From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 4 04:56:18 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 21:56:18 -0700 Subject: The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 2005 (2) - Call for Papers (fwd) Message-ID: The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 2005 (2) Special Issue Call for Papers on: Minority languages, multimedia and the Web Guest Editors: Daniel Cunliffe, University of Glamorgan, UK (djcunlif at glam.ac.uk) Susan Herring, Indiana University, USA (herring at indiana.edu) Information and communications technology, and in particular the World Wide Web, can be a double-edged sword as regards the maintenance and revitalisation of minority languages. On the one hand, minority language communities can be active shapers of these technologies, creating their own tools, adapting existing tools to local needs, and creating culturally authentic, indigenous electronic media. On the other hand, these technologies can be seen as a force for globalisation and neo-colonisation, reinforcing the existing dominance of majority languages and breaking down geographical boundaries that in the past may have protected minority language groups. Researching the effects of multimedia and the Web on minority languages is challenging, and it is not yet clear how best to utilise these technologies to maintain and revitalise minority languages. This special issue invites researchers and practitioners who are actively engaged in addressing these issues from practical or theoretical viewpoints to share their findings and experiences and to contribute to a platform for future research. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: Minority language applications: - designing, implementing and evaluating applications ?- measuring the impact of applications on language use ?- promoting indigenous production and participatory design Influence of ICTs on minority languages: ?- adaptation of languages to online environments, e.g., Romanisation ?- behaviour of minority language speakers in online environments Measuring online minority languages: ?- quantitative and qualitative measurement of online presence and use ?- content related analysis of online presence and use Strategic issues: ?- understanding barriers to online minority language use ?- integrating multimedia and the Web into language planning Article submissions should typically be no longer than 7,000 words (excluding references) and should follow the formatting guidelines in the Instructions to Authors on the NRHM web site (www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp). Submissions should be sent by email to the Guest Editors, in Word, rtf or pdf format. If you have any questions concerning the scope of the call or require further information, please contact the Guest Editors. Open topic papers meeting NRHM's scope in general are also welcome (contact the Editor for further information). Submission deadline: April 30, 2005 Acceptance notification: June 30, 2005 Final manuscripts due: August 31, 2005 NRHM Editor Douglas Tudhope - dstudhope at glam.ac.uk Associate Editor Daniel Cunliffe - djcunlif at glam.ac.uk NRHM is published by Taylor & Francis, see http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Fri Feb 4 17:07:26 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 10:07:26 -0700 Subject: Study evaluates new model for reviving endangered languages (fwd) Message-ID: February 2005 · Vol 31 · No 2 The Ring is published at the University of Victoria Study evaluates new model for reviving endangered languages by Lynda Hills -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 391 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: okinawa.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3669 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- McIvor http://ring.uvic.ca/05feb03/features/language.html Saving a dying language is no easy task, but two First Nations communities in B.C. have created a model to do just that. Called "language nests," the programs are based on a Maori language revival initiative from New Zealand. The term refers to childcare programs for pre-school children taught exclusively in a heritage language. For her master's thesis, UVic child and youth care graduate student Onowa McIvor chose to study Lil'wat and Secwepemc language nests to inspire other First Nations communities looking for ways to revive their languages. Of the approximately 50 indigenous languages in Canada, over half of them are in B.C. According to language theorists, only three are expected to survive Canada-wide: Cree, Ojibwa and Inuktitut. None of these is historically rooted in B.C. "We know that language and culture are inextricably linked," McIvor says. "If the youngest members of a community are not learning the language then the language will die." McIvor examined each of the Lil'wat and Secwepemc community's language revival stories, the resources they used, how they kept the program going and how they overcame barriers. Her passion to protect languages comes from personal experience; it took just one generation for her family to lose their aboriginal language. "My grandparents spoke Swampy Cree but grew up in the era of assimilation. They were told that maintaining their language would hinder their children's future," she says. "Consequently, they were fluent Cree speakers but never spoke it to their children, a story all too common in Canadian aboriginal history. McIvor discovered that one of the main barriers to language revival is a lack of government support. As the Ministry of Health licenses most childcare programs in B.C., workers must have early childhood educator certification (ECE). Through ECE certification, childcare programs are eligible for subsidies and other types of funding, such as capital-cost start up money. But language nests don't quite fit the mold of other childcare programs. "This doesn't mean they are a less-quality program, they're just different," she says. "Because you need traditional language speakers to be the main caregivers, those people wouldn't necessarily have ECE-certified training." In the Secwepemc community, for example, there are two kinds of people working in the language nests: elders who are traditional speakers and "middle-generation" women with education degrees. However, because they don't have ECE certificates, the program is not eligible for funding. "It's quite ridiculous to think about sending either elders or those with bachelor degrees back for a one-year college course to teach them how to raise children," McIvor says. "As one community participant put it, ?We have been raising our children for thousands of years. We don't need anyone to tell us how to do it.'" McIvor believes that, despite funding challenges and even resistance within their own communities, the Lil'wat and Secwepemc nations offer inspiration and hope to other indigenous communities in Canada who want to save their languages. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3948 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Feb 5 22:29:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 15:29:17 -0700 Subject: Consumers Ready for Multimedia Mobile Phones (fwd) Message-ID: Consumers Ready for Multimedia Mobile Phones http://www.prweb.com/releases/Jan%20/9/prweb199515.htm New research from The Diffusion Group finds that consumers are ready to buy mobile phones that also support audio or video service. Dallas, TX (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) January 19, 2005 -- A new report from consumer technology think-tank, The Diffusion Group, finds that consumers are increasingly comfortable with the idea of listening to music of viewing video on their mobile phones. This should come as welcome news to the hundreds of IC, software, and hardware vendors looking to exploit this space. "Consumer Comfort with Using a Media Phone," the latest report from TDG Research, finds that among Internet households who also use a cell phone, 42% would be comfortable listening to music and 30% would be comfortable watching TV or movies on their cell phone. “More than 70% of US households in general, and 93% of Internet households in particular, now own at least one cell phone,” says Dale Gilliam III, analyst with The Diffusion Group. “Among Internet households, enjoying digital mobile multimedia is becoming increasingly attractive. Consumers are looking for convenient ways to access their digital media and the mobile phone offers an intuitive, familiar, and comfortable form factor through which to enjoy this content.” The following are some of the key findings from the study: •    Among Internet households who own a cell phone, more than 25% are interested in having a digital music player on their cell phone. •    Among those Internet households likely to cancel their landline phone service and go “mobile only,” 53% are comfortable listening to music on their cell phone, while 38% are comfortable watching TV or movies. •    Among the various age groups, younger heads-of-household are most comfortable with the idea of consuming multimedia content on their mobile phone. Almost 60% of 18 to 24 year-old Internet heads-of-household are comfortable listening to music on their cell phone, while 46% watching TV or movies. ~~~ TDG’s new report, "Consumer Comfort with Using a Media Phones," offers a statistical glimpse into the future market for mobile multimedia-enabled cell phones. The report is available on TDG Research’s website at www.tdgresearch.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 6 19:38:14 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:38:14 -0700 Subject: Elders honored for helping keep native language, traditions alive (fwd) Message-ID: Elders honored for helping keep native language, traditions alive By Ellen Thompson/Havre Daily News/ethompson at havredailynews.com http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2005/02/04/local_headlines/elders.txt The two women being honored at this week's Mid-Winter Fair at Fort Belknap don't know each other well but they have a lot in common. Theresa Walker Lamebull and Mabel Snell, at age 97, are both the oldest members of their respective tribes. Each woman is among the few remaining fluent speakers of their native languages. A banquet was held at the Red Whip Center at Fort Belknap on Wednesday to honor Lamebull, a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, and Snell, who is an Assiniboine. Both will be a focus of attention as fair events continue through this weekend, ending with a powwow on Saturday night. Lamebull has lived in Hays nearly all her life. She spent much of her time raising children and, after they grew up, teaching the Gros Ventre language to grade school and college students. Her efforts have helped to keep the language from dying. One of her former language students recently began teaching one of Lamebull's grandsons the Gros Ventre language, her daughter, Kathy Cichosz, said. One of Lamebull's fondest memories is of the old Hays fair. When she thinks about it now, she still smiles and laughs. At the fair, children would race horses and play games and there were funny contests, including an ugly contest, she said. "We used to really have good times," she said. Lamebull has enjoyed quilting and cooking throughout her life. Though her daughter prepares most of her meals now, Lamebull still makes her own native dishes, including boiled meat soups and dried meats and berries. For years she put those skills to use while raising her family. She canned meats and berries for food in the winter while her husband worked their ranch, Cichosz said. While Lamebull has kept up with her handiwork, what she misses, she said, is the way people used to visit one another more often. Guests arrived unannounced nearly every day, she said. Now people wait for invitations. Until recently, Lamebull could speak with other friends in their language and visit the way they used to, but her last Gros Ventre-speaking friend died recently, Cichosz said. Snell also fondly remembers the fair, particularly the nighttime dances. She also remembers the food. "Come and get it while it's hot, pickle on top," she said the children were told. Snell laughed again as she spoke the words. At the time, she said, she hardly knew that cars existed. Cars have brought the biggest change to the reservation, she said. Snell, who grew up near Lodge Pole, said that traveling between the reservation towns of Hays and Lodge Pole took two days in a covered wagon. She recalls making the trip to Chinook as well, where she and her family would go to collect cow intestines and other organs discarded by a butcher. She and her siblings and friends would blow air into the intestines or lungs and then bake them. Making a bitter face, she said she could still recall the taste that process left in her mouth, but she also laughed at the memory. Snell continued drying meat for friends until recently and she still quilts, a lifelong hobby, she said. She made a joke about her current quilting, adding that she has to stop whenever the thread drops out of the needle because she can't rethread it on her own. She has taken that kind of obstacle in stride. She said she simply waits for someone to come along and rethread her needle for her, and then continues along. Snell described her sewing machine as a mechanical, foot pedal-powered type. "I'd rather do that than use the electric kind," she said. Snell raised six sons, three of whom live near her on the reservation. Copyright © 2005 The Havre Daily News From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 6 19:45:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:45:44 -0700 Subject: Inuit Sign Language could open courts to the deaf (fwd) Message-ID: February 4, 2005 Inuit Sign Language could open courts to the deaf Official recognition, interpreter training only way to guarantee Charter rights SARA MINOGUE http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50204_10.html The case of Bobby Suwarak, a deaf man from Baker Lake who communicates with gestures not related to standard sign language, has raised the possibility of an indigenous sign language known to Inuit for centuries. And that has raised the potential for training legal interpreters who can assist deaf Nunavummiut, whether accused of crimes or victims of crimes, in the courts. According to David Kautaq, who grew up with Suwarak and has served as his interpreter several times, Suwarak can hear if you stand directly behind him and yell into his right ear at the top of your lungs. However, he prefers to communicate with his friend using the language he learned from Suwarak's family, which he describes as "basically like charades," a gesture system made up of English and Inuktitut. In court-ordered assessments, a hearing specialist from Montreal has determined three times that Suwarak cannot communicate effectively in court using his language through an interpreter unfamiliar with the legal system. But after meeting deaf people and their families in Baker Lake, Pangnirtung, Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet in 2000, the same specialist found that an Inuit sign language exists, and could be used to offer trained court interpreters for deaf Nunavummiut. Using video to capture signing, Jamie MacDougall found that signers in two different communities shared similar gestures for certain words, such as walrus or polar bear. He also found that several people - not just the deaf - use, or recall elders using, what one participant called "Inuk sign language." The existence of such a language would be consistent with documented cases of several aboriginal peoples that use a signing system to communicate. In a report presented to Justice Canada five years ago, MacDougall recommended that, in order to meet the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the court can and should provide trained legal interpreters for the estimated 155 deaf people in Nunavut, who currently rely on family and friends for the service. He also recommends that work begin towards officially recognizing ISL as a language. MacDougall compares this process to the still recent recognition of Inuktitut in the courts, and the steps that have been taken to document and promote the language over the last 20 to 30 years. "[ISL] is a language spoken by a small number of people, but under the charter and so on, I believe it has to be recognized," MacDougall says. Recognition of the language could have a huge impact on deaf people across Nunavut. MacDougall estimates that 30 per cent of Nunavut's deaf rely on ISL to communicate. Many others, however, are sent south to learn American Sign Language. That has the benefit of offering them a legally recognized language, but they often return home to find few people can understand them. At the same time, MacDougall found that almost 75 per cent of the population of Baker Lake can speak to Suwarak through signs. Kautaq himself is an advocate. "You can communicate with him yourself if you have the patience," he says. And many people do. Outside of courtroom number one in Iqaluit last week, Suwarak was chatting, laughing and joking with a man who was also released from custody last week. "We first met in BCC in 2000," said Inusiq Shoo. "When I first met him I didn't know the language." Similarly, Suwarak has no trouble communicating with Kautaq's 16-month-old son in their hotel room the next day, just as the small child will probably have no trouble learning to speak Suwarak's language as he gets older. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 9 03:25:32 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 20:25:32 -0700 Subject: Rapper uses =?iso-8859-1?b?U+FtaQ==?= language to express defiance (fwd) Message-ID: Rapper uses Sámi language to express defiance By Jaana Laitinen http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101978492530             Inari native Mikkal Morottaja has a low voice. When he begins to sing his rap lyrics, it changes almost into a growl.       "Kolle Aksu, tääl lii puattam veelkij maksu", he growls into the microphone. The Sámi language of the Inari region suits rap music just like a beanie suits the head of a hip-hopper. The lyrics are intense, and they can be understood by only a few hundred people in Finland.       Maybe it is better that way - at least the grannies will not be shocked. The song is about a golden axe and the demon of fire, and even Satan is mentioned in the lyrics a couple of times.       Morottaja, 20, also known as Amoc, is a newcomer in the rap world, who sings in one of the planet's rarest languages.       The Sámi language of the Inari region [Inari is actually the Finnish name for the community; in Sámi it is written Ânar] was already under threat of extinction. It is spoken by only 300-400 people in Inari and in the villages surrounding Lake Inari.       But better times are on the way: children are learning the language in day care, it is used in school, and now it can be listened to even in rap songs.       Amoc just held a concert in Helsinki, and his songs can also be listened to over the Internet.       "Imposing as Hell", the host of the website describes the Kolle Aksu song. "It is shouting and yelling, but not incomprehensible."       "Melancholy, fictitious, and psychedelic" , the Lapland rapper himself maintains.       "Rap is one way to vent your aggressions and pressure. On stage I am Amoc, but I am Mikkal everywhere else."       Morottaja says that he has no actual message, and he is not trying to influence anything - except perhaps to bestow some belief in the language.       "I want to show that the language is good for anything, for example for rapping."       Inari Sámi is Morottaja’s second native language. His father, Matti Morottaja, is a teacher and language activist. His mother hails from Turku.       At home, Mikkal spoke Sámi with his father and Finnish with his mother.       In the matriculation exam at the end of high school, he took the test for Sámi as a second native language.       "The tones of Inari Sámi fit heavy rap well", Morottaja says.       There were certain difficulties in writing the lyrics, however. The vocabulary of the language describes nature in rich, intricate detail, and there are around one hundred words for different types of snow, but a street-savvy youthful vocabulary has not been needed in the fells.       "I had no older friends who would have taught me all the bad words."       In fact, Morottaja needed to invent some words himself. His father Matti also took part in the project. In one Amoc rhyme, the rapper growls njamma, njamma, or "tit, tit", in the voice of someone close to passing out.       The same story depicts Friday-night partying and drinking among friends in Inari Sámi. In the last line of one verse, the rapper proclaims that he has given his listeners a crash course in Sámi.       "Older people have stopped to ask themselves what I said. I have been forced to ponder whether it is appropriate to use those words. On the other hand, I want to stir emotions and discussion."       The good thing about a strange language is that you can say anything, and no one will understand.       "You can use sarcasm as well, you can slam other rappers in secret. When you rap you can express what you happen to feel, even criticise someone’s mother, and you are not supposed to take it seriously."       Amoc, or the Master of Ceremonies from Ânar, had his first concert in Helsinki a couple of years ago. At an event arranged by a poetry society, he performed “rap poetry in Sámi”. There were barely twenty people present.       "I completely forgot the lyrics to one song. I started to speak in pig Latin. The only real word I could recall was shoe. They clapped a lot. It was the only song that drew applause."       Rap evoked strong emotions in Morottaja already in primary school. In junior high school he wrote his first lyrics, and noticed in high school that good rhymes come out of Sámi.       In high school, a group of boys interested in the same type of music got together and formed a band that eventually received the name Guerra Norte, or Northern War.       One of its members, Edorf, won the Finnish championship in rap in 2003. The three-man band Ambassa was also formed from the talented Northern rap group, and it is currently recording its first album.       Amoc is now aiming for a solo career with his feet firmly placed on the ground. At the same time, he will possibly seek to begin studies in either education or radio work.       "I will be happy if I get to record a couple of CDs. I am not that interested in commercialism. Background work interests me more. You could even make money on some songs."       Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.2.2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:38:03 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:38:03 -0700 Subject: New language classes stress learning the Blackfeet world view (fwd) Message-ID: New language classes stress learning the Blackfeet world view. By John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/02/10/glacier_reporter/news/news4.txt It's not just a regular language class where students memorize lists of words and phrases. When Ed North Peigan writes a word on the board, his classroom of students listen to stories from their own culture that explain the word and its meaning, putting the language into the context of a world view unique to the Blackfeet people. Afforded office space at Tribal Headquarters by the Tribal Council, North Peigan offers morning and afternoon classes free to anyone who is willing to commit to being there at least once a week. So far, he reports students are coming to him from Blackfeet tribal government and from Blackfeet Community College, as well as Siyeh Development Corp. and Blackfeet Housing. "We're trying to learn as much as we can about the Blackfeet language because Ed has a different way of explaining it to the students," one of his learners said. Those gathered in his class last week said the combination of definitions and the stories that bring them about are what's needed for a complete understanding of the Blackfeet world view. According to Sooney Little Plume, what the Blackfeet had was knowledge of the natural world that surrounded them, knowledge contained in the stories passed down through generations. Since their understanding was of the real world around them, Little Plume said today's Blackfeet can find answers about the world in which they live simply by returning to the language and the balance it entails. For more information about the Blackfeet language classes, call Ed North Peigan at 226-9101. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:43:05 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:43:05 -0700 Subject: First Luiseno Language Kiosk Advances Soboba's Effort to Revitalize Language (fwd) Message-ID: First Luiseno Language Kiosk Advances Soboba's Effort to Revitalize Language IconNicholson Helps Soboba Use Digital Technology to Further Their Cultural and Language Initiatives http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-10-2005/0002991630&EDATE= NEW YORK, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians (Soboba), working together with IconNicholson, has launched the first kiosk planned by the Soboba Cultural Center to support their language revitalization initiative. This kiosk is the first to successfully deliver content and functionality focused on the Luiseno language to a large audience, which has been a technological challenge. Engaging people of all ages new to the Luiseno language, the kiosk allows users to query words and sentences and hear them spoken in Luiseno. IconNicholson maximized digital technology to its fullest to deliver a very user-friendly experience and personal interaction, while achieving preservation, digitization and organization of a complex language. "The language kiosk is a keystone that will contribute to our cultural identity as a Native People," says Charlene Ryan, Soboba Cultural Center Director and Tribal Member. "Language is culture; it speaks of who we are. Technology has enabled us to link the written word in Luiseno with phonetic spelling that is accompanied by an image and sound byte that will bring Luiseno to the current generation of tribal members. It is our hope that this tool will lay a foundation that will breathe life into the Luiseno language." "Our work with Soboba has been extremely rewarding," says Jannine Salo, VP, Indian Country Technology Services at IconNicholson. "The company has a long-standing commitment to helping cultural institutions and Indian Tribes develop high-level technology capabilities. We view this continued opportunity to help sustain the Luiseno language as particularly significant." The kiosk is installed at the Soboba Sports Complex on the Soboba Reservation in San Jacinto, California. ~~~ About IconNicholson IconNicholson is a leading IT professional services firm based in New York City. The company develops high performance solutions that maximize the power of digital and RFID technologies. The company has been a pioneer in the smart use of emerging technology solutions since 1987. Its expertise in strategic consulting, user-driven modeling and design, and systems development and integration is widely recognized and has produced successful results for a range of clients including Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, San Manuel Tribe, MasterCard International, Pechanga.net, EMI Music Publishing, The Mellon Foundation, The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Prada. http://www.iconnicholson.com SOURCE IconNicholson Web Site: http://www.iconnicholson.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:47:28 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:47:28 -0700 Subject: Globalisation threatens world's indigenous languages - 32% of them African (fwd) Message-ID: Globalisation threatens world's indigenous languages - 32% of them African By Terry Leonard http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=332&fArticleId=2403377 Maputo: Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacias, young people in designer clothes and high-heels chatter on the sidewalk struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub. Maputo's vibrant nightlife lets people forget it is the capital of one of the world's poorest countries. Here you can eat Italian, dance like a Brazilian and flirt in Portuguese. One thing that's in ever shorter supply and perhaps in even less demand: Mozambique's own indigenous languages - the storehouse for the accumulated knowledge of generations. "Sons no longer speak the language of their fathers... our culture is dying," laments Paulo Chihale, director of a project that seeks to train Mozambican youths in traditional crafts. While Mozambique has 23 native languages, the only official one is Portuguese - a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that at once unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique. The United Nations estimates half of the world's estimated 6 000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa and about 200 already have less than 500 speakers. A recent UN Conference on Trade and Development report on protecting traditional knowledge argues that beyond a devastating impact on culture, the death of a language wipes out centuries of know-how in preserving ecosystems - leading to grave consequences for biodiversity. Villagers in Indonesia's Kayan Mentarang national park, for example, have for centuries practised a system of forest management called Tanah Ulen or "Forbidden land". On a rotating basis, elders declare parcels of the forest protected, prohibiting hunting and gathering. In Maputo, Chihale looks up from his cluttered desk at MozArte, a UN- and government-funded project that seeks to teach youths to earn a living through traditional crafts. "Our culture has a rich oral tradition, oral history, stories told from one generation to another. But it is an oral literature our kids will never hear," said Chihale. Already, 96% of the languages spoken on Earth are spoken by just 4% of the population. Experts estimate half the people in the world now use in their daily life one of the eight most widespread languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French. Experts say 234 African languages have already disappeared and that 32% of the endangered languages on Earth are African. Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela says that the pressures from globalisation are often too great to resist. To conserve native languages and culture, he argues, societies must ascribe to them an inherent value. On a small campus along a dirt road south of Maputo, Shambela has joined a government effort to write textbooks and curriculums that will allow public school students to learn in 16 of the country's 23 languages. "A language is a culture," said Shambela, who works for Mozambique's National Institute for the Development of Education. "It contains the history of a people and all the knowledge they have passed down for generations." It took 12 years for Mozambicans to kick out Portuguese colonialists. But at independence in 1975, they kept the language because it was the only one known well enough by everyone to unify the country. The trade-off: the rites and rhythms of traditional life have been eroded. "From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," said Shambela. Examples from other nations bode badly for Mozambique's efforts to preserve its languages. India has 25 official languages and South Africa 11. Despite government conservation programmes, language in those countries is rapidly become homogenised, said Meenal Shrivastava, a professor and expert on globalisation at Wits University in Johannesburg. - Sapa-AP Published on the web by Cape Times on February 9, 2005. © Cape Times 2005. All rights reserved. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 18:27:53 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:27:53 -0700 Subject: NTI, GN go to work on Inuit cultural school (fwd) Message-ID: February 11, 2005 NTI, GN go to work on Inuit cultural school Greenlandic folk school a model of heritage and language preservation JANE GEORGE http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50211_02.html Natasha St. John of Arviat is just one of several Nunavummiut who have attended the folk high school in Sisimiut on exchange. (FILE PHOTO) Nunavut is looking to Greenland for inspiration as it moves closer to setting up an Inuit cultural school, which would be similar to the Knud Rasmussen Folk High School in Sisimiut. Nunavut’s department of education recently requested proposals for a feasibility study on an Inuit cultural school to be completed by the end of March. Then, the Inuit cultural school working group, with members from the Government of Nunavut and Inuit organizations, will consider options for several possible structures and concepts as well as the “next steps” they’ll have to take to create an Inuit cultural school for Nunavut. “Our bottom line is that we need it to fit the culture and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit,” said Paul Kaludjak, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. The benefits of forging a long-term relationship with the Knud Rasmussen Folk High School will also be explored. And if it’s a model for a future Inuit cultural school, Nunavut’s school will likely offer a similar mix of traditional, academic and specialized courses — all in Inuktitut. The Knud Rasmussen Folk High School, which opened in 1962, is Greenland’s oldest folk high school. From the very start, Greenlandic language and culture was emphasized at the Knud Rasmussen High School. To be admitted to the school, students don’t have to have a formal education, but, according to information on Sisimiut’s web site, their ability to speak Greenlandic or kalaallisut is “taken for granted.” The Knud Rasmussen High School’s winter term begins in January and ends in May for its 52 students, who study Greenlandic, history, social sciences, literature, mathematics, Danish and English. They can also take courses in tanning, handicraft, beadwork, stone polishing, science, geography, music, singing, sports, first aid and computer science. In the spring, students head out on the land. During the summer and fall, short-term courses on current social or cultural issues are offered. The folk high school system came to Greenland from Scandinavia, where the movement started in the 1850s in Denmark, and then spread to Norway, Sweden and Finland. The majority of the schools are residential, and according to the Nordic Council, social life at the schools is generally considered to be important part of the program, promoting “a sense of personal awareness and social responsibility.” Folk high schools don’t have a standardized curriculum, and each folk high school determines its own activities “in view of the ideological and educational profile of the school.” The GN and NTI have been looking at the folk high school model for more than five years. In the spring of 2000, the department of education started a scholarship program so a Nunavut resident can study in Sisimiut at the folk high school. Four years ago, representatives from the GN, NTI and the government of Greenland met at the school and agreed there was much that Nunavut could learn from the school’s emphasis on the preservation and strengthening of Greenlandic language and culture. They also decided to look closely at the idea of a similar school in Nunavut. “We’ve been long committed to have our government create something like this down the road and this was an ongoing demand from our beneficiaries,” Kaludjak said. Kaludjak said Inuit development corporations, working with the GN, could possibly invest in the kind of multi-purpose school facility that the folk high school occupies in Sisimiut, a community of about 5,000. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 18:44:07 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:44:07 -0700 Subject: Last few Whulshootseed speakers spread the word (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005 Last few Whulshootseed speakers spread the word BY ERIK LACITIS The Seattle Times http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/nation/10875202.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp AUBURN, Wash. - (KRT) - At age 81, she is a cultural treasure at the Muckleshoot Reservation, even though she doesn't act like one and her outward demeanor can sometimes seem a little gruff. Ellen Williams is the last person alive here fluent in the tribal language, the last one who can fully understand and speak a language that, with its clicking and consonants with popping sounds, is so vastly different from English. Throughout the 26 federally recognized tribes in Washington state that scenario is being repeated, with elders who are fluent dwindling to a handful in each tribe. When she recently visited the Muckleshoot Tribal College's native-language classroom, Williams was tearfully presented with a school T-shirt by Donna Starr, one of its two language instructors. Starr became tearful because she feels so strongly about preserving the language, Whulshootseed, which she teaches to high-schoolers four days a week. Starr learned the language from her mother and then took classes in the language, rating her fluency as intermediate. But she has Williams to ask for correct pronunciations and meanings. It's not an easy language to learn. It was only oral, not written, until it was laboriously recorded in the 1960s and 1970s using international phonetic symbols. The original work was led by Thom Hess, a now-retired linguistics professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Williams was one of the 15 or so elder Native Americans in the project. She is a Snoqualmie but has lived with the Muckleshoots since her parents moved to Auburn in 1945. Hess and two others are the authors of the Lushootseed dictionary that covers the Native American language that was spoken from Olympia to the Skagit River Valley. Whulshootseed is one of its varieties. One of the motivations for Hess to spend years compiling the dictionary was his belief that a people's culture cannot endure without its language. "It's theoretically possible, but I can't think of an instance," he said. "The language is the best mirror of the culture. Each of our words encapsulates our view of the world." For example, regional tribes had more than a dozen words for salmon and trout. "Salmon were so very important to their way of life," said Hess. "They would refer to the different species, sex, degree of maturity, times of the year they returned, whether they came back on schedule or out of schedule." At the tribal college, eight to 12 high-schoolers from the Virginia Cross Native Education Center show up for the language classes. In tribes around the state, it is with such youths that there is hope for keeping the language alive. Often tribal leaders themselves cannot speak the native tongue. For the Muckleshoots, Willard Bill Sr. is the tribal historian, but he cannot speak the language. "My mother really understood the language, but then she went to boarding school, and, of course, the Indian language was not allowed. That's when the cycle was broken," he said. >From the 1870s until the 1930s, many Native American children were taken from their families and placed in federal boarding schools, had their hair cut, and were punished for speaking their native tongue. Bill takes solace in hearing small success stories about preserving the language. He had heard that some kids were using it to talk on the playground, he said. "Day-to-day conversation. That's really a breakthrough." Starr is a very patient teacher. "They aren't used to making all these sounds together," she said of her students. "Nobody's ears have heard the language. We're waking it up, and waking it up carefully." Faith Minthorn, 19, one of the students at the language class, is a registered Yakama, but her family background includes the Muckleshoots. Recently, Minthorn said, she was using Whulshootseed words with her 2-year-old nephew, "little words, like, 'animals' and 'sit down,' 'stand up.'" That's how she practices her language skills, she said. "I enjoy being part of bringing our culture back to life." During the class, Starr held up pictures with the tribal words under them: shoes, light, coyote, potato. "Remember, you make a kind of spitting sound," Starr said of one pronunciation, "You really have to spit that 'c' out." The language has had to evolve over the decades, even when there were many fluent speakers. "Refrigerator" is translated as "by means of making things cold." "Stove" is translated as "making things with fire." There were about 20 distinct tribal languages in Washington state at the time white settlers arrived, with each village having its own dialect, said Hess. Now, he said, there are 15 languages left. In 2003, the state's Board of Education began a three-year pilot program awarding a First Peoples teacher certification for individuals fluent in a native language. So far, 13 certificates have been awarded. But it's a daunting task, even for the large Yakama Nation. Mavis Kindness, language program manager, estimated there might be 100 elders left out of the 9,700 tribal members who can understand and speak the native tongue. "I am fluent for this time and age," Kindness said. "As far as ancient words, there are some that I don't understand or can even pronounce. They've become nonexistent in our daily conversation. Like preparing hand-tanned hides or gathering roots. The same thing with livestock, especially horses. Not too many tribal people own horses." And the high-schoolers, especially those attending public, not tribal schools, "are not crazy about learning the 'old ways,' as they call it," Kindness said. In the end, it comes down to priorities. The Muckleshoots, for example, are doing well financially because of income from their casino. Money has been spent on a child-care center, the tribal college, help for seniors and health care. In the midst of all that is Williams, having lunch each day at the tribe's Senior Center. "A long time ago, everybody talked Indian," she said. "After I'm gone, I don't know. My kids don't even talk Indian." Her friend Donna Starr politely disagreed. "I have hope for the kids," she said. "One of the parents saw me and they were laughing. Her daughter that takes my class asked her dad for money, but he didn't know what she was saying. She was talking Whulshootseed." --- © 2005, The Seattle Times. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Feb 12 21:59:33 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:59:33 -0700 Subject: UBS Releases Latest Bible Translation Figures (fwd) Message-ID: UBS Releases Latest Bible Translation Figures The Bible in its complete form is now available in 422 languages - an increase of 8 since last year. February 12, 2005 http://www.christiantoday.com/news/miss/253.htm The United Bible Society (UBS) published the 2004 Scripture Language Report earlier this week. The report reveals that bible translation is in steady progress and has benefited individuals as well as indigenous communities. According to the report, the Bible in its complete form is now available in 422 languages - an increase of 8 since last year. In addition, translations of Testaments have now been registered in 1,079 languages, compared with 1,068 at the end of 2003. Overall, including complete or partial form, the Bible is now available in 2,377 languages, compared with 2,355 a year ago. Out of the 6,500 languages that are spoken around the world, 422 completely translated Bibles available may seem to be quite small. However, USB highly appreciates what has already been achieved so far and celebrates the steady growth. It is important to look forward to the future with hope because the number of translated Bible in partial form is in fact very high, which indicates that the translation of many more languages are in fact underway. The 2004 Scripture Language Report is compiled by UBS. It is based on the publications that have been registered and added to one of the two official Bible Society deposit libraries, namely the American Bible Society in New York and the British and Foreign Bible Society in Cambridge, England. In 2004, all the eight newly translated complete Bibles are destined to bring joy to various communities in the South Pacific. General Secretary of the Bible Society in the South Pacific Solomone Duru said that the release of the 2004 report reminded them how important UBS’s dedicated, painstaking work is to members of communities which have not previously had access to God's Word in their own language. A translation project on Ranonga, a small and remote island in the Solomon Islands has resulted in the launch of the New Testament in Lungga, the local language, in July 2004. "Many old men and women of Ranonga openly wept tears of joy as they heard Acts 8 being read in their own language for the first time," Duru testified. Another world renowned Bible translator Wycliffe International is also running the programme Vision 2025. By the year 2025, together with partners worldwide, it aims to see a Bible translation program begun in all the remaining languages that need one. Wycliffe International's work is to facilitate the translation of God's Word into every language that needs it. Currently, 1500 more translation projects representing over 70 countries, are in progress. [inset - statistical summary] Eunice K. Y. Or eunice at christiantoday.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 13 18:36:42 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 11:36:42 -0700 Subject: Using technology to resurrect a near-forgotten language (fwd) Message-ID: Using technology to resurrect a near-forgotten language [photo inset - Chickaloon tribal members (left to right) are Dimi Macheras, Kari Johns and Daniel Harrison. The three cousins are working together to help archive and document their native language through the use of CD-ROMs they have created for use in the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman] BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2005/02/13/news/news6.txt Three people in Chickaloon Village are hoping CD-ROMs will help draw the Ahtna Athabascan language back from the brink of extinction. Dimi Macheras, Kari Johns and Daniel Harrison, among others, are working to preserve their traditional Athabascan culture, but most importantly, they want to save the Ahtna Athabascan language through the efforts of the Chickaloon Village tribal government. "It all started back in 1992, when my grandma decided that we needed to preserve our culture, and especially the language," Macheras said. His grandmother is Katherine Wade, a village elder, one of the last of the elders to speak their native tongue fluently and founder of the village's Ya Ne Dah Ah School. "So she started teaching it and documenting it," Macheras said. "Her and Daniel went through and recorded a bunch of language and wrote down the words and phrases and eventually, we were out of school and we were hired back at the village and that was where Kari and Daniel began documenting it. Grandma wanted to see some CD-ROMs made eventually, and that was her idea." The Chickaloon Village Education & Cultural Preservation Department, through the Koht'aen Kenaege Project, found grant money to produce CD-ROMs it will use to begin preserving and passing on their native language. The Chickaloon Village Traditional Council previously conducted a language survey that indicated only 1 percent of its tribal citizens speak the Ahtna Athabascan language fluently, while the rest of the population speaks little or none. Joshua Fishman, a language-revitalization scholar, proposed a model in which languages are ranked in stages. The Ahtna Athabascan language is rated at stage 8, being closest to total extinction. The Ahtna Athabascan language was the primary language for indigenous people living between Upper Cook Inlet and the Copper River region. In 1972, there were 200 fluent Ahtna Athabascan speakers in the region, according to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center. In 1988, there were 100 speakers. In 1994, there were fewer than 80 fluent Ahtna Athabascan speakers, and in 2004, there were fewer than 50 speakers of the language. Between October 2003 and February 2004, a total of five fluent speakers of the language died, leaving behind descendents who didn't learn and cannot speak the language. The three cousins are all working toward the same goal of revitalizing the Ahtna Athabascan language, but each seems to have a different job in accomplishing that goal. Macheras is an artist who has been designing artwork for the CD covers. The illustrations depict scenes of different tales and legends from their cultural past, and the images will help younger children understand their history. Macheras's cousin, Kari Johns, is heavily involved in the functioning level of the school and one of the main administrators for the program. Their cousin, Daniel Harrison, is a village instructor at the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. "There were generational gaps in the language," Johns said. "We had some people who were forbidden to speak it and then other pockets of people who were able to speak it, so some people still exist who know it, but they are very few. There are a lot of our people who couldn't learn it, because it had been forgotten by many." The Ahtna Athabascan alphabet is the written sound system used in the Ahtna Athabascan language. Ahtna has consonants and vowels that have similar pronunciations in English, with a few exceptions. Learning how the sound system works and identifying the sounds assist in understanding the Ahtna language and further the knowledge in speaking. This is why the CDs will help young students learn the language. Each CD is interactive, so a student can listen to a word over and over again, giving time for pronunciation practice and memorization. There are eight different CDs that teach at different levels. "It is all about our alphabet, but the CDs progress from introduction in the first CD on up to everything else we have recorded, word and phrases, including the sound system used to speak it," Macheras said. "A lot of words mean different things depending on how they are spoken, pronounced, or combined." The group also employs the assistance of Tom Brannen, a multimedia specialist who has been with them for about eight years. The eight-CD set includes: beginning Ahtna language learning, which incorporates the alphabet, nature, objects, people, place names, conversation and two Ahtna stories, and are recorded in Daniel Harrison's voice. "They're all really good kids and they all work really hard," said Patricia Wade, Macheras's mother and Katherine Wade's daughter. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 16 07:49:50 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:49:50 -0700 Subject: Computers keep ancient Native language alive (fwd) Message-ID: Computers keep ancient Native language alive Monday, February 14, 2005 - by Dan Fiorucci [article contains video] http://www.ktuu.com/CMS/templates/master.asp?articleid=11669&zoneid=4 Chickaloon, Alaska - A last-ditch effort is underway to save one of Alaska’s most-ancient dialects. That dialect is “Ahtna-Athabascan” and its roots go back to a people who lived here even before the Eskimos. The rescue effort comes at a time when perhaps just 100 Natives speak the dialect. The great irony is that the ancient language is being preserved by one of the most modern devices -- the computer. For an English speaker, Athabascan words are not easy to learn. But a computer database is helping make sure the newest generation of what is perhaps Alaska’s oldest culture keeps the words of their ancestors alive. Inside the Native center in Chickaloon, the familiar sounds of English are being replaced by the sounds of what had been a dying language. That language, Ahtna-Athabascan, has roots going back thousands of years. But it was nearly extinguished over the course of the last century when white settlers in Alaska forbade young Athabascans from speaking it in school. “I was raised in a Catholic school so I was not allowed to speak my language,” says one. Now modern computers are helping revive the ancient dialect, allowing students to see the alphabet of the Ahtna-Athabascan language at the same time they hear Native voices speak it. “We're gonna pass around CD's for each of you to try,” says the instructor. Those struggling to learn the language say this is a big breakthrough. “It’s very helpful because my grandma is the one that's teaching everybody all this language,” says a woman. “And you can only ask her so much before she runs out of patience!” Meanwhile, Athabascan elders have a twinkle in their eye as they watch the newest generation of their people master the language of their great-grandparents. “Amazing, they pick it up pretty good,” says Athabascan elder Albert Harrison. Mary Steehan tries out her new skill in the dialect. “That means, ‘Hello, my name is Mary.’” Now the Ahtna-Athabascan dialect is in the hands and minds of 8-year-olds -- the safest place it could possibly be. "Chah-BELL-ee." "What's that?" "Spruce tree!" The youngsters and a dozen or so adults will be spending the next eight months learning basic Athabascan. It will be a challenge keeping the language alive, but at least now a formal effort is being made to preserve some part of this ancient dialect. The people of the Chickaloon and Sutton area were determined not to let the language die without a fight. For years they’ve been applying for government grants. This year, those grants came through, as did teaching assistance from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. There are 6,000 languages in the world today, and they’re disappearing at an alarming rate. The hope is that Ahtna-Athabascan won’t be among the casualties, but it’s a tough fight. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 16 07:53:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:53:34 -0700 Subject: Native poet explains links of language (fwd) Message-ID: Native poet explains links of language By JODI RAVE Missoulian http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/02/15/build/state/55-poet.inc MISSOULA - Many would argue that poet Simon Ortiz's native Keres language has lifted him to heights few writers will ever achieve. "I consider him the most important poet writing in America today," said Roger Dunsmore, a University of Montana humanities professor emeritus. "He's created a language to speak for the land where humans are a part of something much greater, older and deeper than they are." "Simon is the most venerable Native writer living today. He's got there because he's never lost sight of the importance of retaining indigenous values," said Kate Shanley, the university's Native American Studies chairwoman. He expresses those values in poetry where his works reveal an honest portrayal of tribal life, and typically uncovers the political side of it, too, said Shanley. On Monday, Ortiz spoke at the University of Montana, explaining how language links the land, culture and community. Much of Ortiz's success as a writer springs from his ability to express the world around him through a thought process that comes from the ancient Keres language of the Acoma Pueblo. "The indigenous language, or any language, has kind of a force there is an energy,'' Ortiz said. "This makes a great difference in how we learn and use and regard language.'' The increasing decline in indigenous language speakers gives Ortiz cause to worry about how the American Indian world view is expressed. Today, it's common for contemporary American Indian writers to use English. Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Feb 16 16:18:22 2005 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 16:18:22 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Native Nations, Native Voices Message-ID: FYI... DZO --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "gordonbronitsky" wrote: I am working to create Native Nations, Native Voices--a festival to honor contemporary Native language writers. To honor Native language authors, Native language writers have been invited to participate in a week-long festival. Writers will read from their works in their own languages; National language translations will be made available to the audience at the option of each writer. A special effort has been made to include and honor high school and college authors in Native languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible. Over 500 Native Nations, each with its own language and culture. These are the Nations which were encountered by the first Europeans to enter North America. Yet now Native languages are under threat everywhere, due to Euro-American educational policies, disease, and the virtual omnipresence of English language television. Some languages are extinct--from Guale to Esalen, from Eyak to Timucuan. Others are only spoken by a handful of elderly individuals. Yet throughout Native America and beyond, a small but growing body of writers are giving new voice to Native languages, using their own languages to write about and confront the world they live in, the world of the Twenty First Century. Often unknown outside their own communities, such writers have much to say to all of us. Right now, participants include 1. Greenland--Jokum Nielsen (Kalaallisut [Greenlandic]) 2. Canada--Floyd Favel (Cree), Peter Irniq (Inuktitut) 3. United States--Eveline Battiest Steele (Choctaw), Nia Francisco and Nora Yazzie (Navajo), Dominik Tsosie (outstanding high school writer--Navajo), Virgil Reeder. (Kawaikagamedzene [Laguna Pueblo]), Frances Washburn (Lakota) 4. Hawai'i--Kainani Kahaunaele, Larry Kimura (Hawai'ian) 5. Saipan--Frances Sablan (Chamorro) 6. Guam--Peter Onedera (Chamorro) 7. Mexico--Jesus Salinas Pedraza (Nyahnyu [Otomi]), Diego Méndez Guzm (Tzeltal Maya), Ruperta Bautista Vazquez (Tzotzil Maya), Jun Tiburcio (Totonac) 8. Peru--Martin Castillo (Quechua), Felix Julca (Quechua) 9. Brazil--Nanbl?Grakan (Xokleng) Might this be of interest? Naturally I would be happy to provide more information or answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Yours, Gordon Bronitsky, PhD Bronitsky and Associates 3715 La Hacienda Dr NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 505-256-0260 e-mail g.bronitsky at att.net --- End forwarded message --- From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Feb 16 17:20:58 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:20:58 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Native Nations, Native Voices In-Reply-To: Message-ID: fyi, I believe that this festival was cancelled recently. Phil UofA, ILAT On Feb 16, 2005, at 9:18 AM, d_z_o wrote: > FYI... DZO > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "gordonbronitsky" > wrote: > > I am working to create Native Nations, Native Voices--a festival to > honor contemporary Native language writers. To honor Native language > authors, Native language writers have been invited to participate in > a week-long festival. Writers will read from their works in their own > languages; National language translations will be made available to > the audience at the option of each writer. A special effort has been > made to include and honor high school and college authors in Native > languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers > represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible. > > Over 500 Native Nations, each with its own language and culture. > These are the Nations which were encountered by the first Europeans > to enter North America. Yet now Native languages are under threat > everywhere, due to Euro-American educational policies, disease, and > the virtual omnipresence of English language television. Some > languages are extinct--from Guale to Esalen, from Eyak to Timucuan. > Others are only spoken by a handful of elderly individuals. > > Yet throughout Native America and beyond, a small but growing body of > writers are giving new voice to Native languages, using their own > languages to write about and confront the world they live in, the > world of the Twenty First Century. Often unknown outside their own > communities, such writers have much to say to all of us. > > Right now, participants include > 1. Greenland--Jokum Nielsen (Kalaallisut [Greenlandic]) > 2. Canada--Floyd Favel (Cree), Peter Irniq (Inuktitut) > 3. United States--Eveline Battiest Steele (Choctaw), Nia Francisco > and Nora Yazzie (Navajo), Dominik Tsosie (outstanding high school > writer--Navajo), Virgil Reeder. (Kawaikagamedzene [Laguna Pueblo]), > Frances Washburn (Lakota) > 4. Hawai'i--Kainani Kahaunaele, Larry Kimura (Hawai'ian) > 5. Saipan--Frances Sablan (Chamorro) > 6. Guam--Peter Onedera (Chamorro) > 7. Mexico--Jesus Salinas Pedraza (Nyahnyu [Otomi]), Diego Méndez Guzm > (Tzeltal Maya), Ruperta Bautista Vazquez (Tzotzil Maya), Jun Tiburcio > (Totonac) > 8. Peru--Martin Castillo (Quechua), Felix Julca (Quechua) > 9. Brazil--Nanbl?Grakan (Xokleng) > > Might this be of interest? Naturally I would be happy to provide more > information or answer any questions you might have. > Thank you. > > Yours, > > Gordon Bronitsky, PhD > Bronitsky and Associates > 3715 La Hacienda Dr NE > Albuquerque, NM 87110 > > 505-256-0260 > e-mail g.bronitsky at att.net > > > --- End forwarded message --- > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 18 17:43:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:43:17 -0700 Subject: Squamish Speakers Keep Language Alive (fwd) Message-ID: Squamish Speakers Keep Language Alive By sarah efron Publish Date: 17-Feb-2005 http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=8103 [photo inset - Kathy Joseph's class of three-year-olds at Capilano Littlest Ones school. Rebecca Blissett photo] Phone Peter Jacobs at home and you might hear this recorded greeting: "chexw ma ha7lh?". Caught off guard by Jacobs's friendly salutation in the Squamish aboriginal language, some callers hang up or leave a confused message. However, others attempt to respond with a phrase or two in Squamish, a tongue referred to by its speakers as Swú7mesh Sníchim. Jacobs's message is just one small part of an ambitious plan to revitalize the language. The 40-year-old linguist, who works at the Squamish Nation education department, is helping create an immersion program that will rescue Squamish from the brink of extinction and transform it back into a living language. According to Jacobs, it's a real race: the community of 3,300 people has only 15 or so fluent speakers left, many who are in their 60s and 70s. British Columbia is known for its extraordinary linguistic diversity--it's home to about half of Canada's 50 aboriginal languages. However, in the first 50 or so years of the past century, government and religious officials tried to exterminate Native languages through the residential-school system, separating children from their parents and forbidding students to speak their mother tongues. Surrounded by English, parents often decided it was better not to teach their young children Native languages so they could integrate better into mainstream society. Today, all of B.C.'s aboriginal languages are considered endangered. In 1988, Peter Jacobs was taking an introductory linguistics course at a Fraser Valley school. One of the assignments was to learn a few phrases in a language he didn't know, so he recorded his grandmother speaking Squamish. Jacobs became aware of how few speakers were left, and he decided to devote his master's thesis to the language. His did his fieldwork by spending days with his relatives. "They got a kick out of my questions," he recalls during an interview at a kindergarten on the Capilano Reserve in North Vancouver. "They hadn't been speaking the language regularly. I was finding words from old linguistics textbooks that they hadn't heard for a while." But Jacobs learned from his elders too, and today he speaks the language "fairly well". He notes that Squamish--which was traditionally spoken from the Lower Mainland up to Howe Sound and the Squamish Valley--is more than just a collection of words: it contains the views and beliefs of his culture. "If you speak English all the time, it starts to change your view of the world," he says. "It influences your way of thinking." At the Capilano Littlest Ones kindergarten-preschool on the reserve, three-year-olds are learning to communicate in Squamish. "I tell them it's our very own language," says teacher Kathy Joseph, who learned to speak Squamish from her mother as a child. The classroom's walls are covered with posters of the English alphabet and the words for colours in Squamish. Very few learning materials exist in the language, so Joseph translates stories from English or tells Native legends. This morning she reads the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" from an English-language book, throwing in Squamish vocabulary here and there. Over the next few months, Joseph will keep reading the book to her charges, gradually shifting completely into Squamish. She asks the children to go home and teach their parents some of the language, and at parent-teacher interviews, she often hears that moms and dads are learning vocabulary from their kids. Four elementary schools and one high school in North Vancouver also offer Squamish-language classes. However, Deborah Jacobs, the director of the Squamish education department, says more drastic action is necessary ensure that the language gets passed on to future generations. (She's Peter Jacobs's cousin, and in the Squamish kinship system they are considered siblings.) Deborah is spearheading the development of a school on the Capilano reserve that will offer full immersion to students up to Grade 7. She hopes that the project--which is being partially funded by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada--will be built within the next three years. The curriculum will be more than just a translation of the mainstream school system. "It's the creation of something entirely new," Deborah says at the kindergarten. "Our program is based on four pillars: home, government, family, and history. In comparison to western curriculum, it's a much more holistic way to teach a child. As we create this program, it's raising questions for us about what we value collectively and what our beliefs are." At the new school, young children will take all of their classes in Squamish, although in the later grades they may learn math and science in English. The idea is to educate kids to be fluent in the language and have a strong sense of aboriginal identity and to produce graduates who can ease into advanced education and employment. Perhaps the biggest challenge is not for the children of the Squamish Nation but for their educators, many of whom still have a shaky grasp of the language. Even Deborah Jacobs describes herself as a "baby speaker". Before the immersion process can start, the teachers themselves must become students. Simon Fraser University is working with the Squamish Nation to design a training program that gives Squamish skills to accredited teachers and teaching skills to speakers of the language. Then it will be up to the children to achieve Peter and Deborah Jacobs's dream of creating a true community of Squamish speakers. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Feb 18 23:50:36 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 15:50:36 -0800 Subject: call for papers Message-ID: CALL FOR PAPERS: Past, present, and future: endangered languages and linguistic anthropology Papers are invited for a 15-minute presentation at the American Anthropological Association?s 2005 Meeting, November 30 to December 4, Washington, D.C. To be considered for the session, submit an abstract of 250 words or less to Tania Granadillo or Heidi Orcutt at taniag at email.arizona.edu or horcutt at email.arizona.edu. Abstracts are due by March 11, 2005 at midnight. This session proposes to address the theme of this year?s conference, Bringing the Past into the Present, by examining the state of the world?s endangered languages and the role of linguistic anthropology in creating awareness of the value of these languages and in analyzing the past through which these languages came to be endangered. The lens of micro and macro analysis, the levels of individual and institutional, will be the filter through which the following questions are addressed: 1) Which particular historical processes intersected with global processes to create the current linguistic situation of the particular language under study? 2) What drives the speakers not to pass on their languages? An agentive approach is desired, with an analysis that links individual to institutional. How are these individual choices a reflection of these more encompassing of circumstances? 3) Which of the following processes, or others, are relevant to the linguistic situation in question: Globalization Socioeconomic factors Political factors Language ideologies Education Religion Constructions of identity, for example, nationalism or ethnicity 4) Based on the current situation, what is your assessment of the language?s future path or possible paths? What factors will help to determine those paths? 5) What tools does linguistic anthropology offer for helping in efforts to revitalize languages? What should be the future role of linguistic anthropology in the study of endangered languages? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 20 21:41:12 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 14:41:12 -0700 Subject: Inuktitut should be third Cdn. language: Nunavut (fwd) Message-ID: Inuktitut should be third Cdn. language: Nunavut Canadian Press Updated: Sun. Feb. 20 2005 3:11 PM ET http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1108930370628_6?hub=Canada Frustrated by what it calls poor funding for Nunavut's mother tongue, the territorial government says it is negotiating with Ottawa to have Inuktitut declared Canada's third official language. That would force the federal government to correct an imbalance that has it spending more than $3,500 per francophone on French services in Nunavut and nothing on the language most residents actually speak, said territorial Culture Minister Louis Tapardjuk. "We're hoping if we can get the federal government to recognize Inuktitut as an official language, then we can use that to serve Nunavummiut in their own language," Tapardjuk said. Under the Official Languages Act, Ottawa is obliged to provide translations of laws and documents in both official languages everywhere in Canada. Last year, the federal government spent $1.45 million providing such services to Nunavut's 410 francophones. However, Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada where neither French nor English is the majority language. Statistics Canada figures show more than 70 per cent of Nunavut's 25,500 Inuit speak Inuktitut, a figure that holds across all age groups. "Our language is still thriving and still strong," Tapardjuk said. Although Ottawa spends about $1.1 million on Inuktitut language programs, that money is only available for community-based projects such as dictionaries or curriculum materials. The federal government won't pay for translations of official debates, laws or other government documents. Tapardjuk's department estimates that costs the territory an extra $5 million a year. A recent survey done for the territory showed that 42 per cent of Inuit had trouble getting service in Inuktitut from the federal government. Louis Chagnon of Canadian Heritage said Nunavut has slipped through a hole in the Official Languages Act. "It kind of falls between the cracks," he said from Winnipeg. "We are sensitive to the quandary before us." Chagnon, who expressed surprise to hear of Tapardjuk's push to get Inuktitut recognized as an official language, said the move would require an act of Parliament. Tapardjuk couldn't say how official language status for Inuktitut could affect the roughly 23,000 Inuit who live outside Nunavut. Inuktitut is already considered an official language within the territory. The federal and territorial governments have been trying without success to negotiate a deal since Nunavut was created five years ago and talks are continuing. The old Canada-Nunavut Co-operation Agreement expired in 2004 and French services are being maintained under an interim agreement. Chagnon said Ottawa does fund other language-related programs in Nunavut, including the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and CBC North. © Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Inc. From bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 20 22:59:31 2005 From: bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (s.t. bischoff) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:59:31 -0700 Subject: Call for papers Message-ID: Hi all, We are putting together an MITWP on Less Familiar and Endangered Languages volume on Salish. We are interested in all aspect of linguistic inquiry (formal, functional, preservation efforts, etc.)regarding the Salish languages. We are also looking for contributions from the variety of language scholars conducting research/working with Salish langauges. Thanks, Shannon __________________________ S.T. Bischoff PhD Candidate Department of Linguistics 1100 E. University Blvd University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA bischoff at email.arizona.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 21403 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Feb 21 07:28:04 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 00:28:04 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... Message-ID: tá'ts haláxpa (good day), I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of your impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". What are you thoughts? The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it By Marc Prensky, 2004 http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT From linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU Mon Feb 21 08:43:34 2005 From: linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU (Greg Dickson) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:13:34 +0930 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <1108970884.776db19535dde@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: > The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: > What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it 'differently' to who? sorry... can't help myself sometime... PC police.... Greg Dickson Linguist Ngukurr Language Centre PMB 6 via Katherine NT 0852 Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au On 21/02/2005, at 4:58 PM, phil cash cash wrote: > tá'ts haláxpa (good day), > > I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of > your > impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital > native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. > > My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe > indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". > > What are you thoughts? > > By Marc Prensky, 2004 > http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp > > Phil Cash Cash > UofA, ILAT > From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Mon Feb 21 15:45:30 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:45:30 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, I read the Prensky article, and having been involved in technology since Kendall Square Cambridge was a dirt parking lot, I can answer that question: differently to the Digital Immigrants who are still searching for what to do with the new technology. As for Indigenous youth, one of my friends teaches technology and computer usage. I haven't seen the widespread use of technology as described in the Prensky article . . . . Because the kids don't have it. First, there are no cell phones. Grants don't provide cell phones for employees children. This leaves out text messaging, video sharing, and of course, my personal fav, "group solution of exams", called by the Digital Immigrants, "cheating". Second, there are few to no computers at home. In a recent give-away of replaced computers, the distributed computers had only basic software, and the students didn't know how to acquire and configure the games they liked. Also, no internet at home. So, the computers ended up in pawn shops. Third, the computers at school are totally locked down. Part of this is due to the fact that students download music and porn, or perhaps people anticipate that they will download porn and have struggled with the music-bound viruses. Under this is the fact that schools purchase 'major' virus protection that simply doesn't work all the time, and when a school of 600 computers gets infected, the problem is formidable, especially since there is so little technological skill among the teachers. Another factor that I find totally curious is that schools that have 600 to 1000 computers, that are brand new, have only one technology person. For this building where I am writing from, we have 100 computers max, not counting the lab, and we have 6-8 tech people at any given point in time, plus people who are using them who are computer literate. Finally, what I have seen in practice is that older people, regardless of whether they are Indigenous or not, fight against the use of technology. In non-Indigenous communities, where people can go more freely from place to place, and where their friends have technology, Digital Natives can get around the old people's restrictions (clearly I am of this breed). However, on reservations, kids don't have this much opportunity, so if there is a political battle going on over whether technology should be brought in, who should do it, and what it should do, the kids are generally caught in the middle. Whew! On the bright note (for me, anyway), when Indigenous kids get access to technology, and when some Digital Immigrant is not hanging around, telling them the "right" (read "limited") way to do something, they are just as interested and creative as the kids described by Prensky. Mia On 2/21/05 1:43 AM, "Greg Dickson" wrote: >> The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: >> What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it > > > 'differently' to who? > > sorry... can't help myself sometime... PC police.... > > Greg Dickson > Linguist > Ngukurr Language Centre > PMB 6 > via Katherine NT 0852 > Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 > Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au > On 21/02/2005, at 4:58 PM, phil cash cash wrote: > >> tá'ts haláxpa (good day), >> >> I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of >> your >> impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital >> native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. >> >> My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe >> indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". >> >> What are you thoughts? >> >> By Marc Prensky, 2004 >> http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp >> >> Phil Cash Cash >> UofA, ILAT >> > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Feb 21 16:52:06 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:52:06 -0700 Subject: Local Languages Demand More Space on the Internet (fwd) Message-ID: Local Languages Demand More Space on the Internet African Woman and Child Feature Service (Nairobi) NEWS February 17, 2005 Posted to the web February 16, 2005 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502160942.html By Arthur Okwemba Nairobi A bid to have African languages join the likes of English and French in the Internet is being blocked by information experts from the West as lacking in commercial value. A group of African linguistics and technology experts at a recent African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Accra, Ghana, say they have already developed special characters that can now help these languages be used on the World Wide Web. They argue that the use of languages such as English has played a big role in the development of Western countries. Another reason the Westerners are opposed to African languages being put on the Web, they say is their structure with some having characters and sounds in their alphabet that are not recognisable in the coding system of the Internet. Therefore, the continent should continue expressing itself through appropriate languages in social and economic development. According a Prof Mwasoko from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Africa's political elites are a problem than a solution, as they too oppose, for reason well known to them, the use of these languages on the Internet, Prof Salam Diakite, Director of Research and Documentation, African Academy of Languages said the only way to make African languages accepted in the cyberspace is to transact business in those languages. In Kenya, for instance, information on tourism and tea products should be in a local language or in Kiswahili, which Microsoft is going to launch officially on the Internet between April and May this year. Other communities like the Maasai Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, or Turkana can also use their languages on the Internet when communicating with their family members, relatives or transacting business with the outside world. If this happens, then those from Europe and America will have no otherwise but to learn how to use these languages. But this can only occur if special characters and sounds like those found in the Gikuyu dialects are accepted by Unicode consortium. Based in the USA, and with organizations such as Microsoft and International Business Machines (IBM) as members, Unicode Standard defines how characters and sounds of different languages are represented in modern software products and standards. Language experts think bantu speaking communities will be better placed to put their languages on the Internet because they can adopt the Kiswahili characters and sounds, which Unicode has approved. Addressing participants at the Accra conference, Mark Lange, senior attorney at Microsoft, said they support the idea of African languages on the internet. But he was fast to add that African countries need to put in place proper standards for the idea to be supported by other stakeholders in the information society. Currently, there are plans to put in place an African standardization and certification centre for those who want to use their vernacular languages on the website. Dr Shem Ochuodho, a computer expert, says any attempt to address over 80 per cent of Africans who live in the rural areas on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), can, among other things, be achieved by using their languages online. "The only problem is the existence of a few words from certain African languages whose sounds cannot be accepted by the computer," says Prof Diakite. African linguistics at the African Academy of Languages have therefore developed special characters for these languages, and now want them accepted by Unicode. This list of African characters is then to be officially submitted to the committee of ISO standardization so that the characters can be added to their list as pre-composed African characters. Once this happens, letters in the African language in use will have to be mapped into the keyboards of computers. The type of fonts used will also have to change depending on the language being used. In addition, a dictionary of the African languages has to be developed to aid those people who are going to have problems in expressing themselves in these languages. So far, less than one percent of African languages have developed these requirements and gotten access to the cyberspace. In Ethiopia, where the local and national language, Amharic, is in use, attempts have been made to use it on the computer. Experts there have been struggling since the 1980's to make the computer recognize the Amharic characters. Since they have been accepted by Unicode, Dr Atnafu says they have in place a Content Management System, which allows them to use both Amharic and English on the computer. In South Africa too, local languages have been put in use on the Internet. Whereas these two countries have made headway in placing their local languages on websites, other African countries face a double challenge. Most of them have to find ways of ensuring their people speak and use their own language when communicating economic, social and political issues. As a first step, the conference has recommended that each African country should introduce the teaching of an African language from the primary school level up to the university as a linguistic bilingual policy. This language is to be taught alongside English or French and both are to be examinable subjects at both primary and secondary school levels as well as in colleges. African Union is expected to take up the issue, and impress upon member states to implement the recommendation. Likewise, to accelerate the use of local languages in ICTs, the Union is to declare 2006 as the year of African languages. As the momentum to use Kenyan and other African languages on the website picks up, linguistics are now warning parents who pride in their children's fluent foreing languages to start a rethink. They argue that children instructed in their mother tongue are more likely to grasp what they are taught than when the instructiona are in English or French. From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Feb 23 00:21:24 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:21:24 -0700 Subject: On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology Message-ID: I am conducting a brief on-line interview concerning grants on language revitalization and/or technology & learning. This on-line interview is completely voluntary. If you choose to respond, you can do so directly to me or to the ILAT list. I am using this information as a part of my grad student/postdoctoral course "Survival Skills and Ethics" here at the University of Arizona. qe'ciyéew'yew' (thanks), Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT ~~~ Online interview on Language Revitalization &/or Technology and Learning Q.: What are the funding needs in your discipline? Q.: What funding opportunities are available? Q.: How competitive are grants in your discipline? Q.: What are the expectations regarding funding in your discipline? Q.: What are the greatest funding challenges you have faced? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 01:47:29 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 18:47:29 -0700 Subject: Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says (fwd) Message-ID: Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says WebPosted Feb 22 2005 05:00 PM MST CBC News http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=inuktitut-funding-02222005 IQALUIT - The minister responsible for languages in Nunavut says Inuit are being shortchanged by the federal government. Louis Taparjuk, the head of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, says the majority language in Nunavut is Inuktitut or Inuinaqtun. But, he says money provided by the federal government does not reflect that. He says there's a big difference between federal funding for French or English and that provided for Inuktitut. "The federal government provides $3,571 for 410 francophones and $48.50 for 22,680 Inuit," Taparjuk says of Ottawa's per capita expenditures in Nunavut. "Obviously the resources made available to the Nunavut government isn't there for us to provide the services in Inuktitut." Taparjuk says the Nunavut government alone spends $5 million a year just on translation. He says the federal government should be spending more on Inuktitut in Nunavut. From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:15:28 2005 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 21:15:28 -0500 Subject: On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology Message-ID: Hi, everyone. I hope you are all well. Phil--will you send me your private address, so I won't be sending my replies to your survey to the entire list? Thanks. Resa (cranem @ mail.ecu.edu) -----Original Message----- From: Indigenous Languages and Technology on behalf of phil cash cash Sent: Tue 2/22/2005 7:21 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Cc: Subject: [ILAT] On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology I am conducting a brief on-line interview concerning grants on language revitalization and/or technology & learning. This on-line interview is completely voluntary. If you choose to respond, you can do so directly to me or to the ILAT list. I am using this information as a part of my grad student/postdoctoral course "Survival Skills and Ethics" here at the University of Arizona. qe'ciyéew'yew' (thanks), Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT ~~~ Online interview on Language Revitalization &/or Technology and Learning Q.: What are the funding needs in your discipline? Q.: What funding opportunities are available? Q.: How competitive are grants in your discipline? Q.: What are the expectations regarding funding in your discipline? Q.: What are the greatest funding challenges you have faced? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:16:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:16:17 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Thanks Mia, there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, qots (later) phil cash cash UofA ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:36:31 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:36:31 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <20050222191617.v5z6swos0csk44ok@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: oh yea, i forgot to add the recent/not so recent (depending on your view of time) study put out by the gates foundation... Native American Access to Technology Program: Progress Report A Report to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, December 2001 http://www.gatesfoundation.org/nr/downloads/libraries/eval_docs/pdf/NAATP_Progress_Report_2001.pdf phil cc ----- Message from cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU --------- Date: Tue, 22 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:10:04 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:10:04 -0700 Subject: RIGHTS: New Plea for Russian Minority (fwd) Message-ID: RIGHTS: New Plea for Russian Minority Linus Atarah http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27587 HELSINKI, Feb 23 (IPS) - The Mari minority in Russia are facing a steady erosion of their cultural rights, a group of human rights campaigners have said in a protest statement. The Mari are a branch of the Finno-Ugric of the Uralic people. The Uralics are an indigenous group spread across Russia and several of the ex-Soviet republics. Uralic is also a family of languages with two principal branches, the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed. Uralic peoples differ from each other by race, religion and culture. The western Finno-Ugrians are quite different from the Khants and Mansis in Siberia who are closest to Hungarians. But Uralics share common origins and practices that include a close relationship with nature, both animate and inanimate. The Mari number about three-quarters of a million, and about 43 percent of them live in Mari El, a formally autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. Most others live in neighbouring regions.. They speak Volga-Finnic, a branch of the Finno-Ugric of the Uralic family of languages. Bee-keeping is major business in the region. The Mari El Association in Moscow issued an appeal earlier this month highlighting the suppression of Mari peoples rights. That has led to an international appeal, signed mostly by Estonians, Finns and Hungarians. The signatories include also individuals from Britain and the United States. ”We the representatives and friends of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the world call on the Russian authorities at all levels to take immediate steps to end the attacks on members of the democratic opposition in the Republic of Mari El,” the petition says. ”We urge international human rights organisations to join us in this cause.” The local Mari El government is dominated by Russian-speaking people. Among those who signed the appeal are former speaker of the Finnish parliament Riitta Uosukainen, former president of Estonia Lennart Meri, long-term adviser to the U.S. government Prof. Paul Goble, composers Veljo Tormis from Estonia and Kari Rydman from Finland, the first vice-president of the European Parliament committee on foreign affairs Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Prof. John Hiden from Britain, and former Finnish foreign minister Pertti Paasio. Paasio told IPS that the petition seeks to tell the world what is going on within Russia. ”It will be a tragic loss to multi-ethnic culture in Europe if the Russians succeed in totally suppressing the Mari language and other minorities in the Russian Federation,” he said. The Mari people have been given autonomy status by the Russian Constitution but the authorities have not implemented it in practice, Paasio said. Instead there has been a systematic attempt by Russian authorities to deny Mari people use of their own language or to engage in other cultural practices, he said. Kalevi Wiik, a retired professor at the University of Turku in Finland and a signatory to the petition says the director of Mari theatre in Mari El was fired without any apparent reason last month. Vladimir Kozlov, editor-in-chief of the Finno-Ugric newspaper 'Kudo+Kodu' was attacked and seriously injured, Wiik told IPS. The suppression of the Mari people is ”a reflection of the non-democratisation in Russia today being carried out by the Russian leader (Vladimir) Putin,” Wiik said. A pan-Slavic movement is seeking to pave the way for Russian-only culture in the country, Wiik said. The Komi people in the area are also threatened, he said. Mari groups will host the next world congress of Finno-Ugric studies later this year.. The petition says it is therefore ”especially important now that the Russian authorities in Moscow and in Mari El do everything possible to end the abuse of the rights of the Maris.” (END/2005) Mari petition From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:25:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:25:45 -0700 Subject: Use Your Mother Tongues - Zuma Urges Nation (fwd) Message-ID: Use Your Mother Tongues - Zuma Urges Nation BuaNews (Pretoria) NEWS February 23, 2005 By Matome Sebelebele Pretoria http://allafrica.com/stories/200502230180.html Government will not use language as a tool to discriminate against other communities - instead it will encourage the nation to speak in their mother tongues, says Deputy President Jacob Zuma. He however called for the promotion and growth of all the eleven languages and the Khoi, Nama and San languages, rather than develop English and Afrikaans alone. The two still dominate in the country. However, numerous efforts have been implemented to highlight the need to promote the other nine languages as well. Some experts have also called for the use of the indigenous languages as media of instructions in schools, government publications, in business and scientific work to enable African communities to access opportunities as well as engage with the authorities. "We must emphasise that we do not seek to reverse the gains of English and Afrikaans, but we have a duty, all of us, including the speakers of English and Afrikaans as mother tongues, to develop the other nine official languages which have remained historically marginalised," said Mr Zuma. He was addressing a function to celebrate international mother tongue day in Pretoria, last night. Language, he elaborated, was crucial in asserting one's cultural identity and opening possibilities as witnessed with the award-winning Yesterday (a Zulu film) and in isiXhosa uCarmen eKhayelitsha. Challenges however remain as more African children grow up in cosmopolitan cities, where there is pressure to be "cool" by expressing themselves in English. This, Mr Zuma argued, could be resolved by encouraging children to learn more than two local languages including their mother tongue. "The ideal situation is that our children should be conversant in all 11 languages! If we cannot achieve that feat, we should at least achieve fluency and proficiency in the mother languages." Citing examples of Ilanga, Isolezwe and Umafrika - the commercial newspaper published in Zulu - he said these publications vindicated a view that products in mother tongue were profitable and sustainable. "The success of these publications indicate that people are actually keen to read in their mother tongue," he said. Copyright © 2005 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:40:53 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:40:53 -0700 Subject: Press Release: Ngukurr community fighting for their languages to be taught in their school (fwd) Message-ID: Ngukurr community fighting for their languages to be taught in their school Members of Ngukurr community in Southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (NT), Australia, are working towards having six of the community’s traditional Aboriginal languages taught in the local school. However, even with strong community support, finding funding to have their languages taught in their own school is proving difficult. “The N.T. Education Department has Aboriginal Language and Culture in its curriculum framework, but this is the only part of the curriculum that has no compulsory funding”, says Greg Dickson, a Ngukurr-based linguist working for the Katherine Regional Aboriginal Language Centre. “This is a real shame because it means communities find it hard to implement language classes in their schools, even when the community support and infrastructure is already there.” The people of Ngukurr community look back to around nine distinct Aboriginal languages. One of them, Warndarrang, has already died out and most of the others are highly endangered. Only two of them, Nunggubuyu and Ritharrngu (or Wagilak), are being passed onto children, but that is happening in other communities. At Ngukurr, children grow up speaking Kriol. “Other communities in the region have ‘two-way’ education, where traditional languages have a strong place in the school. But at Ngukurr the situation is difficult because we have a lot of languages and a lot of them are endangered. But this doesn’t mean Ngukurr children should be deprived of the opportunity to learn their own languages in the school”, Mr Dickson said. Community member and language worker at the Ngukurr Language Centre, Godfrey Blitner, has been gathering community support by holding meetings with Elders and speakers from each language group, “Having language in school is important because it helps kids keep their identity. Kids learn about their country and it helps them understand language and culture. People in the community are really interested to do the work, but there is always something in the way.” Ngukurr school has a school council but the Federal government took away any economic power the school council has at the end of 2004 by winding up ASSPA (Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness) funding. That funding must now be accessed through a grant application process and the community has no say over which applications will be successful. Money is allocated towards Language in Schools through the NT Education Department, but those decisions are not made until mid-year. “This is no help to people here at Ngukurr who are ready to teach their languages now”, Mr Dickson said. Committee member of Ngukurr Language Centre, Eddie Chisholm, argues, “Kids in city schools can choose to learn Japanese, Indonesian or German. Our kids should have the same opportunity to learn their own languages.” Staff Contact: Robin Hodgson, Co-ordinator. 