly used industry codes,
including two-letter country abbreviations, used in many commercial
software products.

http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5079256.html


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:48:08 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:48:08 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think =?us-ascii?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <3F70C56D.4060109@luna.cc.nm.us>
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.164808.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Dear all,
I have cut n paste the issue below;


> I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should,
if
> possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
> them, because the effects can be quite damaging.


This is a common problem with the media. Two years ago I had an
article published on the origin of the word Oregon and the media chose
several different ways to report our theory. I think this problem
occurs because their scientific experts are, manytimes, from a
previous generation of education and had preconceived (old school)
scientific notions in their analysis. This may also be why many new
and interesting theories on social science and linguistics don't make
it into the media, because it may be considered too avant garde or
radical for the mainstream. These media scientific analysts could then
be considered gatekeeping and straining current theory for the
mainstream.  I'm at a loss as to see how the original authors of such
articles can have any control over this process. For my article, I was
only ever questioned by local media and the AP never saw fit to call
me to clarify anything before publishing their anaylsis.

I have also found that many people never actually read the original
published articles and rely upon media reports of those articles. I
think this is a cultural phenomenon of the information age, where we
have so much information thrust upon us that we must rely on second
hand media analysis to take much of it in. I know this happens with
myself. But I find that for those few specialized subjects that I am
studying and interested in that I will go get the original articles
when possible.

Perhaps this is the best way we can proceed, and seek to correct media
errors on a case by case basis.

David Lewis


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 23 23:51:18 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:51:18 -0700
Subject: Native American firms climb small biz ladder (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.23.SEP.2003.165118.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

09/15/03; Vol. 18 No. 12
Washington Technology

Native American firms climb small biz ladder
Companies more 'entrepreneurial' in government market

By Nick Wakeman
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/18_12/federal/21635-1.html

When Barney Uhart came to work for Chugach Alaska Corp. in 1993, the
company was emerging from bankruptcy.

The corporation and its Alaskan Native members in the coastal area of
Prince William Sound had been devastated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill,
which severely damaged the fisheries they depended on as major source
of revenue.

"I came on board to find another line of business for the corporation,"
said Uhart, president and chief executive officer.

Chugach decided to pursue government support services, particularly base
operations and maintenance work. The company won its first contract for
$5 million in 1994 to operate and maintain the King Salmon Airport in
Alaska, an Air Force facility.

>From that humble start, the corporation has built a $500 million annual
business with operations in 24 states and six foreign countries. The
majority of the work is base operations and maintenance.

"We do everything that it takes to run a facility, and a lot of IT
services are included," Uhart said.

The IT portion of its work was enough to land Chugach the No. 6 spot on
this year's Washington Technology Top 25 8(a) list, which ranks the
largest 8(a) firms doing business with the federal government. The
company had about $38.8 million in overall IT during fiscal 2002, with
about $2.4 million from 8(a) contracts.

Chugach is one of eight Native American-owned firms on this year's list.
Six of the eight are tribally owned or Alaskan Native Settlement Act
corporations: Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Bowhead Support Services
Inc., Choctaw Management Services Enterprise, Chugach, S&K Technologies
Inc. and TKC Communications LLC.

Individuals of Native American ancestry own two of the eight companies:
Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc. and Cherokee Information Services.

The top ranked Native American company is Choctaw of Durant, Okla.,
which was ranked No. 3 with $47.7 million in overall IT revenue and
$40.8 million in 8(a) contracts. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma owns
the company.

The prominence of the Native American companies on this year's list
stands in contrast to last year, when only four Native American
companies -- Choctaw, Arctic Slope, Datatrac Information Services Inc.
and Wyandotte Net Tel -- made the list. Arctic Slope of Barrow, Alaska,
is ranked No. 8 this year with $36.2 million in overall IT revenue and
$35.6 million in 8(a) revenue.

Other 8(a) companies that provide a range of services join these
companies.

At No. 1 is Force3 Inc. of Crofton, Md., which had $105.8 million in
overall IT revenue and $38.6 million in 8(a) revenue. The companies on
the list are ranked by overall IT revenue, not 8(a) revenue.

Force3 provides IT services, particularly in networking. Ranked No. 3
last year, Force3 is one of 11 companies on the list making a repeat
appearance. In fact, the top four companies are veteran Top 25
companies: Force3, Artel Inc., Choctaw and Computer & Hi-tech
Management Inc.

Several notable companies from last year's list have graduated from the
8(a) program, including 2002 top company Datatrac of Richardson, Texas,
and the No. 2 company RS Information Systems Inc. of McLean, Va.

The rise of the Native American companies isn't attributable to any
single factor, industry and government officials said.

There are 513 Native American-owned 8(a) companies, according to the
Small Business Administration. Tribes own some, and individuals of
Native American ancestry own some.

"There were two or three things that helped us," said Greg Dumontier,
president of S&K Technologies of St. Ignatius, Mont., the No. 7 company
with about $38 million in overall IT dollars and $2.4 million from 8(a)
contracts.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Indian
Reservation own the company in western Montana. S&K Technologies got a
fast start, Dumontier said, because it used the business infrastructure
of S&K Electronics, a former 8(a) company that the tribes owned. Under
the 8(a) laws, tribal governments and Alaskan Native corporations are
allowed to own multiple 8(a) companies.

S&K Technologies started as a three-person unit of S&K Electronics in
1997, Dumontier said. It became its own company in 1999, and today has
250 employees, he said.

"The tribe has a reputation of being one of the more progressive ones,"
he said.

Companies owned by tribal governments and Alaskan Native corporations
have benefits not available to other 8(a) companies, such as no ceiling
on sole-source awards. In addition, prime contractors can apply for a 5
percent fee if they use a Native American company as a subcontractor on
Defense Department work.

The tribal-owned and Alaskan Native corporations get these benefits
because the profits from their businesses go back to the tribe or
corporation shareholders to be used for training, education and other
government services.

"The villages are historically poor and lack many resources," said
Katharine Boyce, a partner at the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP,
who specializes in Native American issues. "And federal funds have
never met the requirements under the treaty obligations."

But many of the 8(a) benefits for Native American companies have been in
place for more than 20 years, and likely are not the reason for the
recent growth of the Native American contractors, said Darryl
Harriston, SBA deputy associate deputy administrator for government
contracting and business development.

SBA has been trying to increase awareness of these programs, but "what
you are seeing is Native American companies being more aggressive and
understanding the procurement process better," he said. "Over the last
few years, the tribes have become much more entrepreneurial."

The Army, Air Force and Navy have been particularly good at creating
opportunities for Native American-owned companies, Boyce said.

"It used to be weird to see a Native American company on someone's
team," said James Kane, president of Federal Sources Inc., McLean, Va.
"Now it isn't." *


From mshawaway at WSTRIBES.ORG  Wed Sep 24 22:08:44 2003
From: mshawaway at WSTRIBES.ORG (Myra Shawaway)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:08:44 -0700
Subject: Language influences the way you think (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.150844.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Thank you DL,  It is dis-heartening to see your words become something else
from a media source.  MJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Gene Lewis" <coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: Language influences the way you think (fwd)


> Dear all,
> I have cut n paste the issue below;
>
>
> > I would suggest that those who conduct these kind of studies should,
> if
> > possible, take steps to ensure that the media does not misinterpret
> > them, because the effects can be quite damaging.
>
>
> This is a common problem with the media. Two years ago I had an
> article published on the origin of the word Oregon and the media chose
> several different ways to report our theory. I think this problem
> occurs because their scientific experts are, manytimes, from a
> previous generation of education and had preconceived (old school)
> scientific notions in their analysis. This may also be why many new
> and interesting theories on social science and linguistics don't make
> it into the media, because it may be considered too avant garde or
> radical for the mainstream. These media scientific analysts could then
> be considered gatekeeping and straining current theory for the
> mainstream.  I'm at a loss as to see how the original authors of such
> articles can have any control over this process. For my article, I was
> only ever questioned by local media and the AP never saw fit to call
> me to clarify anything before publishing their anaylsis.
>
> I have also found that many people never actually read the original
> published articles and rely upon media reports of those articles. I
> think this is a cultural phenomenon of the information age, where we
> have so much information thrust upon us that we must rely on second
> hand media analysis to take much of it in. I know this happens with
> myself. But I find that for those few specialized subjects that I am
> studying and interested in that I will go get the original articles
> when possible.
>
> Perhaps this is the best way we can proceed, and seek to correct media
> errors on a case by case basis.
>
> David Lewis


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:06:04 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:06:04 -0700
Subject: Inuit talk the talk (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.190604.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Inuit talk the talk

By?OLIVER MOORE
Globe and Mail Update
Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2003
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030924.wlang0924/BNStory/National/

Inuktitut remains widely understood in Canada's North, a new report
finds. Statistics Canada researchers found that 90 per cent of all
off-reserve Inuit say that they can speak or understand Inuktitut.

After centuries of colonization and assimilation, Inuktitut is the only
major native language group to be flourishing off the reserve in
Canada. It is the only substantial positive amid a report chock full of
bleak news about the low use of aboriginal languages.

The report's authors analyzed the data of the 2001 Aboriginal Peoples
Survey, crunching the numbers to draw conclusions about the entire
off-reserve native population of Canada. They found that, in spite of
evidence that some people are deliberately learning an aboriginal
language later in life, comprehension of these languages is found in
only a small minority of Indians and M?tis living off the reserve.

Less than one-third (32 per cent) of off-reserve Indians over the age of
15 said they could speak or understand even a single aboriginal
language.

Less than 15 per cent of adults said their comprehension was either
?very? or ?reasonably? good. Among children, less than 15 per cent said
they could speak or understand an aboriginal language.

