From linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU Wed Mar 2 23:58:29 2005 From: linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU (Greg Dickson) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 09:28:29 +0930 Subject: linguistic rights Message-ID: Hey all, i was wondering if anyone could help me... is there a UN statement or bill-of-rights type thing that talks about linguistic rights? For example, something that says people have the right and freedom to use their first language? if anyone knows anything bout this could they let me know? (reason being, there are teachers at this community who actively discourage students using their own language (a creole, called Kriol) in the classroom, amongst themselves.... and i'm rather angry about it...) Greg Dickson Linguist Ngukurr Language Centre PMB 6 via Katherine NT 0852 Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au From john.bowden at ANU.EDU.AU Thu Mar 3 00:46:40 2005 From: john.bowden at ANU.EDU.AU (John Bowden) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 11:46:40 +1100 Subject: linguistic rights In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I think you will find what you are looking for in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which has a number of clauses concerning linguistic rights. It's available on the web at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127160m.pdf There is another discussion document currently circulating within UNESCO that is concerned strictly with linguistic diversity, but it has not been ratified and I'm not sure where you can get a copy. Hope that's some help John Bowden. At 09:28 AM 3/03/2005 +0930, you wrote: >Hey all, > >i was wondering if anyone could help me... is there a UN statement or >bill-of-rights type thing that talks about linguistic rights? For >example, something that says people have the right and freedom to use >their first language? > >if anyone knows anything bout this could they let me know? > >(reason being, there are teachers at this community who actively >discourage students using their own language (a creole, called Kriol) >in the classroom, amongst themselves.... and i'm rather angry about >it...) > >Greg Dickson >Linguist >Ngukurr Language Centre >PMB 6 >via Katherine NT 0852 >Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 >Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 3 03:03:22 2005 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 19:03:22 -0800 Subject: UN draft declaration of indigenous rights/language In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20050303114410.02f996a8@coombs.anu.edu.au> Message-ID: these are a few of the language specific articles from the draft declaration/indigenous rights. Hope it's helpful -Richard http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.1994.45.En?OpenDocument 1994/45. Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples DRAFT UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PART III Article 14 Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons. States shall take effective measures, whenever any right of indigenous peoples may be threatened, to ensure this right is protected and also to ensure that they can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means. PART IV Article 15 Indigenous children have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State. All indigenous peoples also have this right and the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. Indigenous children living outside their communities have the right to be provided access to education in their own culture and language. States shall take effective measures to provide appropriate resources for these purposes. Article 17 Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages. They also have the right to equal access to all forms of non-indigenous media. States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. __________________________________ Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 3 19:59:23 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 12:59:23 -0700 Subject: Linguists Introduce New Software Prototype (fwd) Message-ID: Associated Press Linguists Introduce New Software Prototype 03.03.2005, 01:18 PM http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/03/03/ap1861446.html Guatemalan linguists have distributed a prototype for a computer program that operates in the Mayan Indian language of Quiche, a project aimed at preserving the ancient language and raising its profile worldwide. The prototype was developed by language experts at The Academy of Mayan Languages in conjunction with computer students at the state-run San Carlos University, and was distributed this week to about 100 potential users for their feedback, including native speakers, publishing houses, consultants and cultural experts. The project was inspired by a law, passed last year, that promotes the use and preservation of native Indian languages, Academy president and linguist Modesto Baquiax Barreno said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. The law "challenged us with the important goal of distributing writings in the Mayan languages, and that led us to take advantage of existing technology," Baquiax said. Academy director Rigoberto Juarez said designers hoped the project would "raise the status of the language to that enjoyed by others in these types of systems on a worldwide level." "As quiche speakers ... we want to give our language the same political profile that other languages have." The program was created with OpenOffice.org software to operate on the Linux system. The prototype contains menus, instructions, help texts, and grammatical and spell-checking programs in the quiche language, a feat that took "hard and extensive work," Baquiax said, noting that designers inserted 8,000 quiche words in the program. About 1.2 million of Guatemala's 14 million inhabitants speak quiche. In the future, the academy hopes to design programs in the majority of the other 21 Indian languages spoken in Guatemala. The designers also will urge computer manufacturers and software designers to take the languages into account when designing their products, including redesigning keyboards to meet the languages' specific needs. "Some in this country say it is difficult to write (in quiche) and that it is impossible to learn because it doesn't have a fixed grammatical structure or because the sounds are different and strange," Baquiax said. "Those are discriminatory arguments." The software is the second recent project in Guatemala aimed at promoting the Central American country's majority Mayan cultures. In December, President Oscar Berger announced the establishment of a university dedicated to rescuing and developing ancient Mayan knowledge. The Mayans were a complex society known for building massive pyramids and cities. They were advanced astronomers who created a calendar to measure time that rivals those of today, and were accomplished mathematicians who introduced the concept of zero. The Mayan Empire emerged in about 250 B.C. in and around what is now Guatemala, reached its peak from about A.D. 250-A.D. 900 and ended with the arrival of Spanish conquerors in the 16th century. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 3 20:03:16 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 13:03:16 -0700 Subject: Blackfeet Tribal youth offers invocation in State Senate (fwd) Message-ID: Glacier Reporter Blackfeet Tribal youth offers invocation in State Senate http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/03/02/glacier_reporter/news/news4.txt Senate President Jon Tester invited Jesse DesRosier, a 16-year-old citizen of the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre Nations, to offer an invocation in the Montana State Senate on Feb. 17. "It is always a pleasure to showcase the successes of our young people," Tester said. "For our American Indian communities, native language preservation is critical. Jesse embodies the dedication it takes to preserve a native language." In the Blackfeet language, DesRosier is called Ahsinapoii, or He Who Speaks Cree, a name that his great-grandfather also held because of the ability to speak many different tribal languages. DesRosier is a sophomore at Valier High School. A speaker of the Blackfeet Tribal language, from the fourth to the eighth grade, DesRosier attended the Nizipuhwahsin Blackfeet language immersion program of the Piegan Institute in Browning. Nizipuhwahsin, or Real Speak School, has been nationally recognized as a successful and effective model for native language immersion using a multi-generational approach. Nizipuhwahsin began in 1995, and today the school teaches a standard curriculum to children ages five to 12 years of age using the Blackfeet language. While at Nizipuhwahsin and with ongoing support from his family and community, DesRosier has flourished with the gift of expressing himself in his native language. In addition to cultural work in his community, DesRosier also plays high school basketball and football. In 2001, DesRosier testified in both the Blackfeet and English languages, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, regarding support of native language preservation programs within the Native American Languages Act. DesRosier is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and lives in Browning with his mother, father, three brothers and one sister. From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Fri Mar 4 15:48:46 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 10:48:46 -0500 Subject: Question Message-ID: Mia...apologies for taking so long to respond to your post. However, I hope the following does so. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to be in touch. Ok...there was a lot of work done by Dr. Robert Redfield out of the School of Anthropology at the University of Chicago back in the 1950/60s. You are correct, a lot of his data came from North, South and Mezo America, particularly, Yucatan. What they did, was to visit communities, globally, maintaining extensive field notes. This information was then fleeced out into what they developed into a concept of an 'ideal folk society'. The 'clinch' term here is 'ideal'. No where does this 'ideal folk society' exist. However, societies, on a global scale and excluding 'urban societies', will demonstrate any number of the characteristics, more or less. In the abstract to his article "The Folk Society" in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LII, January, 1947, he states that the ideal folk society will be: small, isolated, non-literate, and homogenous, with a strong sense of solidarity. . . . Behavior is traditional, spontaneous, uncritical, and personal; there is no legislation, experiment, or reflection for intellectual ends. Relationships and institutions are the type categories of experience and the family is the unit of action. The sacred prevails over the secular; the economy is one of status rather than of market. There is nothing in the above abstract that would deter from anything you suggest in your own post. Actually, I might suggest that it would re-enforce what you are saying when both your post and the abstract are given a 'very' close reading. Redfield's intent was to develop a continuum from folk society to urban society...a sliding scale along which one could move the marker as an analytical tool. Further work was done on this by Dr. Robert K. Thomas, a Cherokee and Anthropologist and a student of Redfield, to extend the continuum to include 'tribal societies' as one end of the continuum and urban societies at the other end of the slide. That also was extended by Dr. Merle Jackson from Harvard School of Anthropology to include in an unfinished hypothesis that the fourth element of the continuum would be 'bureaucratic society'. Thus the continuum would appear as: tribal society - folk society - urban society - bureaucratic society. Each society would display characteristics unique to each and others which would not be exclusive. It has to be remembered this is a sliding scale. These, you must remember, are not intended to be value judgments or statements of quality, they are statements of 'fit'. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: "MiaKalish at LFP" To: Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > Well that sounds very interesting, Rolland. > > I am kind of interested in how one characterizes a 'folk culture'. The > original inhabitants of North & South American were very sophisticated in > math, science and communication. However, since the colonists annihilated > all the leaders and the the medicine people who maintained, shared and > spread such information, and since people recording language only asked > questions that paralled their European culture, a lot was lost. > > Here, we have writing on the rocks, and languages scripted through various > lengths of time. > > Are you in Canada? I looked up www.shaw.ca, and it seems to be a cable or > satellite tv company. Yes? > > Mia > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rolland Nadjiwon" > To: > Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 10:01 AM > Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > > >> Thank you Mia for responding...the only posts I have received are from >> yourself, now, and Phil earlier telling me we are still up and running. >> However, apparently, I am still capable of receiving and sending. >> >> I find the postings interesting and thought provoking although I am not a >> linguist. My field is literary and critical theory. Within that, I have > been >> interested in the psychocultural impact of folk/tribal cultures moving > from >> a primary orality to writing, even rudimentary. >> >> ------- >> wahjeh >> rolland nadjiwon >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "MiaKalish at LFP" >> To: >> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 11:34 AM >> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question >> >> >> >I think so. We got email just last week when Phil added [ILAT] to the >> > subject line, and there were some messages from Dr. Penfield. >> > >> > Mia >> >> > From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Fri Mar 4 16:26:12 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:26:12 -0500 Subject: Question Message-ID: P.S. Yes. I am in Canada. Shaw is a communications conglomerate; satellite, TV, phones, and etc. Interesting however. My people are from what is now the USA. We, Prairie Potowatomi, were once located in the area of now Indiana, Illinois, part of Idaho and Missouri. During the land grab and gold rush of the Black Hills in 1800's, we were in the way of that progression so the US Army invited us to relocate to Kansas and Oklahoma Territories. The group of people who are now here, in Canada, refused to move from our homeland. The army simply increased the pressure as they are still wont to do in other parts of the world. We ran but could not hide. We divided and a some of our people, along with some Kickapoo, went on down to Mexico where they still maintain their togetherness. We are the people who came North into Canada. On days such as this with the Winter temperature -18 C., I often think of those who chose Mexico. Anyhow, a brief historical synopsis of why I am in Canada. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: "MiaKalish at LFP" To: Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > > Are you in Canada? I looked up www.shaw.ca, and it seems to be a cable or > satellite tv company. Yes? > > Mia From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 20:54:35 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 13:54:35 -0700 Subject: Across the world, native languages dying out (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sat, Mar. 05, 2005 Across the world, native languages dying out By Terry Leonard The Associated Press http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/11059795.htm MAPUTO, Mozambique - Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacia trees, young people in designer clothes and high-heeled shoes chatter on the sidewalk, struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub. Maputo's vibrant night life lets people forget that it is the capital of one of the world's poorest countries. Here you can eat Italian food, dance like a Brazilian and flirt in Portuguese. One thing that's in ever shorter supply and perhaps even less demand: Mozambique's 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 official one is Portuguese, a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that both unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique. The United Nations estimates that half of the world's 6,000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa, and about 200 already have fewer than 500 speakers. Experts estimate that half the world's people now use one of just eight languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French. A U.N. Conference on Trade and Development report on protecting traditional knowledge argues that beyond a devastating effect 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 practiced 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, the U.N.- and government-funded crafts project, and complains bitterly about how his nation's memory is fading away. "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, who speaks the Chopi language at home. Anthropologists speculate that tribal people whose ancestors have lived for tens of thousands of years on India's Andaman and Nicobar islands survived Asia's tsunami catastrophe because of ancient knowledge. They think signs in the wind, the sea and the flight of birds let the tribes know to get to higher ground ahead of the waves. But finding economic reasons to keep tradition alive can be a challenge. In Mozambique, cheap foreign imports have destroyed the market for local crafts beyond what little can be sold to tourists. Horacio Arab, the son of a basket weaver who learned his father's trade, said he improved his skills at MozArte but then abandoned weaving because he could not make a living. Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela said the pressures from globalization are often too great to resist. To conserve native languages and culture will require societies to find ways to cast them with an inherent value, he argued. 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. But the program is limited by Mozambique's poverty. "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." The trade-off in settling on Portuguese as a unifying force after independence in 1975 has been an erosion of the rites and rhythms of traditional life. "From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," Shambela says. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 21:01:15 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:01:15 -0700 Subject: Inuit slam TV channel's language policy (fwd) Message-ID: Inuit slam TV channel's language policy Last Updated: Mar 4 2005 12:32 PM MST http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=english-film-03042005 IQALUIT - Prominent Nunavummiut are criticizing a popular television broadcaster for a new policy they say damages the Inuktitut language. [photo inset - Norman Cohn says APTN's new policy makes no sense] The policy of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network requires films in an aboriginal language be dubbed in English or French. Among the critics of the move are the people behind the film Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner. Norman Cohn of Igloolik Isuma Productions says television stations in 20 countries are airing Atanarjuat in Inuktitut, with subtitles in English or French. So he's furious that Isuma will now have to provide English-language versions of Isuma's future films to get on APTN. "The idea that the Aboriginal television network should be the first network on Earth that actually requires us to provide dubbed versions – we think that that's sort of ridiculous and kind of sad." Nunavut's minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is also denouncing APTN's policy. Louis Tapardjuk says at a time when aboriginal languages are struggling to survive in most of Canada, the policy doesn't make sense. "Any channel that you turn on the dial on TV you don't pick up any other languages except English and French, and APTN is the only station that our unilingual Inuit in Nunavut can understand," he says. "This new policy is a step backwards." Tapardjuk is calling on all members of Nunavut's legislative assembly to voice their opposition to the new film policy. APTN has not yet returned calls. Copyright 2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 21:06:07 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:06:07 -0700 Subject: When L.A. Williams talks ...... the Navajo Nation listens (fwd) Message-ID: When L.A. Williams talks ...... the Navajo Nation listens 03/05/2005 http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=104542 Sitting courtside at the Skydome, L.A. Williams is in a familiar pose, taking in the recent action between the Winslow and Snowflake girls basketball teams and telling listeners near and far what's happening. This scene is repeated dozens of times a year throughout the Four Corners Region. When there's a big game involving Navajo Nation basketball squads or a team from near the rez, chances are you'll find Williams, the sports director/play-by-play announcer for KTNN (660 AM), at the game. This time of year, when February Frenzy blossoms into March Madness, Williams is as busy as can be. She announced 25 games during a recent two-week stretch, including the Class 3A boys and girls state tournaments at the Skydome (five games on one hectic day when hot tea with lemon helped soothe her sore throat) and at Glendale Arena. She called 4A state tourney games before a packed house in Page and the 4A girls final -- Sand Devils vs. Thunderbird Monday -- in the Valley. For the next two weeks, Williams will be in Albuquerque to cover the New Mexico boys and girls state tourneys. And across the Navajo Nation, diehard basketball fans, some of the most loyal supporters found anywhere in the United States, will tune in to hear how New Mexico's Navajo schools are doing. Conversing with Williams, one realizes she feels privileged to be a widely recognized sports voice of the Navajo Nation. "I'm just glad that I can be," she says, modestly. "I don't know how to explain that. "(In the past), grandparents never had a chance to listen to the radio station. By me being across the country on the other side of the reservation, they can stay home and they can picture you already and say, 'I heard you on the radio.' They don't know you, but on the radio they do, and they are very thankful." To begin to understand Williams' gratitude for her job, it helps to know this: "I grew up on the reservation without electricity, without running water, just horseback," she says. Nowadays, Williams fondly talks about her decade of announcing for KTNN, mentioning doing play-by-play for Super Bowl XXX in Tempe ("That was huge," she says. "We were recognized as a foreign country radio station."), covering the Phoenix Mercury during the WNBA team's first four years of existence, the Phoenix Suns, the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, numerous American Indian rodeos and fairs, and the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. Those sporting events have all been memorable for Williams, but her favorite times as a broadcaster have been, she says, at junior high and high school basketball games in places like Tuba City and Leupp, Shiprock and Gallup in New Mexico, and Mexican Hat and Montezuma Creek in Utah. "We touch out to our grandparents who love to support their kids," Williams says of the magic of radio, "and they get to hear it on the radio when they can't travel (to games)." While on the air, Williams strives to set a good example for today's youth, too. Her message is this: "Telling student-athletes that school is important, that this will get them somewhere in life, being a student first and then coming out on the basketball court, being successful and being a team player. ... It's important to give them the information they need to know, because they listen to the game ... and they are our future leaders." Indeed, Williams remains true to her roots, an admirable trait in a profession that's too often caught up in mimicking the we-think-we're-witty-and-hip personas that are prevalent on ESPN's "SportsCenter." Williams credits longtime Suns announcer Al McCoy with helping her develop her announcing style. "He's a very good friend," she says, "and just talking with him and just listening to his broadcasts (has been helpful). "I got a lot of tips from him ... and also a lot of practice was put into the broadcasting." So what's her style? Most of a basketball game's action is described in English. Between quarters, at the half and after a game, she gives a short summary of the key sequences and players in Navajo. And Williams has no trouble maintaining a fast pace, a trademark of hoops announcers, during a game. "The Navajo language also fits right in to our broadcasting," she says. "Navajo is a lot faster than talking English." Whether there's fast talk or slow tunes on the air, KTNN, the Window Rock-based station that began broadcasting in 1986 and has a 50,000 watt signal, can be heard in 13 states after dark. Which is why Native Americans across the country tune in to KTNN to catch up on the latest news from Indian Country. "There was a gentleman coming back from Saskatchewan and he picked us up in the Great Plains," Williams recalls. "He was saying that he came over the hill and he just parked (his vehicle) because we were doing a basketball game the Ganado Hornets were playing, and stayed there until the game was over." Another KTNN listener told Williams she picked up a clear signal in San Francisco while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and listening to a game. Once a week during the regular season, Williams covers junior high basketball. This keeps her in contact with today's young standouts, tomorrow's high schools stars. Or as Williams explains: "At Winslow High School, all their players except Stephanie Garnett all went to school in Dilkon ... (which won) a state championship this year, and have been winning state championships for years. "Next year, there are three or four (Dilkon) players that'll go on to Winslow, and they (the Bulldogs) are going to be state champs again," she predicts. Even if Winslow doesn't win its third straight 3A title next year, expect to hear Williams' enthusiastic, informative account of the game and many more. "It (working for KTNN) just fell into place," she says now, "and I ran with it. And I'm still running with it." Readers can reach Ed at 556-2251 or by e-mail at eodeven at azdailysun.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 8 18:46:25 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:46:25 -0700 Subject: Programme preserves Cham language (fwd) Message-ID: Programme preserves Cham language (07-03-2005) http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC070305 [photo inset - Cham people tend their grapes in the province of Binh Thuan. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngo My] HA NOI — The southern province of Ninh Thuan, home to half of the ethnic Cham population, has announced a plan to strengthen the Cham language teaching staff of schools in the Cham communities. Over the past 20 years, the Cham language teaching programme has contributed to the preservation of the ethnic minority group’s language and has created a foundation to research the culture, said director of the provincial Education and Training Service, Pham Hong Cuong. Ninh Thuan was the first in the south to launch Cham language classes. A Cham language board was set up in June 1978 and has written over 80 textbooks so far. The board has opened a number of Cham language training courses for 510 local teachers, who have been sent to primary schools to teach at the first and second grade levels. Refresher courses are also available regularly for teachers of Cham origin at the provincial Teachers’ University. The Cham language is taught at all 23 primary schools in the Cham community in Ninh Thuan province, far more than the two that were taught in the 1978-79 academic year in the former Thuan Hai province (Thuan Hai was split into two provinces, one of which is Ninh Thuan). Almost all of the 10,000 Cham pupils attend Cham-language classes. Ninh Thuan is now home to some 60,000 Chams, which makes up 11 per cent of the province’s population. — VNS From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 8 18:53:08 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:53:08 -0700 Subject: CD-ROM preserving the Anishinaabe Nation's language (fwd) Message-ID: CD-ROM preserving the Anishinaabe Nation's language Posted on Tue, Mar. 08, 2005 http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/11074762.htm Can interactive technology help save the Anishinaabe nation's language? One of the oldest and most historically important languages of North America, Anishinaabemowin traditionally was passed on orally from a tribe's elders to its younger members. Now, the language is in danger of becoming extinct unless a new generation learns it. With this in mind, an American Indian language expert who grew up on the Wikwemikong Reservation in South Bay, Ontario, and now teaches in Michigan, produced a user-friendly, interactive, instructional CD-ROM. Recently released, it offers beginning, intermediate, advanced and conversational levels of instruction and is appropriate for all age levels. It includes colorful graphics, videos games and music. Teacher Kenny Neganigwane Pheasant initiated the project, which also involved well-known American Indian flutist and composer Anishinaabe nation's language Charlie Wayne Watson, artist Zoey Wood-Salomon, animator Robert Hughes and Jim Sundberg of JS Interactive, a multimedia firm. To order "Anishinaabemowin," send a check for $39 made out to Little River Band of Ottawa Indians to Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, 375 River St., Manistee, MI 49660. For more information regarding ordering, call 1-231-933-4406 or 1-231-690-3508 or e-mail Kenny Pheasant at Pheasant9 at aol.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 06:38:55 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:38:55 -0700 Subject: EECS alum teaching computers to speak =?utf-8?b?S+KAmWljaGXigJk=?