08 8971 1233 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PressRelease Lang Program.doc Type: application/msword Size: 54272 bytes Desc: not available URL: From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Feb 25 15:48:14 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:48:14 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <20050222191617.v5z6swos0csk44ok@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: I was talking to my friend Janie yesterday. She teaches at Mescalero, technology in the computer lab. And we were talking about this very issue. She said her kids are "amazing". "Stunning". And they love technology. Indian kids aren't any different than any other kids when you give them technology. I have also seen this, hanging out in the Tribal Library, watching the kids come in. I don't think there is much published research. It is getting more and more difficult to do any "research" these days, but that is another who discussion. Mia On 2/22/05 7:16 PM, "phil cash cash" wrote: > Thanks Mia, > > there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous > youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), > portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community > (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. > > here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): > > http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ > Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing > By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. > > if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, > > qots (later) > phil cash cash > UofA > > > ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- > From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Feb 25 15:59:20 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:59:20 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Interesting article. Very hopeful. On 2/25/05 8:48 AM, "Mia Kalish" wrote: > I was talking to my friend Janie yesterday. She teaches at Mescalero, > technology in the computer lab. And we were talking about this very issue. > > She said her kids are "amazing". "Stunning". And they love technology. > Indian kids aren't any different than any other kids when you give them > technology. > > I have also seen this, hanging out in the Tribal Library, watching the kids > come in. > > I don't think there is much published research. It is getting more and more > difficult to do any "research" these days, but that is another who > discussion. > > Mia > > > On 2/22/05 7:16 PM, "phil cash cash" wrote: > >> Thanks Mia, >> >> there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous >> youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), >> portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community >> (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. >> >> here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): >> >> http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ >> Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing >> By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. >> >> if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, >> >> qots (later) >> phil cash cash >> UofA >> >> >> ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- >> > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:25:28 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:25:28 -0700 Subject: New CD will bring Inuktitut to children (fwd) Message-ID: February 25, 2005 New CD will bring Inuktitut to children "When you sing a song in Inuktitut, you're not worried about stumbling" GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS [photo inset - Leena Evic learned to sing while growing up in a winter camp across from Pangnirtung. (PHOTO BY GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS)] How do you say "intsy-wintsy spider" in Inuktitut? Leena Evic, a former school teacher, has put the answer to music in the familiar children's song on a new CD, to give all generations an extra tool to teach themselves the language. "It's for everybody who enjoys music," Evic said in an interview earlier this week. "It's also a reference for learning Inuktitut." The CD, called And There Were Inuit, will be launched during Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme festivities in April. But Evic is already excited to share the 24 songs that took her more than two years to record. During a sneak preview of the disc, Evic told Nunatsiaq News about how she hopes the short, cheery songs will inspire coming generations to keep the language alive. She said she draws on her elders' tradition of singing ayaya songs to recount stories about the past in an entertaining way. "They tell a lot about the culture," she said of elders' songs. "They tell a lot about... who the people were, and how they lived." The CD fits Evic's life mission of helping preserve traditional culture. As a primary school teacher at Joamie School in Iqaluit, she used music to pique the interest of her students learning Inuktitut as a second language. Since then, she left the school system and co-founded a consultancy, the Pirurvik Centre, which handles cultural events, and language projects like translating the Windows computer operating system into syllabics. While sorting through potential Inuktitut teaching material, Evic came across her old song sheets for popular children's songs, like "London Bridge is Falling Down," and "The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe." With encouragement from her business partner, Evic started visiting a recording studio in Kingston, Ont., while she was working as an instructor in the Tupiq Program for Inuit prisoners at the Fenbrook Institution, outside Toronto. Several years later, Evic has the CD in hand, full of tunes spanning the 1970s to the 1990s. Even listeners who don't know a word of Inuktitut will likely recognize the melodies of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Our Land," and "You are my Sunshine." However, Evic seems to light up with pride when talking about the title track, which she wrote herself (the music comes from a Russian folk song). The lyrics are based on the first decade of Evic's life, when she lived in a winter camp with six other families across from the nascent settlement of Pangnirtung. At the time, Evic learned to sing from her mother who entertained the children, and loved to tell stories. She said her father influenced her musically, by humming tunes to relax at night. "In a traditional society... values gave us a great source of strength," Evic said. "One of the greatest groundings we had was love for one another." But the tightly-knit camps eventually disbanded. Evic's family moved to the settlement, where she joined the Anglican choir, and learned to sing in upbeat harmonies. Decades later, Evic said she found she had a knack for using her musical talents to teach her mother tongue to people of every age. Evic's business partner has already benefited from the CD in his quest to speak more Inuktitut. Gavin Nesbitt, who moved to Iqaluit about nine years ago, said he's struggled with the language, in part, because every phrase looks really long on paper. But he said Evic's songs tend to show him where proper emphasis should be in Inuktitut, and are easy to memorize because of the melodies. "People learn more through music," Nesbitt said. "When you sing a song in Inuktitut, you're not worried about stumbling." The CD, produced by former Iqaluit musician Chris Coleman, will be available in stores later this year. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:30:19 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:30:19 -0700 Subject: At Remote Eskimo School, Yearning for the Lower 48 (fwd) Message-ID: At Remote Eskimo School, Yearning for the Lower 48 Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News February 24, 2005 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0224_050224_tununak.html Perched on a barren Alaskan coast, the village of Tununak receives little shelter from the cruel winds of the Bering Sea. A storm last year wiped out its community center. Yet it is perhaps the mercurial winds of globalization that are leaving the greatest imprint on this remote Yupik Eskimo village, population 350. Like hundreds of other indigenous settlements throughout Alaska—and thousands more throughout the world—Tununak finds itself clinging to the last vestiges of its native heritage against the onslaught of Western-style modernity. The older people in Tununak complain that their native culture has moved to the brink of extinction. Listening to the younger generation, which is tied to the outside world through the Internet and satellite television, it sounds like the culture has already gone off the edge. "This place is dead," said Aaron Link, who is 16 years old. "There is nothing to do here. We would like to make new friends, meet new people … be part of the rest of the world." To that end, Link and his fellow high school-age students from Tununak's Paul T. Albert Memorial School are raising money for a future trip to the lower 48, as Alaskans refer to the continuous United States. Their plan is not to travel as cultural ambassadors to promote their traditional way of life. Instead, they are going simply to discover the outside world—a world they have only seen on television but one in which they see their own future. Cut Off The Yupik are a group of Eskimo people. Some 20,000 Yupik people live on the southwest coast of Alaska. Situated on Nelson Island, Tununak, which means "back of the river," sits near the Tununak River and the Bering Sea. Native Americans settled in the village as early as 6,000 B.C. Over the millennia, the village population rose and fell as Eskimo warfare raged in the area. Today residents speak facetiously about "downtown" and "uptown" in the collection of modest houses that make up the village. In addition to the school (the largest employer), there is a medical clinic (without a registered nurse) and a general store. The store now has an Internet connection through which customers can order food online from Bethel, 120 miles (190 kilometers) away. The one road that cuts through the village is riddled with potholes, but fixing it is hardly a priority, since only one resident has a car. There is no road out of Tununak, which is accessible only by small airplane and when the weather permits. Instead, the primary mode of transportation is snowmobile. During the six or more months out of the year when Tununak is covered in snow, the frozen river serves as the main thoroughfare. The residents, however, revere the stark landscape of rolling hills and cragged shoreline. "This is God's country," said Victor Kanrilak, a community advocate and counselor at the school. Tununak is still a subsistence community, with residents relying on hunting and fishing for their survival. The fishing is done in the summertime, and the catch includes salmon, blackfish, halibut, herring, and trout. In 1969 musk oxen wer introduced on the island. Today there are 300 to 400 oxen, and hunters are allowed to kill 30 per year. "Village English" A future of subsistence hunting hardly appeals to the students at Paul T. Albert Memorial. But getting out of the village—and finding a job—is an uphill climb. In the last ten years the school has only graduated one male student. Most students who try for college do not succeed. Language is one of the main obstacles. Students begin their studies in the Yupik language then switch to English in third grade. Most young people in the village become fluent in neither Yupik nor English, putting them at a big disadvantage when it comes to taking statewide tests. "The kids speak a sort of 'village English,'" Kanrilak said. "They'll say things like, 'We'll check you.' That means they will come to see you." Kanrilak speaks to his eight children in both English and Yupik. Although his children can understand Yup'ik, they respond in English. Kanrilak says his generation was the last to be immersed in the Yupik language. "We have been told that our language is inferior and we should speak English," he said. "Today we have to compete with television. A minority of people in the village speak to their children in their native language." Experts say that language loss is perhaps the strongest indicator that a culture is eroding. According to Wade Davis, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and an expert on struggling cultures, there were 6,000 languages spoken around the world 50 years ago. Today, fewer than half of them are being taught to schoolchildren. "Unless something changes, [these cultures] are already dead," Davis said. "Language is not just vocabulary and grammar. It's the flash of the human spirit, a vehicle through which the soul of a culture comes to the material world, and every language is like an old-growth forest of the mind." Language is hardly the only cultural loss. Already gone, at least in Tununak, are the spiritual traditions. In Yupik culture, nature is a metaphysic—a source of abstract knowledge of cosmology and being. According to Yupik tradition, shamans, dreamers who are receptive to nature's voices, can travel freely in the unseen world. They return to this world with new rituals. But there are no more shamans in Tununak. A single Catholic church serves the community. Kanrilak, the community activist, says the cultural loss is tragic, but inevitable. "It happens to indigenous people, the lifestyle changes as they come in contact with another prominent culture," he said. "A lot of the things we used to do are memory now. Yes, I'm sad about it. But it's something that had to happen. "If I let my kids live in the past," he added, "they would be left behind in this world we live in." Telling Stories Some parts of the Yupik culture are kept alive. Traditional dancing, involving both young and old people, is popular, particularly at special feasts. Ladies, waving fans made from caribou neck hair and woven grass, dance to traditional drumming with young boys who kneel and wave feather fans. Most dances tell stories from long ago, many about hunting. For their trip to the lower 48, the students plan to put together a presentation, including dancing, on traditional Yupik culture. "Our students would like to share their culture as an awareness of the people who came before them," said Janet Hoppe, a teacher at the Paul T. Albert Memorial School. Hoppe, who is from Wisconsin, is organizing the trip. But, Hoppe said, "the students are more interested in learning what the world is like, how to interact with their peers across America and gain confidence to step outside the village." An itinerary has not been set, but Washington, D.C., would definitely be one stop on a trek that could last several months. Hoppe is thinking about taking a few students to the lower 48 on a nine-week "trial run" this summer. To Joanne Albert, a 15-year-old student, it doesn't matter where they go. "I just want to see new faces," she said. "In the village we see the same people all the time." As one might expect, the dating scene in Tununak isn't exactly huge, since most people are related to each other. "The needs and aspirations of the youth are changing," Hoppe said. "The elders would like the tradition of young people staying in the village, taking care of the old, to continue. But the youth see a different future. They want to go out of the community and join the modern world." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:33:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:33:45 -0700 Subject: Re-learning the language, reinvigorating =?utf-8?b?TWlhbWnCknM=?= culture (fwd) Message-ID: Re-learning the language, reinvigorating Miami’s culture Dictionary could prevent native tongue from vanishing Friday, February 25, 2005 http://www.oxfordpress.com/life/content/features/stories/2005/02/25/OP0225myaamia.html;COXnetJSessionID=CfvAeZIsk2St7IDAhza4LDY1iqX1kPmPaFiPgHk2NHNJgltwUe8N!2039876020?urac=n&urvf=11093562886030.25732388284999275 Miami University is working with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to resuscitate the tribe’s native language — silenced, smothered and nearly suffocated by past federal policy — and working to rebuild the language one step at a time, each step a breath of fresh air. The project involves many different aspects and includes the first comprehensive dictionary for the native language which will be published at the end of the month. There have been other dictionaries written for the tribe but none as in depth as this. It is being co-edited by Daryl Baldwin and David Costa. The Myaamia neehi peewaalia kaloosioni mahsinaakani ( A Miami-Peoria Dictionary) will be 200 pages and will include 3,500 entries, a brief description of the language, an English cross-reference list and many example sentences. Baldwin is the Myaamia Project for Language Revitalization project director and a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. He began working on the project when he came to the university in 2001. Costa, Ph.D, is a linguist who lives in San Francisco and has been studying the Miami-Illinois language since 1988. He has been working with the Miami Indian Tribe since 1995 and has had several publications on the language. Baldwin said before Columbus came to America, there were about 300 languages spoken. Today, only about 175 of these languages are still spoken. The Miami Tribe was indigenous to the midwest inhabiting much of Ohio and Indiana and eastern Illinois. In 1846, the tribe was forced out of their homeland and relocated to Kansas, and then to Oklahoma. Not only were the Miamis forced to relocate, they were also forced to assimilate. Native languages were under attack by the federal policy, spurring a trickle-down effect which reduced many native languages like the Miamis’ from standard to distant memory. In the 1960s, the last member of the Miami tribe who could speak the language conversationally, died, collapsing the bridge between yesterday’s native- tongue speaking members and today’s first generation English- speaking tribe members. The negative effect this had on the tribe was not fully acknowledged until the late 1980s. In 1990, a native language law passed which reversed the former federal policy, sparking the tribe’s organized effort to revive its lost language which began in 1995. Baldwin said reviving the language is important because language is culture — it encompasses the values, beliefs and knowledge of a community as a whole. “I personally feel it is important to my own heritage to perpetuate the language,” Baldwin said. The Miami language is one of 25 in the Algonquian language family and is structured very similarly to other languages within the family such as Ojibwa-Potawatomi-Ottawa, Mesquaki-Kickapoo and Shawnee. Baldwin said because of this, they were able to use related languages as tools to aid in the dictionary project. The language has been recorded in written form for nearly 300 years so Baldwin said there was a lot of information to work from. Most tribe members have been raised speaking English and know very little about the language, Baldwin said. Even the tribal elders know only a few words, phrases and prayers. Costa said there are already Miamis learning to speak the language and said the extent of which the language is actually spoken among tribe members in the future lies within the motivation of the community. “Whether it’s possible to revive a dormant language is entirely up to the community whose language it is,” Costa said. “If the will exists at the community level to revive the language then there is nothing left to prevent it.” Costa said there are many aspects of the project which make it so rewarding, he said. “Knowing that I’m helping to create something that will be used many years into the future and that through my efforts the Miamis are coming closer to getting their language back” are reasons for the work, Costa said. The project is being funded by Miami University, The Miami tribe of Oklahoma and a donation form Rotary International, NW Ohio District Baldwin said plans are, after the project is complete, that the tribe will handle copyrighting, publishing and distributing the dictionary. From langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 20:05:58 2005 From: langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Terry Langendoen) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:05:58 -0700 Subject: Dourdan (near Paris): Workshop on NLP for Under-Resourced Languages -- Second CFP (at TALN 2005) (fwd) Message-ID: This call for papers will be of interest to some readers of this list. Terry ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:58:21 EST From: Priscilla Rasmussen To: rasmusse at research.rutgers.edu Subject: Dourdan (near Paris): Workshop on NLP for Under-Resourced Languages -- Second CFP (at TALN 2005) =========================================== SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS for the Workshop NLP for Under-Resourced Languages Friday, 10 June 2005 in Dourdan, near Paris ============================================ Held in conjunction with the conference TALN 2005 (6-10 June 2005) http://www.limsi.fr/TALN05 Many languages have little or no information technology available: they have no substantial presence on the Internet, and existing software has not been adapted for their use. These are languages of countries in the developing world (e.g. Wolof in Senegal), or regional languages in countries where the first language is a global one (e.g. Breton in France). Linguistic work on these languages is often lacking, and must overcome a number of difficulties: - the presence of many lexical alternatives - multiple spellings for the same word, - the lack of exhaustive lexicons, - non-standardized transcription methods - etc. This is why we describe these languages as "under-resourced" or "pi-languages": for political and economic reasons they lack sufficient resources in terms of both linguistic study and information technology. The goal of this workshop is to provide a progress report on techniques being used for Natural Language Processing of under-resourced languages. THEMES Researchers are invited to present work related to any of the following topics: - Methods for measuring the level of technology available for a given language - Assessment of resources for basic computerization, and standardization of these resources (editors, virtual keyboards, printing, sorting, etc.) - Collection of corpora and other linguistic resources (lexicons, grammars); the role of the Internet, diasporas, unsupervised training algorithms - Methodologies for computerization of under-resourced languages (details of techniques) - Specific technologies (OCR, PDA) - Encoding of linguistic data (lexicons, morphology, syntax, and semantics) and genericity of formats. - Reports concerning the computerization of a particular language or group of pi-languages. - Architectures for NLP technologies : adaptation of existing technologies to pi-languages. - Surveys of major problems encountered in this area. SELECTION CRITERIA ------------------------------ Authors are invited to submit papers concerning original research. All submissions will be examined by at least two specialists in the area. Particular attention will be paid to: - appropriateness for the themes of the workshop - importance and originality of the contribution - validity of the technical and scientific content - critical discussion of the results, in particular as they relate to other work in the field - organization and clarity of the presentation The selected articles will be published in the conference proceedings. METHODS OF SUBMISSION ------------------------------ * Submitted articles may not exceed 10 pages in Times 12, single-spaced (about 3000 words), figures, examples, and references included. Articles are to be written in French for French speakers and in English for non-French speakers. * A LaTeX style file and Word template file will be available from the conference web site http://www.limsi.fr/TALN05. * Articles must be submitted as an attachment to an email with the subject "atelier TALN soumission" and containing the title of the article, principal author's name, affiliation, postal address, email address, telephone number, and fax number. Send this email to chantal.enguehard@ univ-nantes.fr. * It is IMPERATIVE that one of the following file formats be used, formatted for A4 paper: PS, PDF, RTF (Word). * In case an email submission is not possible, paper submissions may be accepted. Send 3 paper copies of the article to the following address: Chantal Enguehard - TALN 2005 LINA 2, rue de la Houssinière BP 92208 44322 Nantes Cedex 03 France CALENDAR Submission deadline: Thursday, 10 March 2005 Notification to authors: Tuesday, 5 April 2005 Final version: Friday, 15 April 2005 Conference : Friday, 10 June 2005 PROGRAM COMMITTEE . Denis Béchet - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique . Vincent Berment - Laboratoire Communication Langagière et Interaction Personne-Système . Christian Boitet - Laboratoire Communication Langagière et Interaction Personne-Système . Malek Boualem - France Telecom . Marcel Diki-Kidiri - Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire . Chantal Enguehard - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique (President) . Laura Monceaux - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique . Kevin Scannell - Saint Louis University . Monique Slodzian - Centre de Recherche en Ingénierie Multilingue From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Feb 28 21:47:24 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 13:47:24 -0800 Subject: Happy New Year from Native Languages of the Americas Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: From: Laura Redish Date: February 28, 2005 1:41:35 PM PST To: tjekanefir at yahoo.com Subject: Happy New Year from Native Languages of the Americas Osiyo, Aaniin, Hau Kola, and Hello! We hope the new year finds everybody well. Our apologies for the mass mailing, but we wanted to update everyone at once, otherwise we knew we would never find the time. We used "bcc" so you should be able to reply to this message without it going to everybody else on the list. Here at Native Languages of the Americas we have had a busy year, adding more than 200 pages of vocabulary, soundfiles, and other Indian language materials to our website (http://www.native-languages.org/). We have also streamlined our projects to make it easier for the community to participate in our work, which is why I am sending this message to you today. All of you have previously contacted us with an interest in native language preservation and/or connecting more with your heritage, so here are three ways you can join us in our work if you like: 1) We have improved our projects page, http://www.native-languages.org/help.htm, to include a list of practical things you can do to help us with our mission of language preservation, from simply linking to our site all the way through making audio recordings of an elder relative. Please visit this page and see if there's anything you'd like to pitch in with! In particular, if we do not have a page about your own tribe or nation yet, and you'd like to help us change that, just drop us an email. We are now in a position to add more pages easily. 2) We have added a page for our submission guidelines, http://www.native-languages.org/submissions.htm. If you enjoy writing and would like for us to publish an essay or article written by you, please take a look. (We still publish all Indian language materials submitted to us the same way we always have.) 3) And if there is any way that we can help with your community's native language revival or preservation efforts, please let us know! Finally, to those of you who made donations to our organization last calendar year, remember that we are a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization, so you may take that donation out of your taxes this April. Have a great new year, and may all our nations prosper. Orrin, Laura, Pinny and Kate .:.  