M?tis fared even more poorly. Barely one in six M?tis (16 per cent) were
able to speak an aboriginal language, and only 5 per cent said they
knew it well. Comprehension was lower among children than adults, with
only 11 per cent of M?tis children saying they knew how to speak an
aboriginal language.

Impressive as they are by comparison to Indians or M?tis, the Inuit
success story is diluted somewhat by the diminishing ability of their
young to speak the language well. While 80 per cent of adults say they
can speak their native tongue ?very well,? only 63 per cent of those
under the age of 15 said they could speak it ?very? or ?reasonably?
well.

A clear majority of aboriginal people told researchers that they
recognize the importance of keeping their languages alive.

The same proportion (about 60 per cent) said that it is either very or
somewhat important that their children learn an aboriginal language.
That desire may account for the small but significant group of people
who learn an aboriginal tongue later in life.

The 2001 census showed that, while only 12 per cent had an aboriginal
mother tongue,15 per cent claimed proficiency in an aboriginal
language.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:10:44 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:10:44 -0700
Subject: More funds sought to save Indigenous dialects (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.191044.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

More funds sought to save Indigenous dialects

Thursday, 25 September 2003
http://www.abc.net.au/northwestwa/news/200309/s953311.htm

 An international endangered languages conference in Broome, in
north-west Western Australia, has renewed calls for an increase in
funding to help preserve some of the Kimberley's rare Aboriginal
dialects.

 The UK-based group, the Foundation for Endangered Languages, has hosted
its seventh annual conference to discuss how to best preserve minority
language groups.

 There are 30 different Aboriginal languages in the Kimberley, some of
which have already become extinct, while many have only a small number
of remaining speakers.

 The chairwoman of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, June Oscar,
says funding for language preservation has not kept pace with real
costs.

 "I hope that it doesn't remain forever at the same level, that through
continued advocacy on the part of endangered language speakers and
their languages that we're able to bring some positive benefits and
changes," she said.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 02:17:16 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:17:16 -0700
Subject: Aboriginal Peoples Survey show =?iso-8859-1?b?Tel0aXM=?= at high
 risk for chronic ailments (fwd)
Message-ID: <WED.24.SEP.2003.191716.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Aboriginal Peoples Survey show M?tis at high risk for chronic ailments
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/September2003/24/c4365.html

    OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 24 /CNW/ - The release today of the initial
findings of Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) shows the M?tis Nation at
highest risk for chronic pain and for life threatening health
conditions. In the finding entitled "Well-being of the non-reserve
Aboriginal Population" it showed that M?tis over the age of 15 had the
highest rates for heart problems and high blood pressure. The M?tis
also had the highest rates for stomach problems and intestinal ulcers
and were nearly equal to North American Indian population for high
rates of asthma and rheumatism or arthritis.  The Inuit population had
the lowest rates in all categories. (The APS numbers do not include the
on-reserve population of First Nations.)

    Clem Chartier, Vice-President of the M?tis National Council and
Minister of M?tis Rights and Self-government said, "It is important for
the Canadian government to come to terms with the health needs of the
M?tis population. At the same time our people are struggling with these
urgent health issues; we receive minimal support from the federal
government for our health care needs."

    Harley Desjarlais, Minister of Health said, "the numbers released
today regarding the chronic ailments are of great concern to the M?tis
Nation. They paint a picture of pain, people living with arthritis and
stomach problems that are much higher than the Canadian norm. Our
people are also at the risk of some of the biggest killers, heart
problems and high blood pressure."

    Other factors of interest to the M?tis Nation include the lowest
rates in learning an Aboriginal language. Aboriginal language being
spoken in the home also dropped precipitously from 1996, when this
factor was last recorded. In 1996 ability to converse in an Aboriginal
language was at 4%, in 2001 the
number dropped to 3%. More telling is the factor of "Aboriginal language
spoken most often at home." In this category the number dropped to 1%
from 3%.

    "This factor tells us that an important part of the M?tis culture is
in critical danger. The Michif language, which is unique to the M?tis
is being threatened but so are other Aboriginal languages that are a
part of the M?tis heritage," said Interim President and National
Spokesperson Audrey Poitras.
"Now is a time for change. We are committed to turning things around. We
now live in a world where our Aboriginal rights are respected in the
constitution of Canada and recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada.
We are determined to make things better for the health and the culture
of the M?tis Nation."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 16:39:03 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 09:39:03 -0700
Subject: Province aids native language organization (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.093903.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Province aids native language organization
http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_ablang20030924

WINNIPEG - The province has announced it will provide significant
funding to help preserve native languages.

Just over $73,000 will go to Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba, a
non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the seven main native
languages spoken in Manitoba: Cree, Dene, Dakota, Michif, Inuktituq,
Ojibwe (Saulteaux) and Oji-Cree, a dialect spoken in Island Lake.

Part of the money will go to updating and compiling dictionaries and
books of grammar, as well as translation services and language lessons.

A new survey released by Statistics Canada shows fewer and fewer First
Nations people are speaking their traditional languages. The report
shows only 16 per cent of aboriginal people living off-reserve can
carry on a conversation in their native language, down from 21 per cent
in 1996.

"It's still a struggle, a continuous struggle," says Carol Beaulieu, of
Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba. "I think we have come back, because
now we're able to use new technology to preserve it, for example CDs,
tapes, videos, things like that.That has assisted a lot in the coming
back of languages and the preservation."

Aboriginal Languages of Manitoba, which was founded in 1984, is one of
only a handful of similar organizations across the country.  The
funding announced Thursday amounts to just under one-third of the
organization's annual budget.


From liko at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Thu Sep 25 16:35:19 2003
From: liko at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Liko Puha)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 06:35:19 -1000
Subject: Province aids native language organization (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.063519.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Aloha mai k?ua,

I mea e ?ike ai ?oe, ?a?ole au ma ka hana i n? l? 25-26 o Kepakemapa. In?
he mea ko?iko?i Leoki k?u, e leka mai ?oe i? Kamalu Perreira a i'ole i?
Keola Donaghy.

Me ka mahalo nui i ka ho?omanawanui mau,
na Liko


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Thu Sep 25 17:44:41 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 10:44:41 -0700
Subject: Program Coordinator AILDI (fwd announcement)
Message-ID: <THU.25.SEP.2003.104441.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Program Coordinator, Senior for the American Indian Language Development
Institute (AILDI)

The University of Arizona, Department of Language, Reading & Culture,
seeks a full-time Program Coordinator, Senior for the American Indian
Language Development Institute (AILDI).  The AILDI is a four-week
summer teacher preparation program in American Indian linguistics and
bilingual/multicultural curriculum development, with significant
outreach and recruitment/retention functions throughout the academic
year.

?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030925/920cbb45/attachment.html>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 26 18:13:23 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:13:23 -0700
Subject: Native odyssey highlights importance of language (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.26.SEP.2003.111323.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Native odyssey highlights importance of language

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/09/26/news/local/news12.txt

WASHINGTON ? It wasn't the blisters and shin splints that John
LaFountain remembered as he walked the last three miles of a 1,700-mile
odyssey, but the language of his ancestors.

La Fountain, 48, and 16 other Lakota people finished a 77-day journey
from Pine Ridge to Washington, D.C.

LaFountain, joined by members of the Seven Fires Foundation, concluded
the Spirit Walk 2003 Race Against Time Thursday with prayers at the
Washington Monument.

"This is the first step to ensure that the Lakota language is not lost
like many other languages of the Americas," LaFountain said in a
telephone interview.

The Reno, Nev., man had dreamed about this walk more than a year ago. It
was the realization of a dream to conclude this important mission of
language awareness, he said.

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota,
LaFountain wanted to bring attention to the dwindling population of
fluent speakers and the apathy of those left about learning the
language.

"It's been tremendous. A lot of people had no idea about what was
happening to our language. They thought it was thriving, while it's
actually on the doorstep of extinction," he said.

Roger LaMere, 51, of Rapid City agrees.

LaMere says a lot of people are concerned, and education is vital to
keep not only the language alive, but the culture as well.

"It has to do with our culture and even our way of praying," he said.

Through forced assimilation, the majority of native languages have
disappeared from the Americas "and ours is on the brink."

Of South Dakota's American Indian population of about 59,355 people,
only several hundred are fluent. Of those, 75 percent are elders and
irreplaceable once they've died.

Part of losing the language is the loss of the Lakota's traditional
ways.

"For a lot of youth, being a Lakota is to dance and sing at powwows, and
that's the extent of it. There's more to it than that," LaMere said.

LaFountain and his group walked the first 100 miles to Winner. After
that, they walked relay-fashion, covering 25 miles a day. Walking at
the height of summer with temperatures soaring to the high 90s and even
100 degrees, the marchers would begin at 5 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m.
"It was brutal," LaFountain recalled.

As the seasons began to change, the group started at 7 a.m. and
concluded by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.

"It's an experience that all of us will hold close to our hearts, and
it's been a very harmonious, a very powerful and moving event,"
LaFountain said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen at rapidcityjournal.com


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Fri Sep 26 18:30:49 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 11:30:49 -0700
Subject: Language of life (fwd)
Message-ID: <FRI.26.SEP.2003.113049.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Language of life

New trilingual curriculum in Greenland strengthens English-language
education
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/features/30926_01.html

AASIAAT, Greenland ? The students in the senior English class at
Gammeqarfik elementary school stare intently at their guest, a genuine
Canadian ? from the Arctic no less. And they're anxious to hear what
the language they've been studying actually sounds like.

Trouble is, few of them can understand a word of it.