= (fwd) Message-ID: EECS alum teaching computers to speak K’iche’ Winter 2005 http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/forefront/winter2005/lieberman.html [photo inset - Andy Lieberman was honored by the Tech Museum of San Jose for his pioneering efforts to bring computers and the Internet into Guatemala’s educational system.] Andy Lieberman (B.S.’88 EECS) has been recognized with a 2004 award from the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation for his work with Enlace Quiché, a small nongovernment organization dedicated to preserving the language and culture of Guatemala’s native Mayan population. Founded in 2000 by the Academy for Educational Development and USAID, with Lieberman as its president, Enlace Quiché’s goal is to incorporate technology into the training of bilingual (Spanish-Mayan) teachers. In just four years, the organization has established 28 technology centers, produced 14 interactive Mayan language CDs, launched an Internet portal, and opened a demonstration and training center. Credit for these successes, Lieberman says, goes not to him, but to the thousands of Guatemalan teacher and student participants who are using computers and, at the same time, keeping their Mayan heritage alive. “A lot of people in technology think that just getting access to a computer is what the developing world needs,” Lieberman says. “But there’s a whole other issue of making technology meaningful and responsive to people’s needs. If you’re going to bring technology to rural Guatemala, it has to be culturally relevant and in their language.” [photo inset - A key element of Lieberman's program is the use of K’iche’ and more than 20 other indigenous languages that predate the Spanish Conquest. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDY LIEBERMAN] Lieberman grew up in San Francisco and helped Lowell High install its first computers before he graduated in 1983. According to his father, Andy has been gravitating toward this kind of work his whole life. “My son has always been enterprising, and he’s always been interested in other people,” says Harry Lieberman. “He once talked about getting a bus, putting computers on it, and driving around rural areas so kids could use the computers. Now he’s basically doing what he dreamed of.” As an EECS student at Berkeley, Andy entertained the idea of a high-tech career, but an unsatisfying internship with a large Boston-based semiconductor company changed all that. “I was having a hard time finding meaning in the work,” he says. “I kept asking myself, ‘What am I really contributing to society?’ I had so many opportunities growing up; teaching and sharing what I have and what I know are very strong values.” On a 1990 trip to Guatemala to learn Spanish, Lieberman fell in love, first with the country, then with a woman named Tomasa, who is now his wife. They live with their two children in the mountain town of Santa Cruz del Quiché, where he is known as “Teacher Andy.” Go to www.enlacequiche.org.gt/getknow.htm for more about Enlace Quiché. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 06:42:58 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:42:58 -0700 Subject: The Tech Museum Awards Global Call For Nominations (fwd) Message-ID: The Tech Museum Awards Global Call For Nominations The Tech Museum Awards, presented by Applied Materials, Inc., is a unique and prestigious program that honors and awards innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity in the categories of Education, Equality, Environment, Economic Development, and Health. 25 Laureates will be honored at a black-tie celebration, invited to participate in press and media coverage, and introduced to a network of influential advisors. One Laureate in each category will be awarded a $50,000 cash prize. Reward those making a difference and nominate today. Nomination Deadline: April 4, 2005 http://www.techawards.org/index.cfm From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 18:35:15 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:35:15 -0700 Subject: Soboba enlist kiosk to revitalize language (fwd) Message-ID: Soboba enlist kiosk to revitalize language Posted: March 09, 2005 by: James May / Today staff http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410473 SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians may have found a tool to help them revitalize their language. The tribe recently installed a language kiosk in their sports center that will hopefully boost that effort. ''We had a great opportunity to use technology to appeal to a larger audience,'' said Soboba tribal historian Charlene Ryan. The 860-member Soboba Band is one of six federally recognized bands of Luiseno Indians. A seventh Luiseno group at San Luis Rey currently lacks federal recognition. In recent years, the Luiseno language has declined to the point that just a few elderly speakers were spread throughout the bands. Ryan reports that Soboba no longer has any members, even among its elderly population, that would be classified as fluent speakers. A few elders in their 70s and 80s can still speak a broken version of the language and know some vocabulary. This trend is not specific to Soboba or to the Luisenos as a whole. Language decline is a nationwide problem; however, in California the decline has been the most precipitous. Most tribes and bands in the Golden State are down to a few elderly speakers if they are lucky. Many tribes have already lost their last fluent speakers, many just in the last few decades. It is often difficult to gauge just how much elders understand, since in their younger days they often were punished for speaking their own languages at boarding schools. Parents, being fiercely protective of their children, forbade them to speak the language outside the home and a sense of shame and fear permeated their experience with language. Countering the trend, the various Luiseno factions have made one of the more concerted efforts to revive their tribal languages. Many of the Luiseno bands are gaming tribes and have at last found the money and resources to start a major revitalization effort. At Pechanga, another of the Luiseno bands, the tribe uses language immersion as part of the regular elementary school curriculum and a non-tribal linguist has taught classes there. The various Luiseno bands have begun to hold what they expect to be regular consultations with each other on language issues and standardization, and the bands are proving receptive to the idea. For example, all the bands agreed to only incorporate new words and coinages if the other bands were all in agreement. Smaller-scale efforts were made at Soboba. The tribe offers sporadic language classes at their tribal offices. The most recent lessons were taught last fall and Ryan reports that classes will begin again ''in the next few weeks.'' School vacations make summertime the best time in which to take classes. Ryan said last summer tribal members ranging from preschoolers to elders attended the classes. The classes were heavily attended by elementary and high schoolers on summer break. Soboba and the other Luiseno tribes also put their efforts into making a CD ROM of their language, and for Soboba this proved a revelation. IconNicholson, a high-tech firm based in New York City, visited Soboba last year. The company previously designed an interactive kiosk for the Eastern Pequots in Connecticut. Though the Pequot kiosk primarily dealt with their tribal history, company representatives told Soboba officials that they could adapt the kiosk to deal with language. ''We view this continued opportunity to help sustain the Luiseno language as particularly significant,'' said Janine Salo, vice president of IconNicholson's Indian Country Technology Services. The company built the kiosk and turned it over to the tribe, which will maintain the machine. Once the machine was built the tribe began adding content, taking words and their sounds from the CD ROM. Tribal families scoured their photo albums for images and icons for the machine as well. The tribe said the offerings on the machine will be expanded from time to time. The kiosk uses a touch screen format and is divided into five categories. When a category is selected, a list offering words and phrases drops down. For example, on the word for ''brother'' is a picture of a young man, and when touched the machine then sounds out the English and Luiseno words for ''brother.'' Though Soboba originally wanted to have the kiosk in the schools, the tribe decided they would reach a broader audience by locating the kiosk in their sports complex. Ryan thinks the machine will prove a valuable tool in the tribe's language revitalization effort. In fact, Ryan thinks it's a vital element of cultural necessity. ''The re-birth of the language is the re-birth of culture.'' From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 18:37:01 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:37:01 -0700 Subject: 'Shoebox' puts Indigenous language preservation on right foot (fwd) Message-ID: 'Shoebox' puts Indigenous language preservation on right foot http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1319347.htm A language expert has used a visit to the Pilbara, in north-west Western Australia, to showcase a computer program which specialises in Indigenous language. The "Shoebox" collects information about languages and compiles dictionaries and translates words. A linguist for the Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre, Albert Burgman, is teaching a group of seven linguists and teachers how to use the Shoebox. Mr Burgman says the program is the best way to record languages and ensure grammar is consistent. "If you want to be sure that the books...you are writing, whether it be dreaming stories or histories or whatever it is, if you want to make sure that it is done correctly and grammatically okay, then you need to have a grammar to work from and also a word list to check the words," he said. From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 9 19:02:30 2005 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:02:30 -0800 Subject: Ngugi wa Thiong'o lecture announcement In-Reply-To: <20050309113515.gsqo8ogggw4g0wos@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: Dear Friends, Please attend the following lecture by African indigenous scholar Ngugi wa Thiong'o at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. (This announcement does not mention that Ngugi is also a champion for the writing of African Literatures in Indigenous African languages, rather than in European languages!) Public lecture by Ngugi wa Thiong'o 30 Mar 2005 * Renowned Kenyan Novelist & Human Rights Activist * Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature and Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at UC Irvine * Author of "Decolonising the Mind" among numerous other works Planting African Memory: The Role of a Scholar in a Postcolonial World Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 7:30pm 175 Knight Law Center For more details please see "upcoming Events" link at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dgalvan/asc/asc.html David Lewis University of Oregon Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde From etzoc at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU Thu Mar 10 02:18:03 2005 From: etzoc at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU (Elias Tzoc) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 20:18:03 -0600 Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?Re:_=5BILAT=5D_EECS_alum_teaching_co?= =?UTF-8?Q?mputers_to_speak_K=E2=80=99iche=E2=80=99_=28fwd=29?= Message-ID: Hi everyone, ...I just want to add something to the note about Andy Lieberman, I also know about his contributions in helping other projects not just the one he's directing. It is clear the enormous work and goodwill from the teachers involved in that new way of teaching and preserving the K'iche' Maya language. Xab'a kinrayij jun minalja utzilal para ri kichak. (I hope them to continue with such a terrific job -written in Maya-K'iche'-). Elias Tzoc University of Texas at Austin From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 10 15:14:02 2005 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:14:02 -0700 Subject: Fw: session on writing systems Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Perry Gilmore To: Ofelia Zepeda ; Sue Penfield ; Leisy at aol.com ; Beth Leonard ; Teresa McCarty Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:07 PM Subject: Fwd: session on writing systems FYI...Perry Begin forwarded message: From: Leanne Hinton Date: March 9, 2005 7:16:31 PM MST To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu, linganth at ats.rochester.edu Cc: munro at ucla.edu, stantonw at gse.upenn.edu Subject: session on writing systems Hello everyone, Last year we had a session on "New Writing Systems" at the AAA. Because of the change of venue, only three of us gave papers in that session. Some of the people who couldn't come would still like to give their papers this year, but since that would not make a full session, I'd like to invite other people to submit papers on this topic as well. We need to submit this session by April 1, . Since I am organizing another session this year and giving a paper in it, I can't participate (other than be an avid audience member), but if someone else will volunteer to chair it and be the official organizer, I'd be happy to put it together with that person. Here is last year's session abstract: New Writing Systems Indigenous peoples and minority groups are developing new writing systems for their languages, sometimes with linguists, and sometimes on their own. While it might be thought that decisions around the development of a new writing system are primarily about the sounds of the language, in fact such decisions are fraught with great social and political issues. Feeding into the orthographic design are concerns of ethnic identity and alliances, and bias toward or away from writing systems in the dominant language due to political concerns. The specific goals for use of the writing system will also be a factor, such as whether it is for recording of a healthy living language, or for the teaching of an endangered language, and whether there is a large pool of scholarly writing on the language that the community must consult for the sake of language revitalization. Linguists and language learners may want a system that clearly specifies pronunciation, but speakers don't need every sound specified and may prefer a simpler system, or one that has symbols and spelling rules like a system they are already familiar with. New writing systems may be for indigenous peoples who have traditionally entirely oral means of expression, or may be developed by or for minority groups to replace older writing systems, as an expression of a new kind of ethnic identity or a new relationship to the dominant society. Whose agenda is met by a particular orthographic design, what needs and uses the new writing system fulfils, and how it reverberates in the community it is designed for, is the topic of this session. -- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Prof. Leanne Hinton Chair, Dept. of Linguistics 1203 Dwinelle Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 email: hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu fax: (510) 643-5688 phone: (510) 643-7621 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 10 15:14:37 2005 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:14:37 -0700 Subject: Fw: invited panel on linguistic "tip" Message-ID: More.... ----- Original Message ----- From: Perry Gilmore To: Sue Penfield Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 8:08 AM Subject: Fwd: invited panel on linguistic "tip" FYI pg Begin forwarded message: From: Leanne Hinton Date: March 2, 2005 6:08:52 PM MST To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu Subject: invited panel on linguistic "tip" Jacqueline Messing and I are planning to submit an invited session to SLA, called New Directions for Linguistic "Tip:" Individuals, Communities and "Tip Back". We are seeking a few people who might like to give papers in this session. This panel will explore the phenomenon of "tip" in the shift of use of ancestral languages by speakers in minority communities, from new points of view. Dorian (1981) originally conceived of "tip" as a sudden phenomenon occurring after a slow development of circumstances leading to the eventual decline in community use of ancestral languages. But individuals also experience "tip" when they abandon a language. And, can "tip" ever flow in the other direction? Our goal is to open a new discussion of "tip" that considers the individual nature of this social phenomenon (Messing 2003), and the potential for "tip back" towards use of the endangered language(s) (Hinton 1994, 2001). What does recent ethnographic research tell us about the nature of tip? What factors influence the use of the ancestral language by individuals in specific speech events? What makes a person who knows a language actually use it - or not? In language revitalization, what social and linguistic conditions might favor "tip back," the reversal of language shift? Papers in this panel will offer a diversity of ethnographic perspectives on shifting uses of language(s), social circumstances and perceptions of identity that can lead to language shift both away from and back toward the use of ancestral tongues (Fishman 2001, Flores Farfán 1996 Gal 1979, Hill 1993). The abstract above + refs are in the attached document. If you would like to submit an abstract to us for this session, or ask questions about it, please contact Leanne Hinton at or Jacqueline Messing at . Best, Leanne Hinton -- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Prof. Leanne Hinton Chair, Dept. of Linguistics 1203 Dwinelle Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 email: hinton at socrates.berkeley.edu fax: (510) 643-5688 phone: (510) 643-7621 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pspaulding at ROSETTASTONE.COM Thu Mar 10 15:51:37 2005 From: pspaulding at ROSETTASTONE.COM (Pat Spaulding) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:51:37 -0500 Subject: Fw: session on writing systems In-Reply-To: <001f01c52583$cbb99d90$68ba8945@CRIT01> Message-ID: One thing that wasn't mentioned specifically in the summary was a concern of the indigenous group I worked with a few years back - a writing system that would help people bridge to literacy in the national language. They wanted to use as much of that orthography as they could, but did find pride in the two unique symbols they used. For what it's worth... Pat On Mar 10, 2005, at 10:14 AM, Susan Penfield wrote: >   > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Perry Gilmore > To: Ofelia Zepeda ; Sue Penfield ; Leisy at aol.com ; Beth Leonard ; > Teresa McCarty > Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:07 PM > Subject: Fwd: session on writing systems > > FYI...Perry > > Begin forwarded message: > > > From: Leanne Hinton > Date: March 9, 2005 7:16:31 PM MST > To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu, linganth at ats.rochester.edu > Cc: munro at ucla.edu, stantonw at gse.upenn.edu > Subject: session on writing systems > > Hello everyone, > > Last year we had a session on "New Writing Systems" at the AAA. > Because of the change of venue, only three of us gave papers in that > session. Some of the people who couldn't come would still like to give > their papers this year, but since that would not make a full session, > I'd like to invite other people to submit papers on this topic as > well.  We need to submit this session by April 1, .  Since I am > organizing another session this year and giving a paper in it, I can't > participate (other than be an avid audience member), but if someone > else will volunteer to chair it and be the official organizer, I'd be > happy to put it together with that person. > > Here is last year's session abstract: > > New Writing Systems > > Indigenous peoples and minority groups are developing new writing > systems for their languages, sometimes with linguists, and sometimes > on their own.  While it might be thought that decisions around the > development of a new writing system are primarily about the sounds of > the language, in fact such decisions are fraught with great social and > political issues.  Feeding into the orthographic design are concerns > of ethnic identity and alliances, and bias toward or away from writing > systems in the dominant language due to political concerns. The > specific goals for use of the writing system will also be a factor, > such as whether it is for recording of a healthy living language, or > for the teaching of an endangered language, and whether there is a > large pool of scholarly writing on the language that the community > must consult for the sake of language revitalization.  Linguists and > language learners may want a system that clearly specifies > pronunciation, but speakers don't need every sound specified and may > prefer a simpler system, or one that has symbols and spelling rules > like a system they are already familiar with. New writing systems may > be for indigenous peoples who have traditionally entirely oral means > of expression, or may be developed by or for minority groups to > replace older writing systems, as an expression of a new kind of > ethnic identity or a new relationship to the dominant society.  Whose > agenda is met by a particular orthographic design, what needs and uses > the new writing system fulfils, and how it reverberates in the > community it is designed for, is the topic of this session. > > -- > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >  Prof. Leanne Hinton >  Chair, Dept. of Linguistics >  1203 Dwinelle Hall >  University of California >  Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 > >  email: hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu >  fax: (510) 643-5688 >  phone: (510) 643-7621 > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Rosetta Stone - a resource for language revitalization http://www.RosettaStone.com/languagerescue Patricia A. Spaulding Endangered Languages Program Fairfield Language Technologies 135 West Market St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 USA Phones: 800.788.0822 540.432.6166 ext. 3334 Fax: 540.432.0953 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5943 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:16:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:16:34 -0700 Subject: Hawaiian language enjoying revival in its homeland (fwd) Message-ID: Hawaiian language enjoying revival in its homeland By: RON STATON - Associated Press http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03/13/special_reports/books/15_35_323_12_05.txt HONOLULU -- "E heluhelu kakou," Nako'olani Warrington tells her third graders -- let's read together. But there's no need to translate at Ke Kula Kaipuni o Anuenue, a public immersion school where all instruction for the 350 students is in the Hawaiian language. The school represents a turnaround for the native language in the islands, which appeared 20 years ago to be fading away. A 1983 survey estimated that only 1,500 people remained in Hawaii who could speak it, most of them elderly. Today there are probably 6,000 to 8,000 Hawaiian language speakers throughout the state, most of them under the age of 30, said Kalena Silva, professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. Everyone knows a little bit of Hawaiian, even visiting mainlanders. "Aloha" has become an almost universally recognized greeting and expression of love. "Mahalo" often subs for "thank you." But there's less understanding of the state motto -- "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono" (the life of the land is preserved in righteousness) -- or the name of the state fish -- humuhumunukunukuapua'a. "Before, people would hear me speaking Hawaiian to someone and ask what language I was speaking," said Leilani Basham, coordinator of the Hawaiian language program at the University of Hawaii's flagship Manoa campus. "I don't get that anymore." Hawaiian is recognized, along with English, in the state Constitution as an official state language. Lawmakers were trying this year to build on that status by requiring that Hawaiian be used on government signs and in government documents. Silva remembers that when he joined the UH-Hilo faculty 20 years ago, only 10 students were majoring in Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language. Now, there are more than 100, he said, including some from the mainland and from Germany and Japan. Hawaiian language enrollment also has increased at the university's Manoa campus in Honolulu. Silva, who also is director of UH-Hilo's Ka Haka 'Ula Ke'eliikolani College of Hawaiian Language, attributes the greater interest in learning Hawaiian to community efforts. Those efforts began in the early 1980s with parents and Hawaiian language instructors who wanted to make sure the language remained strong on Niihau, a privately owned island populated exclusively by Native Hawaiians. As a result, Hawaiian is the only indigenous language in the United States that showed growth in the 2000 census, said Verlieann Leimomi Malina-Wright, vice principal of Anuenue school. About 200,000 of Hawaii's 1.2 million people are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. The university's Hilo campus now has a doctoral program in indigenous language and culture, while the Manoa program has received preliminary approval to offer a master's degree in the language. All sophomore, junior and senior courses in Hilo's Hawaiian studies major are taught in Hawaiian. Hilo also has provided curricula and materials for the public school immersion programs, where elementary and secondary students receive all instruction in the Hawaiian language. The immersion program began in 1987 with about 16 students at two sites in Honolulu and Hilo. "We now have 19 sites, not including four public charter immersion schools," said Keoni Inciong, the state Department of Education's specialist for the Hawaiian language immersion program. Instruction from kindergarten through fourth grade is in Hawaiian, with English introduced in fifth grade, Inciong said. And while some secondary texts are in English, instruction is in Hawaiian, Inciong said. Most of the students are of Hawaiian ancestry, but it's not a requirement, and the majority come from English-speaking homes, he said. "When we started in 1987, the main focus was on perpetuating the Hawaiian language," Inciong said. "Now we have the equal goal of a quality education, with emphasis on culture, traditions and values." Thirty-eight students have graduated from Anuenue school, said Malina-Wright. At least half have gone to college -- including all of last year's class -- and have done well, she said. While some continue with Hawaiian studies, "our first college graduate was an English major who hopes to become a screenwriter," she said. Silva and Basham hope that understanding of the language will increase. "Our vision is that eventually Hawaiian become a language of a large bilingual population. We believe that everyone in Hawaii has a responsibility to the native language," said Silva. Hawaiian is already spoken in the islands in a variety of ways. Island ceremonies usually include a chant or prayer in Hawaiian, and Hawaiian music with lyrics in the native language are making people more aware. The new Hawaiian music category for the Grammy awards requires the majority of vocal songs that are entered be sung in the Hawaiian language. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin publishes a weekly Sunday column in Hawaiian, and The Honolulu Advertiser uses the proper diacritical markings in Hawaiian names and phrases. A Honolulu radio station broadcasts a daily newscast in Hawaiian and a "Hawaiian word of the day" segment. Most U.S. colleges recognize Hawaiian and allow it to fulfill students' language requirements, Basham said. State Sen. J. Kalani English, who is of part-Hawaiian ancestry and speaks Hawaiian, also wants the language used more extensively. He introduced a bill that would require state and county governments to print letterheads and documents in both English and Hawaiian, with Hawaiian listed first. Another bill this session would have required all state and county signs to be in Hawaiian as well as English. That was the idea of Daniel Anthony, a Hawaiian language student from Honolulu who persuaded his aunt, state Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, to sponsor the measure. "It would mean a lot to use the language I love every day," said Anthony. On the Net: Ka Haka 'Ula Ke'eliikolani College: http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/dual/orgs/keelikolani/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:21:10 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:21:10 -0700 Subject: True Xhosa meanings get lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: True Xhosa meanings get lost in translation By Myolisi Gophe http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=6&art_id=vn20050312103908872C514652 Many of the official signs in Xhosa that are appearing around the Western Cape are a fiasco. The signs are so badly translated that they have been described as "meaningless and offensive". Like the one advising pregnant women to phone a clinic when they are in labour, translated as "phone the clinic when your tummy is running". Or the sign that should tell people they can book for a picnic, but saying instead "you can bring book for picnics". A Cape Town road sign proclaiming "no hawking" has been mistranslated into Xhosa as "no walking", completely baffling pedestrians. And the one telling people that drinking is prohibited on a beach informs them instead "there is no alcohol here", in effect an invitation to bring their own booze. Instead of making Xhosa-speaking people feel welcome, the signage baffles, misleads and annoys them. This revelation follows Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo's statement that black people do not feel welcome in the city. Ironically, some of the absurd signs have been put up by her own municipality. Language experts have blamed carelessness and negative attitudes for the poor Xhosa translations on official signs on roads, at beaches, hospitals and other public places. Translators appear to be unqualified or have relied solely on dictionaries. Xhosa is one of three official languages in the province, with English and Afrikaans, but the translation into Xhosa at government, provincial and municipal institutions, heritage sites and public spaces has been found to be ridiculous. Language experts say those who commission translations see this indigenous language as valueless and treat it as less important than Afrikaans or English. "When people want translations into Afrikaans they will get qualified translators, editors and proof-readers, but when it comes to Xhosa they just drag in anybody," said Tessa Dowling, director of the African Voices language institution in Muizenberg. Sydney Zotwana, former head of translation services in parliament, said another problem was the lack of standardisation of the language. Xhosa, along with other African languages, was struggling to cope with the new parliamentary, scientific and technological concepts. Dowling and Wynberg Girls' High School Xhosa teacher Thandi Mpambo-Sibukwana recently did a study which showed signage translation was appalling. An example, which Mpambo-Sibukwana described as the worst, was at the Afrikaanse Taal Monument in Paarl. The sign "you can book for picnics" has been translated into Xhosa as meaning "you can bring book for picnics". This article was originally published on page 1 of The Independent on Saturday on March 12, 2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:44:59 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:44:59 -0700 Subject: Talk on Quechua at Penn (fwd) Message-ID: The Educational Linguistics Forum (ELF) Presents a Brownbag Discussion Transcending or Strengthening Quechua's Emblematic Value: Language Identity in Cochabamba by Inge Sichra, PhD Universidad Mayor de San Simon Cochabamba, BOLIVIA When:   Friday, March 18, 2005 from 12-1:30pm Where:  The Graduate School of Education, Rm. 400 Abstract: This work begins by presenting a sociolinguistic panorama of Bolivia (Andean languages, especially Quechua) and of the city of Cochabamba with data from the last censuses.  