André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? location=listinfo -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3129 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 4 04:56:18 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 21:56:18 -0700 Subject: The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 2005 (2) - Call for Papers (fwd) Message-ID: The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 2005 (2) Special Issue Call for Papers on: Minority languages, multimedia and the Web Guest Editors: Daniel Cunliffe, University of Glamorgan, UK (djcunlif at glam.ac.uk) Susan Herring, Indiana University, USA (herring at indiana.edu) Information and communications technology, and in particular the World Wide Web, can be a double-edged sword as regards the maintenance and revitalisation of minority languages. On the one hand, minority language communities can be active shapers of these technologies, creating their own tools, adapting existing tools to local needs, and creating culturally authentic, indigenous electronic media. On the other hand, these technologies can be seen as a force for globalisation and neo-colonisation, reinforcing the existing dominance of majority languages and breaking down geographical boundaries that in the past may have protected minority language groups. Researching the effects of multimedia and the Web on minority languages is challenging, and it is not yet clear how best to utilise these technologies to maintain and revitalise minority languages. This special issue invites researchers and practitioners who are actively engaged in addressing these issues from practical or theoretical viewpoints to share their findings and experiences and to contribute to a platform for future research. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: Minority language applications: - designing, implementing and evaluating applications ?- measuring the impact of applications on language use ?- promoting indigenous production and participatory design Influence of ICTs on minority languages: ?- adaptation of languages to online environments, e.g., Romanisation ?- behaviour of minority language speakers in online environments Measuring online minority languages: ?- quantitative and qualitative measurement of online presence and use ?- content related analysis of online presence and use Strategic issues: ?- understanding barriers to online minority language use ?- integrating multimedia and the Web into language planning Article submissions should typically be no longer than 7,000 words (excluding references) and should follow the formatting guidelines in the Instructions to Authors on the NRHM web site (www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp). Submissions should be sent by email to the Guest Editors, in Word, rtf or pdf format. If you have any questions concerning the scope of the call or require further information, please contact the Guest Editors. Open topic papers meeting NRHM's scope in general are also welcome (contact the Editor for further information). Submission deadline: April 30, 2005 Acceptance notification: June 30, 2005 Final manuscripts due: August 31, 2005 NRHM Editor Douglas Tudhope - dstudhope at glam.ac.uk Associate Editor Daniel Cunliffe - djcunlif at glam.ac.uk NRHM is published by Taylor & Francis, see http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Fri Feb 4 17:07:26 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 10:07:26 -0700 Subject: Study evaluates new model for reviving endangered languages (fwd) Message-ID: February 2005 ? Vol 31 ? No 2 The Ring is published at the University of Victoria Study evaluates new model for reviving endangered languages by Lynda Hills -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 391 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: okinawa.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3669 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- McIvor http://ring.uvic.ca/05feb03/features/language.html Saving a dying language is no easy task, but two First Nations communities in B.C. have created a model to do just that. Called "language nests," the programs are based on a Maori language revival initiative from New Zealand. The term refers to childcare programs for pre-school children taught exclusively in a heritage language. For her master's thesis, UVic child and youth care graduate student Onowa McIvor chose to study Lil'wat and Secwepemc language nests to inspire other First Nations communities looking for ways to revive their languages. Of the approximately 50 indigenous languages in Canada, over half of them are in B.C. According to language theorists, only three are expected to survive Canada-wide: Cree, Ojibwa and Inuktitut. None of these is historically rooted in B.C. "We know that language and culture are inextricably linked," McIvor says. "If the youngest members of a community are not learning the language then the language will die." McIvor examined each of the Lil'wat and Secwepemc community's language revival stories, the resources they used, how they kept the program going and how they overcame barriers. Her passion to protect languages comes from personal experience; it took just one generation for her family to lose their aboriginal language. "My grandparents spoke Swampy Cree but grew up in the era of assimilation. They were told that maintaining their language would hinder their children's future," she says. "Consequently, they were fluent Cree speakers but never spoke it to their children, a story all too common in Canadian aboriginal history. McIvor discovered that one of the main barriers to language revival is a lack of government support. As the Ministry of Health licenses most childcare programs in B.C., workers must have early childhood educator certification (ECE). Through ECE certification, childcare programs are eligible for subsidies and other types of funding, such as capital-cost start up money. But language nests don't quite fit the mold of other childcare programs. "This doesn't mean they are a less-quality program, they're just different," she says. "Because you need traditional language speakers to be the main caregivers, those people wouldn't necessarily have ECE-certified training." In the Secwepemc community, for example, there are two kinds of people working in the language nests: elders who are traditional speakers and "middle-generation" women with education degrees. However, because they don't have ECE certificates, the program is not eligible for funding. "It's quite ridiculous to think about sending either elders or those with bachelor degrees back for a one-year college course to teach them how to raise children," McIvor says. "As one community participant put it, ?We have been raising our children for thousands of years. We don't need anyone to tell us how to do it.'" McIvor believes that, despite funding challenges and even resistance within their own communities, the Lil'wat and Secwepemc nations offer inspiration and hope to other indigenous communities in Canada who want to save their languages. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3948 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Feb 5 22:29:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 15:29:17 -0700 Subject: Consumers Ready for Multimedia Mobile Phones (fwd) Message-ID: Consumers Ready for Multimedia Mobile Phones http://www.prweb.com/releases/Jan%20/9/prweb199515.htm New research from The Diffusion Group finds that consumers are ready to buy mobile phones that also support audio or video service. Dallas, TX (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) January 19, 2005 -- A new report from consumer technology think-tank, The Diffusion Group, finds that consumers are increasingly comfortable with the idea of listening to music of viewing video on their mobile phones. This should come as welcome news to the hundreds of IC, software, and hardware vendors looking to exploit this space. "Consumer Comfort with Using a Media Phone," the latest report from TDG Research, finds that among Internet households who also use a cell phone, 42% would be comfortable listening to music and 30% would be comfortable watching TV or movies on their cell phone. ?More than 70% of US households in general, and 93% of Internet households in particular, now own at least one cell phone,? says Dale Gilliam III, analyst with The Diffusion Group. ?Among Internet households, enjoying digital mobile multimedia is becoming increasingly attractive. Consumers are looking for convenient ways to access their digital media and the mobile phone offers an intuitive, familiar, and comfortable form factor through which to enjoy this content.? The following are some of the key findings from the study: ???? Among Internet households who own a cell phone, more than 25% are interested in having a digital music player on their cell phone. ???? Among those Internet households likely to cancel their landline phone service and go ?mobile only,? 53% are comfortable listening to music on their cell phone, while 38% are comfortable watching TV or movies. ???? Among the various age groups, younger heads-of-household are most comfortable with the idea of consuming multimedia content on their mobile phone. Almost 60% of 18 to 24 year-old Internet heads-of-household are comfortable listening to music on their cell phone, while 46% watching TV or movies. ~~~ TDG?s new report, "Consumer Comfort with Using a Media Phones," offers a statistical glimpse into the future market for mobile multimedia-enabled cell phones. The report is available on TDG Research?s website at www.tdgresearch.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 6 19:38:14 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:38:14 -0700 Subject: Elders honored for helping keep native language, traditions alive (fwd) Message-ID: Elders honored for helping keep native language, traditions alive By Ellen Thompson/Havre Daily News/ethompson at havredailynews.com http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2005/02/04/local_headlines/elders.txt The two women being honored at this week's Mid-Winter Fair at Fort Belknap don't know each other well but they have a lot in common. Theresa Walker Lamebull and Mabel Snell, at age 97, are both the oldest members of their respective tribes. Each woman is among the few remaining fluent speakers of their native languages. A banquet was held at the Red Whip Center at Fort Belknap on Wednesday to honor Lamebull, a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, and Snell, who is an Assiniboine. Both will be a focus of attention as fair events continue through this weekend, ending with a powwow on Saturday night. Lamebull has lived in Hays nearly all her life. She spent much of her time raising children and, after they grew up, teaching the Gros Ventre language to grade school and college students. Her efforts have helped to keep the language from dying. One of her former language students recently began teaching one of Lamebull's grandsons the Gros Ventre language, her daughter, Kathy Cichosz, said. One of Lamebull's fondest memories is of the old Hays fair. When she thinks about it now, she still smiles and laughs. At the fair, children would race horses and play games and there were funny contests, including an ugly contest, she said. "We used to really have good times," she said. Lamebull has enjoyed quilting and cooking throughout her life. Though her daughter prepares most of her meals now, Lamebull still makes her own native dishes, including boiled meat soups and dried meats and berries. For years she put those skills to use while raising her family. She canned meats and berries for food in the winter while her husband worked their ranch, Cichosz said. While Lamebull has kept up with her handiwork, what she misses, she said, is the way people used to visit one another more often. Guests arrived unannounced nearly every day, she said. Now people wait for invitations. Until recently, Lamebull could speak with other friends in their language and visit the way they used to, but her last Gros Ventre-speaking friend died recently, Cichosz said. Snell also fondly remembers the fair, particularly the nighttime dances. She also remembers the food. "Come and get it while it's hot, pickle on top," she said the children were told. Snell laughed again as she spoke the words. At the time, she said, she hardly knew that cars existed. Cars have brought the biggest change to the reservation, she said. Snell, who grew up near Lodge Pole, said that traveling between the reservation towns of Hays and Lodge Pole took two days in a covered wagon. She recalls making the trip to Chinook as well, where she and her family would go to collect cow intestines and other organs discarded by a butcher. She and her siblings and friends would blow air into the intestines or lungs and then bake them. Making a bitter face, she said she could still recall the taste that process left in her mouth, but she also laughed at the memory. Snell continued drying meat for friends until recently and she still quilts, a lifelong hobby, she said. She made a joke about her current quilting, adding that she has to stop whenever the thread drops out of the needle because she can't rethread it on her own. She has taken that kind of obstacle in stride. She said she simply waits for someone to come along and rethread her needle for her, and then continues along. Snell described her sewing machine as a mechanical, foot pedal-powered type. "I'd rather do that than use the electric kind," she said. Snell raised six sons, three of whom live near her on the reservation. Copyright ? 2005 The Havre Daily News From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 6 19:45:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:45:44 -0700 Subject: Inuit Sign Language could open courts to the deaf (fwd) Message-ID: February 4, 2005 Inuit Sign Language could open courts to the deaf Official recognition, interpreter training only way to guarantee Charter rights SARA MINOGUE http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50204_10.html The case of Bobby Suwarak, a deaf man from Baker Lake who communicates with gestures not related to standard sign language, has raised the possibility of an indigenous sign language known to Inuit for centuries. And that has raised the potential for training legal interpreters who can assist deaf Nunavummiut, whether accused of crimes or victims of crimes, in the courts. According to David Kautaq, who grew up with Suwarak and has served as his interpreter several times, Suwarak can hear if you stand directly behind him and yell into his right ear at the top of your lungs. However, he prefers to communicate with his friend using the language he learned from Suwarak's family, which he describes as "basically like charades," a gesture system made up of English and Inuktitut. In court-ordered assessments, a hearing specialist from Montreal has determined three times that Suwarak cannot communicate effectively in court using his language through an interpreter unfamiliar with the legal system. But after meeting deaf people and their families in Baker Lake, Pangnirtung, Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet in 2000, the same specialist found that an Inuit sign language exists, and could be used to offer trained court interpreters for deaf Nunavummiut. Using video to capture signing, Jamie MacDougall found that signers in two different communities shared similar gestures for certain words, such as walrus or polar bear. He also found that several people - not just the deaf - use, or recall elders using, what one participant called "Inuk sign language." The existence of such a language would be consistent with documented cases of several aboriginal peoples that use a signing system to communicate. In a report presented to Justice Canada five years ago, MacDougall recommended that, in order to meet the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the court can and should provide trained legal interpreters for the estimated 155 deaf people in Nunavut, who currently rely on family and friends for the service. He also recommends that work begin towards officially recognizing ISL as a language. MacDougall compares this process to the still recent recognition of Inuktitut in the courts, and the steps that have been taken to document and promote the language over the last 20 to 30 years. "[ISL] is a language spoken by a small number of people, but under the charter and so on, I believe it has to be recognized," MacDougall says. Recognition of the language could have a huge impact on deaf people across Nunavut. MacDougall estimates that 30 per cent of Nunavut's deaf rely on ISL to communicate. Many others, however, are sent south to learn American Sign Language. That has the benefit of offering them a legally recognized language, but they often return home to find few people can understand them. At the same time, MacDougall found that almost 75 per cent of the population of Baker Lake can speak to Suwarak through signs. Kautaq himself is an advocate. "You can communicate with him yourself if you have the patience," he says. And many people do. Outside of courtroom number one in Iqaluit last week, Suwarak was chatting, laughing and joking with a man who was also released from custody last week. "We first met in BCC in 2000," said Inusiq Shoo. "When I first met him I didn't know the language." Similarly, Suwarak has no trouble communicating with Kautaq's 16-month-old son in their hotel room the next day, just as the small child will probably have no trouble learning to speak Suwarak's language as he gets older. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 9 03:25:32 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 20:25:32 -0700 Subject: Rapper uses =?iso-8859-1?b?U+FtaQ==?= language to express defiance (fwd) Message-ID: Rapper uses S?mi language to express defiance By Jaana Laitinen http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101978492530 ????? ????? Inari native Mikkal Morottaja has a low voice. When he begins to sing his rap lyrics, it changes almost into a growl. ????? "Kolle Aksu, t??l lii puattam veelkij maksu", he growls into the microphone. The S?mi language of the Inari region suits rap music just like a beanie suits the head of a hip-hopper. The lyrics are intense, and they can be understood by only a few hundred people in Finland. ????? Maybe it is better that way - at least the grannies will not be shocked. The song is about a golden axe and the demon of fire, and even Satan is mentioned in the lyrics a couple of times. ????? Morottaja, 20, also known as Amoc, is a newcomer in the rap world, who sings in one of the planet's rarest languages. ????? The S?mi language of the Inari region [Inari is actually the Finnish name for the community; in S?mi it is written??nar] was already under threat of extinction. It is spoken by only 300-400 people in Inari and in the villages surrounding Lake Inari. ????? But better times are on the way: children are learning the language in day care, it is used in school, and now it can be listened to even in rap songs. ????? Amoc just held a concert in Helsinki, and his songs can also be listened to over the Internet. ????? "Imposing as Hell", the host of the website describes the Kolle Aksu song. "It is shouting and yelling, but not incomprehensible." ????? "Melancholy, fictitious, and psychedelic" , the Lapland rapper himself maintains. ????? "Rap is one way to vent your aggressions and pressure. On stage I am Amoc, but I am Mikkal everywhere else." ????? Morottaja says that he has no actual message, and he is not trying to influence anything - except perhaps to bestow some belief in the language. ????? "I want to show that the language is good for anything, for example for rapping." ????? Inari S?mi is Morottaja?s second native language. His father, Matti Morottaja, is a teacher and language activist. His mother hails from Turku. ????? At home, Mikkal spoke S?mi with his father and Finnish with his mother. ????? In the matriculation exam at the end of high school, he took the test for S?mi as a second native language. ????? "The tones of Inari S?mi fit heavy rap well", Morottaja says. ????? There were certain difficulties in writing the lyrics, however. The vocabulary of the language describes nature in rich, intricate detail, and there are around one hundred words for different types of snow, but a street-savvy youthful vocabulary has not been needed in the fells. ????? "I had no older friends who would have taught me all the bad words." ????? In fact, Morottaja needed to invent some words himself. His father Matti also took part in the project. In one Amoc rhyme, the rapper growls njamma, njamma, or "tit, tit", in the voice of someone close to passing out. ????? The same story depicts Friday-night partying and drinking among friends in Inari S?mi. In the last line of one verse, the rapper proclaims that he has given his listeners a crash course in S?mi. ????? "Older people have stopped to ask themselves what I said. I have been forced to ponder whether it is appropriate to use those words. On the other hand, I want to stir emotions and discussion." ????? The good thing about a strange language is that you can say anything, and no one will understand. ????? "You can use sarcasm as well, you can slam other rappers in secret. When you rap you can express what you happen to feel, even criticise someone?s mother, and you are not supposed to take it seriously." ????? Amoc, or the Master of Ceremonies from ?nar, had his first concert in Helsinki a couple of years ago. At an event arranged by?a poetry society, he performed ?rap poetry in S?mi?. There were barely twenty people present. ????? "I completely forgot the lyrics to one song. I started to speak in pig Latin. The only real word I could recall was shoe. They clapped a lot. It was the only song that drew applause." ????? Rap evoked strong emotions in Morottaja already in primary school. In junior high school he wrote his first lyrics, and noticed in high school that good rhymes come out of S?mi. ????? In high school, a group of boys interested in the same type of music got together and formed a band that eventually received the name Guerra Norte, or Northern War. ????? One of its members, Edorf, won the Finnish championship in rap in 2003. The three-man band?Ambassa?was also formed from the talented Northern rap group, and it is currently recording its first album. ????? Amoc is now aiming for a solo career with his feet firmly placed on the ground. At the same time, he will possibly seek to begin studies in either education or radio work. ????? "I will be happy if I get to record a couple of CDs. I am not that interested in commercialism. Background work interests me more. You could even make money on some?songs." ????? Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.2.2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:38:03 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:38:03 -0700 Subject: New language classes stress learning the Blackfeet world view (fwd) Message-ID: New language classes stress learning the Blackfeet world view. By John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/02/10/glacier_reporter/news/news4.txt It's not just a regular language class where students memorize lists of words and phrases. When Ed North Peigan writes a word on the board, his classroom of students listen to stories from their own culture that explain the word and its meaning, putting the language into the context of a world view unique to the Blackfeet people. Afforded office space at Tribal Headquarters by the Tribal Council, North Peigan offers morning and afternoon classes free to anyone who is willing to commit to being there at least once a week. So far, he reports students are coming to him from Blackfeet tribal government and from Blackfeet Community College, as well as Siyeh Development Corp. and Blackfeet Housing. "We're trying to learn as much as we can about the Blackfeet language because Ed has a different way of explaining it to the students," one of his learners said. Those gathered in his class last week said the combination of definitions and the stories that bring them about are what's needed for a complete understanding of the Blackfeet world view. According to Sooney Little Plume, what the Blackfeet had was knowledge of the natural world that surrounded them, knowledge contained in the stories passed down through generations. Since their understanding was of the real world around them, Little Plume said today's Blackfeet can find answers about the world in which they live simply by returning to the language and the balance it entails. For more information about the Blackfeet language classes, call Ed North Peigan at 226-9101. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:43:05 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:43:05 -0700 Subject: First Luiseno Language Kiosk Advances Soboba's Effort to Revitalize Language (fwd) Message-ID: First Luiseno Language Kiosk Advances Soboba's Effort to Revitalize Language IconNicholson Helps Soboba Use Digital Technology to Further Their Cultural and Language Initiatives http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-10-2005/0002991630&EDATE= NEW YORK, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians (Soboba), working together with IconNicholson, has launched the first kiosk planned by the Soboba Cultural Center to support their language revitalization initiative. This kiosk is the first to successfully deliver content and functionality focused on the Luiseno language to a large audience, which has been a technological challenge. Engaging people of all ages new to the Luiseno language, the kiosk allows users to query words and sentences and hear them spoken in Luiseno. IconNicholson maximized digital technology to its fullest to deliver a very user-friendly experience and personal interaction, while achieving preservation, digitization and organization of a complex language. "The language kiosk is a keystone that will contribute to our cultural identity as a Native People," says Charlene Ryan, Soboba Cultural Center Director and Tribal Member. "Language is culture; it speaks of who we are. Technology has enabled us to link the written word in Luiseno with phonetic spelling that is accompanied by an image and sound byte that will bring Luiseno to the current generation of tribal members. It is our hope that this tool will lay a foundation that will breathe life into the Luiseno language." "Our work with Soboba has been extremely rewarding," says Jannine Salo, VP, Indian Country Technology Services at IconNicholson. "The company has a long-standing commitment to helping cultural institutions and Indian Tribes develop high-level technology capabilities. We view this continued opportunity to help sustain the Luiseno language as particularly significant." The kiosk is installed at the Soboba Sports Complex on the Soboba Reservation in San Jacinto, California. ~~~ About IconNicholson IconNicholson is a leading IT professional services firm based in New York City. The company develops high performance solutions that maximize the power of digital and RFID technologies. The company has been a pioneer in the smart use of emerging technology solutions since 1987. Its expertise in strategic consulting, user-driven modeling and design, and systems development and integration is widely recognized and has produced successful results for a range of clients including Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, San Manuel Tribe, MasterCard International, Pechanga.net, EMI Music Publishing, The Mellon Foundation, The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Prada. http://www.iconnicholson.com SOURCE IconNicholson Web Site: http://www.iconnicholson.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 05:47:28 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:47:28 -0700 Subject: Globalisation threatens world's indigenous languages - 32% of them African (fwd) Message-ID: Globalisation threatens world's indigenous languages - 32% of them African By Terry Leonard http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=332&fArticleId=2403377 Maputo: Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacias, young people in designer clothes and high-heels chatter on the sidewalk struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub. Maputo's vibrant nightlife lets people forget it is the capital of one of the world's poorest countries. Here you can eat Italian, dance like a Brazilian and flirt in Portuguese. One thing that's in ever shorter supply and perhaps in even less demand: Mozambique's own indigenous languages - the storehouse for the accumulated knowledge of generations. "Sons no longer speak the language of their fathers... our culture is dying," laments Paulo Chihale, director of a project that seeks to train Mozambican youths in traditional crafts. While Mozambique has 23 native languages, the only official one is Portuguese - a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that at once unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique. The United Nations estimates half of the world's estimated 6 000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa and about 200 already have less than 500 speakers. A recent UN Conference on Trade and Development report on protecting traditional knowledge argues that beyond a devastating impact on culture, the death of a language wipes out centuries of know-how in preserving ecosystems - leading to grave consequences for biodiversity. Villagers in Indonesia's Kayan Mentarang national park, for example, have for centuries practised a system of forest management called Tanah Ulen or "Forbidden land". On a rotating basis, elders declare parcels of the forest protected, prohibiting hunting and gathering. In Maputo, Chihale looks up from his cluttered desk at MozArte, a UN- and government-funded project that seeks to teach youths to earn a living through traditional crafts. "Our culture has a rich oral tradition, oral history, stories told from one generation to another. But it is an oral literature our kids will never hear," said Chihale. Already, 96% of the languages spoken on Earth are spoken by just 4% of the population. Experts estimate half the people in the world now use in their daily life one of the eight most widespread languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French. Experts say 234 African languages have already disappeared and that 32% of the endangered languages on Earth are African. Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela says that the pressures from globalisation are often too great to resist. To conserve native languages and culture, he argues, societies must ascribe to them an inherent value. On a small campus along a dirt road south of Maputo, Shambela has joined a government effort to write textbooks and curriculums that will allow public school students to learn in 16 of the country's 23 languages. "A language is a culture," said Shambela, who works for Mozambique's National Institute for the Development of Education. "It contains the history of a people and all the knowledge they have passed down for generations." It took 12 years for Mozambicans to kick out Portuguese colonialists. But at independence in 1975, they kept the language because it was the only one known well enough by everyone to unify the country. The trade-off: the rites and rhythms of traditional life have been eroded. "From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," said Shambela. Examples from other nations bode badly for Mozambique's efforts to preserve its languages. India has 25 official languages and South Africa 11. Despite government conservation programmes, language in those countries is rapidly become homogenised, said Meenal Shrivastava, a professor and expert on globalisation at Wits University in Johannesburg. - Sapa-AP Published on the web by Cape Times on February 9, 2005. ? Cape Times 2005. All rights reserved. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 18:27:53 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:27:53 -0700 Subject: NTI, GN go to work on Inuit cultural school (fwd) Message-ID: February 11, 2005 NTI, GN go to work on Inuit cultural school Greenlandic folk school a model of heritage and language preservation JANE GEORGE http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50211_02.html Natasha St. John of Arviat is just one of several Nunavummiut who have attended the folk high school in Sisimiut on exchange. (FILE PHOTO) Nunavut is looking to Greenland for inspiration as it moves closer to setting up an Inuit cultural school, which would be similar to the Knud Rasmussen Folk High School in Sisimiut. Nunavut?s department of education recently requested proposals for a feasibility study on an Inuit cultural school to be completed by the end of March. Then, the Inuit cultural school working group, with members from the Government of Nunavut and Inuit organizations, will consider options for several possible structures and concepts as well as the ?next steps? they?ll have to take to create an Inuit cultural school for Nunavut. ?Our bottom line is that we need it to fit the culture and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit,? said Paul Kaludjak, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. The benefits of forging a long-term relationship with the Knud Rasmussen Folk High School will also be explored. And if it?s a model for a future Inuit cultural school, Nunavut?s school will likely offer a similar mix of traditional, academic and specialized courses ? all in Inuktitut. The Knud Rasmussen Folk High School, which opened in 1962, is Greenland?s oldest folk high school. From the very start, Greenlandic language and culture was emphasized at the Knud Rasmussen High School. To be admitted to the school, students don?t have to have a formal education, but, according to information on Sisimiut?s web site, their ability to speak Greenlandic or kalaallisut is ?taken for granted.? The Knud Rasmussen High School?s winter term begins in January and ends in May for its 52 students, who study Greenlandic, history, social sciences, literature, mathematics, Danish and English. They can also take courses in tanning, handicraft, beadwork, stone polishing, science, geography, music, singing, sports, first aid and computer science. In the spring, students head out on the land. During the summer and fall, short-term courses on current social or cultural issues are offered. The folk high school system came to Greenland from Scandinavia, where the movement started in the 1850s in Denmark, and then spread to Norway, Sweden and Finland. The majority of the schools are residential, and according to the Nordic Council, social life at the schools is generally considered to be important part of the program, promoting ?a sense of personal awareness and social responsibility.? Folk high schools don?t have a standardized curriculum, and each folk high school determines its own activities ?in view of the ideological and educational profile of the school.? The GN and NTI have been looking at the folk high school model for more than five years. In the spring of 2000, the department of education started a scholarship program so a Nunavut resident can study in Sisimiut at the folk high school. Four years ago, representatives from the GN, NTI and the government of Greenland met at the school and agreed there was much that Nunavut could learn from the school?s emphasis on the preservation and strengthening of Greenlandic language and culture. They also decided to look closely at the idea of a similar school in Nunavut. ?We?ve been long committed to have our government create something like this down the road and this was an ongoing demand from our beneficiaries,? Kaludjak said. Kaludjak said Inuit development corporations, working with the GN, could possibly invest in the kind of multi-purpose school facility that the folk high school occupies in Sisimiut, a community of about 5,000. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 11 18:44:07 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:44:07 -0700 Subject: Last few Whulshootseed speakers spread the word (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005 Last few Whulshootseed speakers spread the word BY ERIK LACITIS The Seattle Times http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/nation/10875202.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp AUBURN, Wash. - (KRT) - At age 81, she is a cultural treasure at the Muckleshoot Reservation, even though she doesn't act like one and her outward demeanor can sometimes seem a little gruff. Ellen Williams is the last person alive here fluent in the tribal language, the last one who can fully understand and speak a language that, with its clicking and consonants with popping sounds, is so vastly different from English. Throughout the 26 federally recognized tribes in Washington state that scenario is being repeated, with elders who are fluent dwindling to a handful in each tribe. When she recently visited the Muckleshoot Tribal College's native-language classroom, Williams was tearfully presented with a school T-shirt by Donna Starr, one of its two language instructors. Starr became tearful because she feels so strongly about preserving the language, Whulshootseed, which she teaches to high-schoolers four days a week. Starr learned the language from her mother and then took classes in the language, rating her fluency as intermediate. But she has Williams to ask for correct pronunciations and meanings. It's not an easy language to learn. It was only oral, not written, until it was laboriously recorded in the 1960s and 1970s using international phonetic symbols. The original work was led by Thom Hess, a now-retired linguistics professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Williams was one of the 15 or so elder Native Americans in the project. She is a Snoqualmie but has lived with the Muckleshoots since her parents moved to Auburn in 1945. Hess and two others are the authors of the Lushootseed dictionary that covers the Native American language that was spoken from Olympia to the Skagit River Valley. Whulshootseed is one of its varieties. One of the motivations for Hess to spend years compiling the dictionary was his belief that a people's culture cannot endure without its language. "It's theoretically possible, but I can't think of an instance," he said. "The language is the best mirror of the culture. Each of our words encapsulates our view of the world." For example, regional tribes had more than a dozen words for salmon and trout. "Salmon were so very important to their way of life," said Hess. "They would refer to the different species, sex, degree of maturity, times of the year they returned, whether they came back on schedule or out of schedule." At the tribal college, eight to 12 high-schoolers from the Virginia Cross Native Education Center show up for the language classes. In tribes around the state, it is with such youths that there is hope for keeping the language alive. Often tribal leaders themselves cannot speak the native tongue. For the Muckleshoots, Willard Bill Sr. is the tribal historian, but he cannot speak the language. "My mother really understood the language, but then she went to boarding school, and, of course, the Indian language was not allowed. That's when the cycle was broken," he said. >From the 1870s until the 1930s, many Native American children were taken from their families and placed in federal boarding schools, had their hair cut, and were punished for speaking their native tongue. Bill takes solace in hearing small success stories about preserving the language. He had heard that some kids were using it to talk on the playground, he said. "Day-to-day conversation. That's really a breakthrough." Starr is a very patient teacher. "They aren't used to making all these sounds together," she said of her students. "Nobody's ears have heard the language. We're waking it up, and waking it up carefully." Faith Minthorn, 19, one of the students at the language class, is a registered Yakama, but her family background includes the Muckleshoots. Recently, Minthorn said, she was using Whulshootseed words with her 2-year-old nephew, "little words, like, 'animals' and 'sit down,' 'stand up.'" That's how she practices her language skills, she said. "I enjoy being part of bringing our culture back to life." During the class, Starr held up pictures with the tribal words under them: shoes, light, coyote, potato. "Remember, you make a kind of spitting sound," Starr said of one pronunciation, "You really have to spit that 'c' out." The language has had to evolve over the decades, even when there were many fluent speakers. "Refrigerator" is translated as "by means of making things cold." "Stove" is translated as "making things with fire." There were about 20 distinct tribal languages in Washington state at the time white settlers arrived, with each village having its own dialect, said Hess. Now, he said, there are 15 languages left. In 2003, the state's Board of Education began a three-year pilot program awarding a First Peoples teacher certification for individuals fluent in a native language. So far, 13 certificates have been awarded. But it's a daunting task, even for the large Yakama Nation. Mavis Kindness, language program manager, estimated there might be 100 elders left out of the 9,700 tribal members who can understand and speak the native tongue. "I am fluent for this time and age," Kindness said. "As far as ancient words, there are some that I don't understand or can even pronounce. They've become nonexistent in our daily conversation. Like preparing hand-tanned hides or gathering roots. The same thing with livestock, especially horses. Not too many tribal people own horses." And the high-schoolers, especially those attending public, not tribal schools, "are not crazy about learning the 'old ways,' as they call it," Kindness said. In the end, it comes down to priorities. The Muckleshoots, for example, are doing well financially because of income from their casino. Money has been spent on a child-care center, the tribal college, help for seniors and health care. In the midst of all that is Williams, having lunch each day at the tribe's Senior Center. "A long time ago, everybody talked Indian," she said. "After I'm gone, I don't know. My kids don't even talk Indian." Her friend Donna Starr politely disagreed. "I have hope for the kids," she said. "One of the parents saw me and they were laughing. Her daughter that takes my class asked her dad for money, but he didn't know what she was saying. She was talking Whulshootseed." --- ? 2005, The Seattle Times. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Feb 12 21:59:33 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:59:33 -0700 Subject: UBS Releases Latest Bible Translation Figures (fwd) Message-ID: UBS Releases Latest Bible Translation Figures The Bible in its complete form is now available in 422 languages - an increase of 8 since last year. February 12, 2005 http://www.christiantoday.com/news/miss/253.htm The United Bible Society (UBS) published the 2004 Scripture Language Report earlier this week. The report reveals that bible translation is in steady progress and has benefited individuals as well as indigenous communities. According to the report, the Bible in its complete form is now available in 422 languages - an increase of 8 since last year. In addition, translations of Testaments have now been registered in 1,079 languages, compared with 1,068 at the end of 2003. Overall, including complete or partial form, the Bible is now available in 2,377 languages, compared with 2,355 a year ago. Out of the 6,500 languages that are spoken around the world, 422 completely translated Bibles available may seem to be quite small. However, USB highly appreciates what has already been achieved so far and celebrates the steady growth. It is important to look forward to the future with hope because the number of translated Bible in partial form is in fact very high, which indicates that the translation of many more languages are in fact underway. The 2004 Scripture Language Report is compiled by UBS. It is based on the publications that have been registered and added to one of the two official Bible Society deposit libraries, namely the American Bible Society in New York and the British and Foreign Bible Society in Cambridge, England. In 2004, all the eight newly translated complete Bibles are destined to bring joy to various communities in the South Pacific. General Secretary of the Bible Society in the South Pacific Solomone Duru said that the release of the 2004 report reminded them how important UBS?s dedicated, painstaking work is to members of communities which have not previously had access to God's Word in their own language. A translation project on Ranonga, a small and remote island in the Solomon Islands has resulted in the launch of the New Testament in Lungga, the local language, in July 2004. "Many old men and women of Ranonga openly wept tears of joy as they heard Acts 8 being read in their own language for the first time," Duru testified. Another world renowned Bible translator Wycliffe International is also running the programme Vision 2025. By the year 2025, together with partners worldwide, it aims to see a Bible translation program begun in all the remaining languages that need one. Wycliffe International's work is to facilitate the translation of God's Word into every language that needs it. Currently, 1500 more translation projects representing over 70 countries, are in progress. [inset - statistical summary] Eunice K. Y. Or eunice at christiantoday.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 13 18:36:42 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 11:36:42 -0700 Subject: Using technology to resurrect a near-forgotten language (fwd) Message-ID: Using technology to resurrect a near-forgotten language [photo inset - Chickaloon tribal members (left to right) are Dimi Macheras, Kari Johns and Daniel Harrison. The three cousins are working together to help archive and document their native language through the use of CD-ROMs they have created for use in the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman] BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2005/02/13/news/news6.txt Three people in Chickaloon Village are hoping CD-ROMs will help draw the Ahtna Athabascan language back from the brink of extinction. Dimi Macheras, Kari Johns and Daniel Harrison, among others, are working to preserve their traditional Athabascan culture, but most importantly, they want to save the Ahtna Athabascan language through the efforts of the Chickaloon Village tribal government. "It all started back in 1992, when my grandma decided that we needed to preserve our culture, and especially the language," Macheras said. His grandmother is Katherine Wade, a village elder, one of the last of the elders to speak their native tongue fluently and founder of the village's Ya Ne Dah Ah School. "So she started teaching it and documenting it," Macheras said. "Her and Daniel went through and recorded a bunch of language and wrote down the words and phrases and eventually, we were out of school and we were hired back at the village and that was where Kari and Daniel began documenting it. Grandma wanted to see some CD-ROMs made eventually, and that was her idea." The Chickaloon Village Education & Cultural Preservation Department, through the Koht'aen Kenaege Project, found grant money to produce CD-ROMs it will use to begin preserving and passing on their native language. The Chickaloon Village Traditional Council previously conducted a language survey that indicated only 1 percent of its tribal citizens speak the Ahtna Athabascan language fluently, while the rest of the population speaks little or none. Joshua Fishman, a language-revitalization scholar, proposed a model in which languages are ranked in stages. The Ahtna Athabascan language is rated at stage 8, being closest to total extinction. The Ahtna Athabascan language was the primary language for indigenous people living between Upper Cook Inlet and the Copper River region. In 1972, there were 200 fluent Ahtna Athabascan speakers in the region, according to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center. In 1988, there were 100 speakers. In 1994, there were fewer than 80 fluent Ahtna Athabascan speakers, and in 2004, there were fewer than 50 speakers of the language. Between October 2003 and February 2004, a total of five fluent speakers of the language died, leaving behind descendents who didn't learn and cannot speak the language. The three cousins are all working toward the same goal of revitalizing the Ahtna Athabascan language, but each seems to have a different job in accomplishing that goal. Macheras is an artist who has been designing artwork for the CD covers. The illustrations depict scenes of different tales and legends from their cultural past, and the images will help younger children understand their history. Macheras's cousin, Kari Johns, is heavily involved in the functioning level of the school and one of the main administrators for the program. Their cousin, Daniel Harrison, is a village instructor at the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. "There were generational gaps in the language," Johns said. "We had some people who were forbidden to speak it and then other pockets of people who were able to speak it, so some people still exist who know it, but they are very few. There are a lot of our people who couldn't learn it, because it had been forgotten by many." The Ahtna Athabascan alphabet is the written sound system used in the Ahtna Athabascan language. Ahtna has consonants and vowels that have similar pronunciations in English, with a few exceptions. Learning how the sound system works and identifying the sounds assist in understanding the Ahtna language and further the knowledge in speaking. This is why the CDs will help young students learn the language. Each CD is interactive, so a student can listen to a word over and over again, giving time for pronunciation practice and memorization. There are eight different CDs that teach at different levels. "It is all about our alphabet, but the CDs progress from introduction in the first CD on up to everything else we have recorded, word and phrases, including the sound system used to speak it," Macheras said. "A lot of words mean different things depending on how they are spoken, pronounced, or combined." The group also employs the assistance of Tom Brannen, a multimedia specialist who has been with them for about eight years. The eight-CD set includes: beginning Ahtna language learning, which incorporates the alphabet, nature, objects, people, place names, conversation and two Ahtna stories, and are recorded in Daniel Harrison's voice. "They're all really good kids and they all work really hard," said Patricia Wade, Macheras's mother and Katherine Wade's daughter. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 16 07:49:50 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:49:50 -0700 Subject: Computers keep ancient Native language alive (fwd) Message-ID: Computers keep ancient Native language alive Monday, February 14, 2005 - by Dan Fiorucci [article contains video] http://www.ktuu.com/CMS/templates/master.asp?articleid=11669&zoneid=4 Chickaloon, Alaska - A last-ditch effort is underway to save one of Alaska?s most-ancient dialects. That dialect is ?Ahtna-Athabascan? and its roots go back to a people who lived here even before the Eskimos. The rescue effort comes at a time when perhaps just 100 Natives speak the dialect. The great irony is that the ancient language is being preserved by one of the most modern devices -- the computer. For an English speaker, Athabascan words are not easy to learn. But a computer database is helping make sure the newest generation of what is perhaps Alaska?s oldest culture keeps the words of their ancestors alive. Inside the Native center in Chickaloon, the familiar sounds of English are being replaced by the sounds of what had been a dying language. That language, Ahtna-Athabascan, has roots going back thousands of years. But it was nearly extinguished over the course of the last century when white settlers in Alaska forbade young Athabascans from speaking it in school. ?I was raised in a Catholic school so I was not allowed to speak my language,? says one. Now modern computers are helping revive the ancient dialect, allowing students to see the alphabet of the Ahtna-Athabascan language at the same time they hear Native voices speak it. ?We're gonna pass around CD's for each of you to try,? says the instructor. Those struggling to learn the language say this is a big breakthrough. ?It?s very helpful because my grandma is the one that's teaching everybody all this language,? says a woman. ?And you can only ask her so much before she runs out of patience!? Meanwhile, Athabascan elders have a twinkle in their eye as they watch the newest generation of their people master the language of their great-grandparents. ?Amazing, they pick it up pretty good,? says Athabascan elder Albert Harrison. Mary Steehan tries out her new skill in the dialect. ?That means, ?Hello, my name is Mary.?? Now the Ahtna-Athabascan dialect is in the hands and minds of 8-year-olds -- the safest place it could possibly be. "Chah-BELL-ee." "What's that?" "Spruce tree!" The youngsters and a dozen or so adults will be spending the next eight months learning basic Athabascan. It will be a challenge keeping the language alive, but at least now a formal effort is being made to preserve some part of this ancient dialect. The people of the Chickaloon and Sutton area were determined not to let the language die without a fight. For years they?ve been applying for government grants. This year, those grants came through, as did teaching assistance from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. There are 6,000 languages in the world today, and they?re disappearing at an alarming rate. The hope is that Ahtna-Athabascan won?t be among the casualties, but it?s a tough fight. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 16 07:53:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:53:34 -0700 Subject: Native poet explains links of language (fwd) Message-ID: Native poet explains links of language By JODI RAVE Missoulian http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/02/15/build/state/55-poet.inc MISSOULA - Many would argue that poet Simon Ortiz's native Keres language has lifted him to heights few writers will ever achieve. "I consider him the most important poet writing in America today," said Roger Dunsmore, a University of Montana humanities professor emeritus. "He's created a language to speak for the land where humans are a part of something much greater, older and deeper than they are." "Simon is the most venerable Native writer living today. He's got there because he's never lost sight of the importance of retaining indigenous values," said Kate Shanley, the university's Native American Studies chairwoman. He expresses those values in poetry where his works reveal an honest portrayal of tribal life, and typically uncovers the political side of it, too, said Shanley. On Monday, Ortiz spoke at the University of Montana, explaining how language links the land, culture and community. Much of Ortiz's success as a writer springs from his ability to express the world around him through a thought process that comes from the ancient Keres language of the Acoma Pueblo. "The indigenous language, or any language, has kind of a force there is an energy,'' Ortiz said. "This makes a great difference in how we learn and use and regard language.'' The increasing decline in indigenous language speakers gives Ortiz cause to worry about how the American Indian world view is expressed. Today, it's common for contemporary American Indian writers to use English. Copyright ? The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Feb 16 16:18:22 2005 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 16:18:22 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Native Nations, Native Voices Message-ID: FYI... DZO --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "gordonbronitsky" wrote: I am working to create Native Nations, Native Voices--a festival to honor contemporary Native language writers. To honor Native language authors, Native language writers have been invited to participate in a week-long festival. Writers will read from their works in their own languages; National language translations will be made available to the audience at the option of each writer. A special effort has been made to include and honor high school and college authors in Native languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible. Over 500 Native Nations, each with its own language and culture. These are the Nations which were encountered by the first Europeans to enter North America. Yet now Native languages are under threat everywhere, due to Euro-American educational policies, disease, and the virtual omnipresence of English language television. Some languages are extinct--from Guale to Esalen, from Eyak to Timucuan. Others are only spoken by a handful of elderly individuals. Yet throughout Native America and beyond, a small but growing body of writers are giving new voice to Native languages, using their own languages to write about and confront the world they live in, the world of the Twenty First Century. Often unknown outside their own communities, such writers have much to say to all of us. Right now, participants include 1. Greenland--Jokum Nielsen (Kalaallisut [Greenlandic]) 2. Canada--Floyd Favel (Cree), Peter Irniq (Inuktitut) 3. United States--Eveline Battiest Steele (Choctaw), Nia Francisco and Nora Yazzie (Navajo), Dominik Tsosie (outstanding high school writer--Navajo), Virgil Reeder. (Kawaikagamedzene [Laguna Pueblo]), Frances Washburn (Lakota) 4. Hawai'i--Kainani Kahaunaele, Larry Kimura (Hawai'ian) 5. Saipan--Frances Sablan (Chamorro) 6. Guam--Peter Onedera (Chamorro) 7. Mexico--Jesus Salinas Pedraza (Nyahnyu [Otomi]), Diego M?ndez Guzm (Tzeltal Maya), Ruperta Bautista Vazquez (Tzotzil Maya), Jun Tiburcio (Totonac) 8. Peru--Martin Castillo (Quechua), Felix Julca (Quechua) 9. Brazil--Nanbl?Grakan (Xokleng) Might this be of interest? Naturally I would be happy to provide more information or answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Yours, Gordon Bronitsky, PhD Bronitsky and Associates 3715 La Hacienda Dr NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 505-256-0260 e-mail g.bronitsky at att.net --- End forwarded message --- From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Feb 16 17:20:58 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:20:58 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Native Nations, Native Voices In-Reply-To: Message-ID: fyi, I believe that this festival was cancelled recently. Phil UofA, ILAT On Feb 16, 2005, at 9:18 AM, d_z_o wrote: > FYI... DZO > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "gordonbronitsky" > wrote: > > I am working to create Native Nations, Native Voices--a festival to > honor contemporary Native language writers. To honor Native language > authors, Native language writers have been invited to participate in > a week-long festival. Writers will read from their works in their own > languages; National language translations will be made available to > the audience at the option of each writer. A special effort has been > made to include and honor high school and college authors in Native > languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers > represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible. > > Over 500 Native Nations, each with its own language and culture. > These are the Nations which were encountered by the first Europeans > to enter North America. Yet now Native languages are under threat > everywhere, due to Euro-American educational policies, disease, and > the virtual omnipresence of English language television. Some > languages are extinct--from Guale to Esalen, from Eyak to Timucuan. > Others are only spoken by a handful of elderly individuals. > > Yet throughout Native America and beyond, a small but growing body of > writers are giving new voice to Native languages, using their own > languages to write about and confront the world they live in, the > world of the Twenty First Century. Often unknown outside their own > communities, such writers have much to say to all of us. > > Right now, participants include > 1. Greenland--Jokum Nielsen (Kalaallisut [Greenlandic]) > 2. Canada--Floyd Favel (Cree), Peter Irniq (Inuktitut) > 3. United States--Eveline Battiest Steele (Choctaw), Nia Francisco > and Nora Yazzie (Navajo), Dominik Tsosie (outstanding high school > writer--Navajo), Virgil Reeder. (Kawaikagamedzene [Laguna Pueblo]), > Frances Washburn (Lakota) > 4. Hawai'i--Kainani Kahaunaele, Larry Kimura (Hawai'ian) > 5. Saipan--Frances Sablan (Chamorro) > 6. Guam--Peter Onedera (Chamorro) > 7. Mexico--Jesus Salinas Pedraza (Nyahnyu [Otomi]), Diego M?ndez Guzm > (Tzeltal Maya), Ruperta Bautista Vazquez (Tzotzil Maya), Jun Tiburcio > (Totonac) > 8. Peru--Martin Castillo (Quechua), Felix Julca (Quechua) > 9. Brazil--Nanbl?Grakan (Xokleng) > > Might this be of interest? Naturally I would be happy to provide more > information or answer any questions you might have. > Thank you. > > Yours, > > Gordon Bronitsky, PhD > Bronitsky and Associates > 3715 La Hacienda Dr NE > Albuquerque, NM 87110 > > 505-256-0260 > e-mail g.bronitsky at att.net > > > --- End forwarded message --- > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 18 17:43:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 10:43:17 -0700 Subject: Squamish Speakers Keep Language Alive (fwd) Message-ID: Squamish Speakers Keep Language Alive By sarah efron Publish Date: 17-Feb-2005 http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=8103 [photo inset - Kathy Joseph's class of three-year-olds at Capilano Littlest Ones school. Rebecca Blissett photo] Phone Peter Jacobs at home and you might hear this recorded greeting: "chexw ma ha7lh?". Caught off guard by Jacobs's friendly salutation in the Squamish aboriginal language, some callers hang up or leave a confused message. However, others attempt to respond with a phrase or two in Squamish, a tongue referred to by its speakers as Sw?7mesh Sn?chim. Jacobs's message is just one small part of an ambitious plan to revitalize the language. The 40-year-old linguist, who works at the Squamish Nation education department, is helping create an immersion program that will rescue Squamish from the brink of extinction and transform it back into a living language. According to Jacobs, it's a real race: the community of 3,300 people has only 15 or so fluent speakers left, many who are in their 60s and 70s. British Columbia is known for its extraordinary linguistic diversity--it's home to about half of Canada's 50 aboriginal languages. However, in the first 50 or so years of the past century, government and religious officials tried to exterminate Native languages through the residential-school system, separating children from their parents and forbidding students to speak their mother tongues. Surrounded by English, parents often decided it was better not to teach their young children Native languages so they could integrate better into mainstream society. Today, all of B.C.'s aboriginal languages are considered endangered. In 1988, Peter Jacobs was taking an introductory linguistics course at a Fraser Valley school. One of the assignments was to learn a few phrases in a language he didn't know, so he recorded his grandmother speaking Squamish. Jacobs became aware of how few speakers were left, and he decided to devote his master's thesis to the language. His did his fieldwork by spending days with his relatives. "They got a kick out of my questions," he recalls during an interview at a kindergarten on the Capilano Reserve in North Vancouver. "They hadn't been speaking the language regularly. I was finding words from old linguistics textbooks that they hadn't heard for a while." But Jacobs learned from his elders too, and today he speaks the language "fairly well". He notes that Squamish--which was traditionally spoken from the Lower Mainland up to Howe Sound and the Squamish Valley--is more than just a collection of words: it contains the views and beliefs of his culture. "If you speak English all the time, it starts to change your view of the world," he says. "It influences your way of thinking." At the Capilano Littlest Ones kindergarten-preschool on the reserve, three-year-olds are learning to communicate in Squamish. "I tell them it's our very own language," says teacher Kathy Joseph, who learned to speak Squamish from her mother as a child. The classroom's walls are covered with posters of the English alphabet and the words for colours in Squamish. Very few learning materials exist in the language, so Joseph translates stories from English or tells Native legends. This morning she reads the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" from an English-language book, throwing in Squamish vocabulary here and there. Over the next few months, Joseph will keep reading the book to her charges, gradually shifting completely into Squamish. She asks the children to go home and teach their parents some of the language, and at parent-teacher interviews, she often hears that moms and dads are learning vocabulary from their kids. Four elementary schools and one high school in North Vancouver also offer Squamish-language classes. However, Deborah Jacobs, the director of the Squamish education department, says more drastic action is necessary ensure that the language gets passed on to future generations. (She's Peter Jacobs's cousin, and in the Squamish kinship system they are considered siblings.) Deborah is spearheading the development of a school on the Capilano reserve that will offer full immersion to students up to Grade 7. She hopes that the project--which is being partially funded by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada--will be built within the next three years. The curriculum will be more than just a translation of the mainstream school system. "It's the creation of something entirely new," Deborah says at the kindergarten. "Our program is based on four pillars: home, government, family, and history. In comparison to western curriculum, it's a much more holistic way to teach a child. As we create this program, it's raising questions for us about what we value collectively and what our beliefs are." At the new school, young children will take all of their classes in Squamish, although in the later grades they may learn math and science in English. The idea is to educate kids to be fluent in the language and have a strong sense of aboriginal identity and to produce graduates who can ease into advanced education and employment. Perhaps the biggest challenge is not for the children of the Squamish Nation but for their educators, many of whom still have a shaky grasp of the language. Even Deborah Jacobs describes herself as a "baby speaker". Before the immersion process can start, the teachers themselves must become students. Simon Fraser University is working with the Squamish Nation to design a training program that gives Squamish skills to accredited teachers and teaching skills to speakers of the language. Then it will be up to the children to achieve Peter and Deborah Jacobs's dream of creating a true community of Squamish speakers. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Feb 18 23:50:36 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 15:50:36 -0800 Subject: call for papers Message-ID: CALL FOR PAPERS: Past, present, and future: endangered languages and linguistic anthropology Papers are invited for a 15-minute presentation at the American Anthropological Association?s 2005 Meeting, November 30 to December 4, Washington, D.C. To be considered for the session, submit an abstract of 250 words or less to Tania Granadillo or Heidi Orcutt at taniag at email.arizona.edu or horcutt at email.arizona.edu. Abstracts are due by March 11, 2005 at midnight. This session proposes to address the theme of this year?s conference, Bringing the Past into the Present, by examining the state of the world?s endangered languages and the role of linguistic anthropology in creating awareness of the value of these languages and in analyzing the past through which these languages came to be endangered. The lens of micro and macro analysis, the levels of individual and institutional, will be the filter through which the following questions are addressed: 1) Which particular historical processes intersected with global processes to create the current linguistic situation of the particular language under study? 2) What drives the speakers not to pass on their languages? An agentive approach is desired, with an analysis that links individual to institutional. How are these individual choices a reflection of these more encompassing of circumstances? 3) Which of the following processes, or others, are relevant to the linguistic situation in question: Globalization Socioeconomic factors Political factors Language ideologies Education Religion Constructions of identity, for example, nationalism or ethnicity 4) Based on the current situation, what is your assessment of the language?s future path or possible paths? What factors will help to determine those paths? 5) What tools does linguistic anthropology offer for helping in efforts to revitalize languages? What should be the future role of linguistic anthropology in the study of endangered languages? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 20 21:41:12 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 14:41:12 -0700 Subject: Inuktitut should be third Cdn. language: Nunavut (fwd) Message-ID: Inuktitut should be third Cdn. language: Nunavut Canadian Press Updated: Sun. Feb. 20 2005 3:11 PM ET http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1108930370628_6?hub=Canada Frustrated by what it calls poor funding for Nunavut's mother tongue, the territorial government says it is negotiating with Ottawa to have Inuktitut declared Canada's third official language. That would force the federal government to correct an imbalance that has it spending more than $3,500 per francophone on French services in Nunavut and nothing on the language most residents actually speak, said territorial Culture Minister Louis Tapardjuk. "We're hoping if we can get the federal government to recognize Inuktitut as an official language, then we can use that to serve Nunavummiut in their own language," Tapardjuk said. Under the Official Languages Act, Ottawa is obliged to provide translations of laws and documents in both official languages everywhere in Canada. Last year, the federal government spent $1.45 million providing such services to Nunavut's 410 francophones. However, Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada where neither French nor English is the majority language. Statistics Canada figures show more than 70 per cent of Nunavut's 25,500 Inuit speak Inuktitut, a figure that holds across all age groups. "Our language is still thriving and still strong," Tapardjuk said. Although Ottawa spends about $1.1 million on Inuktitut language programs, that money is only available for community-based projects such as dictionaries or curriculum materials. The federal government won't pay for translations of official debates, laws or other government documents. Tapardjuk's department estimates that costs the territory an extra $5 million a year. A recent survey done for the territory showed that 42 per cent of Inuit had trouble getting service in Inuktitut from the federal government. Louis Chagnon of Canadian Heritage said Nunavut has slipped through a hole in the Official Languages Act. "It kind of falls between the cracks," he said from Winnipeg. "We are sensitive to the quandary before us." Chagnon, who expressed surprise to hear of Tapardjuk's push to get Inuktitut recognized as an official language, said the move would require an act of Parliament. Tapardjuk couldn't say how official language status for Inuktitut could affect the roughly 23,000 Inuit who live outside Nunavut. Inuktitut is already considered an official language within the territory. The federal and territorial governments have been trying without success to negotiate a deal since Nunavut was created five years ago and talks are continuing. The old Canada-Nunavut Co-operation Agreement expired in 2004 and French services are being maintained under an interim agreement. Chagnon said Ottawa does fund other language-related programs in Nunavut, including the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and CBC North. ??Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Inc. From bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Feb 20 22:59:31 2005 From: bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (s.t. bischoff) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:59:31 -0700 Subject: Call for papers Message-ID: Hi all, We are putting together an MITWP on Less Familiar and Endangered Languages volume on Salish. We are interested in all aspect of linguistic inquiry (formal, functional, preservation efforts, etc.)regarding the Salish languages. We are also looking for contributions from the variety of language scholars conducting research/working with Salish langauges. Thanks, Shannon __________________________ S.T. Bischoff PhD Candidate Department of Linguistics 1100 E. University Blvd University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA bischoff at email.arizona.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 21403 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Feb 21 07:28:04 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 00:28:04 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... Message-ID: t?'ts hal?xpa (good day), I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of your impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". What are you thoughts? The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it By Marc Prensky, 2004 http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT From linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU Mon Feb 21 08:43:34 2005 From: linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU (Greg Dickson) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:13:34 +0930 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <1108970884.776db19535dde@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: > The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: > What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it 'differently' to who? sorry... can't help myself sometime... PC police.... Greg Dickson Linguist Ngukurr Language Centre PMB 6 via Katherine NT 0852 Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au On 21/02/2005, at 4:58 PM, phil cash cash wrote: > t?'ts hal?xpa (good day), > > I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of > your > impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital > native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. > > My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe > indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". > > What are you thoughts? > > By Marc Prensky, 2004 > http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp > > Phil Cash Cash > UofA, ILAT > From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Mon Feb 21 15:45:30 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:45:30 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, I read the Prensky article, and having been involved in technology since Kendall Square Cambridge was a dirt parking lot, I can answer that question: differently to the Digital Immigrants who are still searching for what to do with the new technology. As for Indigenous youth, one of my friends teaches technology and computer usage. I haven't seen the widespread use of technology as described in the Prensky article . . . . Because the kids don't have it. First, there are no cell phones. Grants don't provide cell phones for employees children. This leaves out text messaging, video sharing, and of course, my personal fav, "group solution of exams", called by the Digital Immigrants, "cheating". Second, there are few to no computers at home. In a recent give-away of replaced computers, the distributed computers had only basic software, and the students didn't know how to acquire and configure the games they liked. Also, no internet at home. So, the computers ended up in pawn shops. Third, the computers at school are totally locked down. Part of this is due to the fact that students download music and porn, or perhaps people anticipate that they will download porn and have struggled with the music-bound viruses. Under this is the fact that schools purchase 'major' virus protection that simply doesn't work all the time, and when a school of 600 computers gets infected, the problem is formidable, especially since there is so little technological skill among the teachers. Another factor that I find totally curious is that schools that have 600 to 1000 computers, that are brand new, have only one technology person. For this building where I am writing from, we have 100 computers max, not counting the lab, and we have 6-8 tech people at any given point in time, plus people who are using them who are computer literate. Finally, what I have seen in practice is that older people, regardless of whether they are Indigenous or not, fight against the use of technology. In non-Indigenous communities, where people can go more freely from place to place, and where their friends have technology, Digital Natives can get around the old people's restrictions (clearly I am of this breed). However, on reservations, kids don't have this much opportunity, so if there is a political battle going on over whether technology should be brought in, who should do it, and what it should do, the kids are generally caught in the middle. Whew! On the bright note (for me, anyway), when Indigenous kids get access to technology, and when some Digital Immigrant is not hanging around, telling them the "right" (read "limited") way to do something, they are just as interested and creative as the kids described by Prensky. Mia On 2/21/05 1:43 AM, "Greg Dickson" wrote: >> The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: >> What they do differently because of technology, and how they do it > > > 'differently' to who? > > sorry... can't help myself sometime... PC police.... > > Greg Dickson > Linguist > Ngukurr Language Centre > PMB 6 > via Katherine NT 0852 > Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 > Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au > On 21/02/2005, at 4:58 PM, phil cash cash wrote: > >> t?'ts hal?xpa (good day), >> >> I came across the below article awhile back and would be curious of >> your >> impressions on how Prensky's concept of the (non-ethnic) "digital >> native" might be applicable to indigenous youth. >> >> My thought is that the "digital divide" is still too great to describe >> indigenous youth as "digital native(s)". >> >> What are you thoughts? >> >> By Marc Prensky, 2004 >> http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp >> >> Phil Cash Cash >> UofA, ILAT >> > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Feb 21 16:52:06 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:52:06 -0700 Subject: Local Languages Demand More Space on the Internet (fwd) Message-ID: Local Languages Demand More Space on the Internet African Woman and Child Feature Service (Nairobi) NEWS February 17, 2005 Posted to the web February 16, 2005 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502160942.html By Arthur Okwemba Nairobi A bid to have African languages join the likes of English and French in the Internet is being blocked by information experts from the West as lacking in commercial value. A group of African linguistics and technology experts at a recent African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Accra, Ghana, say they have already developed special characters that can now help these languages be used on the World Wide Web. They argue that the use of languages such as English has played a big role in the development of Western countries. Another reason the Westerners are opposed to African languages being put on the Web, they say is their structure with some having characters and sounds in their alphabet that are not recognisable in the coding system of the Internet. Therefore, the continent should continue expressing itself through appropriate languages in social and economic development. According a Prof Mwasoko from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Africa's political elites are a problem than a solution, as they too oppose, for reason well known to them, the use of these languages on the Internet, Prof Salam Diakite, Director of Research and Documentation, African Academy of Languages said the only way to make African languages accepted in the cyberspace is to transact business in those languages. In Kenya, for instance, information on tourism and tea products should be in a local language or in Kiswahili, which Microsoft is going to launch officially on the Internet between April and May this year. Other communities like the Maasai Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, or Turkana can also use their languages on the Internet when communicating with their family members, relatives or transacting business with the outside world. If this happens, then those from Europe and America will have no otherwise but to learn how to use these languages. But this can only occur if special characters and sounds like those found in the Gikuyu dialects are accepted by Unicode consortium. Based in the USA, and with organizations such as Microsoft and International Business Machines (IBM) as members, Unicode Standard defines how characters and sounds of different languages are represented in modern software products and standards. Language experts think bantu speaking communities will be better placed to put their languages on the Internet because they can adopt the Kiswahili characters and sounds, which Unicode has approved. Addressing participants at the Accra conference, Mark Lange, senior attorney at Microsoft, said they support the idea of African languages on the internet. But he was fast to add that African countries need to put in place proper standards for the idea to be supported by other stakeholders in the information society. Currently, there are plans to put in place an African standardization and certification centre for those who want to use their vernacular languages on the website. Dr Shem Ochuodho, a computer expert, says any attempt to address over 80 per cent of Africans who live in the rural areas on how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), can, among other things, be achieved by using their languages online. "The only problem is the existence of a few words from certain African languages whose sounds cannot be accepted by the computer," says Prof Diakite. African linguistics at the African Academy of Languages have therefore developed special characters for these languages, and now want them accepted by Unicode. This list of African characters is then to be officially submitted to the committee of ISO standardization so that the characters can be added to their list as pre-composed African characters. Once this happens, letters in the African language in use will have to be mapped into the keyboards of computers. The type of fonts used will also have to change depending on the language being used. In addition, a dictionary of the African languages has to be developed to aid those people who are going to have problems in expressing themselves in these languages. So far, less than one percent of African languages have developed these requirements and gotten access to the cyberspace. In Ethiopia, where the local and national language, Amharic, is in use, attempts have been made to use it on the computer. Experts there have been struggling since the 1980's to make the computer recognize the Amharic characters. Since they have been accepted by Unicode, Dr Atnafu says they have in place a Content Management System, which allows them to use both Amharic and English on the computer. In South Africa too, local languages have been put in use on the Internet. Whereas these two countries have made headway in placing their local languages on websites, other African countries face a double challenge. Most of them have to find ways of ensuring their people speak and use their own language when communicating economic, social and political issues. As a first step, the conference has recommended that each African country should introduce the teaching of an African language from the primary school level up to the university as a linguistic bilingual policy. This language is to be taught alongside English or French and both are to be examinable subjects at both primary and secondary school levels as well as in colleges. African Union is expected to take up the issue, and impress upon member states to implement the recommendation. Likewise, to accelerate the use of local languages in ICTs, the Union is to declare 2006 as the year of African languages. As the momentum to use Kenyan and other African languages on the website picks up, linguistics are now warning parents who pride in their children's fluent foreing languages to start a rethink. They argue that children instructed in their mother tongue are more likely to grasp what they are taught than when the instructiona are in English or French. From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Feb 23 00:21:24 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 17:21:24 -0700 Subject: On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology Message-ID: I am conducting a brief on-line interview concerning grants on language revitalization and/or technology & learning. This on-line interview is completely voluntary. If you choose to respond, you can do so directly to me or to the ILAT list. I am using this information as a part of my grad student/postdoctoral course "Survival Skills and Ethics" here at the University of Arizona. qe'ciy?ew'yew' (thanks), Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT ~~~ Online interview on Language Revitalization &/or Technology and Learning Q.: What are the funding needs in your discipline? Q.: What funding opportunities are available? Q.: How competitive are grants in your discipline? Q.: What are the expectations regarding funding in your discipline? Q.: What are the greatest funding challenges you have faced? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 01:47:29 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 18:47:29 -0700 Subject: Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says (fwd) Message-ID: Ottawa underfunds Inuktitut, minister says WebPosted Feb 22 2005 05:00 PM MST CBC News http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=inuktitut-funding-02222005 IQALUIT - The minister responsible for languages in Nunavut says Inuit are being shortchanged by the federal government. Louis Taparjuk, the head of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, says the majority language in Nunavut is Inuktitut or Inuinaqtun. But, he says money provided by the federal government does not reflect that. He says there's a big difference between federal funding for French or English and that provided for Inuktitut. "The federal government provides $3,571 for 410 francophones and $48.50 for 22,680 Inuit," Taparjuk says of Ottawa's per capita expenditures in Nunavut. "Obviously the resources made available to the Nunavut government isn't there for us to provide the services in Inuktitut." Taparjuk says the Nunavut government alone spends $5 million a year just on translation. He says the federal government should be spending more on Inuktitut in Nunavut. From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:15:28 2005 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 21:15:28 -0500 Subject: On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology Message-ID: Hi, everyone. I hope you are all well. Phil--will you send me your private address, so I won't be sending my replies to your survey to the entire list? Thanks. Resa (cranem @ mail.ecu.edu) -----Original Message----- From: Indigenous Languages and Technology on behalf of phil cash cash Sent: Tue 2/22/2005 7:21 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Cc: Subject: [ILAT] On-line interview: language revitalization and/or technology I am conducting a brief on-line interview concerning grants on language revitalization and/or technology & learning. This on-line interview is completely voluntary. If you choose to respond, you can do so directly to me or to the ILAT list. I am using this information as a part of my grad student/postdoctoral course "Survival Skills and Ethics" here at the University of Arizona. qe'ciy?ew'yew' (thanks), Phil Cash Cash UofA, ILAT ~~~ Online interview on Language Revitalization &/or Technology and Learning Q.: What are the funding needs in your discipline? Q.: What funding opportunities are available? Q.: How competitive are grants in your discipline? Q.: What are the expectations regarding funding in your discipline? Q.: What are the greatest funding challenges you have faced? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:16:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:16:17 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Thanks Mia, there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, qots (later) phil cash cash UofA ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 02:36:31 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:36:31 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <20050222191617.v5z6swos0csk44ok@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: oh yea, i forgot to add the recent/not so recent (depending on your view of time) study put out by the gates foundation... Native American Access to Technology Program: Progress Report A Report to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, December 2001 http://www.gatesfoundation.org/nr/downloads/libraries/eval_docs/pdf/NAATP_Progress_Report_2001.pdf phil cc ----- Message from cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU --------- Date: Tue, 22 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:10:04 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:10:04 -0700 Subject: RIGHTS: New Plea for Russian Minority (fwd) Message-ID: RIGHTS: New Plea for Russian Minority Linus Atarah http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27587 HELSINKI, Feb 23 (IPS) - The Mari minority in Russia are facing a steady erosion of their cultural rights, a group of human rights campaigners have said in a protest statement. The Mari are a branch of the Finno-Ugric of the Uralic people. The Uralics are an indigenous group spread across Russia and several of the ex-Soviet republics. Uralic is also a family of languages with two principal branches, the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed. Uralic peoples differ from each other by race, religion and culture. The western Finno-Ugrians are quite different from the Khants and Mansis in Siberia who are closest to Hungarians. But Uralics share common origins and practices that include a close relationship with nature, both animate and inanimate. The Mari number about three-quarters of a million, and about 43 percent of them live in Mari El, a formally autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. Most others live in neighbouring regions.. They speak Volga-Finnic, a branch of the Finno-Ugric of the Uralic family of languages. Bee-keeping is major business in the region. The Mari El Association in Moscow issued an appeal earlier this month highlighting the suppression of Mari peoples rights. That has led to an international appeal, signed mostly by Estonians, Finns and Hungarians. The signatories include also individuals from Britain and the United States. ?We the representatives and friends of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the world call on the Russian authorities at all levels to take immediate steps to end the attacks on members of the democratic opposition in the Republic of Mari El,? the petition says. ?We urge international human rights organisations to join us in this cause.? The local Mari El government is dominated by Russian-speaking people. Among those who signed the appeal are former speaker of the Finnish parliament Riitta Uosukainen, former president of Estonia Lennart Meri, long-term adviser to the U.S. government Prof. Paul Goble, composers Veljo Tormis from Estonia and Kari Rydman from Finland, the first vice-president of the European Parliament committee on foreign affairs Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Prof. John Hiden from Britain, and former Finnish foreign minister Pertti Paasio. Paasio told IPS that the petition seeks to tell the world what is going on within Russia. ?It will be a tragic loss to multi-ethnic culture in Europe if the Russians succeed in totally suppressing the Mari language and other minorities in the Russian Federation,? he said. The Mari people have been given autonomy status by the Russian Constitution but the authorities have not implemented it in practice, Paasio said. Instead there has been a systematic attempt by Russian authorities to deny Mari people use of their own language or to engage in other cultural practices, he said. Kalevi Wiik, a retired professor at the University of Turku in Finland and a signatory to the petition says the director of Mari theatre in Mari El was fired without any apparent reason last month. Vladimir Kozlov, editor-in-chief of the Finno-Ugric newspaper 'Kudo+Kodu' was attacked and seriously injured, Wiik told IPS. The suppression of the Mari people is ?a reflection of the non-democratisation in Russia today being carried out by the Russian leader (Vladimir) Putin,? Wiik said. A pan-Slavic movement is seeking to pave the way for Russian-only culture in the country, Wiik said. The Komi people in the area are also threatened, he said. Mari groups will host the next world congress of Finno-Ugric studies later this year.. The petition says it is therefore ?especially important now that the Russian authorities in Moscow and in Mari El do everything possible to end the abuse of the rights of the Maris.? (END/2005) Mari petition From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:25:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:25:45 -0700 Subject: Use Your Mother Tongues - Zuma Urges Nation (fwd) Message-ID: Use Your Mother Tongues - Zuma Urges Nation BuaNews (Pretoria) NEWS February 23, 2005 By Matome Sebelebele Pretoria http://allafrica.com/stories/200502230180.html Government will not use language as a tool to discriminate against other communities - instead it will encourage the nation to speak in their mother tongues, says Deputy President Jacob Zuma. He however called for the promotion and growth of all the eleven languages and the Khoi, Nama and San languages, rather than develop English and Afrikaans alone. The two still dominate in the country. However, numerous efforts have been implemented to highlight the need to promote the other nine languages as well. Some experts have also called for the use of the indigenous languages as media of instructions in schools, government publications, in business and scientific work to enable African communities to access opportunities as well as engage with the authorities. "We must emphasise that we do not seek to reverse the gains of English and Afrikaans, but we have a duty, all of us, including the speakers of English and Afrikaans as mother tongues, to develop the other nine official languages which have remained historically marginalised," said Mr Zuma. He was addressing a function to celebrate international mother tongue day in Pretoria, last night. Language, he elaborated, was crucial in asserting one's cultural identity and opening possibilities as witnessed with the award-winning Yesterday (a Zulu film) and in isiXhosa uCarmen eKhayelitsha. Challenges however remain as more African children grow up in cosmopolitan cities, where there is pressure to be "cool" by expressing themselves in English. This, Mr Zuma argued, could be resolved by encouraging children to learn more than two local languages including their mother tongue. "The ideal situation is that our children should be conversant in all 11 languages! If we cannot achieve that feat, we should at least achieve fluency and proficiency in the mother languages." Citing examples of Ilanga, Isolezwe and Umafrika - the commercial newspaper published in Zulu - he said these publications vindicated a view that products in mother tongue were profitable and sustainable. "The success of these publications indicate that people are actually keen to read in their mother tongue," he said. Copyright ? 