English is a required subject for students in Greenland, though they are
unlikely to learn enough of it in their nine mandatory years of
education to gain even a basic understanding.

The phrase scrawled on the blackboard at the front of the room says
something about a brown-haired girl and a small dog, and the workbook
asks questions like "What is your favourite food?" and "What is your
favourite colour?"

The more advanced of the students have managed to answer the question
that asks them to fill in their name.

But a working knowledge of English is not necessary for daily life in
Greenland. For the vast majority of the 600 students at Gammeqarfik,
their first language is Greenlandic, a dialect of Inuktitut. And as the
secondary school curriculum is largely a copy of the Danish system, it
fosters a strong knowledge of Danish as well.

But Greenland educators are discovering that if Greenlandic students are
to become citizens of the world ? to use the Internet and pursue higher
education ? they must be able to communicate in it.

So just last month, as a new school year began, primary schools in
Greenland introduced a new trilingual curriculum, meant to provide the
next generation of students with a solid foundation in Greenlandic,
Danish and English.

Work began on the new curriculum in 1998. In early 2001, Greenlandic
educators discussed their plans with education officials in Nunavut,
saying Greenland schools are producing a generation of young adults who
can speak only one language,    Greenlandic.

And as Nunavut education officials look to Greenland for direction in
developing a curriculum to strengthen Inuktitut education, they might
also take some lessons in the importance of English.

The "new law," as Sara Brandt, the leader, or principal of Gammeqarfik,
calls it, introduces not just a new language of study, but also a new
type of education.

It's an experimental system, she says, that will introduce English in
the 4th Grade instead of the 7th.

"English ? here it's the second foreign language they learn,"    she
says.

But the "new law" is not just about language-instruction, it will   
also create a new type of educational environment, one that will allow
parents to direct their child's education.

"It's a completely new form of school study ? at your own level instead
of classes," Brandt says.

Parent involvement allows Greenland schools to focus strictly on
academics and modern studies, while leaving traditional education to
the family. Gammeqarfik's music room is filled with enough equipment to
outfit several rock bands, but not one cultural troupe.

"There is not much drum dancing, but drums, guitar, the new music,"    a
school official says.

So by the time they get to secondary school, there's much more time for
subjects like chemistry and biology, because students already have a
thorough background in kayaking and whale hunting.

In fact, despite the school system's focus on academics, Aasiaat, a
fishing village in the Disko Bay region of northern Greenland with a
population of 3,500, remains one of the most traditional communities in
the country.

"The dream of every young boy in Greenland is to stand on a boat and be
in command," says Gert Molgaard, a math teacher and administrator at
Avannaani Ilinniarnertuunngorniarfik, Aasiaat's secondary school.

The school, known commonly as GU Aasiaat, unabashedly immerses its 250
students in a strict academic system ? based almost entirely in Danish.

"The goal in public school is teaching in Greenlandic, but not here,"
Molgaard says. "It's important they learn to work with Danish as a
language. If they go on from here, they have to go somewhere to get
higher education."

But too few students go on to higher education, Molgaard says,
estimating less than half of his school's students will pursue
university training.

A strong background in English may give future students more options,
and even the confidence to go abroad.

But studies in Danish and English won't change the importance of
Greenlandic in village life. Molgaard says his job, as an educator, is
not to alter that reality.

"If you have any job whatsoever, you have to understand Greenlandic."


From miakalish at REDPONY.US  Sun Sep 28 00:44:34 2003
From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (MiaKalish@RedPony)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 18:44:34 -0600
Subject: Scents/smells
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.184434.0600.MIAKALISH@REDPONY.US>

My materials for Apache contain very few words for scents and smells. yet the Sense of Smell is the only one that goes directly to the inner brain, bypassing the corpus collosum that mediates the input of the other senses. The brain reads the scents directly, through the two-dimension receptor activation map. . . and is capable of recognizing 10,000 or more individual scents. 

Ants communicate with each other via scents, ant eaters communicate with the ants via scents. . . humans tell whether fruit is ripe and meat is rotten by their smells. . . in the desert, when it rains, a unique plant infuses the air with its unique, water-activated, scent. . . and yet, in our languages, we have no words to discuss this more primitive of our perceptual senses? Does anyone have any conflicting evidence, that is, a language that is rich in words that describe scents? 

Thanks, 
Mia


"Heritage Languages: Don't leave home without one."

Mia Kalish, M.A. 
Director, Red Pony Heritage Language Team
PhD Student, Computer Science
Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352
www.redpony.us 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030927/2810bafc/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Ivy.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 5665 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030927/2810bafc/attachment.gif>

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 03:27:30 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:27:30 -0700
Subject: COMANCHE CODE TALKERS HONORED (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.202730.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

COMANCHE CODE TALKERS HONORED

Friday, September 26, 2003
http://216.87.159.49/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=3017

The highlight of today`s ceremony was a tribute paid to the brave
warriors who played a vital role in the United State`s World War Two
victory. The Comanche Code Talkers relayed their secret language to
fellow troops, an undecipherable code that German forces couldn`t
crack. At today`s ceremony, the last living Comanche Code Talker showed
he`s still got it. Charles Chibitty spoke several phrases to the crowd
this afternoon in his native Comanche tongue. A language he still
cherishes to this day.

Centuries of rich history honored at the Comanche Nation tribal complex.
A ceremony commemorating all fallen Comanche heroes. A bronze statue
unveiled as a special tribute to the 17 Comanche Code Talkers that led
the U.S. to victory in World War Two, who before the war, were
forbidden to speak their native language in school. "If they were
caught talking their language, they would be whipped, put on detail,
and in some cases they had they`re mouths washed out with soapy water."

But the same language that led to severe punishment before, became a
thing of legend during World War Two. 17 Comanche Code Talkers are
credited with preventing Germans from intercepting vital, tactical
information. "We want to honor Charles Chibitty, who is 82 years of
age, because brother, you`re the last one remaining and I think you
deserve a round of applause.

Charles Chibitty was one of 17 Comanche Code Talkers who relayed
information during the southern invasion of Germany and on Utah Beach
in Normandy on D-Day. "Many times I said to myself, while the others
was living, we was crazy as hell to join up for this, but we used our
language on the battlefield, just like I am talking English here
today."

The Comanche Code Talkers are all listed on a commemorative quilt and
the bronze statue, capturing the spirit of the Comanche Code Talkers
and that vital role they played in our nations history. "I still talk
Comanche, once in a while I make a slip and I was trying to say
mosquito, I say mosiqua, but that was close enough, mosiqua."

It`s the language and the sacrifice he and other Code Talkers made that
Chibitty hopes his words and this statue honor forever.

Chibitty has lived in Tulsa since 1945 and he says for the rest of his
days, he`ll continue to spread the word to younger genrations so the
Code Talkers history doesn`t fade away.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 03:33:18 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:33:18 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.27.SEP.2003.203318.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Microsoft translates software into African languages
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp

A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.

Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.

The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
get to grips with technology.

"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
Africa.

Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.

Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
to the public to make suggestions."

He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
that used indigenous languages.

"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
that we also develop local languages in order to address the
population's communication needs," said Gondwe.

Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
during the translation.

"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Sun Sep 28 22:21:59 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:21:59 -0700
Subject: Hear our words (fwd)
Message-ID: <SUN.28.SEP.2003.152159.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hear our words

Language retreat at Glacier Bay Lodge affords an opportunity to speak
Tlingit 24 hours a day

Sunday, September 28, 2003

By Scott Foster
For the Juneau Empire ? 2003
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/092803/loc_language.shtml

Study German or French in school and you can look forward to a European
trip as a reward and an opportunity to further develop language skills
in the real world.

"Unfortunately, there's not a Tlingit-speaking world for us to go to,"
said Roy Mitchell, a sociolinguist at the Sealaska Heritage Institute.
"We're trying to do the next best thing, which is make one ourselves."

That next best thing was a 10-day Tlingit language immersion retreat.

"For many people, including most of the elders, this is the first
opportunity they've had in 50 or 60 years to be in a situation where
they're speaking Tlingit with each other on a 24-hour-a-day basis,"
said Mitchell, the retreat's coordinator.

More than 30 people attended the most recent retreat from Sept. 8 to 18
at Glacier Bay Lodge. Most of the participants were descendants of the
people of Glacier Bay, according to Mitchell.

"It's been very powerful for the people here to be literally on the site
where their ancestors lived," he said.

Those ancestors' Tlingit descendants today number between 13,000 and
14,000, said John Martin, who was in charge of protocol at the retreat.

"Only 140 to 200 of those are fluent Tlingit speakers," he said.

The retreat, funded by a $446,000, three-year federal grant to SHI, is
intended to help increase Tlingit-language fluency among students and
train Native language teachers.

Goldbelt Inc., Huna Heritage Foundation and the National Park Service
were partners in the Glacier Bay retreat, contributing about $150,000
in travel, lodging and other in-kind services. An earlier retreat was
held this summer in Sitka. Four more will take place in the next two
years.

Rosita Worl, SHI president, said the grant was a "significant step
toward perpetuating Native language." With fewer than 200 fluent
Tlingit speakers, that may seem a daunting, but not impossible, task -
at least according to participants at the Glacier Bay retreat.

"I am determined to learn this language," said Lance Twitchell,
president of the Skagway Tribal Council and a retreat participant. His
passion comes in part from a book he read in college that gave the
Tlingit language only a 30-year life span.

"That became a major goal," Twitchell said. "To assist to make sure that
prediction never comes true."

Sociolinguist Mitchell admits saving the Tlingit language won't be easy.
"But at the same time, I know it is possible," he said.