Besides reproducing the widely-known characteristic of the country’s indigenous majority, the city of Cochabamba bears the trait of being tenaciously and persistently bilingual in spite of the constant displacement of indigenous languages by Spanish: both in the city and in the country as a whole.  The second part considers three life stories in order to analyze different adaptation strategies of Quechua to an urban space: both in terms of the functionality of the language, and of the identity speakers assign to it and to themselves as bilingual individuals in a milieu of diglossia. The work questions linguistic and academic assumptions that a native language needs to be modernized and to overcome diglossia in order to have a future.  The talk concludes that the permanence of the native language in the city of Cochabamba is not necessarily ensured by modernizing it, for even people with a high level of linguistic awareness and loyalty prioritize traditional cultural referents to innovative, followed by ideological referents. The need to overcome social spheres, historically established for indigenous languages in the urban circle, is not clearly perceived. For more information about ELF, please visit http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~pennelf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:21:51 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:21:51 -0700 Subject: Iceland Has a Word for It (fwd) Message-ID: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ecenbarger14_mar14,0,5308774.story COMMENTARY Iceland Has a Word for It Usually a very old word. By William Ecenbarger William Ecenbarger was a longtime reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer. March 14, 2005 I hand the agent my brottfarerspjald, step on board Icelandair Flight 642. Just before takeoff, the flight attendant stands before us clasping a seat-belt buckle and droning through the oryggisbunadur um bord. Some five hours later, we begin our descent into Reykjavik. At the airport, I get my passport stamped at vagabraeftirlit, make a quick refresher stop in the snyrtingar, exchange dollars for kronurs at the gjaldeyrir and pick up tourist information at the upplysingapjonustu fyrir feroafolk. I have come to this nation of 280,000 inhabitants, who speak to each other in a language that is incomprehensible to 19,999 of every 20,000 people on Earth, to see how they are holding up against the onslaught of English. Iceland's linguistic patriots go to incredible lengths to preserve their language. Foreign words are ruthlessly screened out by a special agency, which also invents words for new things and ideas. There's a word for everything in Icelandic — or there will be shortly. Icelanders have a strong belief in their own national greatness, and that conviction is rooted unshakably in language and words. Literacy isn't a problem here; it's a given. Icelanders believe that men and women should turn a verse as easily as they turn a profit, and both endeavors are considered important to one's well-being. Iceland has more bookstores per capita than any other nation in the world ("better shoeless than bookless" is an unofficial national motto). Sales of a new novel in Iceland will compare favorably with sales for a similar book in Britain — while a volume of poetry would do even better in Iceland — with a population about 1/200th that of Britain. The most important tomes are the sagas. Written in the 12th and 13th centuries, these are the great prose narratives of medieval Iceland, bloodthirsty tales of Viking derring-do. Icelandic schoolchildren read their national literature exactly as it was written hundreds of years ago. Modern Icelanders speak virtually the same language as their forefathers of the 10th century. Tomorrow morning's Reykjavik newspapers will be written in the same language as the ancient sagas — that would be like this newspaper using Chaucerian English. Language preservation worked nicely for centuries because Icelanders lived diphthongs apart from the rest of the world, but in recent decades the cultural floodgates have been opened. English is everywhere — on televisions, VCRs, the Internet and commercial products. It's part of a global problem: About 400 million people speak English as their first language, an additional 700 million or so use it as a second language and a billion people more are struggling to learn how to speak it. Meanwhile, other languages are disappearing at the rate of two per month. There are about 6,800 languages in the world, but the expert consensus is that 400 of them will soon be extinct. Why care? "When you lose a language," the late linguistics professor Kenneth Hale once said, "you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work of art. It's like dropping a bomb on a museum." The front line of Iceland's preservation battle is in Reykjavik, the home of the Icelandic Language Institute (Islensk Malstod); this government agency was set up in 1964 to devise new words when existing language proves inadequate. When AIDS first came to national attention in Iceland, the main discussion was what to call it rather than how to prevent it. The institute does not believe that AIDS should be called AIDS, and thus the disease is officially known as alnaemi, an ancient Icelandic word meaning "totally vulnerable," which the institute settled on after some three years of study. The preservationists often resurrect words from the sagas. A computer is called tolva, a fusion of the old Icelandic words for number and prophetess, and a TV screen is a skjar, a sheep's placenta once used by farmers as window panes. My favorite is friopjofur, the word for pager, which means "thief of peace." I left Iceland pessimistic. Everywhere I went, I heard English spoken. Though a written language can be purged of foreign words and phrases, policing how people speak is another matter. Many young Icelanders cannot be bothered with a language that is a minefield of subjunctive, inflections and gender (the number 2 has three genders). In one sense, the Icelanders have no one to blame but themselves. Just as they have earnestly defended their language, they have with equal enthusiasm made sure that every schoolchild has a computer and learns English. Thus Microsoft sees no need to translate Windows into Icelandic. The publishers of popular books are beginning to skip translation as well. It's what the Icelandic language purists call a sjalfhelda — a Catch-22. I fear the handwriting is on the wall — and it's in English. ----- End forwarded message ----- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:33:00 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:33:00 -0700 Subject: Taiwan Aborigines Battle to Save Their Culture (fwd) Message-ID: Taiwan Aborigines Battle to Save Their Culture http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29908/story.htm ALISHAN - Resplendent in leather headdresses mounted with eagle feathers and trimmed with bear fur, and wild boar tusks tied with ribbons around their sinewy arms, the warriors surround a squealing mountain pig. A few swift stabs in the neck and the hog is dead, to be offered to the God of War in the annual Mayasvi ritual -- the most sacred ceremony for the aboriginal Tsou people in central Taiwan's misty Alishan mountains. Clad in leather and handwoven tribal red, the warriors dip their spears and knives into pig's blood. In the light rain, they join hands around a smoking woodfire and begin a low, melodious chant to welcome the god to the Mayasvi, or war ceremony. Once a post-battle thanksgiving, the festival has become a coming-of-age rite for boys and a way for the Tsou tribe to honour and affirm their unique cultural heritage. "A long time ago when we used to go to battle, we would ask the God of War to help us," said 34-year-old Voyu Peongsi, descended from a family of tribal chiefs in the small Tsou village of Tefuye, nestled in the foothills of Alishan. "Today, it allows the younger generation to understand the culture and songs of our ancestors, and express the spirit of our kuba," he told Reuters. Peongsi and his fellow villagers spent a month rebuilding the kuba -- a large thatched hut raised on cypress logs at the heart of the Mayasvi ceremony. It serves as a sort of village hall for Tsou men on ordinary days. Women are forbidden to enter the kuba and do not join in the Mayasvi until evil spirits have been banished at the end of the ceremony, and the tribe begins to dance and revel till dawn. FOREIGN INTRUSIONS Like many minority groups all over the world, the 6,000-strong Tsou tribe is fighting -- some say losing -- a battle to preserve its traditional customs in modern Taiwan. The clansmen were originally coastal dwellers who were forced into the mountains by encroaching Han Chinese settlers from China. Some Tsou find the debate over whether Taiwan is part of China to be preposterous: if anyone has claims on the island, it is Taiwan's earliest inhabitants, the 12 remaining aboriginal tribes which now form only two percent of its 23 million people. Isolated in the mountains, though, the Tsou care little for politics and live mainly from subsistence farming and hunting. Aside from Christian missionaries, no foreigners intruded on them until the Japanese colonisation from 1895 to 1945. The Japanese stopped customs that they considered barbaric, such as the Tsou practice of taking human heads as war trophies. The Mayasvi was itself halted for a about a decade. Then, when the Chinese Nationalist government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the mainland to the Communists, the Tsou language was smothered. The Nationalists imposed Mandarin Chinese in schools and banned all other languages and dialects. "People say we are gradually losing our culture but it's actually happening very quickly," said Liao Chin-ying, a Chinese primary school teacher who married into a Tsou family in the neighbouring village of Dabang, next to Tefuye. She said less than 10 percent of young people can speak Tsou, compared to 90 percent of the elderly. The government now allows schools to teach Tsou once a week, but Liao thinks that is not enough to pull the language back from the brink of extinction. "If you don't teach the mother tongue, then you lose your culture. Without your mother tongue, your culture becomes fossilised and doesn't truly exist any more," she said. DYING LANGUAGE Liao speaks only Tsou to her 2-year-old daughter but says her little girl insists on replying in Mandarin because the other children in the village do not speak their native tongue. Christian missionaries are trying to help preserve the Tsou language by using a romanisation system. "Some of the priests here speak better Tsou than me," said Yangui Iuheacana, a Tsou woman who teaches village children how to spell Tsou words using the alphabet. "They're helping to put together the first-ever Tsou dictionary and are translating the Bible into Tsou," she said. It's easy to see why small villages like Tefuye and Dabang, with only about 1,200 residents between them, fear assimilation. Mandarin is essential for anyone seeking further education or work, and for men doing compulsory military service. Yet Tsou pride in tradition is evident everywhere, from the carefully observed Mayasvi to the scars on Peongsi's arms and legs -- the legacy of his numerous tussles with boars, bears, deer, goats and monkeys. The Tsou still teach their boys how to hunt and farm up in the lush mountains far away from Taipei's bustling streets and the high-tech microchip plants that helped turn the leaf-shaped island into the world's 15th-largest economy. It used to be that every boy had to spear a boar by himself before being considered a man and allowed to marry. But the government has now restricted hunting grounds, concerned over a dwindling number of indigenous animals in Taiwan. Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organisation three years ago also ushered in cheaper food imports, forcing some aboriginal groups to abandon fruit farms and switch to speciality crops like tea or wasabi, or move into the tourism industry. The more confident and hopeful Tsou speak of government efforts to nurture native cultures, such as designating land for aboriginal use and opening Aboriginal culture museums. The government also launched an aboriginal television channel on Jan. 1 and gave each Tsou household a free satellite dish. But villagers say there's no reception up in the mountains. Story by Tiffany Wu Story Date: 14/3/2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:57:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:57:45 -0700 Subject: APTN head defends new dubbing policy (fwd) Message-ID: March 11, 2005 APTN head defends new dubbing policy Isuma, MLAs, culture minister oppose decision to dub Inuktitut language programming ARTHUR JOHNSON http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50311_02.html Given his background, credentials and current job, Jean LaRose is the kind of guy who should be spending most of his time accepting awards and honours for his efforts in promoting aboriginal languages in Canada. But LaRose, who was born in Quebec of First Nations descent and now heads the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, arrived in Iqaluit this week to face hostile critics, some of whom accuse him of trying to marginalize or do serious damage to the Inuktitut language, and others who flat-out say he is a racist. LaRose’s new pariah status across Nunavut arises, he says, from a well-intentioned desire on the part of him and his network to make programming more accessible to more people and to broaden it out to include more aboriginal languages. In fact, he says, this was precisely what the TVNC, the predecessor organization of APTN, pledged to the Canadian Radio and Television Commission that it do with the new network. LaRose said he was merely reaffirming this pledge when he called, in a recent request for proposals from filmmakers and other program creators, to start “versioning” or “dubbing” their works into other languages, including French and English, rather than just providing a translation in subtitles. This is done by replacing speech in the soundtrack of programs or films with translations delivered by other actors. This would help to achieve a wider audience for programming, to satisfy audience demands for more programming in their own languages, and would vastly broaden the range of aboriginal languages heard on the network, LaRose said. But the response in Nunavut from filmmakers and government leaders was universally negative, he acknowledged. “The line forms to the left and it just doesn’t stop,” he said ruefully about his Nunavut critics. Topping the list is Louis Tapardjuk, Nunavut’s minister of culture, language, elders and youth, who insists that the new policy is a step backward. “Any channel that you turn on the dial on TV, you don’t pick up any other languages except English and French, and APTN is the only station that our unilingual Inuit in Nunavaut can understand,” Tapardjuk told CBC News. He’s campaigning to have all members of the Legislative Assembly oppose the new policy. Tapardjuk, other MLAs and everyone else were to get a chance to accost LaRose at a public consultation scheduled for March 10 in Iqaluit., just before Nunatsiaq News went to press. Marie-Helene Cousineau of Igloolik Isuma Productions said in a letter to APTN that she found it “disturbing both politically and artistically” to hear about LaRose’s request for proposals. “How ironic that APTN would refuse to licence aboriginal language films not dubbed in English or French,” she wrote. “How do you call that: Self-hatred? Post colonialism? Short vision? Racism?” LaRose said being accused of racism stings. What’s more, he said, APTN’s intent has been badly misinterpreted. Inuktitut language programming now makes up 23 per cent of all of APTN’s content. All other aboriginal language programs comprise just 2 per cent. LaRose said he’d like to see Inuktitut programs dubbed into other aboriginal languages, as well as English and French, because that’s what viewers say they desire. He said he’s had positive responses from producers in the south, including one French language producer who expressed a willingness to dub programs in aboriginal languages. It would mean, he acknowledged, additional costs for producers, but APTN would be willing to negotiate higher licencing fees to offset these costs. But he said he also understands that in some cases, the opposition to dubbing by some Inuktitut language producers might be intractable. In these cases, he said, he intends to offer producers the alternative of having their undubbed programs appear on prime time spots on APTN’s “northern” feed,” which is seen in Nunavut, while in the south the programs would only be broadcast in the less desirable afternoon afternoon spots, when there are fewer viewers. Of course, he said, that would mean such producers would receive lower licencing fees. Whatever the outcome, LaRose seemed resigned to the prospect that he has made some enemies. “It’s very hard to meet all expectations,” he said. “Language is one of those things that can flare out the passions of people.”   From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 02:16:47 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:16:47 -0700 Subject: Language Documentation and Description, Volume 2, 2005 (fwd) Message-ID: Language Documentation and Description Volume 2 http://www.hrelp.org/publications/papers/volume2/ The second volume of ELAP's Working Papers, Language Documentation and Description (Peter Austin ed.) will be available from March 2005 and can be ordered now. The volume is a collection of papers dealing with three topics in language documentation: -training and capacity building for endangered languages communities -archiving -multimedia documentation Most of the papers arose from workshops held at SOAS in November 2003 and February 2004. They represent important contributions to the theory and practice of the new field of language documentation by some of the leading scholars in the field, along with contributions from younger researchers. The volume will be of interest to anyone concerned with documenting and describing languages. Cost: £10.00 (postage included); for ordering information, see below. Contents: Introduction Peter K. Austin Dictionary making in endangered speech communities - Ulrike Mosel Language endangerment, language documentation and capacity building: challenges from New Guinea - William A. Foley Countering purism: confronting the emergence of new varieties in a training program for community language workers - Margaret Florey The need for capacity building in Mexico. Misión de Chichimecas, a case study - Yolanda Lastra Training speakers of indigenous languages of Latin America at a US university Anthony C. Woodbury and Nora C. England Linguistic study by speakers: efforts of an Institute E.Annamalai Capacity building for some endangered languages of Russia: voices from Tundra and Taiga - Tjeerd de Graaf and Hidetoshi Shiraishi Capacity building in an African context - Gerrit J. Dimmendaal Language planning in West Africa - who writes the script? - Friederike Lüpke Language documentation and archiving, or how to build a better corpus - Heidi Johnson Documentation in practice: developing a linked media corpus of South Efate - Nicholas Thieberger Planning multimedia documentation - David Nathan Reconceiving metadata: language documentation through thick and thin - David Nathan and Peter K. Austin From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 02:20:27 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:20:27 -0700 Subject: Multilingual, Multiperson, Multimedia (fwd) Message-ID: Multilingual, Multiperson, Multimedia: Linking Audio-Visual with Text Material in Language Documentation Patrick McConvell AIATSIS http://conferences.arts.usyd.edu.au/viewpaper.php?id=31&cf=2 Abstract ‘Language documentation’ for endangered and Indigenous languages has been rapidly moving towards a more holistic view of what is to be captured, including a range of genres, conversation as well as narrative. Most of the languages concerned also exist in a multilingual, multivariety language ecology, in which different age groups may speak, and switch between different varieties. This inevitably becomes part of what is being recorded and is crucial in the understanding of language shift and maintenance. Added to this is the growing realisation of the importance of paralinguistic elements such as gesture even to the basic interpretation of utterances. For proper documentation, what is required now is a system that can handle video, audio, transcription, translation and other annotation, synchronically linked. In this paper I will investigate the functionality of the CLAN system of a/v-transcript linking, widely used for child language and multilingual studies, and briefly compare this to other available alternatives. As for archival holdings of a/v and transcriptions, most of what already exists cannot be immediately moved into such a/v-text linking systems, because of the enormous amount of work involved. There is a need however for some standard system for preliminary digital linking of a/v with existing transcripts, translations and annotations, which may be separated from each other physically and institutionally. From this, more robust linking for analysis and multimedia presentation can be developed. This paper reviews some of the systems being used and the extent to which the metadata element ‘Relation’ can be refined to carry out this task. Please follow the link below to download a pdf version of this paper: http://www.paradisec.org.au/paper2.pdf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 19:24:02 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:24:02 -0700 Subject: Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap (fwd) Message-ID: Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2005/15/c3521.html KELOWNA, BC, March 15 /CNW/ - A national roundtable has recommended a series of immediate actions to improve success rates for aboriginal students. The recommendations are contained in a report released today by the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education (SAEE). They were developed at an unprecedented gathering of senior policy makers, aboriginal leaders, researchers and experts held at Concordia University on February 22nd to examine ways to close the achievement gap for aboriginal students. The fifty participants in the Moving Forward roundtable identified a range of strategies to accomplish this goal. Among these were: - Collect and report better data for monitoring performance and guiding improvement efforts - Establish common indicators and standards of student attainment and program quality - Ensure parity of educational services on and off reserves by investing in support structures and training for aboriginal peoples - Improve training, support and working conditions for teachers in aboriginal settings - Recognize aboriginal authority over curriculum to reflect community view - Create Centres of Excellence in Aboriginal Education to conduct research, develop culturally relevant teaching and language materials, and communicate best practices - Integrate school and community learning for all ages more seamlessly - Build parent capacity to participate in their children's education by creating aboriginal parenting centres and support associations - Establish a national network for sharing research and best practice in aboriginal education "After decades of inaction, jurisdictional disputes and unacceptable failure rates, a joint strategic plan to promote educational progress for native children is an important breakthrough," notes Helen Raham, Executive Director of SAEE. "This roadmap is a collective way forward for all parties responsible for the success of aboriginal learners. We are pleased the Council of Ministers of Education Canada has endorsed a number of these actions this week and that other organizations and levels of government have expressed a desire for collaborative efforts to create tangible progress." A non-profit education research agency founded in 1996, SAEE recently published ten case studies on aboriginal schooling, Sharing Our Success. Financial support for the aboriginal education policy roundtable was provided by Max Bell Foundation and Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. For further information: Helen Raham, Exec. Director, SAEE, (250) 717-1163; Moving Forward in Aboriginal Education: Proceedings Report: http://www.saee.ca/movingforward; Media Backgrounder: http://www.saee.ca/movingforward/MovingForwardMedia.pdf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 19:31:54 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:31:54 -0700 Subject: Pandor Receives Report On Indigenous Languages (fwd) Message-ID: Pandor Receives Report On Indigenous Languages By Mahlatsi Mgidi, Pretoria http://allafrica.com/stories/200503150358.html Education Minister Naledi Pandor has received a framework report on the development of indigenous African languages for use in higher education. The report was put together by specialists in higher education and was led by Professor Njabulo Ndebele, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. When conducting research, the team looked at the country's historical and legislative contexts that nurtured language growth. Departmental spokesperson Tommy Makhode said the language policy for higher education promulgated in November 2002 was committed to the long-term development of indigenous African languages as mediums of teaching and learning. He explained that the report expressed a view that "a crisis is looming in the country regarding the preservation, maintenance and associated identity of indigenous African languages. "The anticipated crisis is attributed to the preference for English instead of African languages in formal communication in the private and public sectors as well as in general social practice." The report also points to the declining numbers of students who wish to study African languages, which has resulted in the closing down of African language departments in a number of higher education institutions. The report has since recommended the establishment of "a well-coordinated, long-range national plan to provide adequate resources and support for indigenous African languages" to prevent further decline of indigenous languages. This could be achieved if the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and the Department of Arts and Culture's National Language Services (NLS) were supported, maintained and monitored. "The report makes a point that the objective to develop official indigenous languages as mediums of instruction in higher education requires systemic under girding by the entire schooling system and the enhanced public and social use of these languages in the daily lives of South Africans," Mr Makhode explained further. The report will be available on the department's website after the minister had analysed it. Meanwhile, the department has received a R150 million donation from the European Union for Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) that will be implemented over the next four years starting this year. HEAIDS is the higher education sector's response to HIV and AIDS designed to enable institutions to prevent and manage the pandemic. The programme will support learning and knowledge development and will among other things ensure the institutions addressed the pandemic and that teacher education faculties and personnel departments identified their roles in the fight against the disease. The programme will also help with initiatives aimed at prevention, behavioural change, care and support, gender, curriculum integration, knowledge generation in the sector and the population as a whole. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Tue Mar 15 19:58:14 2005 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:58:14 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics, 27-28 Oct. 2005 Message-ID: FYI - note extended deadline (fwd from Linguist list)... DZO Date: 11-Mar-2005 From: Isabella Ties Subject: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics Full Title: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics Short Title: LULCL Date: 27-Oct-2005 - 28-Oct-2005 Location: Bolzano, Italy Contact Person: Isabella Ties Meeting Email: ities at eurac.edu Web Site: http://www.eurac.edu/Org/LanguageLaw/Multilingualism/Projects/Conferen ce2005.htm Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Computational Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Lexicography; Text/Corpus Linguistics; Translation Call Deadline: 03-Apr-2005 Meeting Description: The aim of this conference is to provide an overview of the state of the art in research on lesser used languages, with special reference to their computational support. Central to the conference are methodological issues such as: * strategies for an efficient support of lesser used languages, * problems with theoretical approaches developed for major languages when applied to lesser used languages and * the cultural, economical and political specificity of a user group for which computational resources are created. Furthermore, the conference intends to promote the networking among participants in order to enhance the exchange of information, experience and resources. LULCL 2005 Lesser Used Languages and Computer Linguistics 27th - 28th October 2005 Eurac research, Bolzano DUE TO GENERAL DEMAND THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 3rd APRIL 2005 IMPORTANT DATES * Submission of abstracts: 3rd April 2005 * Notification of acceptance: 16th May 2005 Invited Keynote speakers: Clau Solèr (University of Ginevra, Swizerland) Oliver Streiter (University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Scientific Committee: Anna Alice Dazzi (Lia Rumantscha, Swizerland Dafydd Gibbon (University of Bielefeld, Germany) Christer Laurén (University of Vasa, Finland) Oliver Streiter (University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Marcello Soffritti (University of Bologna, Italy) Please visit the LULCL 2005 web site: http://www.eurac.edu/Org/LanguageLaw/Multilingualism/Projects/Conferen ce2005.htm From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 16 17:46:51 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:46:51 -0800 Subject: Native Songs & Images Message-ID: The Northern California Indian Development Council has a web-based archive of traditional images and sounds. Photo Galleries: Three galleries of stunning photography with accompanying descriptions, as well as the NCIDC Staff Photo Gallery and Council Member Photo Gallery. The NCIDC Song Gallery contains sound clips that are small segments of Traditional Karuk songs. They were recorded by Andre Cramblit, the Operations Director of NCIDC, a Karuk Tribal Member. To find the site go to: http://www.ncidc.org/ click the galleries link underneath the picture of the traditional Pit House. .:.  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: 1271 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Wed Mar 16 18:42:10 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 13:42:10 -0500 Subject: Native Songs & Images Message-ID: Great gallery and songs Andre...thanks. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: Andre Cramblit To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:46 PM Subject: [ILAT] Native Songs & Images The Northern California Indian Development Council has a web-based archive of traditional images and sounds. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 17 18:53:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:53:44 -0700 Subject: Language limbo (fwd) Message-ID: Language limbo By Terry Leonard ASSOCIATED PRESS Published March 17, 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050316-100326-8599r.htm MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacia trees, young people in designer clothes and high-heel shoes chatter on the sidewalk, struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub.     Maputo's vibrant night life 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.     But one thing is in ever-shorter supply and in perhaps even less demand: Mozambique's indigenous languages, the storehouse of 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 young Mozambicans in traditional crafts.     While Mozambique has 23 native languages, the only official one is Portuguese — a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that simultaneously unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique.     The United Nations estimates half the world's 6,000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa, and about 200 already have fewer than 500 speakers. Specialists estimate half the world's people now use one of just eight languages — Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French.     A U.N. 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, for centuries have practiced 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, Mr. Chihale looks up from his cluttered desk at MozArte, a crafts project funded by the United Nations and the Mozambican government, and complains bitterly about how his country's memory is fading away.     "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 Mr. Chihale, who speaks the Chopi language at home.     Anthropologists speculate that tribal people whose ancestors have lived for tens of thousands of years on India's Andaman and Nicobar islands survived the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe because of ancient knowledge. They think signs in the wind, the sea and the flight of birds let the tribes know to get to higher ground before the waves swept over the shores.     But finding economic reasons to keep tradition alive can be a challenge.     In Mozambique, cheap foreign imports have destroyed the market for local crafts beyond what little can be sold to tourists. Horacio Arab, the son of a basket weaver who learned his father's trade, said he improved his skills at MozArte, but then abandoned weaving because he couldn't make a living.     Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela says the pressures from globalization are often too great to resist. To save native languages and culture will require societies to find ways to cast them with an inherent value, he argues.     On a small campus along a dirt road south of Maputo, Mr. Shambela has joined a government effort to write textbooks and curricula that will allow public school students to learn in 16 of the country's 23 languages. But the program is limited by Mozambique's poverty.     "A language is a culture," said Mr. 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."     The trade-off for settling on Portuguese as a unifying force after independence in 1975 has been an erosion of the rites and rhythms of traditional life.     "From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," Mr. Shambela said.      From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 17 22:55:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:55:34 -0700 Subject: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion (fwd) Message-ID: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion Published: March 17, 2005 By PAUL DAQUILANTE Of the News-Register http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=191433 GRAND RONDE - The Willamina School District and the Grand Ronde Tribe are close to agreement on the launching of a Chinook language immersion program for first- and second-graders, Superintendent Gus Forster said. Forster said the curriculum would be offered to between 15 and 20 district students. He said enrollment will be open to tribal and nontribal members. The Chinooks were once a strong tribe with related bands near the mouth of the Columbia River and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains. Until recently, however, Chinook jargon, also known as Chinuk-wawa, was almost extinct. Interest has rebounded in recent years. The tribe is now trying to make it the language of the future. Tony Johnson, who teaches in the tribe's education center, is working with the district to create the program, Forster told the school board at its Monday night meeting at the middle school. Johnson has worked with Portland linguist Henry Zenk to create a written Chinuk-wawa alphabet. He has also designed a computer program so Chinuk-wawa characters can be typed. Meanwhile, Johnson has developed a teaching program that has become a model for Pacific Northwest tribes. Both he and Zenk are licensed by the state to teach the language. "We're committed to this," Forster said. "We're getting very close. It's going to be very interesting." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:06:36 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:06:36 -0700 Subject: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork (fwd) Message-ID: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork By JOSH NIVA Anchorage Daily News http://www.adn.com/life/story/6285692p-6161026c.html Published: March 18th, 2005 Last Modified: March 18th, 2005 at 04:12 AM Dimi Macheras lists the greats as his early artistic influences: Donatello. Raphael. Michelangelo. Leonardo. Not those old dudes from the Renaissance, but those cool green guys from the sewers -- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "I was in first grade when the Ninja Turtles came out," Macheras, 23, said. "The Turtles had a really profound effect on me, and that carries with me today, taking something as simple as a turtle and really making it interesting." Macheras knows all about giving fascinating makeovers to everyday creatures. It's his job, in many ways. He's the cultural arts director for Chickaloon Village Traditional Council and a member of the tribe. For the past two years, he's worked on a project that -- much like the Turtles -- gives old legends life through modern media. He's illustrating ancient Native stories with anime-style artwork and snagging new young fans along the way. The Koht'aen Kenaege' Project was launched almost three years ago to revive and teach the oral language Ahtna Athabascan. The final product was recently completed: an interactive package of eight CD-ROMs with lessons spanning alphabet and symbol introduction, pronunciation, conversation and the complete retelling of traditional stories. Macheras was brought in to provide the visuals. Almost every image came from his hand and imagination: the moose ("difficult to draw"), squirrels ("easy to draw"), trees, homes, humans and complex storytelling scenes. One of Macheras' favorite assignments was creating interpretations of two Athabascan stories ("Besiin" and "The Grizzly Bear") often told by his grandmother, Katie Wade. Wade, 83, is the matriarch of Chickaloon Village, the founder of Chickaloon's Ya Ne Dah Ah School and the Koht'aen Kenaege' Project's living link to the language. Macheras has heard the stories since he was a child and still can't get enough. He promised his grandmother he wouldn't change content even if it was raw (in "Besiin," an owl swoops into a village and abducts a crying child). In turn, his grandmother gave him artistic freedom for his interpretations. "I have so much room to work with; it's the best setting I could ask for," he said. Macheras gave a modern touch to the tales, using styles similar to popular cartoons and Japanimation, comic books and graphic novels and even films like Disney's "Brother Bear." Macheras said his art is also energized by music, especially hard-driving electronic genres like drum&bass, which constantly bumps from his computer speakers. He says it gives him the charge to tackle the demanding stories; each runs 30 to 40 pages. "I hope it shows in my work that I'm having a good time drawing this stuff," he said. It does. The art breathes with the same kinetic buzz found in Macheras' music. Bears, owls and people leap off the page in dynamic motion and color. Humans morph into threatening grizzly bears while other humans, some looking like ninjas, wage battle with owls and killer salmon. His modern approach is also evident in smaller tasks, like flash cards and conversation portions of the CD-ROM. Instead of drawing only Native people using the language, he pulled characters from a range of ages, races and styles, including teens wearing baggy pants. "I think it's important for a kid to be able to relate to it," Macheras said. But this isn't exactly a grandmother's form of storytelling. Or is it? The elders aren't complaining. "He's sort of like a visionary," said Patricia Wade, his mom. "He can merge the ancient with the modern in such a way that it makes sense. I would guess that everyone is very happy that these stories are not only being preserved but in such a way that they can make a splash." Kari Johns, Chickaloon Village's education director and Koht'aen Kenaege' Project supervisor, added: "I've only heard positives. People just love what they see." REINSPIRED AT HOME And Macheras loves his job. "All I do here is listen to music and draw," he said of his Chickaloon Village Traditional Council offices outside Palmer. He quickly amended the statement with, "Well, that's not all I do." Macheras was more than a little aimless two years ago. He was hopeful when he graduated from Palmer High in 1999 and departed for The Art Institute of Seattle. He didn't land a degree in his two years there but did amass a hefty student loan bill that haunts him today. He traded Seattle for Florida, but warm temperatures didn't change his outlook. Florida's flat landscape left him creatively flat and longing for the mountains and comforts of home. For the first time in his life, he stopped drawing. "That was a low point as far as my art goes," he said. "I didn't feel inspired." He returned home to Palmer and quickly found the job with the Chickaloon Village, which he says, "fell right into place. It was a good opportunity to be able to get a job drawing." Suddenly, he had no trouble finding inspiration. His muse was his home, his culture and his grandmother, who he calls "Gramm." "She's the center of it all," he said. "It's all because of her." That passion for family and tradition has fueled his drawing and his production. "The amount of work he's done, I can't even put a number on it," explained Johns. "From when he started two years ago to now, it's amazing." Macheras shrugs off the workload as no big deal. He draws like most people walk or talk. He's a compulsive doodler who sketches people he sees at cafes or in meetings. He has stacks of drawings at work and in his briefcase, all from pencil or drafting pen on paper. He's always been this way, says his mom. She remembers her Dimi (pronounced dim-ee) drawing circles as a baby. Macheras said his early work included recreating the characters he saw on cereal boxes. "I have a great picture of him in diapers with a piece of paper in his left hand and a pencil in his right hand," Wade said. "It was a nonstop thing since he was very young. It's almost like he came in to draw." SIGN OF SUCCESS Macheras' perfect job is disappearing. His position is funded by a language preservation grant from the Administration for Native Americans. That grant runs out soon. And that's fine with Macheras. He's been back in Alaska long enough to itch for a larger urban area. Maybe he can land a job as an illustrator or animator. The dream job is in comic books. Right now, he hopes he can continue his work with Chickaloon Village on a contract basis, drawing more of his grandmother's stories (he's already working on "The Magic House"). But even if put the pencils down today, his art has already left a permanent mark. The Koht'aen Kenaege' Project is now officially part of the language curriculum at the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. A handful of parents and locals are also participating. Children -- ages ranging from 2 to 14 -- are engaged, and in some cases, progressing as quickly as the teachers. "They are right at our heels," Johns said. She said the kids are pulled in by the interactive aspects of the material and Macheras' art. Macheras is proud; he was once a student there, too. "That's our success, when students come back, work for the tribe and contribute so much," Johns said. "He's a tribal member, and we're lucky to have such a bright young person especially interested in the language." Macheras said he and the project team -- Thomas Brannen, the programmer and multimedia mastermind; Daniel Harrison, a language specialist; and Johns, the director -- are just excited to have the material available for mass consumption. "We've been holed up here for two years," Macheras said, "and now we're finally out there showing people what we've been doing." Macheras and his mom are also bringing the stories -- complete with PowerPoint presentation -- to forums and public schools. They hope the schools will add the program to their cultural education curriculum. Johns also hopes other oral languages from around the state will use the project's format as a template to teach and preserve. For now, the group is happy selling a few of the storybooks. "(Money generated) will all go directly back to the school," Macheras said, with pride. Response has been good, so far, well, except for a few young public school students frightened by scary owl scenes from "Besiin." Most are eating it up. "They love the pictures, of course," Wade said. And elders are pleased the language is chronicled. "It's there forever; it won't get old 10 years down the road," Johns said. "Once it's documented, it's a visual being. Not just oral. Once we're all gone, it will still be around. It's key in preservation and revitalization." Macheras needs his own creative renewal, eager to relocate in the Pacific Northwest. And he has plenty of motivation for that next step following the success and fulfillment he's found in his recent work. "The way I see it, it's been just more incentive to push myself with my artwork," he said, before adding, "and to become successful through my artwork to pay off those (student) loans." Josh Niva can be reached at jniva at adn.com. DIMI MACHERAS AND PATRICIA WADE will present stories "Besiin" and "The Grizzly Bear" at noon and 2:30 p.m. March 26 at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Macheras will sign copies of the books afterward. For more on the Ya Ne Dah Ah School and the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, visit www.chickaloon.org. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:11:21 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:11:21 -0700 Subject: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork (fwd) In-Reply-To: <20050318120636.zw0s400gskwg4so4@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: ILAT people, fyi, it is worth taking a look at the article news link to view examples of the artists work. very interesting. phil cash cash UofA, ILAT list manager From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:34:30 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:34:30 -0700 Subject: Mexico compiles visual dictionaries of indigenous languages (fwd) Message-ID: Mexico compiles visual dictionaries of indigenous languages www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-18 10:01:46 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/18/content_2712873.htm     MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The old Indian languages and dialects of the different indigenous groups living in Mexico are being collected by linguists of the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) and included in visual trilingual dictionaries.     The INAH said on Thursday in a statement that these dictionaries will contain Spanish and English translations to indigenous languages, combined with images.     By the end of the year, there will be dictionaries for the languages of Chontal (which is spoken in Tabasco), Oreme (in northMexico), Zapoteco (in Juchitan, Oaxaca), Popoluca and Tepehua (in Veracruz), Huastec (in Veracruz, San Luis Potosi), Nahuatl (in central Mexico), Tepehuan (in north Nayarit and south Sinaloa), Mame (in Chiapas) and Chichimeco Jonaz (in Guanajuato). Only 800 people speak Chichimeco Jonaz.     Linguist Benjamin Perez said that in average each of the dictionaries will contain 4,000 terms "that illustrate the presentvitality of the language and its users," as well as manners to approach everyday life of the different ethnic groups.     A seminar on visual dictionaries is underway in Mexico City, to"attain a reappraisal of the Indian languages and to make their users aware of the languages' importance, beauty and complexity," according to the expert.     The project is supported by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Latin Union and the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona of Spain. Enditem From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Sat Mar 19 21:08:43 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:08:43 -0700 Subject: The Giant Who Walks Amongst Us (fwd) Message-ID: The Giant Who Walks Amongst Us Jenn Director Knudsen March 17, 2005 http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/03/wo/wo_knudsen021605.asp? p=1 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 205 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: knudsen021605.gif Type: image/gif Size: 27453 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- Giant Jimmy Jones is a friendly, helpful giant. In fact, this book character is so helpful, he can make the sun shine on an otherwise gray village. The giant simply walks across the page, reaches up to the cloud cover and pushes it out of the sun's way so the villagers can catch some rays. Those light rays may be virtual, but the book this scene pops out of is not. Using augmented reality (AR), the technology behind the interactive version of Giant Jimmy Jones, New Zealand author Gavin Bishop recently collaborated with Mark Billinghurst and his colleagues at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) to turn the book into not only a storytelling device, but also a storytelling experience. A child can flip through its pages and read it like a conventional book. But with a handheld display and computer vision tracking technology, the child can watch the story literally come to life. "You can see animated virtual characters overlaid on the real book pages and hear the voice of Gavin Bishop reading the story," says Billinghurst, director of the HIT Lab NZ.. While Giant Jimmy Jones currently only exists in a lab setting, there are scores of others being developed at places such as Georgia Tech University’s Augmented Environments Laboratory. Technology is not the hindrance to turning books into interactive devices whose readers can exist within them and manipulate their stories. The most difficult roadblock stems from the limitations of physical books, most notably the reality that embedding markers that can interact with VR-headgear is expensive and produces ugly visual results on the page.  Virtual Stories Unlike virtual reality that exists only within the confines of a computer-generated world, augmented reality includes virtual space digitally, seamlessly overlaid onto a real environment, explains Kelly L. Dempski, a senior researcher at Chicago-based Accenture Technology Labs. For example, AR can be used in tandem with a child reading from a book and a computer loaded with AR software. The child, then, could virtually place characters from his story anywhere in the room. The challenge, of course, is to get the technology to work with the user. A wearable computer in the form of a head-mounted display (HMD) is worn like a fighter-pilot helmet, fitting over the head and eyes, and projecting images within the user's visual field. Improvements have led to devices that resemble glasses, but even these are unwieldy, unsanitary and limited to one user at a time. The HMDs also suffer tracking problems, or perfect registration, which means that the virtual overlay doesn't quite match up with the physical space upon which it is projected. That visual slip confuses the brain, making a child feel off balance, mirroring the effects of alcohol consumption, Dempski claims. The user would lose the ability to differentiate between what she's really seeing and what's being injected into a scene via the lens. However, experiments with these head-mounted displays has paved the way for more practical, more commercially viable AR devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and projectors. A PDA was used to view Magic Book, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2000 by a team of researchers, including Billinghurst, then with the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory. But this book's images -- of boxy buildings and a stiff, humanesque figure -- weren't very sophisticated or capable of much interaction. Instead, the 3-D visuals were like "pop-up drawings on paper," says Ulrich Neumann, professor of computer science at the University of Southern California . The real breakthrough for the mobile AR will come when books are loaded with "trigger symbols," or markers, that a PDA could track and then turn into organic images leaping off the page. Doing so, though, isn't practical and is a visual turn off to readers; the markers look like barcodes, says Ramesh Raskar, a senior research scientist with Mitsubishi's Electric Research Labs (MERL). (Ulrich, Billinghurst and others are working on algorithms for tracking to reduce the barcode look.) That has led researchers look at alternatives such as radio frequency identification tags (RFIDs) and touch sensors in lieu of visible computers and their components. "The point is to hide the computer," Raskar says. "The technology should be entirely transparent." Building a Better Virtual Story Spatial augmented reality makes this possible. Instead of merely overlaying images on top of objects within a reader's view, a projector makes objects and images appear to blend into your very world -- in front, to the side and behind you. The advantage of this technology's use in interactive storybooks is the reader can create non-linear and event-driven stories. Raskar says a child no longer would have to read his book page by page, and any physical action of his could change the action in and plot of the story. "To open a book and see this animation happen is counter to anyone's experience," Neumann says. "This is not to replace the imagination, but to help it along a bit" in the same way film adds dimensions to stories. But Raskar says the future of spatial AR technology in books is limited. So AR for storytelling may leap completely off the page. Steven Feiner, computer science professor, and his colleagues with Columbia University's Computer Graphics and User Interface Lab and in collaboration with its Graduate School of Journalism, have turned documentary films into more interactive and educational tools. In one of the lab's "situated documentaries" about Columbia University's system of underground tunnels, a viewer hears narration and sees both the campus and flag-like markers that indicate where portions of the story are located, Feiner explains. By selecting a flag, the viewer immerses herself in a narrated, 3-D surround view of one of the university's thousands of such tunnels. Feiner's documentaries, though, are hypermedia stories embedded in the real world and presented using a mobile augmented reality system. For hands- (and head-) free presentations, projectors and touch sensors are being used by Raskar and his MERL colleagues to graphically animate physical objects. In their lab, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, they've created a Taj Mahal that reflects a 24-hour light cycle; in only a few moments' time, you can see the effect light would have on the building's onion domes and flanking towers as a simulated sun rises and then falls. Using the same technology, a nine-year-old girl, using a white paint brush, white piece of paper and white bird house, demonstrates how she can choose a new color from a digital palette and "paint" her paper and bird house. "Children are extremely attracted to these displays," Raskar says in a phone interview. And adults -- the ones with money in their pockets -- are extremely attracted to demonstrations of spatial AR in advertising. Paul Dietz, senior research scientist at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories and a colleague of Raskar's, says its MERL lab in Cambridge is host to a music store display. At the store's entrance is a fancy set of speakers, playing catchy hip-hop music. Interest piqued, the shopper walks closer to the setup, and the music changes genres and the volume picks up. Now standing next to the display and looking straight at a speaker, the shopper sees the inner workings of the hi-fi equipment itself. And if he handles a component, the display changes yet again. Raskar explains the technology behind this exhibit, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2004 is similar to that in a photocopier; when an office worker walks by the copy machine, it detects her presence and clicks on. These types of technologies, though, aren't cheap -- and currently make it difficult to move these devices into widespread public use, particularly in the book publishing world. But physical books may not be its future form factor. It may instead be a room -- or "interactive narrative playspace" -- in which a child creates his own adventure, such as KidsRoom, begun years ago at the MIT Media Laboratory. "Our reliance on a physical book provides some limitations on the type of stories that can be told," says Billinghurst of HIT Lab NZ in an email. "Although of course it still provides traditional writers an exciting new medium to work in." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8540 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Mar 20 23:27:55 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:27:55 -0800 Subject: Chinook Immersion Message-ID: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion Published: March 17, 2005 By PAUL DAQUILANTE Of the News-Register GRAND RONDE - The Willamina School District and the Grand Ronde Tribe are close to agreement on the launching of a Chinook language immersion program for first- and second-graders, Superintendent Gus Forster said. Forster said the curriculum would be offered to between 15 and 20 district students. He said enrollment will be open to tribal and nontribal members. The Chinooks were once a strong tribe with related bands near the mouth of the Columbia River and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains. Until recently, however, Chinook jargon, also known as Chinuk-wawa, was almost extinct. Interest has rebounded in recent years. The tribe is now trying to make it the language of the future. Tony Johnson, who teaches in the tribe's education center, is working with the district to create the program, Forster told the school board at its Monday night meeting at the middle school. Johnson has worked with Portland linguist Henry Zenk to create a written Chinuk-wawa alphabet. He has also designed a computer program so Chinuk-wawa characters can be typed. Meanwhile, Johnson has developed a teaching program that has become a model for Pacific Northwest tribes. Both he and Zenk are licensed by the state to teach the language. "We're committed to this," Forster said. "We're getting very close. It's going to be very interesting." -- © 1999-2005 News-Register Publishing Co. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 22 06:53:54 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:53:54 -0800 Subject: Bridging The Divide Message-ID: Karen Buller National Indian Telecommunications Institute The National Indian Telecommunication Institute was founded to bring technology to American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native communities in order to expand their opportunities for education, economic development, and civic involvement. Advanced technologies also allow Native American communities to preserve cultures that are rich in oral history but often misunderstood or overlooked. NITI’s many initiatives include the Virtual Museum Project, an interactive Comanche language. More info @: http://www.niti.org/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 22 17:34:51 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:34:51 -0700 Subject: Proud first-graders now say: Cherokee spoken here (fwd) Message-ID: from the March 22, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0322/p12s01-legn.html Proud first-graders now say: Cherokee spoken here By Diana West | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor LOST CITY, OKLA. - Their parents were mocked for speaking it. Their grandparents were punished. But for three classes at Lost City Elementary School in Oklahoma, Cherokee is the only language spoken in the classroom. Lost City is one of the first public schools in the United States to immerse students in an American Indian language. The program started in fall 2003 with kindergarten and classes for 3-year-olds. This year the program expanded to include first grade. "We do what other classes do but it's all in Cherokee," says Anna Christie who teaches a combined kindergarten and first-grade class at the school. Ms. Christie talks to them in Cherokee, calling the children by their Indian names. At naptime, she tells Matthew Keener or "Yo-na" (Bear) not to put his mat too close to Lane Smith "A-wi" (Deer). Cherokee songs play softly in the room. A Cherokee calendar hangs on the wall. Students practice writing words and numbers in Cherokee. First grader Casandra Copeland, "Ji-s-du" (Rabbit), counts aloud in Cherokee. It's called an immersion class because the children speak nothing but Cherokee. The Cherokee Nation in nearby Tahlequah, Oklahoma creates the curriculum. "The goal is to get them fluent," says Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language project supervisor. "If we don't do anything about it, [the language] is not going to be here for the next generation." It is estimated that presently fewer than 8,000 of 100,000 Cherokee people speak the language and most of them are over 45 years old. Mr. Oosahwee, who grew up speaking Cherokee as his first language, says, "I feel fortunate that I was able to communicate with my grandparents and aunts and uncles." Now these children can talk to their parents and grandparents. "I can talk to my grandpa," says Matthew Keener. He is also teaching his mother to speak Cherokee. Oosahwee says at first there was mixed feelings from the community about the program. Some parents were excited while others were hesitant. "They didn't want the kids to experience negative reactions like they had." He can identify with that because he was mocked and ridiculed as a child for speaking his native language at public school. But since Lost City also started a night class to teach Cherokee to Grades 5-8, staff, and parents, he says interest has started to grow. An instructor volunteers his time, and use of the school facility is free, so there is no cost to the community for the night class. About 65 of the 100 students enrolled in the Lost City Elementary School are Cherokee. Some non-Cherokee students have opted to learn a second language and belong to the immersion classes although participation in the program is entirely voluntary. All eight grades are exposed to Cherokee at a weekly "Rise and Shine" assembly where they begin by saying "o-si-yo" meaning hello. They discuss the Cherokee character word for the week. One week it was truthfulness or "du-yu-go-dv." Next year immersion classes will include second graders. Kristen Smith, who teaches the 3-year-olds, was 5 when she learned the Cherokee language from her grandparents. Her son, Lane, who is in the first grade class, comes home every day with a new word or phrase. "Now Lane and I can talk in Cherokee," she says. Lane also teaches some Cherokee words to his 11-year-old brother, Kristian. "This is something the whole family can share," their mother says. Fonda Fisher, Lane's great aunt, says, "He automatically responds in Cherokee. He even sings Cherokee in the shower." She adds, "Lane is learning what it is to be Cherokee and to be proud." From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 22 18:48:45 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:48:45 -0800 Subject: Red Lake Press Release Message-ID: 24 people shot in Red Lake, the majority at Red Lake High School - 10 fatalities Preliminary reports are sketchy and they are all unconfirmed, but it is believed as many as 24 people have been shot on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, and at the Red Lake High School, and as many as 10 are reported to have died as a result of those shootings. The majority of the shootings took place at the school. At the time of this report, the school was still under lockdown and considered a hostile area yet, with local police, FBI investigators, state police, Leech Lake Police and county deputies at the scene, although students still in the building had all been released. According to early reports, sometime after 2 p.m. a student of the school, allegedly shot his grandfather and grandmother at their home in the Back of Town (BOT) area in Red Lake, then went to the Red Lake High School in his grandfather's law enforcement vehicle, where he shot and killed a school security guard, 8 students and 1 teacher. There are reports of as many as 12 fatalities from the shootings, and 12 wounded--some critically. The names of all the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives. The boy's grandfather was a veteran law enforcement officer for the Red Lake Police Department with over 30 years experience, and the entire reservation is shocked, stunned and grieving. Although still under investigation and further details will be released at a conference scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow, the student was reportedly involved in a confrontation with Red Lake Police inside the school after the shooting, and may have fatally shot himself. The weapons he reportedly used may have belonged to his grandfather, and a fire department official stated the boy was wearing a police utility belt with service revolvers and also had used a shotgun A press conference was scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Complex in Red Lake. Prior to the conference in Red Lake however, Paul McCabe of the FBI issued a statement, confirming 8 had died in the shooting, 2 were male students and 2 were female students--including the shooter, a juvenile male--a female teacher, an adult male, and at the residence, a male and female. He said at this time they believed the shooter was acting alone and was among those who had died. He said those students who had died were in one classroom when they were shot. McCabe wouldn't elaborate further, stating the investigation was ongoing with numerous law enforcement agencies taking part in the investigation, including the FBI, Red Lake and Leech Lake police departments, Beltrami Council Sheriffs Department and State police. A press conference was held at the Criminal Justice Center in Red Lake at 7 p.m. "First of all I'd like to thank everybody for their concern,” Chairman Jourdain stated in the conference. "Today we've had an unfortunate and tragic series of events here on the Red Lake Reservation. At this time we're going to defer any specific information over to the Department of Public Safety and also to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is, without a doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe. And I just want to again, send our heartfelt wishes out to the families, the victims, and everybody throughout America, in light of the unfortunate events that happened here today." Jourdain said our community was shocked and in dismay, when asked how the community was reacting. He said in dealing with the tragic events, they would rely on people in the community who are leaders, teachers and healers to come forth and advise everyone on how to go about healing the community. Right now, he said, they were all in the initial stages of shock. They would rely on the advise of elders and professional people to guide them through the crisis. When asked about the security of the reservation, Jourdain stated Red Lake had it's own police department, and the school district also had their own security. "I think the events today were something that could not be avoided," Jourdain said. He said he had no specifics on the shooter, that he wasn't at liberty to comment specifically on the matter. He did say he believed a student came into the school and shot several individuals. Jourdain said he anticipated there would be many support mechanisms that would converge on the reservation, and they also had professionals on the Reservation who had experience in things of this nature--although not this traumatic--when asked about support people for the community. He said those resources would be made available to the community. He was asked if there was any warning of the incident happening, which Jourdain said he didn't know, but didn't see any indication that there was. "It just caught everybody completely by surprise and the whole town was floored by the events that happened here today,” Jourdain said. He stated the building was currently secure, all students were out of the building, and the investigation on currently ongoing. The enrollment of Red Lake High School was between 250-300, Chairman Jourdain stated, and further questioning was deferred to Public Safety Director, Pat Mills. Mills stated they were still conducting their investigation and unable to give out a lot of information. "The only thing I can tell you right now is we have multiple victims in this instant, it did occur at the school, and there are a number of juveniles involved," Mills stated. "Tomorrow, hopefully around 2-2:30 p.m. we'll have another press release and at that time we'll get into more details of what transpired. There are some situations here that we're still checking into that started this incident that occurred. We did receive a 911 call this afternoon at 2:55 p.m. this afternoon that there was a shooting at the [school]. Our officers did respond almost immediately and the officers did confront the alleged suspect at that time in the school building. There was an exchange of gunfire and that's where we're at now--doing the investigation to determine what took place." Mills further stated that they wanted to let the people know they did have the suspect--they knew who the suspect was, and there were no other individuals out there involved in the incident, so the community wouldn't have to worry about anything else. "All the family members and victims were being taken care of," Mills said. "They're meeting now at IHS (Indian Health Service), they're being provided counseling in any way they we help them, along with the sheriff's department who sent out some of their chaplains to assist us in any way." He wouldn't get into any details of the incident, and stated there has been security at the school since 1995. He said there were cameras situated in the school, they have reviewed the tapes, and would relate that information at another conference. The school was locked down after the initial call was received and to his understanding, teachers and staff knew what to do and did what had to be done according to school policies. This occurred within a matter of minutes. Mills stated they have had emergency drills involving similar scenarios just last year, and he felt teachers and staff did what they were trained to do during the crisis. Superintendent of Schools, Stuart Desjarlait, on behalf of the Red Lake Board of Education, offered their condolences for the victims, and were in the process of getting their crisis management plan into place. "We have one in place and that saved a lot of kids today, and teachers utilizing that plan and following it through on what was supposed to be done on in this case and in situations like this,” Desjarlait said. "We have a tremendous staff at Red Lake High School for knowing what to do. We won't be having school for the rest of the week. Tomorrow the district is closed, and the next day the staff will be coming back in." Desjarlait said they would be working with elders, spiritual leaders, mental health counselors, and getting a plan ready when high school teachers come back--and when the students come back to school next Wednesday. He would not comment on the incident specifically due to the investigation still ongoing, and he said the district had about 1500 kids in four buildings. Red Lake's School District consisted of the high school, a middle school and elementary school located in Red Lake, and another K-8 grade school in the Ponemah District about 25 miles north of Red Lake. Mills explained why the FBI was investigating the incident. He said the federal government is responsible for all major crimes that occur on Indian Reservations. Red Lake falls under that jurisdiction of the FBI. Major crimes include homicides, rape, assaults, kidnapping and ect. The Red Lake Police Department handles a lot of the misdemeanor cases and assists the FBI on their felony cases. All Red Lake Schools will be closed until Tuesday of next week, and a press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, when more details will be released, along with the names of victims. .:.  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 .:.  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: 10160 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 24 18:22:13 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:22:13 -0700 Subject: Speaking in (Native) Tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Speaking in (Native) Tongues To save endangered languages, elementary schools across the Southwest experiment with Native American language immersion programs —By Diana West and Stacy Teicher, Christian Science Monitor March 24, 2005 Issue http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_191/news/11604-1.html Lost City Elementary School in Oklahoma is not the first school to offer a Native American language immersion program to its students, but it is one of the first public schools to do it. Diana West of The Christian Science Monitor reports that Lost City Elementary now offers a Cherokee language immersion program for three-year-olds, kindergartners, and first graders. Next year the program will expand to include second-graders. In Lost City Elementary's voluntary program all courses are taught in the Cherokee language and the teachers refer to the students by their Indian names. The goal is to preserve the Cherokee language, which Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language project supervisor, believes will die in one generation if something is not done immediately. West points out that only an estimated 8,000 people currently speak Cherokee. One of the reasons the Lost City Elementary program is unique is that it demonstrates a state-sponsored departure from the United States' institutional assimilation of Native American children. Starting in the 1800s, children were sent away to boarding schools where they were prohibited from speaking their languages or wearing their traditional clothing and hairstyles, says Stacy Teicher of The Christian Science Monitor. It wasn't until the 1970s that Indian Nations won the right to contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to control these government schools. Teicher says that the importance of native language and culturally sensitive teaching is catching on in the Southwest also. In the Flagstaff school district, Navajo language classes are offered. Flagstaff High School has a panel of ten Native American academic advisors that helps teachers with culturally sensitive subjects and helps develop culturally relevant courses. They also offer an elective Navajo history class after school. But even in Flagstaff, Native American students still have to battle prejudice, and very little of the mainstream curriculum touches on Indian history or culture. Initially, Lost City's program was met with some resistance because elders were concerned that children would be ridiculed (like they were when they were kids) for speaking their native language at a public school. However, the program is proving to not only serve as a way to preserve the language, but also as a source of pride. One community elder, in commenting about her great nephew, said: "Lane is learning what it is to be Cherokee and to be proud." -- Barb Jacobs From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 24 18:26:19 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:26:19 -0700 Subject: Grant supports bilingual education (fwd) Message-ID: Grant supports bilingual education The Daily Press Last Updated: Thursday, March 24th, 2005 09:14:25 AM http://www.ashlandwi.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=4&story_id=196768 The Red Cliff Art of Knowledge (gikendaasowin) Project has received a grant from the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund to print and distribute an illustrated bilingual storybook to promote Ojibwa language fluency and awareness. A local artist will illustrate the story, using a comic book format. The publication will be distributed to local schools with lesson plans and will also be available to residents and visitors to the region. Brian Goodwin, language and culture consultant, will oversee the project. The Red Cliff Language and Culture Committee has been working to find ways to make the Ojibwe language more visible in Red Cliff and the surrounding communities. In a recent survey it was determined there are less than five elders who are fluent "first language" Ojibwa speakers. The committee researched approaches that other indigenous nations have employed to establish language fluency. The Art of Knowledge Project was submitted as a grant request to the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund under its Human Rights Fund guidelines. The grant of $3,000 will support printing and distribution of the storybook, which will be available later this year. "We are pleased to be able to support this project," according to Nancy Sandstom, chairman of the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund Advisory Board. "This innovative and creative approach has the potential to reach a broad audience." This is the first grant made from the Human Rights Fund. The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund encourages private giving for the public good. With contributions large and small from many individuals, families and businesses, its 11-member advisory board is working to establish a permanent endowment to address the changing charitable needs of the Bayfield - Madeline Island - Red Cliff region. The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund is one of three affiliate funds of the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation. The Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation manages over 180 different funds, each with its own charitable purpose. Since its inception in 1983, the Foundation has distributed more than $20 million in grants and scholarships. For information on applying for a grant from the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund or to learn about ways to contribute to the Fund, contact Lois Albrecht at the AIACF office by email aiacf at centurytel.net or phone 715-779-7021. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 25 23:44:08 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:44:08 -0700 Subject: Entrepreneurial U.H. Students Setting up Language Documentation Center (fwd) Message-ID: Hawaii Reporter Freedom to Report Real News Entrepreneurial U.H. Students Setting up Language Documentation Center By Lisa Ann Ebeling, 3/25/2005 1:18:16 AM http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?5ada08d6-26ed-477f-b53a-99c516104320 Two years ago in fall 2003, Meylysa Tseng, an international student from Taiwan was inspired by the rich cultural diversity at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Meylysa, a Ph.D. student in linguistics, was looking for a good community service project to organize. Suddenly, she realized that there were many speakers of different endangered languages studying at the university and that graduate students of linguistics could teach language documentation skills to these students. At first many were skeptical. They thought the project would not take off. But, that did not discourage Meylysa who went on to recruit her other classmates to seek support from various departments within the University. One semester later, nine previously under-documented languages of the world received much needed attention, were further away from extinction and the effort saw the winning of two awards: the Jacob Peace Memorial Award and the NAFSA "Partnership in Excellence Award." Today, the Language Documentation Project (LDP) continues its social mission by training students from countries with endangered languages on how to document their languages and to apply for grants to expand their projects. This semester there are 20 students being trained by graduate students in the Linguistics Department, led by an equally dedicated graduate student, Valerie Guerin from France. The project now utilizes computer software to improve the documentation and archiving process and places its resources on the Internet for speakers of the languages documented, as well as other researchers to access them. Valerie’s dedication has been rewarded. This May, she will present the project at the NAFSA international conference in Seattle. According to Valerie the LDP director, the project’s secret ingredient is, “the spirit of aloha and cooperation in reaching out to the international student community at the university. The students who speak endangered languages are placed in a constructive environment where people care about their languages and culture. And in cooperation, everyone wins. The Department of Linguistics benefits by having its student engage in real and useful research. The University as a whole is enriched by the presence of these laudable efforts. Graduate students in linguistics are provided with an opportunity to pass on their training and skills. In the process, everyone broadens their cultural knowledge and is motivated of the importance of language preservation.” One of the languages documented so far is the Kemak language spoken by approximately 50,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as the East Timor. There are more than 15 other languages spoken in this newly formed nation, which was recognized as an independent state from Indonesia in 2002. The Kemak language faces a serious threat of extinction as it is no longer widely spoken. To date, there has been very little documentation of the Kemak language. Matias Gomes, an East Timorese student joined the LDP in spring 2004 and worked together with linguistics graduate student, Ryoko Hattori to compile a basic 300-word vocabulary list, a writing system for the language and later the first alphabet picture book in the Kemak language. Their work was later recognized and awarded the Jacob Peace Memorial Award. Matias and Ryoko were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue their work. Since then, they have produced other products such as a recording of a Kemak funeral song and a Kemak sketch grammar. [photo inset - East Timorese students recording sound files. Three East Timorese students, Alvaro, Joao and Nelson, are working on a comparative word list for various dialects of Makasae. Matias, now in his third semster with the LDC, is continuing his work on Ema. Ryoko and Frances, their advisors, look on. Photo by Lisa Ann Ebeling.] [photo inset - Philip Lee] What happens next? Recently, an entrepreneurial business student has been working to take LDP to greater heights. Philip Lee, a Japan-focused MBA student from Malaysia began working with Valerie and the LDP team to write a business plan to transform the LDP into the leading language documentation center in the Asia Pacific region. The business plan was short listed in the semi-finals of the 2005 U.H. Business Plan Competition and the final winner will be announced at the end of this month. When interviewed, Philip’s eyes gleamed with optimism, “we plan to get state accreditation for The Language Documentation Center (LDC) within the next year. And our five year plan is to position LDC as the premier language documentation center in the Asia Pacific region. We have innovative ideas and determination. The spirit of cooperation that springs from the team will see great success”. Philip adds that the University of Hawaii at Manoa is one of only two universities in the world currently offering a language documentation Masters program and the unique culture in Hawaii that respects diversity promotes the success of this center. “Our work is in line with the University’s Strategic Plans to position itself as one of the world’s foremost multicultural centers for global and indigenous studies. Yes, maybe my goals for LDC have been rather conservative, as we are truly capable of being the world’s leader in language documentation!” The LDC will hold an exhibition in Bishop Museum on April 2nd and 9th. Its booth will present an interactive world map that allows visitors to select languages on the screen and hear greetings in some of the endangered languages from around the world. The LDC will also demonstrate its virtual museum of languages archived on its website demonstrating a goal in line with the Bishop Museum’s conservation mission. Native speakers who have been working on the project will also be present. These future local language leaders will proudly display creative works of their culture and language. The LDC expresses its appreciation to Bishop Museum for its partnership in this exhibition. “As we continue to form more partnerships with Hawaiian organizations, we will be able to enlarge our social mission. It is impressive how Hawaii has developed its culture and language and I believe as we have more intercultural exchanges, we will learn and enrich each other’s cultures. We will even help others in preserving their culture”, Philip eyes glitter with optimism again. Come support the language documentation project at the Bishop Museum. Also on display at the Bishop Museum from April 1 onwards is the “Journey With A King” exhibit and there is a celebration on April 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A special performance will be rendered by the Konan High School Jazz Band from Japan and the Le Jardin Academy Ukulele Choir. “The Journey With A King” recounts stories of adventure and travel, from King Kalakaua’s personal journal and other interesting exhibits. Lisa Ann Ebeling is a first year MA student in liguistics from California. She has been working with the LDC since Fall 2004. Contact her at: lebeling at hawaii.edu HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia at HawaiiReporter.com Making a Difference... © 2005 Hawaii Reporter, Inc. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:34:40 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:34:40 -0700 Subject: Chamorro language urged (fwd) Message-ID: Article published Mar 27, 2005 Chamorro language urged By Oyaol Ngirairikl Pacific Sunday News ongirairikl at guampdn.com http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050327/NEWS01/503270306/1002 Hundreds of students competed in "I Fino Chamorro: I Bentånan I Ketturå-ta," either as individuals reciting poetry or as groups that chanted stories of the ancient Chamorro mariners who lived, loved and died on Guam. It was the second year of the Chamorro Language Competition, and competition was fierce. And while competition usually is viewed as a healthy way to encourage hard work and perseverance in children, the language competition is helping to perpetuate the use of the Chamorro language, said Peter Onedera, a Chamorro instructor at the University of Guam and one of the island's most prolific authors and playwrights. "We're slowly losing sight of our language because there are so few occasions to use it," Onedera said. "English has superseded everything when it comes to communication." The problem created by a Chamorro culture speaking a foreign language is that cultural ideas and values are lost in translation. And once lost, a language and its culture can never be regained. But Onedera said the language competition perpetuates the use of Chamorro language at different levels, requiring students to know the history and the meaning of the words they speak or chant. "One of the criteria when the students are competing is they have to execute the pronunciation and the actions that accompany the verbs and what not," Onedera said. Students from the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands schools again joined Guam's public school students in the competition this year. "Those kids gave so much flavor to the competition because CNMI has more Chamorro language speakers in the younger generations than we do on Guam," Onedera said. "That serves as a kind of impetus for our kids on Guam to know their language better." Onedera hopes that the competition will grow in the future to include students from Department of Defense schools and private schools. "We plan to make this a traditional part of the UOG Charter Day festivities, and hopefully, we'll be joined by other schools," Onedera said. "That's an ideal competition." Several of Guam's students may end up participating in a Chamorro language writing workshop that Onedera is organizing. "It's called 'Ta Tuge,' which means 'to write,' because it's important that our children be knowledgeable in the different forms of Chamorro language. A lot of people think Chamorro is mainly a street language of sorts, but there are levels of Chamorro, such as educational and political," Onedera said. "I'm hoping that we perpetuate the written language so that we can ensure the language doesn't die." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:38:14 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:38:14 -0700 Subject: 'Oh say, can you see' in Navajo? (fwd) Message-ID: 'Oh say, can you see' in Navajo? By Bill Donovan Staff Writer http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/mar/032505navajo.html [photo inset - Katherine Duncum has created an album of patriotic songs which she translated into Navajo and recorded. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)] GALLUP — Katherine Duncum knew from the beginning that it would not be an easy task recording popular patriotic songs in Navajo. But in the mid-1980s, she decided to try it and as a result recorded "American National Songs in Navajo and English," which has sold out its run of 3,000 tapes. This year she has updated her selections and has come with "American Patriotic Songs," also in English and Navajo and this time in a CD format. With Americans, including many Native Americans, now fighting a war in Iraq, Duncum thought this would be a good time to record patriotic songs in Navajo. Among the tunes on the album are "Amazing Grace," "The Marine Corps Hymn," "Yankee Doodle," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," America the Beautiful," "The Star Spangled Banner," and "God Bless America." "It was a challenge," she said, of her efforts to convert some of the best-known song in the English language into the Navajo language. The problem, as anyone who knows Navajo is aware, that many words in the English language are converted into Navajo by use of a phase that describes what the word means. For example, the Navajo word for telephone would be translated as "something in steel that you talk with it." The challenge then is to convert the English into Navajo and keep the sense of what the English means and at the same time keep to the number of notes in the song. "You just have to fit it in," she said. The 1988 tape received a lot of praise from Navajos and others who praised her for doing something no one else had ever done before. Born in 1940 in a traditional hogan in the Black Mesa area, Duncum received her G.E.D. certificate at the age of 30. She then spent the next 12 years of her life getting a college degree and then her doctorate in religious and philosophical studies from the School of Theology at Claremont, CA. Since then she has taught Navajo culture and language courses at a number of area colleges, including Din College, Northland Pioneer College, Prescott College and Northern Arizona University. She has also taught elementary students at several schools in the Kayenta, Dennehotso and Shonto areas. It's there that she began getting interested in the idea of translating popular English songs into Navajo. "When I first started, the dominant language among the students was Navajo." she said. "Now the dominant language is English." Learning a song in Navajo, she said, is one of the best ways to preserve the Navajo language. She said that she's now in the process of finishing up two more CD collections that will be available this summer. The albums will feature popular Christmas songs such as "Santa Claus is coming to Town" into Navajo. The album of patriotic songs can only be purchased at the present time by contacting Duncum by writing to P.O. Box 1394, Kayenta, AZ 86033. Persons can also call either (928) 697-8268 or 672-2371. The album costs $15. Persons who want it mailed will also be charged a $3.50 fee for postage and handling. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:41:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:41:17 -0700 Subject: Tuned into te reo (fwd) Message-ID: Tuned into te reo 26.03.05 by Geoff Cumming http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10117136 [photo inset - Veeshayne Armstrong says Maori Television has made a huge difference to her and her son Hohaia's Maori language learning. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey] Throughout her 13-year career in Maori broadcasting, Veeshayne Armstrong got by on a limited grasp of te reo. Growing up in Moerewa, both her parents spoke Maori but would never use it at home. "Their attitude was the Maori language wasn't going to do anything for you." Times have changed. Armstrong studied Maori in school but did not become a fluent speaker. Still, she picked up a Maori broadcaster of the year award with Mai FM and has worked in film and television, including a part in the acclaimed The Maori Merchant of Venice. Finally this year she enrolled in an intermediate-level Maori language course at AUT. To be able to go home and switch on Maori TV to hear and put in context what she's learning in the classroom is a huge bonus, she says. Her 8-year-old son, Hohaia, is also a fan of the Maori Television Service. Hohaia attends a kura kaupapa immersion unit as part of his schooling at Newton Central Primary. When he gets home, like many kids his age, he switches on TV. He listens to the news in Maori, watches shows in Maori - his favourite is a surfing show "because one of my best friend's Dad's in it". "He's really excited about it," says Armstrong. "It's another choice to just watching Sticky TV or SpongeBob." Maori households such as Armstrong's won't be the only ones on Monday celebrating the first anniversary of the Maori Television Service. Teacher Karen Leuschke never misses an episode of Korero Mai, the nightly language and cultural instruction programme, with its built-in soap, Akina. "It's the first soap I've ever watched," says Leuschke, the year 12 dean at St Cuthbert's College, who has "not an ounce" of Maori blood. "People know never to ring between 7 and 7.30. I organise my evenings around it. It's got charm, it's got integrity and it's lots of fun." Akina has garnered the sort of viewer loyalty more commonly associated with Coronation Street or Shortland St: its producers flooded with mail when a character is written out, fans writing with condolences or to wish characters luck. The programme uses repeated phrases, with timely interventions by presenter Piripi Taylor, to teach te reo. Episodes are repeated for three days with a revision programme on Sundays. "I knew Maori words but couldn't put them together," says Leuschke, who teaches languages, among other subjects. "The system they use suits me, having a little bit of tikanga [culture] and waiata. "I think it's important for all us to know a little bit of Maori and now I can say I speak a little bit of Maori." In December, the channel released audience research showing that non-Maori outnumbered Maori among the 667,000 who had watched MTS since it started. Leuschke says she often lingers to watch other programmes after Korero Mai. "A lot of TV is very standardised. The people who make Maori TV often seem to be having fun - it's a little more relaxed." When MTS started broadcasting last March, the TAB could have offered short odds on the channel folding within its first year. From the scandal of original CEO John Davy's false credentials to rows over taxpayer-funded productions that never went to air, its birth was as drama-packed and convoluted as any long-running soap. The axe swung on leading characters as wildly as a soap in ratings freefall - Derek Fox, who stepped in after Davy, departed amid sexual harassment allegations to be replaced by Ani Waaka, who left in November. Other heads rolled, including programming boss Joanna Paul and Maori language general manager Joseph Te Rito. The whiff of scandal has quickly lifted and the Maori channel has become just part of the spectrum for unsatisfied couch potatoes. But as National's Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee puts it, the jury is still out on whether MTS is justifying its existence. Its purpose is to promote Maori language and culture "through the provision of a high-quality, cost-effective service ... that informs, educates, and entertains a broad viewing audience, and, in doing so, enriches New Zealand's society, culture, and heritage". While supporters maintain MTS is having a far-reaching impact in the community, they cannot produce the vital audience figures to silence the doubters. Indeed, Neilsen Media Research excludes MTS from ratings surveys because it has yet to pass the 4 per cent threshold among its 1300-strong sample panel. The channel's future under a National-led Government appears bleak. Brownlee says he has yet to see any figures suggesting MTS is meeting its aims. "It's a lot of money for what it's reaching. If they could show they are getting the reach they are supposed to be getting it would be a different story. But I can't see them ever doing that." Administration of MTS costs the Government $13 million a year. Maori broadcasting funder Te Mangai Paho has earmarked $40 million a year to fund MTS programmes for the next three years. In comparison, NZ on Air spends about $62 million to support local content on mainstream TV. Brownlee says National would review the channel's future before committing ongoing funding. While a court decision affirmed the Crown's obligation to promote te reo through TV broadcasting, National believed the Government could meet its obligations by using TVNZ's charter. Brownlee may be missing the widescreen picture. MTS backers say it is not just about the language - the Maori channel generates pride in tikanga (Maori culture) and reveals Maori stories that would otherwise not be heard. It is a focal point for what some refer to as the Maori renaissance - a demonstration of "can do" optimism, which promises far-reaching benefits across society. And it is distinctively Maori - not afraid to take risks, to laugh at itself, to do things differently. Derek Fox, now director of Mana Maori Media, says shows such as Marae DIY and Kai Time On The Road show that reality television need not be staid and formulaic. Frequent use of a live studio, while budget-driven, also adds vitality. "That was the only way we were going to get a bigger bang for our bucks. If we did things the same way as other TV stations it would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that we didn't have." Radio Waatea general manager Willie Jackson says there's no disputing the impact the channel has made in the community. "They have some fabulous bilingual shows like Kai Time On The Road, Marae DIY and Ask Your Auntie. The bilingual approach has been a huge success for them - people will stay tuned if they understand what's happening." Despite these successes, there's a loaves and fishes feel to what's happened so far. Production houses want access to more funding - railing against an agreement with Te Mangai Paho to "cap" production costs at $20,000 a half hour. "We are charged with giving the same quality as we would in a mainstream programme for an absolute fraction of the price," says Kiwa Films executive producer Rhonda Kite. "We do a documentary for TVNZ or TV3 for $100,000 to $140,000 an hour compared with $40,000 an hour for MTS." For Veeshayne Armstrong, MTS means part-time work doing voiceovers and as a voice on films and cartoons dubbed into Maori. "As a parent who sent her son to a kura kaupapa, I think it's really important that it's not just left at school - Maori television is another resource and it's so accessible. It helps to normalise te reo and have it as part of everyday life. "It is helping to bring Maori into the 21st century." Jim Mather, the channel's new chief executive, is conscious of the need to broaden the viewer base and improve market share. He promises more subtitling, particularly on Te Kaea, the nightly news bulletin. More programmes will be aimed at younger viewers - "the Maori speakers of the future". Market research is under way to better understand what audiences want. And a marketing drive to entice new viewers is planned. The channel offers wider benefits for Maori, says Mather. "Over and above revitalising the language and culture, we have opportunities to provide some very positive role modelling, such as Maori business programmes. "There are social development benefits that will come from Maori television as well." Maybe two decades from now the 20th anniversary of Maori Television will be marked by its CEO quoting vital statistics: not just audience ratings but improved Maori academic achievement and lower youth offending - as well as a profitable balance sheet for the Government. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 03:54:58 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:54:58 -0700 Subject: 12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (fwd) Message-ID: 12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium Call for Papers Call Deadline: 30-Mar-2005 SILS 12 is hosted by the First Peoples' Cultural Foundation and the University of Victoria, on the University of Victoria Campus. Preference will be given to presentations that describe innovative, holistic approaches to Indigenous language revitalization. Presentations can take the following format: 20 minute talk (plus question period), 1 1/2 hour workshop, panelist in a choice of topics. Suggested topics for talks, workshops and panels include: Weaving Language and Culture Programs Together; Language Immersion Programs; Revitalizing languages without speakers; Repatriation of language recordings; Other: (please feel free to suggest a topic) Application forms and further information are available at http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/ Telephone: (250) 361-3456 Fax: (250) 361-3467 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 03:57:42 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:57:42 -0700 Subject: Dene (Athabaskan) Langauges Conference (fwd) Message-ID: Dene (Athabaskan) Langauges Conference Call for Papers Call Deadline: 15-Apr-2005 The Dene Languages Conference will be held at the University of Victoria on June 6-7, immediately following the ''Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium'' (SILS) on June 2-5. Please send abstracts on any topic relating to Dene languages to me at the address below. Electronic formats are preferred (.pdf or .doc files please; please test for font issues). I am expecting that the talks will last for 20 minutes with 10 minutes for discussion. We will have a digital projector available for the Dene languages conference, and other equipment should be available also. (Please specify your requirements.) The deadline for abstracts is 15 April 2005. Some people will be presenting at both SILS and the Dene languages conference, or at one only. Either way, there is a lot of information about Victoria on the SILS website that will be useful for you. Check it out at: http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/ The on-campus housing page is at: http://housing.uvic.ca/visitor/visitoraccom.php On-campus housing will be the cheapest, but there are many other nice places to stay in Victoria. The SILS website has information on hotels, etc also. It is not necessary to register for SILS if you are only going to attend the Dene languages conference. (There will probably be a small registration fee for the Dene languages conference but details are not known on this yet.) Victoria is on Vancouver Island, Coast Salish territory, a short plane or boat trip from Seattle or Vancouver, which are on the mainland. Because of being on an island, flights can fill up fast, so please take this into account when making your travel plans. Please watch the SILS website for further information on transportation options. We are expecting perhaps 500 people for SILS, so it could be a busy place! The organizers are aware that the timing is short, but the opportunity to hold a Dene languages conference together with SILS was too good to miss. There will be further information forthcoming as the organizers get more organized! Looking forward to seeing you in Victoria in June 2005 for SILS, or the Dene languages conference, or both! --Leslie Saxon (for the organizing committee) (saxon at uvic.ca) PS. Plans are underway for a larger Dene languages conference in Yellowknife at the end of June 2006. We have enlisted the support of some people in the Government of the Northwest Territories and they are very supportive! From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 04:09:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:09:44 -0700 Subject: The Northwest Indian Language Institute (fwd) Message-ID: THE NORTHWEST INDIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE SUMMER INSTITUTE 2004 Hosted by the Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon July 6 – July 23 2004 This year’s NILI summer program will be located at the University of Oregon. We will focus on language learning, language teaching and methodology, TPR, Storytelling, materials development, computer materials generation, storytelling and song. http://babel.uoregon.edu/nili/index.html From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 04:14:20 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:14:20 -0700 Subject: 26th Annual American Indian Language Development Institute (fwd) Message-ID: 26th Annual American Indian Language Development Institute Power and Powerless: Ideology and Practice in Indigenous Communities June 6, 2005 - July 1, 2005 http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aildi/AILDI2005.htm Our 2005 theme, Power and Powerless: Ideology and Practice in Indigenous Communities, will take into consideration the dichotomy that exists among the stakeholders in American Indian language education. Issues of language, identity, values, and education rights and the question of who the decision-makers are for Native American language practices and methods of teaching will be primary considerations. The theme will be highlighted with special presentations, guest lectures, films and panels. The American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) provides a unique educational experience for teachers of Native children. The AILDI format offers native and non-native teachers the opportunity to become researchers, practitioners, bilingual/bicultural curriculum specialists, and especially effective language teachers. The common concern of language loss, revitalization and maintenance brings educators, parents, tribal leaders and community members to this university setting to study methods for teaching Native languages and cultures and to develop materials. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Mar 28 23:11:44 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:11:44 -0800 Subject: SODA Message-ID: Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA) The modestly named Southern Oregon Digital Archives, created by the Southern Oregon University Library, in Ashland, contains a hidden treasure of full-text pdf versions of hundreds of primary ethnographic, linguistic, and historical sources on the native groups of southern Oregon and adjacent northern California (Takelma, Klamath, Shasta, Modoc, Achumawi, Oregon Athabaskan, and others). You will find here, for example, Dorsey's "The Gentile System of the Siletz Tribes" (1890); Sapir's "Takelma Language of Southwestern Oregon" (1922); all four parts of Gatschet's "The Klamath Indians" (1890) -- even Waterman's "Yurok Geography" (1920). A very useful resource for anyone with an interest in the indigenous languages and cultures of this region. The URL is: http://soda.sou.edu .:.  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: 1375 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:38:47 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:38:47 -0700 Subject: Miami Language Project - Part 3 (fwd: radio link) Message-ID: Miami Language Project - Part 3 Wednesday, March 30, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18058 Language skills are often developed over a lifetime. But researchers on the Myaamia at Miami University in Oxford have a more daunting task. They work to restore and put into use a centuries-old language that hasn't been spoken conversationally in nearly 45 years. It starts with publication of a Miami language dictionary this spring. Miami Tribe researchers vow to again make it a living language by teaching it to English speaking Miami children. Tom Borgerdring reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (3:39) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:40:29 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:40:29 -0700 Subject: Miami Indian Language Project - Part Two (fwd: radio link) Message-ID: Miami Indian Language Project - Part Two Tuesday, March 29, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18056 The Miami Nation, which once encompassed much of Western Ohio, was lost to white settlers through a series of battles and treaties and finally by forced removal in the mid 1840s. With the tribe's removal, their language declined too. But a joint project of the tribe and Miami University seeks to restore what's known as the Miami-Peoria language. Tom Borgerdring reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (3:48) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:41:32 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:41:32 -0700 Subject: The Myaamia Project Revitalizes Miami Indian Language - Part One (fwd: radio linnk) Message-ID: The Myaamia Project Revitalizes Miami Indian Language - Part One Monday, March 28, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18054 A project to recover a Native American language will get a boost this spring with the publication of a dictiionary. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University in Oxford combined tribal knowledge with University resources to bring back a language that was spoken through-out much of Ohio and Indiana prior to statehood. It's the Myaamia Project. Tom Borgerding reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (4:48) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:49:52 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:49:52 -0700 Subject: Northern voices, foreign tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Northern voices, foreign tongues Producers are up in arms over a decision by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to replace subtitles with dubbing By SARAH EFRON Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Page R1 Special to The Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050329/ABORIGINAL29/TPEntertainment/Film Inuit film and television productions are going to end up sounding like badly dubbed kung-fu movies. That's the fear of Zacharias Kunuk, director of the 2001 film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), which was shot entirely in the Inuit language, Inuktitut, and was shown around the world with subtitles. Kunuk is joining other filmmakers and politicians in Nunavut to speak out against the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's new policy of asking producers to dub their programming into other languages instead of subtitling them. "We've been producing films for 15 years and we've never had any trouble producing in Inuktitut," Kunuk says. "Now it's the one TV network that belongs to us aboriginal people of Canada that's giving us a problem. It feels like we're moving backwards." Kunuk spoke at an emotionally charged public consultation last month in Iqaluit, Nunavut, that was organized by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Inuit elders and film and video producers voiced concerns that the network's move to dub aboriginal-language programming into French and English could damage the territory's fledgling TV and film industry and roll back efforts to promote Inuktitut. However, APTN's CEO Jean LaRose, a member of the Odanak First Nation in Quebec, says the new policy will have exactly the opposite effect: It will promote the use of aboriginal languages across Canada. The issue flared up after APTN sent out a request for proposals asking for new dramas, children's shows and series to be dubbed into more than one language: For example, an Inuktitut drama would be dubbed into English and French, while a French series would be dubbed into English and Inuktitut. LaRose says the move prepares them for the transition to HDTV, which can carry four tracks of Secondary Audio Programming, allowing the viewer to select which language they want to listen to. He says this will allow the network to reach more viewers and generate additional revenue. But film and video producers who make programming in Inuktitut have reacted with anger, engaging in a public e-mail debate with LaRose. John Houston, president of Ajjiit, the Nunavut Media Association, an advocacy group for the territory's film and television industry, feels dubbing will reduce the quality of their productions. Houston is a non-aboriginal filmmaker who is fluent in Inuktitut, and his APTN-funded programs feature elders speaking their own language with English subtitles. "When you watch an elder speaking Inuktitut, you might not understand a word he's saying, but a lot more is transmitted than just straight content," Houston says. "You hear the elder pausing. You hear the earnestness in his voice. Taking away an elder's voice and replacing it with an English voice feels like an insult to me. It feels wrong." Feature films like Atanarjuat aren't currently eligible for funding from APTN, but Houston mentions it as an example of an Inuktitut film that reached a wide audience while using subtitles. Houston says if people had the option of listening to an English dub, many would never hear the beauty of the Inuktitut language. He's also concerned that if APTN programming is available in English at the press of a button, young Inuit might not listen in Inuktitut. Nunavut's minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Louis Tapardjuk, recently sent a letter to APTN expressing his concern. "Speakers of aboriginal languages right across Canada are struggling for the very survival of their mother tongues and film and television are very powerful tools to reach out to young people and spark an interest in their language," Tapardjuk says. "When producers are encouraged to provide programming with dubbing in English or French, it undermines our efforts in Nunuvut to promote Inuktitut." Almost all of APTN's aboriginal-language programming is currently in Inuktitut, and LaRose says dubbing will help the network diversify its content. "I know that in the North right now, there is a great concern about the rapid loss of the Inuktitut language," LaRose says. "I can understand their concerns, but at the same time I have to look at the national mandate of the network, which is to program in as many aboriginal languages as we can and give every language an opportunity to be heard. There's been a strong reaction of fear, but we are not trying to take anything away from the Inuit, we're just trying to give other groups the same opportunity to hear their own stories." LaRose says APTN's policies are flexible and he's not closing the door to subtitled programming. "It's not our preference because we'd rather have dubbed versions we can use with the Secondary Audio Programming. However, if a producer says they're doing a documentary with elders and they are adamant that they don't want other voices speaking for them, we'll still work with the producer and come to an agreement." However, LaRose says subtitled programming may be broadcast only on APTN's northern feed and producers will receive lower licence fees, as they won't have the additional cost of dubbing. His comments haven't been much of an assurance to Northern filmmakers, who fear losing their national exposure and wonder if they'll end up with smaller budgets. Some worry that by insisting on using subtitles, their proposals simply won't be approved. And producers like John Houston feel they don't have any time to waste, as they're documenting the last living elders who grew up on the land. LaRose, who is still crossing the country doing public consultations, hopes the emotional debate will die down as people get more information. He says the expectations for the aboriginal broadcaster are extremely high, and everywhere he goes, native people all want the same thing: to see more of their own culture on the TV screen. From fmarmole at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 31 02:01:37 2005 From: fmarmole at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Francisco Marmolejo) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:01:37 -0700 Subject: U.S-Mexico-Canada Higher Education Conference Message-ID: (Francais/Espanol versions below) CONAHEC Conference Announcement - Register Now and Save the Dates!   Dear Colleagues: Make plans to attend the leading event designed to connect the higher education communities of Canada, Mexico and the United States! Join us if you are interested in developing linkages with key representatives from higher education institutions in the NAFTA region. EVENT: CONAHEC's 10th North American Higher Education Conference "Beyond Boundaries: Building Bridges of Collaboration in Higher Education" LOCATION: San Juan, Puerto Rico DATES: October 12-15, 2005 For more information, visit the conference website (where you will find a link to the online registration system) at: http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 The Call for Proposals is available on the website! We hope to see you in San Juan!   ********************************************************************** Annonce du colloque de CONAHEC – Inscrivez-vous maintenant et prenez note des dates ! Chèrs Collègues : Prévoyez dès maintenant d’assister au grand événement qui rassemblera les collectivités de l’enseignement supérieur du Canada, du Mexique et des États-Unis ! Inscrivez-vous au 10ième colloque de CONAHEC et profitez d’un tarif spécial ! 10ième colloque nord-américain sur l’enseignement supérieur de CONAHEC << Au delà des frontières : Établir des nouvelles collaborations dans les études supérieures. >> qui aura lieu à : San Juan, Puerto Rico 12 à 15 d’octobre, 2005 Visitez le site d’Internet du conférence (où il y a un lien au système de registre en ligne) à : http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 L’appelle des propositions est disponible dans le site! Nous esperons vous voir à San Juan !   ********************************************************************** Anuncio de la conferencia del CONAHEC – ¡Regístrese ahora y aparte las fechas!   