New language discovered

[Gary Holton]

Massimo,

I joined this discussion late -- my apologies if this message is
by now redundant.

I did see the David Harrison documentary. It's wonderful. Just a
"rough cut" at this point, but it shows much promise. You can
view clips at

 http://ironboundfilms.com/

Chulym in definitely NOT a newly disovered language. It is rather
an underdocumented language belonging to the Turkic family. Prior
to Harrison's recent field work, there had been no work on the
language for several decades. Harrison was not even sure whether
he would any speakers remaining. He was pleasantly surprized to
find several dozen speakers, some in their 50's.

_____________________________
Gary Holton
Alaska Native Language Center
University of Alaska
Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK  99775-7680
(907) 474-6585 [voice]
(907) 474-6586 [fax]
http://www.uaf.edu/anlc
gary.holton at uaf.edu



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]On Behalf Of Terry Langendoen
> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 12:04 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: New language discovered
>
>
> Hi Massimo,
>
> David Harrison has made a TV documentary about his fieldwork in
> Siberia.  A preliminary version was shown at LSA earlier this
> month. I didn't see it, but those who did said it is excellent.
>
> I don't know whether the language in question was "discovered".
> One way to check is to see if it's listed in the most current
> edition of Ethnologue. I don't know its typological properties
> either. I also can't give you a figure on how many
> languages have
> gone extinct in the past 10 years. I'm copying this
> reply to the
> ILAT list that Phil Cash Cash has set up.  Perhaps someone on
> that list can answer the questions you have raised. Sorry I
> couldn't be of more help. Good luck with your piece! Terry
>
> On Thu, 29 Jan 2004, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini wrote:
>
> > Dear Terry,
> > Tried to communicate with you by phone. I have been
> asked by Il Corriere to
> > write an article on the discovery of a new language
> in Siberia (Middle
> > Chulym, discovered by Swarthmore linguist David
> Harrison). Only a handful of
> > elderly speakers (about 35 individuals, all over
> 50). I would like to get
> > from you, either for quote or for my own
> elaboration, essential replies to
> > the following questions:
> > How many languages have disappeared already in the
> last, say, 10 years or
> > so?
> >
> > This new language (no details available on the press
> articles) may well have
> > some interesting novel features, but it will no
> doubt have the usual
> > universals. Can we make a quick list?
> >
> > What does it mean today, for linguists, to discover
> a new language?
> >
> > I have to send in my piece tomorrow (Friday), so a
> quick reply will be
> > highly appreciated
> > Thanks a lot
> > Massimo
> >
> >
> >
>
> Terry Langendoen, Dept of Linguistics, Univ of Arizona
>   P O Box 210028, 1100 E University Blvd, Tucson AZ
> 85721-0028 USA
> Phone: +1 520.621.6898            Fax: +1 520.626.9014
>   http://linguistics.arizona.edu/~langendoen
> Editor, Linguistics Abstracts
> http://www.linguisticsabstracts.com
>
> http://www.linguistlistplus.com
> Book review editor, LINGUIST List
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>