Among all the Alaska Native languages, he estimates the number of young
people now learning Tlingit is the second highest, behind those
learning Yup'ik.

The immersion technique used at the retreat meant only Tlingit was
spoken for 10 days. Those who are fluent helped those who were
learning. For example, Tlingit speaker Nora Dauenhauer described
herself as being used as a dictionary. To help those with fewer
language skills get started, a small card with phrases was distributed.
They included words such as Daa sa, for "what's that?" and Tsu ax ?en
sa for "name it again."

A group of fluent-speaking elders taught throughout the retreat. In
addition to casual conversations, students also practiced Tlingit while
learning to make baskets, carving and beading. Two language classes
were held each day, and sessions in singing, drumming and dancing were
held in the evenings.

Being immersed in a world where only Tlingit was spoken wasn't always
easy. Linda Belarde is from Juneau but left in 1964 and most recently
was a school principal in Zuni, N.M. She wrote a poem about learning
Tlingit that included the lines, "Stupider and stupider. I must be from
Jupiter."

Frustrations, however, were overpowered by determination.

Daphne Wright, who teaches in the Hoonah City Schools, held a water cup
and used it as a metaphor.

"This cup is how much language I know," she said.

Then looking out the lodge windows to the waters of Glacier Bay, she
said, "Out there is the whole Tlingit language. I came here to try to
get a little more."

Kahlil Hudson came from Africa, where he is a Peace Corps volunteer
teaching English in Benin, to attend the retreat along with his
grandmother, mother and sister. During the last evening he admitted,
"Growing up (in Juneau) I didn't always feel proud of being a Tlingit.
That's a terrible thing to have to say. After these 10 days, I can say
I've never been more proud to be a Tlingit."

Many felt similar emotions and pride. At 15, Nikka Mork from Juneau was
the youngest to take part in the retreat. She said the experience
changed her.

"I didn't want to come back (home)," she said.

Like many participants, Mary Folletti knew only a few Tlingit words
growing up in Haines. But, like many others attending the retreat, she
is determined to speak the language.

"I want to be able to teach my kids and grandkids the Tlingit language,"
she said. "I want to be able to pass on from my ancestors what they
passed on to us."

"Knock on wood," Mitchell said, "I think in a few years we're going to
see a few young families where the mother and father - maybe both of
them - speaking Tlingit as a second language, will be raising their
children as first-language speakers again."

Hans Chester grew up in Juneau speaking English. In 1996 he started
studying Tlingit and has recognized what he calls "a fire inside" that
keeps growing.

"Each year more firewood gets put on," he said.

Chester, one of the teachers at the Glacier Bay retreat, turned 26
recently. He is recognized as the youngest fluent Tlingit speaker in
the world, an honor he tends to downplay.

"He (Chester) and others now have demonstrated it is possible in the
21st century to learn and become fluent in Tlingit," Mitchell said.

It was that realization that gives hope to the elders. Agnes Bellinger
of Juneau told the students: "I won't lose sleep anymore. I know our
language is safe."

The evidence for Bellinger's optimism was everywhere at the retreat,
including a poem written and read by student Lily Hudson during the
group's last night together:

   "I looked in the mirror this morning

   and saw your face as my reflection.

  I opened my mouth to speak

  and your words came pouring forth.

  I sang and danced this afternoon

  and felt your spirit dancing too.

  Your art flows through my hands.

  I crave the food you crave.

  Your passions are my passions

  And your path to pain is my own

  Gunalch?esh my elders.

  Gunalch?esh my ancestors.

  Your seeds have well been sown."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Mon Sep 29 16:23:46 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:23:46 -0700
Subject: 25-year plan to lift Maori language (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.092346.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

25-year plan to lift Maori language

29.09.2003
By AUDREY YOUNG
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3526058&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Government departments will have to develop five-year plans to make the
Maori language part of their services.

The measure is part of a 25-year plan, being issued today, to revitalise
the Maori language through use in the community, rather than through
formal education.

Maori has been an official language of New Zealand since 1987.

A report on the plan says it is important for people to be able to use
Maori in dealing with public services.

It says this will "support the increased use of the Maori language and
will enhance the value of the Maori language within New Zealand
society".

Making the speaking of Maori a normal part of family and community
settings is the key to the plan.

Its key goal says: "By 2028, Maori language will be widely spoken by
Maori.

 In particular, the Maori language will be in common use within Maori
whanau, homes and communities. All New Zealanders will appreciate the
value of the Maori language to New Zealand society."

Government measures will include providing public services in the Maori
language, continuing support for Maori broadcasting and education,
Maori language arts such as kapa haka and speech competitions, and
having Maori language archives in the National Library.

The Ministry of Maori Development, Te Puni Kokiri, will monitor the
progress of all agencies.

But much of the way the plan will work is yet to be determined. This
will be done by communities themselves.

"Maori have the lead role to play in revitalising the Maori language
because ultimately the language is a Maori taonga," says the report.

Language revitalisation requires planning at community level, it says,
and iwi, hapu and other Maori organisations are best placed to do this.

The report says tribal and regional differences in Maori must be
maintained.

Since the 1970s, the revitalisation of the language has depended on
building a critical mass of speakers through formal education.

While that has to continue, the report says, the plan will focus on
greater use of the Maori language in the community.

"By normalising the use of Maori language in whanau settings, language
acquisition by future generations will become an accepted feature of
everyday life and this will see the language flourish."

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia says in the report that the
health of the Maori language was severely compromised through the 20th
century.

Maori initiated ways to retain it, supported by the Government.

That provided a solid foundation, but greater planning and co-ordination
are required for the next 25 years.

Facts on te reo

* About 130,000 people - 25 per cent of the Maori population - speak
Maori.

* 68 per cent of Maori believe having more Maori spoken in public is
good.

* Fewer than 1 per cent of non-Maori speak Maori.

* Most non-Maori have a positive or neutral attitude towards Maori
learning and speaking Maori in Maori settings.

* 40 per cent of non-Maori support the use of Maori in wider society.

* About 600 Maori language immersion early childhood services, mainly
kohanga reo, are educating 10,000 children, or about 15 per cent of
Maori children.

* About 14 per cent of Maori school students - 21,500 pupils - are
completing some of their learning in Maori language.


From CMcMillan at WVC.EDU  Tue Sep 30 00:10:37 2003
From: CMcMillan at WVC.EDU (McMillan, Carol)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:10:37 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.171037.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>


I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary supporters of apartheid. 

The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this as the language of aparthied and of the oppressors.  The people of Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk through town.  The police opened fire on them, killing at least 70 elementary school children and wounding many others.

We often think in terms of English being the only language of oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English. I am glad that the software for African language translation has been developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.

tac' halaxp,
Carol McMillan


-----Original Message-----
From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)


Microsoft translates software into African languages
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp

A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.

Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.

The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
get to grips with technology.

"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
Africa.

Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.

Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
to the public to make suggestions."

He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
that used indigenous languages.

"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
that we also develop local languages in order to address the
population's communication needs," said Gondwe.

Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
during the translation.

"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.

From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 01:30:10 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 18:30:10 -0700
Subject: A Life of Struggle (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.183010.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

A Life of Struggle
Don Andr?s: Elder of Mexico?s Indigenous National Congress

By Annalena Oeffner
Narco News Authentic Journalism Scholar
September 29, 2003
http://www.narconews.com/Issue31/article876.html

Sitting on an old, worn-out bed in a tiny, broken-down shack whose floor
is covered in red corncobs, Andr?s Vasquez de Santiago, 93 years old
and maybe one meter forty (4 feet 7 inches) in height, looks fragile.
He has the coffee-brown skin of the Mexican Otom?-indigenous,
strikingly full and white hair and is dressed in old green trousers,
sneakers, a white shirt and a towel thrown on his shoulders. Asked to
tell about his life, he laughs and says, there is nothing to tell
about. But then he begins anyway. Don Andr?s, as people call him, has
struggled all his life for the rights of the indigenous people in
Mexico. He is one of the founders of the Indigenous National Congress
(CNI in its Spanish acronym) and its oldest delegate. And he is a
walking history book about the indigenous' situation of the last
century.

"A lot has changed," observes the man born in 1910, the year of the
Mexican revolution against the leadership of General D?az, led by
Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Many indigenous
rights supporters (including don Andr?s' grandson, Juan) gathered this
summer of 2003 in Oventik, Chiapas to see the birth of the latest
progress of their cause: the formation of regional, autonomous Good
Government Councils, which have assumed roles in the self-management of
communities formerly handled only by the State. Although many of don
Andr?s' colleagues from the Indigenous National Congress were present
in Oventik, seven years after its foundation the organization remains
an enigma to a lot of the global and Mexican supporters of the
indigenous cause. It has no office, no paid staff, and it does not
receive grants. Like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, the CNI
has often gone for many months in silence, without making a public
statement. But in Oventik, for the first time since the Zapatista march
to Mexico City in 2001, it suddenly reappeared again, at center stage
of the struggle, an important voice that joins 56 of Mexico's 62
indigenous ethnicities.

The struggle of the indigenous people in Mexico has a long history and
is still ongoing. Despite programs by the government and international
organizations aimed at the indigenous population, their situation is
far from what don Andr?s, the CNI delegate, thinks it should be.
Speaking with don Andr?s, the long history begins to unfold for the
outsider.