2005 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Feb 23 18:40:53 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:40:53 -0700 Subject: Press Release: Ngukurr community fighting for their languages to be taught in their school (fwd) Message-ID: Ngukurr community fighting for their languages to be taught in their school Members of Ngukurr community in Southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory (NT), Australia, are working towards having six of the community?s traditional Aboriginal languages taught in the local school. However, even with strong community support, finding funding to have their languages taught in their own school is proving difficult. ?The N.T. Education Department has Aboriginal Language and Culture in its curriculum framework, but this is the only part of the curriculum that has no compulsory funding?, says Greg Dickson, a Ngukurr-based linguist working for the Katherine Regional Aboriginal Language Centre. ?This is a real shame because it means communities find it hard to implement language classes in their schools, even when the community support and infrastructure is already there.? The people of Ngukurr community look back to around nine distinct Aboriginal languages. One of them, Warndarrang, has already died out and most of the others are highly endangered. Only two of them, Nunggubuyu and Ritharrngu (or Wagilak), are being passed onto children, but that is happening in other communities. At Ngukurr, children grow up speaking Kriol. ?Other communities in the region have ?two-way? education, where traditional languages have a strong place in the school. But at Ngukurr the situation is difficult because we have a lot of languages and a lot of them are endangered. But this doesn?t mean Ngukurr children should be deprived of the opportunity to learn their own languages in the school?, Mr Dickson said. Community member and language worker at the Ngukurr Language Centre, Godfrey Blitner, has been gathering community support by holding meetings with Elders and speakers from each language group, ?Having language in school is important because it helps kids keep their identity. Kids learn about their country and it helps them understand language and culture. People in the community are really interested to do the work, but there is always something in the way.? Ngukurr school has a school council but the Federal government took away any economic power the school council has at the end of 2004 by winding up ASSPA (Aboriginal Student Support and Parent Awareness) funding. That funding must now be accessed through a grant application process and the community has no say over which applications will be successful. Money is allocated towards Language in Schools through the NT Education Department, but those decisions are not made until mid-year. ?This is no help to people here at Ngukurr who are ready to teach their languages now?, Mr Dickson said. Committee member of Ngukurr Language Centre, Eddie Chisholm, argues, ?Kids in city schools can choose to learn Japanese, Indonesian or German. Our kids should have the same opportunity to learn their own languages.? Staff Contact: Robin Hodgson, Co-ordinator. 08 8971 1233 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: PressRelease Lang Program.doc Type: application/msword Size: 54272 bytes Desc: not available URL: From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Feb 25 15:48:14 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:48:14 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: <20050222191617.v5z6swos0csk44ok@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: I was talking to my friend Janie yesterday. She teaches at Mescalero, technology in the computer lab. And we were talking about this very issue. She said her kids are "amazing". "Stunning". And they love technology. Indian kids aren't any different than any other kids when you give them technology. I have also seen this, hanging out in the Tribal Library, watching the kids come in. I don't think there is much published research. It is getting more and more difficult to do any "research" these days, but that is another who discussion. Mia On 2/22/05 7:16 PM, "phil cash cash" wrote: > Thanks Mia, > > there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous > youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), > portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community > (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. > > here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): > > http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ > Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing > By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. > > if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, > > qots (later) > phil cash cash > UofA > > > ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- > From miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Feb 25 15:59:20 2005 From: miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:59:20 -0700 Subject: going "digital native"... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Interesting article. Very hopeful. On 2/25/05 8:48 AM, "Mia Kalish" wrote: > I was talking to my friend Janie yesterday. She teaches at Mescalero, > technology in the computer lab. And we were talking about this very issue. > > She said her kids are "amazing". "Stunning". And they love technology. > Indian kids aren't any different than any other kids when you give them > technology. > > I have also seen this, hanging out in the Tribal Library, watching the kids > come in. > > I don't think there is much published research. It is getting more and more > difficult to do any "research" these days, but that is another who > discussion. > > Mia > > > On 2/22/05 7:16 PM, "phil cash cash" wrote: > >> Thanks Mia, >> >> there's just not a whole lot of information out there on how indigenous >> youth access technology. tvs, video games (portable & non-portable), >> portable cd-players, and tape recorders are a big deal in my community >> (at least among my younger relatives). now, recently dvds. >> >> here is a slice of life that is pretty good (despite the date): >> >> http://www.alternet.org/story/14363/ >> Beyond Tradition: Today's Native Youth Organizing >> By Michael Gaworecki, WireTap. Posted October 23, 2002. >> >> if anybody finds recent info, please post it to the list, >> >> qots (later) >> phil cash cash >> UofA >> >> >> ----- Message from miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US --------- >> > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:25:28 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:25:28 -0700 Subject: New CD will bring Inuktitut to children (fwd) Message-ID: February 25, 2005 New CD will bring Inuktitut to children "When you sing a song in Inuktitut, you're not worried about stumbling" GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS [photo inset - Leena Evic learned to sing while growing up in a winter camp across from Pangnirtung. (PHOTO BY GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS)] How do you say "intsy-wintsy spider" in Inuktitut? Leena Evic, a former school teacher, has put the answer to music in the familiar children's song on a new CD, to give all generations an extra tool to teach themselves the language. "It's for everybody who enjoys music," Evic said in an interview earlier this week. "It's also a reference for learning Inuktitut." The CD, called And There Were Inuit, will be launched during Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme festivities in April. But Evic is already excited to share the 24 songs that took her more than two years to record. During a sneak preview of the disc, Evic told Nunatsiaq News about how she hopes the short, cheery songs will inspire coming generations to keep the language alive. She said she draws on her elders' tradition of singing ayaya songs to recount stories about the past in an entertaining way. "They tell a lot about the culture," she said of elders' songs. "They tell a lot about... who the people were, and how they lived." The CD fits Evic's life mission of helping preserve traditional culture. As a primary school teacher at Joamie School in Iqaluit, she used music to pique the interest of her students learning Inuktitut as a second language. Since then, she left the school system and co-founded a consultancy, the Pirurvik Centre, which handles cultural events, and language projects like translating the Windows computer operating system into syllabics. While sorting through potential Inuktitut teaching material, Evic came across her old song sheets for popular children's songs, like "London Bridge is Falling Down," and "The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe." With encouragement from her business partner, Evic started visiting a recording studio in Kingston, Ont., while she was working as an instructor in the Tupiq Program for Inuit prisoners at the Fenbrook Institution, outside Toronto. Several years later, Evic has the CD in hand, full of tunes spanning the 1970s to the 1990s. Even listeners who don't know a word of Inuktitut will likely recognize the melodies of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Our Land," and "You are my Sunshine." However, Evic seems to light up with pride when talking about the title track, which she wrote herself (the music comes from a Russian folk song). The lyrics are based on the first decade of Evic's life, when she lived in a winter camp with six other families across from the nascent settlement of Pangnirtung. At the time, Evic learned to sing from her mother who entertained the children, and loved to tell stories. She said her father influenced her musically, by humming tunes to relax at night. "In a traditional society... values gave us a great source of strength," Evic said. "One of the greatest groundings we had was love for one another." But the tightly-knit camps eventually disbanded. Evic's family moved to the settlement, where she joined the Anglican choir, and learned to sing in upbeat harmonies. Decades later, Evic said she found she had a knack for using her musical talents to teach her mother tongue to people of every age. Evic's business partner has already benefited from the CD in his quest to speak more Inuktitut. Gavin Nesbitt, who moved to Iqaluit about nine years ago, said he's struggled with the language, in part, because every phrase looks really long on paper. But he said Evic's songs tend to show him where proper emphasis should be in Inuktitut, and are easy to memorize because of the melodies. "People learn more through music," Nesbitt said. "When you sing a song in Inuktitut, you're not worried about stumbling." The CD, produced by former Iqaluit musician Chris Coleman, will be available in stores later this year. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:30:19 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:30:19 -0700 Subject: At Remote Eskimo School, Yearning for the Lower 48 (fwd) Message-ID: At Remote Eskimo School, Yearning for the Lower 48 Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News February 24, 2005 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0224_050224_tununak.html Perched on a barren Alaskan coast, the village of Tununak receives little shelter from the cruel winds of the Bering Sea. A storm last year wiped out its community center. Yet it is perhaps the mercurial winds of globalization that are leaving the greatest imprint on this remote Yupik Eskimo village, population 350. Like hundreds of other indigenous settlements throughout Alaska?and thousands more throughout the world?Tununak finds itself clinging to the last vestiges of its native heritage against the onslaught of Western-style modernity. The older people in Tununak complain that their native culture has moved to the brink of extinction. Listening to the younger generation, which is tied to the outside world through the Internet and satellite television, it sounds like the culture has already gone off the edge. "This place is dead," said Aaron Link, who is 16 years old. "There is nothing to do here. We would like to make new friends, meet new people be part of the rest of the world." To that end, Link and his fellow high school-age students from Tununak's Paul T. Albert Memorial School are raising money for a future trip to the lower 48, as Alaskans refer to the continuous United States. Their plan is not to travel as cultural ambassadors to promote their traditional way of life. Instead, they are going simply to discover the outside world?a world they have only seen on television but one in which they see their own future. Cut Off The Yupik are a group of Eskimo people. Some 20,000 Yupik people live on the southwest coast of Alaska. Situated on Nelson Island, Tununak, which means "back of the river," sits near the Tununak River and the Bering Sea. Native Americans settled in the village as early as 6,000 B.C. Over the millennia, the village population rose and fell as Eskimo warfare raged in the area. Today residents speak facetiously about "downtown" and "uptown" in the collection of modest houses that make up the village. In addition to the school (the largest employer), there is a medical clinic (without a registered nurse) and a general store. The store now has an Internet connection through which customers can order food online from Bethel, 120 miles (190 kilometers) away. The one road that cuts through the village is riddled with potholes, but fixing it is hardly a priority, since only one resident has a car. There is no road out of Tununak, which is accessible only by small airplane and when the weather permits. Instead, the primary mode of transportation is snowmobile. During the six or more months out of the year when Tununak is covered in snow, the frozen river serves as the main thoroughfare. The residents, however, revere the stark landscape of rolling hills and cragged shoreline. "This is God's country," said Victor Kanrilak, a community advocate and counselor at the school. Tununak is still a subsistence community, with residents relying on hunting and fishing for their survival. The fishing is done in the summertime, and the catch includes salmon, blackfish, halibut, herring, and trout. In 1969 musk oxen wer introduced on the island. Today there are 300 to 400 oxen, and hunters are allowed to kill 30 per year. "Village English" A future of subsistence hunting hardly appeals to the students at Paul T. Albert Memorial. But getting out of the village?and finding a job?is an uphill climb. In the last ten years the school has only graduated one male student. Most students who try for college do not succeed. Language is one of the main obstacles. Students begin their studies in the Yupik language then switch to English in third grade. Most young people in the village become fluent in neither Yupik nor English, putting them at a big disadvantage when it comes to taking statewide tests. "The kids speak a sort of 'village English,'" Kanrilak said. "They'll say things like, 'We'll check you.' That means they will come to see you." Kanrilak speaks to his eight children in both English and Yupik. Although his children can understand Yup'ik, they respond in English. Kanrilak says his generation was the last to be immersed in the Yupik language. "We have been told that our language is inferior and we should speak English," he said. "Today we have to compete with television. A minority of people in the village speak to their children in their native language." Experts say that language loss is perhaps the strongest indicator that a culture is eroding. According to Wade Davis, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and an expert on struggling cultures, there were 6,000 languages spoken around the world 50 years ago. Today, fewer than half of them are being taught to schoolchildren. "Unless something changes, [these cultures] are already dead," Davis said. "Language is not just vocabulary and grammar. It's the flash of the human spirit, a vehicle through which the soul of a culture comes to the material world, and every language is like an old-growth forest of the mind." Language is hardly the only cultural loss. Already gone, at least in Tununak, are the spiritual traditions. In Yupik culture, nature is a metaphysic?a source of abstract knowledge of cosmology and being. According to Yupik tradition, shamans, dreamers who are receptive to nature's voices, can travel freely in the unseen world. They return to this world with new rituals. But there are no more shamans in Tununak. A single Catholic church serves the community. Kanrilak, the community activist, says the cultural loss is tragic, but inevitable. "It happens to indigenous people, the lifestyle changes as they come in contact with another prominent culture," he said. "A lot of the things we used to do are memory now. Yes, I'm sad about it. But it's something that had to happen. "If I let my kids live in the past," he added, "they would be left behind in this world we live in." Telling Stories Some parts of the Yupik culture are kept alive. Traditional dancing, involving both young and old people, is popular, particularly at special feasts. Ladies, waving fans made from caribou neck hair and woven grass, dance to traditional drumming with young boys who kneel and wave feather fans. Most dances tell stories from long ago, many about hunting. For their trip to the lower 48, the students plan to put together a presentation, including dancing, on traditional Yupik culture. "Our students would like to share their culture as an awareness of the people who came before them," said Janet Hoppe, a teacher at the Paul T. Albert Memorial School. Hoppe, who is from Wisconsin, is organizing the trip. But, Hoppe said, "the students are more interested in learning what the world is like, how to interact with their peers across America and gain confidence to step outside the village." An itinerary has not been set, but Washington, D.C., would definitely be one stop on a trek that could last several months. Hoppe is thinking about taking a few students to the lower 48 on a nine-week "trial run" this summer. To Joanne Albert, a 15-year-old student, it doesn't matter where they go. "I just want to see new faces," she said. "In the village we see the same people all the time." As one might expect, the dating scene in Tununak isn't exactly huge, since most people are related to each other. "The needs and aspirations of the youth are changing," Hoppe said. "The elders would like the tradition of young people staying in the village, taking care of the old, to continue. But the youth see a different future. They want to go out of the community and join the modern world." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 18:33:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 11:33:45 -0700 Subject: Re-learning the language, reinvigorating =?utf-8?b?TWlhbWnCknM=?= culture (fwd) Message-ID: Re-learning the language, reinvigorating Miami?s culture Dictionary could prevent native tongue from vanishing Friday, February 25, 2005 http://www.oxfordpress.com/life/content/features/stories/2005/02/25/OP0225myaamia.html;COXnetJSessionID=CfvAeZIsk2St7IDAhza4LDY1iqX1kPmPaFiPgHk2NHNJgltwUe8N!2039876020?urac=n&urvf=11093562886030.25732388284999275 Miami University is working with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to resuscitate the tribe?s native language ? silenced, smothered and nearly suffocated by past federal policy ? and working to rebuild the language one step at a time, each step a breath of fresh air. The project involves many different aspects and includes the first comprehensive dictionary for the native language which will be published at the end of the month. There have been other dictionaries written for the tribe but none as in depth as this. It is being co-edited by Daryl Baldwin and David Costa. The Myaamia neehi peewaalia kaloosioni mahsinaakani ( A Miami-Peoria Dictionary) will be 200 pages and will include 3,500 entries, a brief description of the language, an English cross-reference list and many example sentences. Baldwin is the Myaamia Project for Language Revitalization project director and a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. He began working on the project when he came to the university in 2001. Costa, Ph.D, is a linguist who lives in San Francisco and has been studying the Miami-Illinois language since 1988. He has been working with the Miami Indian Tribe since 1995 and has had several publications on the language. Baldwin said before Columbus came to America, there were about 300 languages spoken. Today, only about 175 of these languages are still spoken. The Miami Tribe was indigenous to the midwest inhabiting much of Ohio and Indiana and eastern Illinois. In 1846, the tribe was forced out of their homeland and relocated to Kansas, and then to Oklahoma. Not only were the Miamis forced to relocate, they were also forced to assimilate. Native languages were under attack by the federal policy, spurring a trickle-down effect which reduced many native languages like the Miamis? from standard to distant memory. In the 1960s, the last member of the Miami tribe who could speak the language conversationally, died, collapsing the bridge between yesterday?s native- tongue speaking members and today?s first generation English- speaking tribe members. The negative effect this had on the tribe was not fully acknowledged until the late 1980s. In 1990, a native language law passed which reversed the former federal policy, sparking the tribe?s organized effort to revive its lost language which began in 1995. Baldwin said reviving the language is important because language is culture ? it encompasses the values, beliefs and knowledge of a community as a whole. ?I personally feel it is important to my own heritage to perpetuate the language,? Baldwin said. The Miami language is one of 25 in the Algonquian language family and is structured very similarly to other languages within the family such as Ojibwa-Potawatomi-Ottawa, Mesquaki-Kickapoo and Shawnee. Baldwin said because of this, they were able to use related languages as tools to aid in the dictionary project. The language has been recorded in written form for nearly 300 years so Baldwin said there was a lot of information to work from. Most tribe members have been raised speaking English and know very little about the language, Baldwin said. Even the tribal elders know only a few words, phrases and prayers. Costa said there are already Miamis learning to speak the language and said the extent of which the language is actually spoken among tribe members in the future lies within the motivation of the community. ?Whether it?s possible to revive a dormant language is entirely up to the community whose language it is,? Costa said. ?If the will exists at the community level to revive the language then there is nothing left to prevent it.? Costa said there are many aspects of the project which make it so rewarding, he said. ?Knowing that I?m helping to create something that will be used many years into the future and that through my efforts the Miamis are coming closer to getting their language back? are reasons for the work, Costa said. The project is being funded by Miami University, The Miami tribe of Oklahoma and a donation form Rotary International, NW Ohio District Baldwin said plans are, after the project is complete, that the tribe will handle copyrighting, publishing and distributing the dictionary. From langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Feb 25 20:05:58 2005 From: langendt at U.ARIZONA.EDU (Terry Langendoen) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:05:58 -0700 Subject: Dourdan (near Paris): Workshop on NLP for Under-Resourced Languages -- Second CFP (at TALN 2005) (fwd) Message-ID: This call for papers will be of interest to some readers of this list. Terry ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:58:21 EST From: Priscilla Rasmussen To: rasmusse at research.rutgers.edu Subject: Dourdan (near Paris): Workshop on NLP for Under-Resourced Languages -- Second CFP (at TALN 2005) =========================================== SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS for the Workshop NLP for Under-Resourced Languages Friday, 10 June 2005 in Dourdan, near Paris ============================================ Held in conjunction with the conference TALN 2005 (6-10 June 2005) http://www.limsi.fr/TALN05 Many languages have little or no information technology available: they have no substantial presence on the Internet, and existing software has not been adapted for their use. These are languages of countries in the developing world (e.g. Wolof in Senegal), or regional languages in countries where the first language is a global one (e.g. Breton in France). Linguistic work on these languages is often lacking, and must overcome a number of difficulties: - the presence of many lexical alternatives - multiple spellings for the same word, - the lack of exhaustive lexicons, - non-standardized transcription methods - etc. This is why we describe these languages as "under-resourced" or "pi-languages": for political and economic reasons they lack sufficient resources in terms of both linguistic study and information technology. The goal of this workshop is to provide a progress report on techniques being used for Natural Language Processing of under-resourced languages. THEMES Researchers are invited to present work related to any of the following topics: - Methods for measuring the level of technology available for a given language - Assessment of resources for basic computerization, and standardization of these resources (editors, virtual keyboards, printing, sorting, etc.) - Collection of corpora and other linguistic resources (lexicons, grammars); the role of the Internet, diasporas, unsupervised training algorithms - Methodologies for computerization of under-resourced languages (details of techniques) - Specific technologies (OCR, PDA) - Encoding of linguistic data (lexicons, morphology, syntax, and semantics) and genericity of formats. - Reports concerning the computerization of a particular language or group of pi-languages. - Architectures for NLP technologies : adaptation of existing technologies to pi-languages. - Surveys of major problems encountered in this area. SELECTION CRITERIA ------------------------------ Authors are invited to submit papers concerning original research. All submissions will be examined by at least two specialists in the area. Particular attention will be paid to: - appropriateness for the themes of the workshop - importance and originality of the contribution - validity of the technical and scientific content - critical discussion of the results, in particular as they relate to other work in the field - organization and clarity of the presentation The selected articles will be published in the conference proceedings. METHODS OF SUBMISSION ------------------------------ * Submitted articles may not exceed 10 pages in Times 12, single-spaced (about 3000 words), figures, examples, and references included. Articles are to be written in French for French speakers and in English for non-French speakers. * A LaTeX style file and Word template file will be available from the conference web site http://www.limsi.fr/TALN05. * Articles must be submitted as an attachment to an email with the subject "atelier TALN soumission" and containing the title of the article, principal author's name, affiliation, postal address, email address, telephone number, and fax number. Send this email to chantal.enguehard@ univ-nantes.fr. * It is IMPERATIVE that one of the following file formats be used, formatted for A4 paper: PS, PDF, RTF (Word). * In case an email submission is not possible, paper submissions may be accepted. Send 3 paper copies of the article to the following address: Chantal Enguehard - TALN 2005 LINA 2, rue de la Houssini?re BP 92208 44322 Nantes Cedex 03 France CALENDAR Submission deadline: Thursday, 10 March 2005 Notification to authors: Tuesday, 5 April 2005 Final version: Friday, 15 April 2005 Conference : Friday, 10 June 2005 PROGRAM COMMITTEE . Denis B?chet - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique . Vincent Berment - Laboratoire Communication Langagi?re et Interaction Personne-Syst?me . Christian Boitet - Laboratoire Communication Langagi?re et Interaction Personne-Syst?me . Malek Boualem - France Telecom . Marcel Diki-Kidiri - Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire . Chantal Enguehard - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique (President) . Laura Monceaux - Laboratoire d'Informatique Nantes-Atlantique . Kevin Scannell - Saint Louis University . Monique Slodzian - Centre de Recherche en Ing?nierie Multilingue From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Feb 28 21:47:24 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 13:47:24 -0800 Subject: Happy New Year from Native Languages of the Americas Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: From: Laura Redish Date: February 28, 2005 1:41:35 PM PST To: tjekanefir at yahoo.com Subject: Happy New Year from Native Languages of the Americas Osiyo, Aaniin, Hau Kola, and Hello! We hope the new year finds everybody well. Our apologies for the mass mailing, but we wanted to update everyone at once, otherwise we knew we would never find the time. We used "bcc" so you should be able to reply to this message without it going to everybody else on the list. Here at Native Languages of the Americas we have had a busy year, adding more than 200 pages of vocabulary, soundfiles, and other Indian language materials to our website (http://www.native-languages.org/). We have also streamlined our projects to make it easier for the community to participate in our work, which is why I am sending this message to you today. All of you have previously contacted us with an interest in native language preservation and/or connecting more with your heritage, so here are three ways you can join us in our work if you like: 1) We have improved our projects page, http://www.native-languages.org/help.htm, to include a list of practical things you can do to help us with our mission of language preservation, from simply linking to our site all the way through making audio recordings of an elder relative. Please visit this page and see if there's anything you'd like to pitch in with! In particular, if we do not have a page about your own tribe or nation yet, and you'd like to help us change that, just drop us an email. We are now in a position to add more pages easily. 2) We have added a page for our submission guidelines, http://www.native-languages.org/submissions.htm. If you enjoy writing and would like for us to publish an essay or article written by you, please take a look. (We still publish all Indian language materials submitted to us the same way we always have.) 3) And if there is any way that we can help with your community's native language revival or preservation efforts, please let us know! Finally, to those of you who made donations to our organization last calendar year, remember that we are a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization, so you may take that donation out of your taxes this April. Have a great new year, and may all our nations prosper. Orrin, Laura, Pinny and Kate .:.? Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? location=listinfo -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3129 bytes Desc: not available URL: