Professor wins linguistics award (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Professor wins linguistics award

Erin Madison
Montana Kaimin
http://www.kaimin.org/viewarticle.php?id=3849

For University of Montana professor Anthony Mattina, 30 years working
with American Indians began with a single linguistics class in graduate
school.

“It was a class very much like the one I teach now,” said Mattina, who
teaches Introduction to Linguistic Analysis. “There was an emphasis on
so-called unwritten languages in that class, and that caught my
imagination.”

Earlier this month, he received the Ken Hale Prize from the Society for
the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas for his years of
work with the Okanagan language.

“He was very excited, but he was very humbled by it,” said his wife,
Nancy Mattina, director of the UM Writing Center.

The Ken Hale Prize is presented annually to recognize outstanding
community language work and a commitment to the documentation,
maintenance, promotion and revitalization of indigenous languages in
North and South America.

“Dr. Mattina was chosen for his outstanding contribution to the field of
linguistics,” said his former student and nominator Shannon Bischoff.

The award includes a $500 prize, which Mattina donated to the American
Indian groups he works with.

Mattina has spent his career working with the Okanagan people. Their
language is spoken from Grand Coulee, Wash., to Vernon, British
Columbia.

“It’s huge. It’s a big territory,” Mattina said.

About 500 to 1,000 people speak Okanagan, which is why the language gets
so little attention, Mattina said.

“It’s just another language, but yet it holds a special attraction for
me,” he said.

Mattina documents the language by recording Okanagan stories and
transcribing them.

He has edited nearly 30 books on Okanagan and written dozens of
articles. He also works on language preservation with various tribes.
“The languages are becoming extinct at an alarming rate,” Mattina said.
“It’s an uphill battle to reverse the trend.”

Mattina programmed a number of computer games that he installs in grade
schools. The games teach animal names, pronunciation and Okanagan
stories.

“The kids love them,” Mattina said.

Mattina hopes they will learn their language and help revitalize it.
“He’s done a lot more than I could ever hope to do,” Nancy Mattina
said.

“He just fell in love with those people,” she said. “It just became his
life.”

Mattina visits the Okanagan as often as possible. He has a trip planned
for early February.

“You go out in the field, and you make friends, and that sort of becomes
your community,” his wife said.

“They love me and I love them,” Anthony Mattina said.