"His memory goes back 90 years," a good friend of his and fellow
delegate of the CNI, Miguel Alvarez, explains. "Many indigenous have
good memories because of all the bad things that have happened to them.
You don't forget those things." Alvarez, who describes himself as
"mestizo con coraz?n" ("mestizo with heart" ? mestizo meaning someone
of mixed indigenous/white ancestry), portrays don Andr?s as "very wise
and very, very intelligent." He is tiny, but "his real greatness is in
his head." Don Andr?s went to school for only a year and has been a
campesino (peasant farmer) all his life. Asking Miguel Alvarez when don
Andr?s started to engage in politics, he replies: "At the age of
reason, when he was about nine years old."

Don Andr?s has been an elected town council leader for Apaseo el Grande,
Guanajuato. "I have always been with the campesinos, with those who
don't have capital," he says. "They respect me, they are my people. I
was always in opposition to the political figures." He also explains
that he would accompany people whenever they had problems with the
authorities. For the last three years, however, he has not gone. "I
can't. I don't hear, I see very little." Still, even in recent years,
he participated in various national meetings of the CNI, the Zapatista
caravan of 2001, delivered remarks at last February?s drug legalization
summit in M?rida, and worked as a professor there and on Isla Mujeres
with the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism.

Don Andr?s is poor, in the economic sense of the word. This becomes
obvious immediately when squeezing one's way through the crooked wooden
gate, crossing the bumps, holes and mud of the small strip of garden to
his house with its crumbling walls. There is hardly any furniture
inside. Having been a peasant farmer, don Andr?s does not receive any
government aid. Those people like him without family do not have any
source of income. Yet, don Andr?s says, a lot has improved since the
time when he was little: "After the revolution [of 1910] came the
hunger, we didn't have anything to eat, all the people were hungry. We
only lived of wild herbs such as nopales (cactus) and beans, well, bean
soup because we didn't have enough. It was all natural, we didn't have
mills or tortilla makers. Even when the revolution had finished, there
was a lot of food shortage and illness and many people died of it. In
the year 1920, when I was ten, we boys earned 18 centavos daily, so
that we would not go to school, because the priests did not want us to
go to school. So they paid us 18 centavos for a whole day. It was a
misery. Like nowadays, those who knew how to read could escape
slavery."

"I hate the priests," don Andr?s says. "I consider them traitors to
human beings. They were brought by the Spaniards and were the most
powerful weapon you can imagine. And they are still being used as such.
The priests came to intimidate us, talking about excommunication and
hell. 'You will condemn yourselves, my children,' they would say at
those times, 'if you take over land. The rich have the land, because
they worked for it.'"

Up to 1935, don Andr?s recalls, the campesinos never wore trousers. Then
the governor of Quer?taro, the nearest city, decreed that he would
imprison anyone who did not wear trousers. Because of this "rat", as
don Andr?s calls him, many people were never able to go to the city.

Don Andr?s was born to parents who spoke Otom?-?ah??, the language of
the Otom?-indigenous. In Miguel Alvarez? opinion, the government
figures undercount the number of Otom?-speakers (about 292,000 in 2000,
according to the Mexican National Institute of Geographic and
Information Technology statistics, given that there are still five
million people with Otom? roots in Mexico.  Some of those continue to
live according to old traditions in secluded communities often
difficult to access. When he first met Miguel Alvarez in 1992, don
Andr?s "had lost contact with his people and believed that the Otom?s
had disappeared and their language become extinct. He lives very
isolated and doesn't speak Otom? anymore, but he understands it. His
parents spoke Otom?, but the children were not allowed to speak it in
school. If they did, their teachers would beat them. People thus lost
the relations with their ancestors, their customs etc." According to
the Christian Science Monitor, Yolandra Lastra, a Mexican linguist,
argues: "Some people think a language can die out, but the culture and
the knowledge will persist. I do not. I think the language and culture
die together."

Nobody can tell me exactly how many descendants the old man has. He has
eleven children and is by now great-great-grandfather. Many of his
family live in his little village, San Bartolom? Aguacaliente, in the
state of Guanajuato, a half-hour's drive from the city of Quer?taro,
north of Mexico City. Don Andr?s was born there in 1910. The number of
human lives lost during the 11-yearlong revolution that began the same
year varies from "official" estimates of circa six percent to about a
fifth of the population (according to Robert McCaa from the University
of Minnesota Population Center). That revolution, says Mexican author
and La Jornada columnist Raquel Guti?rrez Aguilar, was the beginning of
the modern Mexico. Its product was the "ideal nation": la naci?n
mestiza. In this nation, everyone was supposed to have the same
opportunities, as a popular saying illustrates: "My father was a slave
on a farm, and I am a revolutionary, my children set up a store, and my
grandson is a government functionary." In the 1980s, the Mexican
markets were opened to foreign competition, neoliberalism made its way
to Mexico. The situation for many people worsened, as educational
programs (such as grants for university education) were stopped. "The
rich became richer, the public facilities started deteriorating," says
Raquel Guti?rrez.

In 1992, the U.S. Congress established a Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee
Commission for the celebration of Columbus Day on October 12. It was
the year of the 500th anniversary of the "Encounter of the Two Worlds."
According to Miguel Alvarez, many indigenous did not accept the
celebrations in memory of the invasion of their lands, and instead
protested. He says, "the Spaniards and the other Europeans came to
steal. They didn't bring anything, they just took. They didn't bring
more than the sword and they imposed their religion by force. They
didn't know how to talk. They enslaved the people, took pure gold and
brought little mirrors and beads in exchange."

All these factors led to the rising up of the Zapatistas in 1994 in the
southeastern state of Chiapas to demand indigenous autonomy over their
land and ways of living. Previously, there had only been indigenous
organizations of national significance that fought for their rights as
peasant farmers as opposed to indigenous rights. There was a government
office for indigenous people, called Instituto Nacional Indigenista.
Raquel Guti?rrez describes how it assisted people in selling their
handicrafts, benefiting the market. "They helped them not to be
indigenous. So these people were beginning to become someone else." In
her point of view, only when the Zapatistas appeared on the scene did
Mexicans truly realize that there were so many indigenous in their
country. Also, "we began to feel that we were indigenous too, that they
were our ancestors. It was really the Zapatistas who managed to make
people aware of that."

In 1996, the San Andr?s Accords were signed but have never been
implemented. They set out the restoration of autonomy to all aspects of
indigenous life, such as control over local government, its form and
judicial processes, the media and, most importantly, their land and its
resources. The same year, leaders of the various indigenous groups met
in Mexico City. Among them were the Zapatista Comandanta Ramona and don
Andr?s. This was the first Indigenous National Congress. Although the
vast majority of its members are poor farmers, they have nevertheless
managed to meet several times since then.

The CNI acts as umbrella organization for most indigenous ethnic groups.
Its main goal (identical with that of the Zapatistas) is the compliance
with the San Andr?s Accords. The PRI government's failure to enact the
agreements was a major factor for the ending of the party's reign after
71 years in 2000. Present president Vicente Fox, who had pledged to
solve the Chiapas conflict (in effect the question of indigenous
self-rule) "in fifteen minutes," has not, however, kept his promise.
The reform the Mexican government did ratify in April 2001 was rejected
by the Zapatistas and the CNI, for it ignored the main demands of the
indigenous peoples.

According to Raquel Guti?rrez, the CNI can be both weak and strong:
"It's an organization that's not really an organization. Only when
everyone meets, it exists. If not, well, it exists because it can exist
again." When the Zapatistas marched to Mexico City in 2001, for
example, they asked the CNI to mobilize the communities outside
Chiapas. "But when the Indigenous Law was introduced, the CNI didn't
appear. So it is sometimes strong and sometimes not." The problem
Guti?rrez sees is the "lack of capacity to struggle on a local level."
Each community has distinct forms of living, of producing food etc.
Other ones may have a similar organization, but they are not related to
each other. "At the CNI meetings are regional leaders that are very
representative of their communities, who live there and talk to the
people. But at the meetings, they will speak about their very specific
problems and they just don't see a little bit wider. The CNI, as
compared to indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador for example,
doesn't have the capacity to work on a regional level, to link between
communities."

Concerning the indigenous population, the Fox government "is doing
stupid things," claims Raquel Guti?rrez. Policies such as continuing to
open the markets to foreign competition have resulted in "huge
organizations of peasant farmers to demand that frontiers be closed for
agricultural products." An example of a government aid program for
indigenous people is Procampo, which has since 1996 made payments to
farmers based on their historical production and to make more efficient
use of their resources. Guti?rrez points out that it serves the
government's interests far more than the people at whom it is aimed.
"They go to the communities, register everyone and then give the women
about 200 or 300 pesos [20 to 30 US dollars] per child. These children
are being weighed and measured every two months. If they don't grow and
gain the weight expected by the government, they are forced to leave
the program. Instead of giving the children more, since they are
lacking, they are being punished for their parents' 'bad use of the
money'. All of a sudden, these women have become rivals and start to
fight among themselves. To administer such program is stupid. They are
simply handout-programs, which don't serve the people. Instead, they
create conflict within communities, making it more difficult for the
people to unite and to struggle for common objectives. This form of
giving money is a way of controlling people. The government doesn't
only have a perfect list of them and knows what is happening, but it
has a way of causing trouble, of controlling the rebellions."

In a report for the Canadian International Development Agency, Raymond
Obomsawin mentions a study in a Mexican village which revealed that
Otom? school-age children knew the names and uses of 138 plants,
compared to 37 for non-Amerindian children, but were considered
'ignorant' and in need of an education. He quotes L. Arizpe, who said
that "focusing on culture and on the preservation of people's knowledge
is central in the fight against poverty."

>From personal experience, Raquel Guti?rrez talks about the "development
aid" given by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Mexico: "They
impose their own political agendas, or worse, the agendas of those who
support them. Instead of listening to the people about their needs,
they do things that were decided in other places, with other interests.
When you live with indigenous, you learn and you give. But it should be
an interchanging relation. You could offer to teach them one thing,
maybe how to use a computer, and they might teach you in return which
plants are good for you when you have a cold. You have to build up a
relation where you respect the people. I've seen many NGO workers who
are good people, well-intentioned, but who do stupid things. If I only
give to you and give to you and give to you, I end up treating you like
a child, a minor, like someone who doesn't know what's good for him."

Treating the indigenous like minors, calling their knowledge "ignorant"
- nothing could apply less to don Andr?s, by now a living embodiment of
the history of the indigenous struggle in Mexico. Whoever has met don
Andr?s will have nothing but respect for the wisdom of this man,
acquired during 93 years of surviving in a world that does not give the
same rights to everyone. And they will laugh with him when he claims
there is nothing in his life to tell about. After a life on the fields,
don Andr?s knows how to predict the weather, he knows "when it will
rain." "The air is changing," he explains, "next year will be a good
year." Nevertheless, looking at the present situation of the indigenous
people, a lot still has to be done for the next years to be "good
years" for everyone in Mexico. The life-long struggle of don Andr?s and
many others might have led to improvements, but, as he points out: "The
poor continue being poor."


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 01:33:04 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 18:33:04 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.183304.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS'
Sep 29 2003

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13459583_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-GAELIC--EXTINCT-IN-40-YEARS--name_page.html

GAELIC is in terminal decline and could be extinct as an everyday
language within 40 years, it was claimed yesterday.

Just one per cent of the country admits to having a working knowledge of
it, with 1500 speakers dying each year.

Last year, the number of Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552 the lowest
number ever.

American academic Dr Daniel Abrams studied the language and found that
if Gaelic declines at its current rate, it will vanish as a working
tongue by 2040.


From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 02:17:02 2003
From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Phil CashCash)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:17:02 -0700
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <57664317D605B044AD13399A5817166542D7C2@mail.wvc.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.191702.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

qe'ciy?ew'yew' (thanks) Carol,

Phil Cash Cash
UofA, ILAT



> ----- Message from CMcMillan at WVC.EDU ---------
>     Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:10:37 -0700
>     From: "McMillan, Carol" <CMcMillan at WVC.EDU>
> Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>  Subject: Re: Microsoft translates software into African languages
(fwd)
>       To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>
>
> I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement
> below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language
> of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary
> supporters of apartheid.
>
> The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the
> aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would
> no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this
> as the language of aparthied and of the oppressors.  The people of
> Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on
> the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to
> Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk
> through town.  The police opened fire on them, killing at least 70
> elementary school children and wounding many others.
>
> We often think in terms of English being the only language of
> oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other
> non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English.
> I am glad that the software for African language translation has been
> developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly
> indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.
>
> tac' halaxp,
> Carol McMillan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
>
>
> Microsoft translates software into African languages
> http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp
>
> A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated
> into
> six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.
>
> Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
> months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The
> other
> languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.
>
> The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages
> to
> get to grips with technology.
>
> "During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
> building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We
> believe
> there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
> equipped with the information and communication tools in their
> language
> of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
> Africa.
>
> Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
> Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
> computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
> development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.
>
> Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
> struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
> Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
> understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are
> looking
> to the public to make suggestions."
>
> He said the idea started when they looked at certain European
> countries
> that used indigenous languages.
>
> "We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
> able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was
> imperative
> that we also develop local languages in order to address the
> population's communication needs," said Gondwe.
>
> Government departments and academics at universities were also
> consulted
> during the translation.
>
> "We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve
> the
> Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the
> Department
> of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
> Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.
>
>
> ----- End message from CMcMillan at WVC.EDU -----


From keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Tue Sep 30 05:48:59 2003
From: keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Keola Donaghy)
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 19:48:59 -1000
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <1064885584.83d772eed3f69@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.29.SEP.2003.194859.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I spent a month in Ireland last summer, and met with a number of the
individuals involved in the perpetuation of the language, via the
gaelscoileanna (Irish immersion schools), the Linguistics Institute of
Ireland and other efforts. While there was concern, I never encountered a
the sense of desperation that this story imparts. Has anyone seen the
"report" alluded to? I searched the web and could not find it. The
situation there is far more complex than simply 50,000 speakers and 1,500
speakers dying each year, and it would be useful to know what other facts
were assembled to draw this conclusion.

I also wonder what "country" is being referred to. "Gaelic"  is spoken in
more than one. James McCloskey at UC-Santa Cruz ("Voices Silenced: Has
Irish a Future?", 2001) says that there are 20,000-30,000 native Irish
speakers, and 100,000 who use it to some degree in their daily lives. I
was told during my visit that somewhere between 6 and 8 percent of the
elementary through high school students in Ireland attend schools in the
gaelscoileanna program.

Toward the end of my visit, I was informed that legislation had been
proposed that would guarantee Irish speakers the right to interact with
their government in their own language, and it seems to have passed
(http://www.cnag.ie/). They interpretted this to me that if someone called
or walked into a government office, that office would be compelled to
provide an Irish-speaking employee whom that person could conduct
business.

There is Irish language TV programming, radio stations, newspapers and
websites. While it may indeed require a considerable effort to maintain
the current number of speakers or increase it, I certainly don't share
this reports' pessimism. I hope I live long enough to see it proved wrong.

Keola

=======================================================================
Keola Donaghy
Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
University of Hawai'i at Hilo

keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
=======================================================================


Penei ka ~Q?lelo a Indigenous Languages and Technology
<ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>:
>GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS'
>Sep 29 2003
>
>http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13459583_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-GAELIC--EXTINCT-IN-40-YEARS--name_page.html
>
>GAELIC is in terminal decline and could be extinct as an everyday
>language within 40 years, it was claimed yesterday.
>
>Just one per cent of the country admits to having a working knowledge of
>it, with 1500 speakers dying each year.
>
>Last year, the number of Gaelic speakers fell to 58,552 the lowest
>number ever.
>
>American academic Dr Daniel Abrams studied the language and found that
>if Gaelic declines at its current rate, it will vanish as a working
>tongue by 2040.


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 16:43:21 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 10:43:21 -0600
Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.104321.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

McMillan, Carol wrote:

"We often think in terms of English being the only language of
oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous
languages gaining power as a replacement for English."

This is a good point.  I've often had the experience of reading articles
in the mainstream press about the issue of global language loss,
mentioning areas like China, Indonesia, or Latin America, where the
indigenous languages are threatened by dominant tongues like Mandarin
Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Then, suddenly, the
writer concludes that it's all due to the global dominance of English!

English does have a unique position among the world's languages, and
this creates many legitimate issues (for example, many EU countries are
concerned that English not become the only language of the EU
government), but in large parts of the world, it is not the primary
threat to indigenous languages.  Of course,  in places where English is
the dominant mother tongue, English IS indeed the major threat to other
languages, so when we look at language issues in North America, the
dominance of English is our main concern.  But, minority languages of
mainland Europe like Basque and Romansch, for example, are being
replaced by languages like Spanish, French, and German, not English.
 The minority languages of China and Taiwan are being replaced by
Mandarin Chinese, and not English.  The minority languages of Mexico,
Guatemala, Bolivia, and Peru are being threatened by Spanish, not
English.  (In fact, in Central America, English-based creole languages
are among those threatened by the growing dominance of Spanish).
 Indeed, even in places like Anglophone Africa and India, where English
enjoys official status, minority languages are being replaced by
dominant indigenous languages like Hindi and Hausa, not by English.

Another irony:  the percentage of native speakers of English among the
world's population has been falling since the 1950's, and is projected
to continue to fall for another half century or so, mostly due to
changing demographic patterns worldwide.  Meanwhile, the percentage of
native speakers of languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Arabic
has risen very sharply, due in part to the replacement of indigenous
languages by dominant ones, but more due, again, simply to changing
demographics.

So, the real problem is not English per se, it is the general pattern of
powerful languages replacing less powerful ones.

Having said all that, I must say that it is highly possible for the same
language to be both a language of power and an oppressed language,
depending on the circumstance.  Here in NE New Mexico, Spanish once
played the role of a colonial language which was imposed on the
indigenous people.  However, at this point, it is threatened by English,
the latter which was imposed on Spanish-speaking people who were living
in New Mexico before the English speakers arrived, and indigenous
languages are now being threatened by English, not Spanish.  In Taiwan,
the resurgence of Taiwanese against Mandarin Chinese is a wonderful
example of a local language regaining power and prestige, but it also
makes some of the speakers of minority languages nervous, as they
believe that a resurgent Taiwanese could have the same damaging effect
on their own languages that Mandarin Chinese has had.  In mainland
China, Cantonese is a minority language, albeit a powerful one, while in
Hong Kong, Cantonese is the official language as well as the dominant
native language, and threatens other languages like Hakka.  In South
Africa, English was used as a language of liberation against apartheid,
and Afrikaans was seen as the language of oppression, but now that
apartheid is over, the tables have turned:  Afrikaans has lost power,
and the S. African government is concerned that Afrikaans, along with
other languages of S. Africa (indigenous or otherwise) do not become too
dominated by English.  So, these issues are not always simple.

At any rate, I do share your hope that at least the same amount of
attention is paid to developing technology for truly indigenous S.
African languages as is paid to Afrikaans.






McMillan, Carol wrote:

>I have to note that, of the languages listed in the announcement below, Afrikaans is not an indigenous language.  It is the language of the Afrikaaners, the Dutch-descent European-Africans, the primary supporters of apartheid.
>
>The massacre of the children of Soweto in the 1970's was due to the aparthied government's mandate that all K-12 schools in Soweto would no longer function in English, but in Afrikaans.  Families saw this as the language of aparthied and of the oppresso
rs.  The people of Soweto staged a peaceful protest; children did not attend school on the day that classroom instruction was to be switched from English to Afrikaans.  Instead, they gathered in front of the church to walk through town.  The police opene
d fire on them, killing at least 70 elementary school children and wounding many others.
>
>We often think in terms of English being the only language of oppression, but we also need to be vigilant about other non-indigenous languages gaining power as a replacement for English. I am glad that the software for African language translation has b
een developed.  I hope that it is as thorough a tool for the truly indigenous languages as it will be for Afrikaans.
>
>tac' halaxp,
>Carol McMillan
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Phil CashCash [mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU]
>Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 8:33 PM
>To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>Subject: Microsoft translates software into African languages (fwd)
>
>
>Microsoft translates software into African languages
>http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/09/28/business/technology/tech10.asp
>
>A software tool that will help computer programs to be translated into
>six African languages has been developed by Microsoft.
>
>Zulu and Afrikaans programs are ready for demonstration after three
>months of work by six members of Microsoft's technical team. The other
>languages in development are Setswana, Xhosa, Swahili and Sepedi.
>
>The software makes it easier for people speaking indigenous languages to
>get to grips with technology.
>
>"During the last decade, we have seen the impact of technology in
>building South Africa into a socioeconomic leader in Africa. We believe
>there are no limits to the potential South Africans can reach if
>equipped with the information and communication tools in their language
>of choice," said Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft South
>Africa.
>
>Khetsi Lehoko, deputy director-general in the national Education
>Department, said the development was appreciated particularly because
>computers were tools of learning. "It will contribute to the overall
>development of indigenous languages and raise their status," he said.
>
>Moss Gondwe, Microsoft's director for the public sector, said: "We
>struggled with terminology, like what to call the Internet in Zulu.
>Months of the year in Zulu would be difficult for urban kids to
>understand. We haven't finalised the terminology yet but we are looking
>to the public to make suggestions."
>
>He said the idea started when they looked at certain European countries
>that used indigenous languages.
>
>"We looked at France - people there can go into Windows and they are
>able to communicate in their own language. We thought it was imperative
>that we also develop local languages in order to address the
>population's communication needs," said Gondwe.
>
>Government departments and academics at universities were also consulted
>during the translation.
>
>"We couldn't develop local languages on our own. We had to involve the
>Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and the Department
>of Communications. Potchefstroom University was very helpful with
>Afrikaans terminology," said Gondwe.
>
>


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 17:59:55 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 10:59:55 -0700
Subject: 'Status' drives extinction of languages
In-Reply-To: <1064885584.83d772eed3f69@www.email.arizona.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.105955.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

'Status' drives extinction of languages
Bob Beale
ABC Science Online
 Thursday, 21 August  2003



A language's status in society is the best way to predict if it is
headed for extinction


Languages evolve and compete with each other much like plants and
animals, but those driven to extinction are almost always tongues with
a low social status, U.S. research shows.

The social status of a language is the most accurate way of predicting
whether it will survive, argue researchers in a paper appearing today
in the journal, Nature. They also suggest that active intervention to
boost the status of rare and endangered languages can save them.

"Thousands of the world's languages are vanishing at an alarming rate,
with 90% of them being expected to disappear with the current
generation," warned Dr Daniel Abrams and Professor Steven Strogatz,
both of Cornell University in New York.

The pair have developed a simple mathematical model of language
competition to explain how dialects such as Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and
Quechua - the most common surviving indigenous language in the
Americas - have lost out to more dominant tongues.

The model is based on data they collected on the number of speakers of
endangered languages - in 42 regions of Peru, Scotland, Wales,
Bolivia, Ireland and Alsa?e-Lorraine - over time. All have been in
steep decline over the past century or so, and the model suggests that
Scottish Gaelic and Quechua will be close to extinct by about 2030.

Previous models of language dynamics have focused on the transmission
and evolution of syntax, grammar or other structural properties of a
language itself.

Yet by comparing various influences that help to explain the steadily
declining numbers of speakers of each language, Abrams and Strogatz
singled out status as the single most significant factor that could
predict its extinction threat.

"Quechua, for example, still has many speakers in Huanuco, Peru," they
note. "But its low status is driving a rapid shift to Spanish, which
leads to an unfortunate situation in which a child cannot communicate
with his or her grandparents."

A language's fate generally depends on both its number of speakers and
its perceived status, the latter usually reflecting the social or
economic opportunities afforded to its speakers, they said. When two
languages are in competition, the one that offers the greatest
opportunities to its speakers will usually prevail.

The researchers point out that bilingual societies do exist: "But the
histories of countries where two languages co-exist today generally
involve split populations that lived without significant interaction,
effectively in separate, monolingual societies. Only recently have
these communities begun to mix, allowing language competition to
begin."

They urged active intervention to slow the global rate of language
decline, pointing out that their model also predicts that higher
status will keep a language alive.

They also cite a real-life instance where this has happened: "The
example of Qu?bec French demonstrates that language decline can be
slowed by strategies such as policy-making, education and advertising,
in essence increasing an endangered language's status."

Similar measures may make a difference elsewhere, they argued.


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:03:33 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:03:33 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' =?iso-8859-1?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <fc.000f4a09004d6bc03b9aca007b78318a.4d6e61@leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.110333.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi Keola,
It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
David


From keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:11:56 2003
From: keola at LEOKI.UHH.HAWAII.EDU (Keola Donaghy)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 08:11:56 -1000
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <200309301803.h8UI3bXo006902@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.081156.1000.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
article.

There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
the whole report:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html

Keola


Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.


=======================================================================
Keola Donaghy
Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
University of Hawai'i at Hilo

keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
=======================================================================


From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 18:31:37 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:31:37 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' =?iso-8859-1?q?=28fwd=29?=
In-Reply-To: <fc.000f4a09004d73073b9aca007b78318a.4d730c@leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.113137.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi Keola,
I searched for Dr. Abrams at Cornell and it appears that there is a
graduate student of that name there. I wrote him to find out if it is
the same person. They probably have a more academic report of there
work that the Nature article is based on, or are producing one at
least.
David


-------------------
> Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and
apparently
> they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is
on the
> nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the
full
> article.
>
> There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but
still not
> the whole report:
>
> http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
> Keola
>
>
> Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
writes:
> >It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably
the
> >current issue. Although there might be another report behind that
one.
>
>
>
======================================================================
=
> Keola Donaghy
> Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
> Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
> University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
> keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
> Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>
======================================================================
=
>


From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 19:43:57 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:43:57 -0600
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.134357.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

I've read a lot about the situation with various forms of Gaelic as
spoken throughout Britain and Ireland, and I have a close friend who was
involved with the political movement which revived Welsh.  This is my
impression:

Welsh is doing very well--it is being passed on to the young, it is
being used in all levels of society, even as the medium of instruction
for university programs, and the number of native speakers is actually
increasing.  It is often cited as one of the greatest success stories in
terms of revitalizing an indigenous language.  Of course, there are
still questions as to its long-term survival, but, at this point, there
is no possibility that it will be extinct in 40 years, and it is
reasonably possible that it will actually be doing better in 40 years.
 There are generations of children growing up as native speakers of
Welsh--even if it suddenly stopped being passed on to children tomorrow,
(unlikely considering the currently situation) it would not become
extinct for quite a bit longer than 40 years.  David Crystal, one of the
best-known and most respected linguists in the world, is from Wales, and
he, among many others, reports the reality that Welsh is being passed on
to the younger generations.  He often cites Welsh as an example of how a
traditional language can remain viable in the modern world.

The situation with Irish and Scottish Gaelic is much less secure.  It is
my impression that many in Ireland are able to speak Irish Gaelic to
some level, as it is a required subject for all in school, but I believe
that it is still declining as a native language, and that, at any rate,
the situation is not nearly as good as that of Welsh.

Scottish Gaelic has an even weaker position, since it is not required
that everybody in Scotland study it.  The reason for this is that, in
much of Scotland, the traditional language was/is Scots, an
English-related language, and not Gaelic, which was historically mostly
spoken in the Highlands.

If the article in question was about Scottish Gaelic, I would find it
believable, if it was about Irish Gaelic, less so, and if it was about
Welsh, then the writer has been misinformed.


Keola Donaghy wrote:

>Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
>they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
>nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
>article.
>
>There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
>the whole report:
>
>http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
>Keola
>
>
>Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>
>
>>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
>>
>>
>
>
>=======================================================================
>Keola Donaghy
>Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
>Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
>University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
>keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
>Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>=======================================================================
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/b0b964d8/attachment.htm>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 20:18:30 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:18:30 -0600
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.141830.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Also, looking at the link to the article, I found this quote:

"But in a lot of other places, Abrams said, English has a very high
status and, "This is driving the disappearance of languages around the
world.""

As I noted in my post earlier today, this is just nonsense--a case of
confusing apples with oranges.  The article cites the example of
Quechua, the decline of which, obviously, has exactly nothing to do with
the status of English.  The same could be said about most of the
endangered languages in the world.  English does indeed have a high
status as a FOREIGN LANGUAGE in most countries around the world, but
that does not mean that it is "driving the disappearance of languages
around the world."  Indigenous languages are being replaced by the
dominant native languages of their societies, which, in most cases, are
not English.  English is, after all, spoken by a relatively small
(depending on who is counting, 5 to 7) and shrinking percentage of the
world's people.  I've lived in countries like Taiwan, Japan, and
Thailand, where English has been the most popular foreign language for
more than a century, and I've never met anyone in the non-English
speaking world whose native language was replaced by English, though I
have met many people who could not speak their parents' or grandparents'
minority languages or dialects, due to the increasing dominance of
powerful national languages.

If people cannot distinguish between the issue of English as an
international language and the issue of thousands of smaller languages
being replaced by a relatively small number of dominant national
languages, then I can't see how they can be taken seriously on their
timestable for the extinction of Gaelic.

The idea ""Multilingual" societies, like Switzerland, really consist of
mostly separate monolingual populations living side by side" also sounds
suspect to me.  From what I've heard, the multilingualism that exists in
Africa and S. Asia, for example, has existed for generations--long
before the arrival of colonial languages.  It may be a true statement
regarding Europe, but I highly doubt if it applies to the rest of the
world.

Keola Donaghy wrote:

>Mahalo David, yes it appears that is where the article is, and apparently
>they were referring to Scottish and Welsh Gaelic, not Irish. It is on the
>nature.com website, but requires a subscription for access to the full
>article.
>
>There is a short piece on the Cornell website on the report, but still not
>the whole report:
>
>http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/9.11.03/language_death.html
>
>Keola
>
>
>Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU> writes:
>
>
>>It appears the report might be in the journal "Nature." Probably the
>>current issue. Although there might be another report behind that one.
>>
>>
>
>
>=======================================================================
>Keola Donaghy
>Hawaiian Language Curriculum and Technology Coordinator
>Native Hawaiian Serving Institution Program
>University of Hawai'i at Hilo
>
>keola at leoki.uhh.hawaii.edu        http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nhsi
>Kualono                           http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/
>=======================================================================
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/4cce2a66/attachment.htm>

From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU  Tue Sep 30 20:43:01 2003
From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:43:01 -0700
Subject: Fwd: from Danny Abram; Gaelic issues
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0309301537440.20738-101000@audiophile.tam.cornell.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.134301.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

------ Forwarded message -------


From: Danny Abrams <dma32 at tam.cornell.edu>
To: David Gene Lewis <coyotez at darkwing.uoregon.edu>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:51:16 -0400 (EDT)

Hi David,

I am the correct person to contact regarding that article.  I'm a
graduate student at Cornell University, and I published a paper about
language death with my advisor, Steve Strogatz, in the August 21
edition
of Nature.

Unfortunately, the author of the Daily Record article oversimplified
the
idea a bit too much.  First of all, the report is referring to data on

Scots (not Irish) Gaelic, and we never made any claims about
predicting a
particular year for language death.  The paper is focused more on a
very
simple model that can match much of existing data, and I would be the
first to say that it is not accurate enough to be useful in later
stages
of language decline.

I've attached a copy of the paper to this email (it's only one page)
in
case you're interested.

Danny

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: AbramsStrogatz_finalversion.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 68608 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20030930/30fda9fc/attachment.pdf>

From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US  Tue Sep 30 20:56:57 2003
From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:56:57 -0600
Subject: Fwd: from Danny Abram; Gaelic issues
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.145657.0600.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

...as usual, an accurate article is completely distorted by the
mainstream media.

Abrams' article does not mention that language death in general is due
to the status of English worldwide, it does not make any claims about a
date of language death, and it was referring to Scottish Gaelic, which
is the most endangered indigenous language remaining in Britain/Ireland,
not Irish Gaelic or Welsh, two languages which remain more viable.

Why can't newspaper/magazine writers report on linguistic articles
without completely distorting their contents?

David Gene Lewis wrote:

>------ Forwarded message -------
>
>
>From: Danny Abrams <dma32 at tam.cornell.edu>
>To: David Gene Lewis <coyotez at darkwing.uoregon.edu>
>Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:51:16 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Hi David,
>
>I am the correct person to contact regarding that article.  I'm a
>graduate student at Cornell University, and I published a paper about
>language death with my advisor, Steve Strogatz, in the August 21
>edition
>of Nature.
>
>Unfortunately, the author of the Daily Record article oversimplified
>the
>idea a bit too much.  First of all, the report is referring to data on
>
>Scots (not Irish) Gaelic, and we never made any claims about
>predicting a
>particular year for language death.  The paper is focused more on a
>very
>simple model that can match much of existing data, and I would be the
>first to say that it is not accurate enough to be useful in later
>stages
>of language decline.
>
>I've attached a copy of the paper to this email (it's only one page)
>in
>case you're interested.
>
>Danny
>
>
>


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 30 21:51:41 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:51:41 -0700
Subject: GAELIC `EXTINCT IN 40 YEARS' (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.145141.0700.>

Keola Donaghy wrote:

> I never encountered a
> the sense of desperation that this story imparts. Has anyone seen the
> "report" alluded to? I searched the web and could not find it. The
> situation there is far more complex than simply 50,000 speakers and 1,500
> speakers dying each year, and it would be useful to know what other facts
> were assembled to draw this conclusion.

what ever the true number it is better than the Karuk people have with 10 fluent speakers (all over 70) and a total population of around 3500


From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG  Tue Sep 30 22:03:17 2003
From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:03:17 -0700
Subject: Elders Gathering
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.150317.0700.>

The Northern California Indian Development Council is pleased to host the
22nd annual Elders Dinner to be held from noon-4 PM on November 15, 2003 at
Redwood Acres in Eureka, CA.  The event also features an Inter-Tribal
Gathering with California and Inter-Tribal dances throughout the day and
ends at 10 PM. There is no charge for entrance to the Gathering. The dinner
is free to all Elders (Age 55 & Over).  For those under 55 a $6.00 donation
for dinner tickets is requested.

Last year the Elders Dinner and Inter-Tribal Gathering was a great
success.  We returned to our usual time of holding the event in November
and were quite pleased with the turnout.  We served over 1200 meals with
600+ being given away to community Elders.  Overall attendance was in
excess of 3500 people and an honoring ceremony was also held to provide
gifts to ALL Elders in attendance.

This event is sponsored by The Northern California Indian Development
Council but relies on the assistance of community partners and volunteers
to help make the day a success.  Donations are needed to support this
effort. If you would like to make a monetary gift or volunteer please
contact Anna House at (707) 445-8451.  For more information or to download
the event Poster please see: http://www.ncidc.org/nwit2001.htm .  We would
like to encourage all local business and Tribes to help support this worthy
event.

Much Appreciation For Your Continued Support,



Andr? Cramblit (Karuk)
NCIDC Operations Director

PS
If You have any great ideas about where to get Cash Donations, please let
me know!!!!!!

--

Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org)
is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and
operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes
(http://www.americanindianonline.com)

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE
AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS. For news of interest to
Natives subscribe send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


From langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU  Tue Sep 30 22:52:15 2003
From: langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Terry Langendoen)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:52:15 -0700
Subject: ISO reaffirms free-of-charge use of its country,
 currency and language codes
Message-ID: <TUE.30.SEP.2003.155215.0700.ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Hi everyone, in response to the recent posting to this list
regarding the possibility that ISO (the International
Organization for Standardization) would begin charging for the
use of certain of its codes, it issued the following press
release, which I obtained from its website
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/pressreleases/2003/Ref871.html

Terry
*****

Ref.: 871
30 September 2003

ISO reaffirms free-of-charge use of its country, currency and
language codes


ISO issues the following statement in response to recently
publicized misunderstandings of its current practice and
intentions regarding its widely used country, currency and
language codes.


ISO is to continue with its established practice of allowing
free-of-charge use of its country, currency and language codes
from, respectively, the ISO 3166, ISO 4127 and ISO 639 standards,
in commercial and other applications.


There is no proposal currently being considered by ISO to impose
charges for use of these codes, including on the World Wide Web
and in software applications.

Based on international consensus reached within the ISO standards
development system, these codes reduce the confusion that could
be created if there were multiple, conflicting codes in common
use. The development of the Web and of electronic commerce has
been facilitated by the existence of the ISO standardized codes
and their use has become pervasive.


ISO encourages such developments by making the two-letter country
codes contained in ISO 3166 available free of charge on ISO's Web
site, along with a great deal of regularly updated information
related to the codes and their use. The ISO Web site also has
hyperlinks to the sites of the British Standards Institution
(BSI) and the US Library of Congress - where the currency and
language codes are, respectively, publicly available.


The full ISO 3166, ISO 4127 and ISO 639 standards from which
these codes are drawn are available from ISO and its members on a
sales basis, as a contribution to supporting the standards
development process. However, ISO and its members do not charge
for the use made of the codes contained in these standards,
subject to this being consistent with ISO's copyright. For
example, ISO does not charge organizations for the inclusion of
the country codes in their Internet domain names, and ISO does
not charge banks for using the currency codes in their electronic
financial transactions.


If a user of the codes, such as a software developer, wishes to
claim that its product incorporates the codes in conformity with
the ISO standards (which could be perceived by the market as an
added value), then it would have an interest in buying the
standards to make sure that this is indeed the case. But this is
a "one-off" transaction for purchase of the standards; ISO does
not subsequently charge a fee for use of the codes in the
software product and has no plans for doing so.


Like many organizations, ISO continually reviews its practices
and products in order to provide added value to its customers.
With regard to ISO 3166, ISO is considering a proposal to develop
an optional software service package that would facilitate
incorporation and maintenance of the country codes in IT
products. The service package being considered would include
regular updating of the codes, which would add value to products
because they would be conforming to the International Standard
ISO 3166. The service package being considered would be a charged
option. However, no decision has yet been made to go ahead and
even if this option were developed, ISO will continue to allow
use of its country, currency and language codes free of charge.

Press contact:

Roger Frost
Press and Communication Manager
Public Relations Services
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 733 34 30
E-mail frost at iso.org