Estimados Colegas: Haga planes para participar en el evento más importante diseñado para enlazar a la comunidad de educación superior de Canadá, México y los Estados Unidos. Regístrese en línea en nuestro portal electrónico y aproveche la cuota especial de registro. X Conferencia de la educación superior en América del Norte del CONAHEC « Más allá de las fronteras: Construyendo puentes de colaboración en la educación superior” que se llevará a cabo en: San Juan, Puerto Rico 12 al 15 de octubre del 2005 Visita el sitio de Internet de la conferencia (en donde hay un vínculo al registro en línea) en: http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 La Convocatoria para la presentación de ponencias está disponible en el sitio de Internet! ¡Esperamos verle en San Juan!   Best Regards, Meilleures voeux, Cordiales saludos, Francisco Marmolejo Executive Director Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) University of Arizona 220 W. 6th St. University Services Annex, Bldg. 300A Rm. 108 PO Box 210300 Tucson, AZ 85721-0300 USA Phone: (520) 621-9080 Fax: (520) 626-2675 E-mail: fmarmole at u.arizona.edu http://conahec.org From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 31 16:14:24 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:14:24 -0700 Subject: NSU to help preserve language (fwd) Message-ID: Thursday, March 31, 2005 [photo inset - The Cherokee Immersion Class Choir sang several songs in traditional Cherokee language Tuesday to celebrate the kick off of a new program at NSU that will work to preserve the language. Photo by Sean Kennedy] NSU to help preserve language By SEAN KENNEDY, Press Staff Writer http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/articles/2005/03/31/news/top_stories/aaalanguage.txt Preservation of traditional tribal language has been an ongoing battle for American Indian tribes across the nation for years. "Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith, in one of the first meetings I had with him after he was elected, told me we need to address the preservation of the Cherokee language," said Northeastern State University President Larry Williams. "He said we must save the native language of the Cherokee people." Thanks to the combined efforts of the Cherokee Nation and NSU, the university will debut a new bachelor of arts in education in Cherokee education this fall. NSU and the Cherokee Nation made the announcement at a joint press conference Tuesday morning at the Gene Branscum Alumni Center. The program will prepare college students to teach Cherokee language and culture for pre-K through 12th grade, with emphasis on speaking, reading and writing the Cherokee language. "It's a long and difficult process to get new programs approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education," said Williams. "We got approval of our program in record time. It usually takes three, four or five years to get a new program approved." NSU received the official seal of approval for the program in February. John Ketcher, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said this was an important step in preserving the traditional language and culture of the Cherokee people. "For years, the Cherokee ministers kept the Cherokee language alive in their Sunday school classes," said Ketcher. "But now fewer and fewer people are speaking the language. This program is a step in the right direction." Smith said that through the cooperative efforts of the university and the tribe, a strong effort is being made to preserve the language of the Cherokee people. "We need to take a moment and acknowledge the greatness that is going to come from the seed being planted here today," said Smith. A 2002 survey conducted by the Cherokee Nation revealed that less than 7 percent of tribal members in northeastern Oklahoma could speak the language. According to the Fishman Scale of Language Loss, the Cherokee language is about two generations away from extinction. "We always have to be mindful that this is a first step," said Smith. "We need to develop 10,000 new speakers to keep the language alive. This program is teaching teachers to teach the language and the vital importance of the language to our culture. This will help bring our language back from the edge of extinction to the grandeur that it once was." The four-year program will start off with several basic courses offered for students, Elementary Cherokee I, Conversational Cherokee I, Intermediate Cherokee I, Cherokee Conversational Practicum and Cherokee Cultural Heritage. During the course of pursuing their degree, students will take a total of 40 hours in Cherokee language and culture, 40 hours in education, along with required core classes and electives. "This is a great achievement," said Smith. "The Cherokee education degree supports our long-range goal to revitalize the Cherokee language. Young Cherokees want to learn their language, and by certifying language teachers, we can give our kids the chance to study their language in public schools, as well as at home. I thank our education team for their research, and I commend the university for recognizing the need for this degree." Dr. James Pate, NSU vice president for academic affairs, said the college and the Cherokee Nation have a long history of working together, dating back to the university's inception in 1909. To keep the program going, NSU must enroll 18 students by 2010, and have several students graduate by the end of the 2009-2010 school year. "Each of our students enrolled in the program will be provided with a foundation in Cherokee language and culture," Pate said. The new program will also mean new positions at NSU, with a full-time program coordinator and at least two full time faculty members teaching, with a possible third faculty member, Pate said. Pate said the program at NSU will be a model for the nation because it is the only one of its kind at a state university that offers a degree to teach an American Indian language and culture. Western Carolina University is also watching the program, as officials there are considering creating a similar program for the Eastern Band of Cherokees in North Carolina. One of the challenges will be creating a job market for graduates outside the bounds of northeastern Oklahoma, Pate said. But it's something the university is studying. From linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU Wed Mar 2 23:58:29 2005 From: linguist3 at KATHLANGCENTRE.ORG.AU (Greg Dickson) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 09:28:29 +0930 Subject: linguistic rights Message-ID: Hey all, i was wondering if anyone could help me... is there a UN statement or bill-of-rights type thing that talks about linguistic rights? For example, something that says people have the right and freedom to use their first language? if anyone knows anything bout this could they let me know? (reason being, there are teachers at this community who actively discourage students using their own language (a creole, called Kriol) in the classroom, amongst themselves.... and i'm rather angry about it...) Greg Dickson Linguist Ngukurr Language Centre PMB 6 via Katherine NT 0852 Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au From john.bowden at ANU.EDU.AU Thu Mar 3 00:46:40 2005 From: john.bowden at ANU.EDU.AU (John Bowden) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 11:46:40 +1100 Subject: linguistic rights In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I think you will find what you are looking for in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which has a number of clauses concerning linguistic rights. It's available on the web at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127160m.pdf There is another discussion document currently circulating within UNESCO that is concerned strictly with linguistic diversity, but it has not been ratified and I'm not sure where you can get a copy. Hope that's some help John Bowden. At 09:28 AM 3/03/2005 +0930, you wrote: >Hey all, > >i was wondering if anyone could help me... is there a UN statement or >bill-of-rights type thing that talks about linguistic rights? For >example, something that says people have the right and freedom to use >their first language? > >if anyone knows anything bout this could they let me know? > >(reason being, there are teachers at this community who actively >discourage students using their own language (a creole, called Kriol) >in the classroom, amongst themselves.... and i'm rather angry about >it...) > >Greg Dickson >Linguist >Ngukurr Language Centre >PMB 6 >via Katherine NT 0852 >Ph/Fax: 08 8975 4362 >Email: greg.dickson at kathlangcentre.org.au From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 3 03:03:22 2005 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 19:03:22 -0800 Subject: UN draft declaration of indigenous rights/language In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20050303114410.02f996a8@coombs.anu.edu.au> Message-ID: these are a few of the language specific articles from the draft declaration/indigenous rights. Hope it's helpful -Richard http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.1994.45.En?OpenDocument 1994/45. Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples DRAFT UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PART III Article 14 Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons. States shall take effective measures, whenever any right of indigenous peoples may be threatened, to ensure this right is protected and also to ensure that they can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means. PART IV Article 15 Indigenous children have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State. All indigenous peoples also have this right and the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. Indigenous children living outside their communities have the right to be provided access to education in their own culture and language. States shall take effective measures to provide appropriate resources for these purposes. Article 17 Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages. They also have the right to equal access to all forms of non-indigenous media. States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. __________________________________ Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 3 19:59:23 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 12:59:23 -0700 Subject: Linguists Introduce New Software Prototype (fwd) Message-ID: Associated Press Linguists Introduce New Software Prototype 03.03.2005, 01:18 PM http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/03/03/ap1861446.html Guatemalan linguists have distributed a prototype for a computer program that operates in the Mayan Indian language of Quiche, a project aimed at preserving the ancient language and raising its profile worldwide. The prototype was developed by language experts at The Academy of Mayan Languages in conjunction with computer students at the state-run San Carlos University, and was distributed this week to about 100 potential users for their feedback, including native speakers, publishing houses, consultants and cultural experts. The project was inspired by a law, passed last year, that promotes the use and preservation of native Indian languages, Academy president and linguist Modesto Baquiax Barreno said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. The law "challenged us with the important goal of distributing writings in the Mayan languages, and that led us to take advantage of existing technology," Baquiax said. Academy director Rigoberto Juarez said designers hoped the project would "raise the status of the language to that enjoyed by others in these types of systems on a worldwide level." "As quiche speakers ... we want to give our language the same political profile that other languages have." The program was created with OpenOffice.org software to operate on the Linux system. The prototype contains menus, instructions, help texts, and grammatical and spell-checking programs in the quiche language, a feat that took "hard and extensive work," Baquiax said, noting that designers inserted 8,000 quiche words in the program. About 1.2 million of Guatemala's 14 million inhabitants speak quiche. In the future, the academy hopes to design programs in the majority of the other 21 Indian languages spoken in Guatemala. The designers also will urge computer manufacturers and software designers to take the languages into account when designing their products, including redesigning keyboards to meet the languages' specific needs. "Some in this country say it is difficult to write (in quiche) and that it is impossible to learn because it doesn't have a fixed grammatical structure or because the sounds are different and strange," Baquiax said. "Those are discriminatory arguments." The software is the second recent project in Guatemala aimed at promoting the Central American country's majority Mayan cultures. In December, President Oscar Berger announced the establishment of a university dedicated to rescuing and developing ancient Mayan knowledge. The Mayans were a complex society known for building massive pyramids and cities. They were advanced astronomers who created a calendar to measure time that rivals those of today, and were accomplished mathematicians who introduced the concept of zero. The Mayan Empire emerged in about 250 B.C. in and around what is now Guatemala, reached its peak from about A.D. 250-A.D. 900 and ended with the arrival of Spanish conquerors in the 16th century. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 3 20:03:16 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 13:03:16 -0700 Subject: Blackfeet Tribal youth offers invocation in State Senate (fwd) Message-ID: Glacier Reporter Blackfeet Tribal youth offers invocation in State Senate http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/03/02/glacier_reporter/news/news4.txt Senate President Jon Tester invited Jesse DesRosier, a 16-year-old citizen of the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre Nations, to offer an invocation in the Montana State Senate on Feb. 17. "It is always a pleasure to showcase the successes of our young people," Tester said. "For our American Indian communities, native language preservation is critical. Jesse embodies the dedication it takes to preserve a native language." In the Blackfeet language, DesRosier is called Ahsinapoii, or He Who Speaks Cree, a name that his great-grandfather also held because of the ability to speak many different tribal languages. DesRosier is a sophomore at Valier High School. A speaker of the Blackfeet Tribal language, from the fourth to the eighth grade, DesRosier attended the Nizipuhwahsin Blackfeet language immersion program of the Piegan Institute in Browning. Nizipuhwahsin, or Real Speak School, has been nationally recognized as a successful and effective model for native language immersion using a multi-generational approach. Nizipuhwahsin began in 1995, and today the school teaches a standard curriculum to children ages five to 12 years of age using the Blackfeet language. While at Nizipuhwahsin and with ongoing support from his family and community, DesRosier has flourished with the gift of expressing himself in his native language. In addition to cultural work in his community, DesRosier also plays high school basketball and football. In 2001, DesRosier testified in both the Blackfeet and English languages, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, regarding support of native language preservation programs within the Native American Languages Act. DesRosier is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and lives in Browning with his mother, father, three brothers and one sister. From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Fri Mar 4 15:48:46 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 10:48:46 -0500 Subject: Question Message-ID: Mia...apologies for taking so long to respond to your post. However, I hope the following does so. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to be in touch. Ok...there was a lot of work done by Dr. Robert Redfield out of the School of Anthropology at the University of Chicago back in the 1950/60s. You are correct, a lot of his data came from North, South and Mezo America, particularly, Yucatan. What they did, was to visit communities, globally, maintaining extensive field notes. This information was then fleeced out into what they developed into a concept of an 'ideal folk society'. The 'clinch' term here is 'ideal'. No where does this 'ideal folk society' exist. However, societies, on a global scale and excluding 'urban societies', will demonstrate any number of the characteristics, more or less. In the abstract to his article "The Folk Society" in The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LII, January, 1947, he states that the ideal folk society will be: small, isolated, non-literate, and homogenous, with a strong sense of solidarity. . . . Behavior is traditional, spontaneous, uncritical, and personal; there is no legislation, experiment, or reflection for intellectual ends. Relationships and institutions are the type categories of experience and the family is the unit of action. The sacred prevails over the secular; the economy is one of status rather than of market. There is nothing in the above abstract that would deter from anything you suggest in your own post. Actually, I might suggest that it would re-enforce what you are saying when both your post and the abstract are given a 'very' close reading. Redfield's intent was to develop a continuum from folk society to urban society...a sliding scale along which one could move the marker as an analytical tool. Further work was done on this by Dr. Robert K. Thomas, a Cherokee and Anthropologist and a student of Redfield, to extend the continuum to include 'tribal societies' as one end of the continuum and urban societies at the other end of the slide. That also was extended by Dr. Merle Jackson from Harvard School of Anthropology to include in an unfinished hypothesis that the fourth element of the continuum would be 'bureaucratic society'. Thus the continuum would appear as: tribal society - folk society - urban society - bureaucratic society. Each society would display characteristics unique to each and others which would not be exclusive. It has to be remembered this is a sliding scale. These, you must remember, are not intended to be value judgments or statements of quality, they are statements of 'fit'. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: "MiaKalish at LFP" To: Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > Well that sounds very interesting, Rolland. > > I am kind of interested in how one characterizes a 'folk culture'. The > original inhabitants of North & South American were very sophisticated in > math, science and communication. However, since the colonists annihilated > all the leaders and the the medicine people who maintained, shared and > spread such information, and since people recording language only asked > questions that paralled their European culture, a lot was lost. > > Here, we have writing on the rocks, and languages scripted through various > lengths of time. > > Are you in Canada? I looked up www.shaw.ca, and it seems to be a cable or > satellite tv company. Yes? > > Mia > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rolland Nadjiwon" > To: > Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 10:01 AM > Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > > >> Thank you Mia for responding...the only posts I have received are from >> yourself, now, and Phil earlier telling me we are still up and running. >> However, apparently, I am still capable of receiving and sending. >> >> I find the postings interesting and thought provoking although I am not a >> linguist. My field is literary and critical theory. Within that, I have > been >> interested in the psychocultural impact of folk/tribal cultures moving > from >> a primary orality to writing, even rudimentary. >> >> ------- >> wahjeh >> rolland nadjiwon >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "MiaKalish at LFP" >> To: >> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 11:34 AM >> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question >> >> >> >I think so. We got email just last week when Phil added [ILAT] to the >> > subject line, and there were some messages from Dr. Penfield. >> > >> > Mia >> >> > From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Fri Mar 4 16:26:12 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:26:12 -0500 Subject: Question Message-ID: P.S. Yes. I am in Canada. Shaw is a communications conglomerate; satellite, TV, phones, and etc. Interesting however. My people are from what is now the USA. We, Prairie Potowatomi, were once located in the area of now Indiana, Illinois, part of Idaho and Missouri. During the land grab and gold rush of the Black Hills in 1800's, we were in the way of that progression so the US Army invited us to relocate to Kansas and Oklahoma Territories. The group of people who are now here, in Canada, refused to move from our homeland. The army simply increased the pressure as they are still wont to do in other parts of the world. We ran but could not hide. We divided and a some of our people, along with some Kickapoo, went on down to Mexico where they still maintain their togetherness. We are the people who came North into Canada. On days such as this with the Winter temperature -18 C., I often think of those who chose Mexico. Anyhow, a brief historical synopsis of why I am in Canada. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: "MiaKalish at LFP" To: Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM Subject: Re: [ILAT] Question > > Are you in Canada? I looked up www.shaw.ca, and it seems to be a cable or > satellite tv company. Yes? > > Mia From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 20:54:35 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 13:54:35 -0700 Subject: Across the world, native languages dying out (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sat, Mar. 05, 2005 Across the world, native languages dying out By Terry Leonard The Associated Press http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/11059795.htm MAPUTO, Mozambique - Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacia trees, young people in designer clothes and high-heeled shoes chatter on the sidewalk, struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub. Maputo's vibrant night life lets people forget that it is the capital of one of the world's poorest countries. Here you can eat Italian food, dance like a Brazilian and flirt in Portuguese. One thing that's in ever shorter supply and perhaps even less demand: Mozambique's 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 official one is Portuguese, a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that both unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique. The United Nations estimates that half of the world's 6,000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa, and about 200 already have fewer than 500 speakers. Experts estimate that half the world's people now use one of just eight languages: Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French. A U.N. Conference on Trade and Development report on protecting traditional knowledge argues that beyond a devastating effect 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 practiced 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, the U.N.- and government-funded crafts project, and complains bitterly about how his nation's memory is fading away. "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, who speaks the Chopi language at home. Anthropologists speculate that tribal people whose ancestors have lived for tens of thousands of years on India's Andaman and Nicobar islands survived Asia's tsunami catastrophe because of ancient knowledge. They think signs in the wind, the sea and the flight of birds let the tribes know to get to higher ground ahead of the waves. But finding economic reasons to keep tradition alive can be a challenge. In Mozambique, cheap foreign imports have destroyed the market for local crafts beyond what little can be sold to tourists. Horacio Arab, the son of a basket weaver who learned his father's trade, said he improved his skills at MozArte but then abandoned weaving because he could not make a living. Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela said the pressures from globalization are often too great to resist. To conserve native languages and culture will require societies to find ways to cast them with an inherent value, he argued. 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. But the program is limited by Mozambique's poverty. "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." The trade-off in settling on Portuguese as a unifying force after independence in 1975 has been an erosion of the rites and rhythms of traditional life. "From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," Shambela says. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 21:01:15 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:01:15 -0700 Subject: Inuit slam TV channel's language policy (fwd) Message-ID: Inuit slam TV channel's language policy Last Updated: Mar 4 2005 12:32 PM MST http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=english-film-03042005 IQALUIT - Prominent Nunavummiut are criticizing a popular television broadcaster for a new policy they say damages the Inuktitut language. [photo inset - Norman Cohn says APTN's new policy makes no sense] The policy of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network requires films in an aboriginal language be dubbed in English or French. Among the critics of the move are the people behind the film Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner. Norman Cohn of Igloolik Isuma Productions says television stations in 20 countries are airing Atanarjuat in Inuktitut, with subtitles in English or French. So he's furious that Isuma will now have to provide English-language versions of Isuma's future films to get on APTN. "The idea that the Aboriginal television network should be the first network on Earth that actually requires us to provide dubbed versions ? we think that that's sort of ridiculous and kind of sad." Nunavut's minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth is also denouncing APTN's policy. Louis Tapardjuk says at a time when aboriginal languages are struggling to survive in most of Canada, the policy doesn't make sense. "Any channel that you turn on the dial on TV you don't pick up any other languages except English and French, and APTN is the only station that our unilingual Inuit in Nunavut can understand," he says. "This new policy is a step backwards." Tapardjuk is calling on all members of Nunavut's legislative assembly to voice their opposition to the new film policy. APTN has not yet returned calls. Copyright 2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 5 21:06:07 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:06:07 -0700 Subject: When L.A. Williams talks ...... the Navajo Nation listens (fwd) Message-ID: When L.A. Williams talks ...... the Navajo Nation listens 03/05/2005 http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=104542 Sitting courtside at the Skydome, L.A. Williams is in a familiar pose, taking in the recent action between the Winslow and Snowflake girls basketball teams and telling listeners near and far what's happening. This scene is repeated dozens of times a year throughout the Four Corners Region. When there's a big game involving Navajo Nation basketball squads or a team from near the rez, chances are you'll find Williams, the sports director/play-by-play announcer for KTNN (660 AM), at the game. This time of year, when February Frenzy blossoms into March Madness, Williams is as busy as can be. She announced 25 games during a recent two-week stretch, including the Class 3A boys and girls state tournaments at the Skydome (five games on one hectic day when hot tea with lemon helped soothe her sore throat) and at Glendale Arena. She called 4A state tourney games before a packed house in Page and the 4A girls final -- Sand Devils vs. Thunderbird Monday -- in the Valley. For the next two weeks, Williams will be in Albuquerque to cover the New Mexico boys and girls state tourneys. And across the Navajo Nation, diehard basketball fans, some of the most loyal supporters found anywhere in the United States, will tune in to hear how New Mexico's Navajo schools are doing. Conversing with Williams, one realizes she feels privileged to be a widely recognized sports voice of the Navajo Nation. "I'm just glad that I can be," she says, modestly. "I don't know how to explain that. "(In the past), grandparents never had a chance to listen to the radio station. By me being across the country on the other side of the reservation, they can stay home and they can picture you already and say, 'I heard you on the radio.' They don't know you, but on the radio they do, and they are very thankful." To begin to understand Williams' gratitude for her job, it helps to know this: "I grew up on the reservation without electricity, without running water, just horseback," she says. Nowadays, Williams fondly talks about her decade of announcing for KTNN, mentioning doing play-by-play for Super Bowl XXX in Tempe ("That was huge," she says. "We were recognized as a foreign country radio station."), covering the Phoenix Mercury during the WNBA team's first four years of existence, the Phoenix Suns, the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, numerous American Indian rodeos and fairs, and the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. Those sporting events have all been memorable for Williams, but her favorite times as a broadcaster have been, she says, at junior high and high school basketball games in places like Tuba City and Leupp, Shiprock and Gallup in New Mexico, and Mexican Hat and Montezuma Creek in Utah. "We touch out to our grandparents who love to support their kids," Williams says of the magic of radio, "and they get to hear it on the radio when they can't travel (to games)." While on the air, Williams strives to set a good example for today's youth, too. Her message is this: "Telling student-athletes that school is important, that this will get them somewhere in life, being a student first and then coming out on the basketball court, being successful and being a team player. ... It's important to give them the information they need to know, because they listen to the game ... and they are our future leaders." Indeed, Williams remains true to her roots, an admirable trait in a profession that's too often caught up in mimicking the we-think-we're-witty-and-hip personas that are prevalent on ESPN's "SportsCenter." Williams credits longtime Suns announcer Al McCoy with helping her develop her announcing style. "He's a very good friend," she says, "and just talking with him and just listening to his broadcasts (has been helpful). "I got a lot of tips from him ... and also a lot of practice was put into the broadcasting." So what's her style? Most of a basketball game's action is described in English. Between quarters, at the half and after a game, she gives a short summary of the key sequences and players in Navajo. And Williams has no trouble maintaining a fast pace, a trademark of hoops announcers, during a game. "The Navajo language also fits right in to our broadcasting," she says. "Navajo is a lot faster than talking English." Whether there's fast talk or slow tunes on the air, KTNN, the Window Rock-based station that began broadcasting in 1986 and has a 50,000 watt signal, can be heard in 13 states after dark. Which is why Native Americans across the country tune in to KTNN to catch up on the latest news from Indian Country. "There was a gentleman coming back from Saskatchewan and he picked us up in the Great Plains," Williams recalls. "He was saying that he came over the hill and he just parked (his vehicle) because we were doing a basketball game the Ganado Hornets were playing, and stayed there until the game was over." Another KTNN listener told Williams she picked up a clear signal in San Francisco while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and listening to a game. Once a week during the regular season, Williams covers junior high basketball. This keeps her in contact with today's young standouts, tomorrow's high schools stars. Or as Williams explains: "At Winslow High School, all their players except Stephanie Garnett all went to school in Dilkon ... (which won) a state championship this year, and have been winning state championships for years. "Next year, there are three or four (Dilkon) players that'll go on to Winslow, and they (the Bulldogs) are going to be state champs again," she predicts. Even if Winslow doesn't win its third straight 3A title next year, expect to hear Williams' enthusiastic, informative account of the game and many more. "It (working for KTNN) just fell into place," she says now, "and I ran with it. And I'm still running with it." Readers can reach Ed at 556-2251 or by e-mail at eodeven at azdailysun.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 8 18:46:25 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:46:25 -0700 Subject: Programme preserves Cham language (fwd) Message-ID: Programme preserves Cham language (07-03-2005) http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC070305 [photo inset - Cham people tend their grapes in the province of Binh Thuan. ? VNA/VNS Photo Ngo My] HA NOI ? The southern province of Ninh Thuan, home to half of the ethnic Cham population, has announced a plan to strengthen the Cham language teaching staff of schools in the Cham communities. Over the past 20 years, the Cham language teaching programme has contributed to the preservation of the ethnic minority group?s language and has created a foundation to research the culture, said director of the provincial Education and Training Service, Pham Hong Cuong. Ninh Thuan was the first in the south to launch Cham language classes. A Cham language board was set up in June 1978 and has written over 80 textbooks so far. The board has opened a number of Cham language training courses for 510 local teachers, who have been sent to primary schools to teach at the first and second grade levels. Refresher courses are also available regularly for teachers of Cham origin at the provincial Teachers? University. The Cham language is taught at all 23 primary schools in the Cham community in Ninh Thuan province, far more than the two that were taught in the 1978-79 academic year in the former Thuan Hai province (Thuan Hai was split into two provinces, one of which is Ninh Thuan). Almost all of the 10,000 Cham pupils attend Cham-language classes. Ninh Thuan is now home to some 60,000 Chams, which makes up 11 per cent of the province?s population. ? VNS From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 8 18:53:08 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:53:08 -0700 Subject: CD-ROM preserving the Anishinaabe Nation's language (fwd) Message-ID: CD-ROM preserving the Anishinaabe Nation's language Posted on Tue, Mar. 08, 2005 http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/11074762.htm Can interactive technology help save the Anishinaabe nation's language? One of the oldest and most historically important languages of North America, Anishinaabemowin traditionally was passed on orally from a tribe's elders to its younger members. Now, the language is in danger of becoming extinct unless a new generation learns it. With this in mind, an American Indian language expert who grew up on the Wikwemikong Reservation in South Bay, Ontario, and now teaches in Michigan, produced a user-friendly, interactive, instructional CD-ROM. Recently released, it offers beginning, intermediate, advanced and conversational levels of instruction and is appropriate for all age levels. It includes colorful graphics, videos games and music. Teacher Kenny Neganigwane Pheasant initiated the project, which also involved well-known American Indian flutist and composer Anishinaabe nation's language Charlie Wayne Watson, artist Zoey Wood-Salomon, animator Robert Hughes and Jim Sundberg of JS Interactive, a multimedia firm. To order "Anishinaabemowin," send a check for $39 made out to Little River Band of Ottawa Indians to Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, 375 River St., Manistee, MI 49660. For more information regarding ordering, call 1-231-933-4406 or 1-231-690-3508 or e-mail Kenny Pheasant at Pheasant9 at aol.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 06:38:55 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:38:55 -0700 Subject: EECS alum teaching computers to speak =?utf-8?b?S+KAmWljaGXigJk=?= (fwd) Message-ID: EECS alum teaching computers to speak K?iche? Winter 2005 http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/forefront/winter2005/lieberman.html [photo inset - Andy Lieberman was honored by the Tech Museum of San Jose for his pioneering efforts to bring computers and the Internet into Guatemala?s educational system.] Andy Lieberman (B.S.?88 EECS) has been recognized with a 2004 award from the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation for his work with Enlace Quich?, a small nongovernment organization dedicated to preserving the language and culture of Guatemala?s native Mayan population. Founded in 2000 by the Academy for Educational Development and USAID, with Lieberman as its president, Enlace Quich??s goal is to incorporate technology into the training of bilingual (Spanish-Mayan) teachers. In just four years, the organization has established 28 technology centers, produced 14 interactive Mayan language CDs, launched an Internet portal, and opened a demonstration and training center. Credit for these successes, Lieberman says, goes not to him, but to the thousands of Guatemalan teacher and student participants who are using computers and, at the same time, keeping their Mayan heritage alive. ?A lot of people in technology think that just getting access to a computer is what the developing world needs,? Lieberman says. ?But there?s a whole other issue of making technology meaningful and responsive to people?s needs. If you?re going to bring technology to rural Guatemala, it has to be culturally relevant and in their language.? [photo inset - A key element of Lieberman's program is the use of K?iche? and more than 20 other indigenous languages that predate the Spanish Conquest. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDY LIEBERMAN] Lieberman grew up in San Francisco and helped Lowell High install its first computers before he graduated in 1983. According to his father, Andy has been gravitating toward this kind of work his whole life. ?My son has always been enterprising, and he?s always been interested in other people,? says Harry Lieberman. ?He once talked about getting a bus, putting computers on it, and driving around rural areas so kids could use the computers. Now he?s basically doing what he dreamed of.? As an EECS student at Berkeley, Andy entertained the idea of a high-tech career, but an unsatisfying internship with a large Boston-based semiconductor company changed all that. ?I was having a hard time finding meaning in the work,? he says. ?I kept asking myself, ?What am I really contributing to society?? I had so many opportunities growing up; teaching and sharing what I have and what I know are very strong values.? On a 1990 trip to Guatemala to learn Spanish, Lieberman fell in love, first with the country, then with a woman named Tomasa, who is now his wife. They live with their two children in the mountain town of Santa Cruz del Quich?, where he is known as ?Teacher Andy.? Go to www.enlacequiche.org.gt/getknow.htm for more about Enlace Quich?. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 06:42:58 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 23:42:58 -0700 Subject: The Tech Museum Awards Global Call For Nominations (fwd) Message-ID: The Tech Museum Awards Global Call For Nominations The Tech Museum Awards, presented by Applied Materials, Inc., is a unique and prestigious program that honors and awards innovators from around the world who use technology to benefit humanity in the categories of Education, Equality, Environment, Economic Development, and Health. 25 Laureates will be honored at a black-tie celebration, invited to participate in press and media coverage, and introduced to a network of influential advisors. One Laureate in each category will be awarded a $50,000 cash prize. Reward those making a difference and nominate today. Nomination Deadline: April 4, 2005 http://www.techawards.org/index.cfm From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 18:35:15 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:35:15 -0700 Subject: Soboba enlist kiosk to revitalize language (fwd) Message-ID: Soboba enlist kiosk to revitalize language Posted: March 09, 2005 by: James May / Today staff http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410473 SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians may have found a tool to help them revitalize their language. The tribe recently installed a language kiosk in their sports center that will hopefully boost that effort. ''We had a great opportunity to use technology to appeal to a larger audience,'' said Soboba tribal historian Charlene Ryan. The 860-member Soboba Band is one of six federally recognized bands of Luiseno Indians. A seventh Luiseno group at San Luis Rey currently lacks federal recognition. In recent years, the Luiseno language has declined to the point that just a few elderly speakers were spread throughout the bands. Ryan reports that Soboba no longer has any members, even among its elderly population, that would be classified as fluent speakers. A few elders in their 70s and 80s can still speak a broken version of the language and know some vocabulary. This trend is not specific to Soboba or to the Luisenos as a whole. Language decline is a nationwide problem; however, in California the decline has been the most precipitous. Most tribes and bands in the Golden State are down to a few elderly speakers if they are lucky. Many tribes have already lost their last fluent speakers, many just in the last few decades. It is often difficult to gauge just how much elders understand, since in their younger days they often were punished for speaking their own languages at boarding schools. Parents, being fiercely protective of their children, forbade them to speak the language outside the home and a sense of shame and fear permeated their experience with language. Countering the trend, the various Luiseno factions have made one of the more concerted efforts to revive their tribal languages. Many of the Luiseno bands are gaming tribes and have at last found the money and resources to start a major revitalization effort. At Pechanga, another of the Luiseno bands, the tribe uses language immersion as part of the regular elementary school curriculum and a non-tribal linguist has taught classes there. The various Luiseno bands have begun to hold what they expect to be regular consultations with each other on language issues and standardization, and the bands are proving receptive to the idea. For example, all the bands agreed to only incorporate new words and coinages if the other bands were all in agreement. Smaller-scale efforts were made at Soboba. The tribe offers sporadic language classes at their tribal offices. The most recent lessons were taught last fall and Ryan reports that classes will begin again ''in the next few weeks.'' School vacations make summertime the best time in which to take classes. Ryan said last summer tribal members ranging from preschoolers to elders attended the classes. The classes were heavily attended by elementary and high schoolers on summer break. Soboba and the other Luiseno tribes also put their efforts into making a CD ROM of their language, and for Soboba this proved a revelation. IconNicholson, a high-tech firm based in New York City, visited Soboba last year. The company previously designed an interactive kiosk for the Eastern Pequots in Connecticut. Though the Pequot kiosk primarily dealt with their tribal history, company representatives told Soboba officials that they could adapt the kiosk to deal with language. ''We view this continued opportunity to help sustain the Luiseno language as particularly significant,'' said Janine Salo, vice president of IconNicholson's Indian Country Technology Services. The company built the kiosk and turned it over to the tribe, which will maintain the machine. Once the machine was built the tribe began adding content, taking words and their sounds from the CD ROM. Tribal families scoured their photo albums for images and icons for the machine as well. The tribe said the offerings on the machine will be expanded from time to time. The kiosk uses a touch screen format and is divided into five categories. When a category is selected, a list offering words and phrases drops down. For example, on the word for ''brother'' is a picture of a young man, and when touched the machine then sounds out the English and Luiseno words for ''brother.'' Though Soboba originally wanted to have the kiosk in the schools, the tribe decided they would reach a broader audience by locating the kiosk in their sports complex. Ryan thinks the machine will prove a valuable tool in the tribe's language revitalization effort. In fact, Ryan thinks it's a vital element of cultural necessity. ''The re-birth of the language is the re-birth of culture.'' From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 9 18:37:01 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:37:01 -0700 Subject: 'Shoebox' puts Indigenous language preservation on right foot (fwd) Message-ID: 'Shoebox' puts Indigenous language preservation on right foot http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1319347.htm A language expert has used a visit to the Pilbara, in north-west Western Australia, to showcase a computer program which specialises in Indigenous language. The "Shoebox" collects information about languages and compiles dictionaries and translates words. A linguist for the Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre, Albert Burgman, is teaching a group of seven linguists and teachers how to use the Shoebox. Mr Burgman says the program is the best way to record languages and ensure grammar is consistent. "If you want to be sure that the books...you are writing, whether it be dreaming stories or histories or whatever it is, if you want to make sure that it is done correctly and grammatically okay, then you need to have a grammar to work from and also a word list to check the words," he said. From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 9 19:02:30 2005 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Gene Lewis) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:02:30 -0800 Subject: Ngugi wa Thiong'o lecture announcement In-Reply-To: <20050309113515.gsqo8ogggw4g0wos@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: Dear Friends, Please attend the following lecture by African indigenous scholar Ngugi wa Thiong'o at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. (This announcement does not mention that Ngugi is also a champion for the writing of African Literatures in Indigenous African languages, rather than in European languages!) Public lecture by Ngugi wa Thiong'o 30 Mar 2005 * Renowned Kenyan Novelist & Human Rights Activist * Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature and Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at UC Irvine * Author of "Decolonising the Mind" among numerous other works Planting African Memory: The Role of a Scholar in a Postcolonial World Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 7:30pm 175 Knight Law Center For more details please see "upcoming Events" link at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dgalvan/asc/asc.html David Lewis University of Oregon Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde From etzoc at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU Thu Mar 10 02:18:03 2005 From: etzoc at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU (Elias Tzoc) Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 20:18:03 -0600 Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?Re:_=5BILAT=5D_EECS_alum_teaching_co?= =?UTF-8?Q?mputers_to_speak_K=E2=80=99iche=E2=80=99_=28fwd=29?= Message-ID: Hi everyone, ...I just want to add something to the note about Andy Lieberman, I also know about his contributions in helping other projects not just the one he's directing. It is clear the enormous work and goodwill from the teachers involved in that new way of teaching and preserving the K'iche' Maya language. Xab'a kinrayij jun minalja utzilal para ri kichak. (I hope them to continue with such a terrific job -written in Maya-K'iche'-). Elias Tzoc University of Texas at Austin From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 10 15:14:02 2005 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:14:02 -0700 Subject: Fw: session on writing systems Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Perry Gilmore To: Ofelia Zepeda ; Sue Penfield ; Leisy at aol.com ; Beth Leonard ; Teresa McCarty Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:07 PM Subject: Fwd: session on writing systems FYI...Perry Begin forwarded message: From: Leanne Hinton Date: March 9, 2005 7:16:31 PM MST To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu, linganth at ats.rochester.edu Cc: munro at ucla.edu, stantonw at gse.upenn.edu Subject: session on writing systems Hello everyone, Last year we had a session on "New Writing Systems" at the AAA. Because of the change of venue, only three of us gave papers in that session. Some of the people who couldn't come would still like to give their papers this year, but since that would not make a full session, I'd like to invite other people to submit papers on this topic as well. We need to submit this session by April 1, . Since I am organizing another session this year and giving a paper in it, I can't participate (other than be an avid audience member), but if someone else will volunteer to chair it and be the official organizer, I'd be happy to put it together with that person. Here is last year's session abstract: New Writing Systems Indigenous peoples and minority groups are developing new writing systems for their languages, sometimes with linguists, and sometimes on their own. While it might be thought that decisions around the development of a new writing system are primarily about the sounds of the language, in fact such decisions are fraught with great social and political issues. Feeding into the orthographic design are concerns of ethnic identity and alliances, and bias toward or away from writing systems in the dominant language due to political concerns. The specific goals for use of the writing system will also be a factor, such as whether it is for recording of a healthy living language, or for the teaching of an endangered language, and whether there is a large pool of scholarly writing on the language that the community must consult for the sake of language revitalization. Linguists and language learners may want a system that clearly specifies pronunciation, but speakers don't need every sound specified and may prefer a simpler system, or one that has symbols and spelling rules like a system they are already familiar with. New writing systems may be for indigenous peoples who have traditionally entirely oral means of expression, or may be developed by or for minority groups to replace older writing systems, as an expression of a new kind of ethnic identity or a new relationship to the dominant society. Whose agenda is met by a particular orthographic design, what needs and uses the new writing system fulfils, and how it reverberates in the community it is designed for, is the topic of this session. -- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Prof. Leanne Hinton Chair, Dept. of Linguistics 1203 Dwinelle Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 email: hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu fax: (510) 643-5688 phone: (510) 643-7621 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 10 15:14:37 2005 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:14:37 -0700 Subject: Fw: invited panel on linguistic "tip" Message-ID: More.... ----- Original Message ----- From: Perry Gilmore To: Sue Penfield Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 8:08 AM Subject: Fwd: invited panel on linguistic "tip" FYI pg Begin forwarded message: From: Leanne Hinton Date: March 2, 2005 6:08:52 PM MST To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu Subject: invited panel on linguistic "tip" Jacqueline Messing and I are planning to submit an invited session to SLA, called New Directions for Linguistic "Tip:" Individuals, Communities and "Tip Back". We are seeking a few people who might like to give papers in this session. This panel will explore the phenomenon of "tip" in the shift of use of ancestral languages by speakers in minority communities, from new points of view. Dorian (1981) originally conceived of "tip" as a sudden phenomenon occurring after a slow development of circumstances leading to the eventual decline in community use of ancestral languages. But individuals also experience "tip" when they abandon a language. And, can "tip" ever flow in the other direction? Our goal is to open a new discussion of "tip" that considers the individual nature of this social phenomenon (Messing 2003), and the potential for "tip back" towards use of the endangered language(s) (Hinton 1994, 2001). What does recent ethnographic research tell us about the nature of tip? What factors influence the use of the ancestral language by individuals in specific speech events? What makes a person who knows a language actually use it - or not? In language revitalization, what social and linguistic conditions might favor "tip back," the reversal of language shift? Papers in this panel will offer a diversity of ethnographic perspectives on shifting uses of language(s), social circumstances and perceptions of identity that can lead to language shift both away from and back toward the use of ancestral tongues (Fishman 2001, Flores Farf?n 1996 Gal 1979, Hill 1993). The abstract above + refs are in the attached document. If you would like to submit an abstract to us for this session, or ask questions about it, please contact Leanne Hinton at or Jacqueline Messing at . Best, Leanne Hinton -- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Prof. Leanne Hinton Chair, Dept. of Linguistics 1203 Dwinelle Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 email: hinton at socrates.berkeley.edu fax: (510) 643-5688 phone: (510) 643-7621 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pspaulding at ROSETTASTONE.COM Thu Mar 10 15:51:37 2005 From: pspaulding at ROSETTASTONE.COM (Pat Spaulding) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:51:37 -0500 Subject: Fw: session on writing systems In-Reply-To: <001f01c52583$cbb99d90$68ba8945@CRIT01> Message-ID: One thing that wasn't mentioned specifically in the summary was a concern of the indigenous group I worked with a few years back - a writing system that would help people bridge to literacy in the national language. They wanted to use as much of that orthography as they could, but did find pride in the two unique symbols they used. For what it's worth... Pat On Mar 10, 2005, at 10:14 AM, Susan Penfield wrote: > ? > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Perry Gilmore > To: Ofelia Zepeda ; Sue Penfield ; Leisy at aol.com ; Beth Leonard ; > Teresa McCarty > Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:07 PM > Subject: Fwd: session on writing systems > > FYI...Perry > > Begin forwarded message: > > > From: Leanne Hinton > Date: March 9, 2005 7:16:31 PM MST > To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu, linganth at ats.rochester.edu > Cc: munro at ucla.edu, stantonw at gse.upenn.edu > Subject: session on writing systems > > Hello everyone, > > Last year we had a session on "New Writing Systems" at the AAA. > Because of the change of venue, only three of us gave papers in that > session. Some of the people who couldn't come would still like to give > their papers this year, but since that would not make a full session, > I'd like to invite other people to submit papers on this topic as > well.? We need to submit this session by April 1, .? Since I am > organizing another session this year and giving a paper in it, I can't > participate (other than be an avid audience member), but if someone > else will volunteer to chair it and be the official organizer, I'd be > happy to put it together with that person. > > Here is last year's session abstract: > > New Writing Systems > > Indigenous peoples and minority groups are developing new writing > systems for their languages, sometimes with linguists, and sometimes > on their own.? While it might be thought that decisions around the > development of a new writing system are primarily about the sounds of > the language, in fact such decisions are fraught with great social and > political issues.? Feeding into the orthographic design are concerns > of ethnic identity and alliances, and bias toward or away from writing > systems in the dominant language due to political concerns. The > specific goals for use of the writing system will also be a factor, > such as whether it is for recording of a healthy living language, or > for the teaching of an endangered language, and whether there is a > large pool of scholarly writing on the language that the community > must consult for the sake of language revitalization.? Linguists and > language learners may want a system that clearly specifies > pronunciation, but speakers don't need every sound specified and may > prefer a simpler system, or one that has symbols and spelling rules > like a system they are already familiar with. New writing systems may > be for indigenous peoples who have traditionally entirely oral means > of expression, or may be developed by or for minority groups to > replace older writing systems, as an expression of a new kind of > ethnic identity or a new relationship to the dominant society.? Whose > agenda is met by a particular orthographic design, what needs and uses > the new writing system fulfils, and how it reverberates in the > community it is designed for, is the topic of this session. > > -- > > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > ?Prof. Leanne Hinton > ?Chair, Dept. of Linguistics > ?1203 Dwinelle Hall > ?University of California > ?Berkeley, CA 94720-2650 > > ?email: hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu > ?fax: (510) 643-5688 > ?phone: (510) 643-7621 > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Rosetta Stone - a resource for language revitalization http://www.RosettaStone.com/languagerescue Patricia A. Spaulding Endangered Languages Program Fairfield Language Technologies 135 West Market St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 USA Phones: 800.788.0822 540.432.6166 ext. 3334 Fax: 540.432.0953 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5943 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:16:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:16:34 -0700 Subject: Hawaiian language enjoying revival in its homeland (fwd) Message-ID: Hawaiian language enjoying revival in its homeland By: RON STATON - Associated Press http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03/13/special_reports/books/15_35_323_12_05.txt HONOLULU -- "E heluhelu kakou," Nako'olani Warrington tells her third graders -- let's read together. But there's no need to translate at Ke Kula Kaipuni o Anuenue, a public immersion school where all instruction for the 350 students is in the Hawaiian language. The school represents a turnaround for the native language in the islands, which appeared 20 years ago to be fading away. A 1983 survey estimated that only 1,500 people remained in Hawaii who could speak it, most of them elderly. Today there are probably 6,000 to 8,000 Hawaiian language speakers throughout the state, most of them under the age of 30, said Kalena Silva, professor of Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. Everyone knows a little bit of Hawaiian, even visiting mainlanders. "Aloha" has become an almost universally recognized greeting and expression of love. "Mahalo" often subs for "thank you." But there's less understanding of the state motto -- "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono" (the life of the land is preserved in righteousness) -- or the name of the state fish -- humuhumunukunukuapua'a. "Before, people would hear me speaking Hawaiian to someone and ask what language I was speaking," said Leilani Basham, coordinator of the Hawaiian language program at the University of Hawaii's flagship Manoa campus. "I don't get that anymore." Hawaiian is recognized, along with English, in the state Constitution as an official state language. Lawmakers were trying this year to build on that status by requiring that Hawaiian be used on government signs and in government documents. Silva remembers that when he joined the UH-Hilo faculty 20 years ago, only 10 students were majoring in Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language. Now, there are more than 100, he said, including some from the mainland and from Germany and Japan. Hawaiian language enrollment also has increased at the university's Manoa campus in Honolulu. Silva, who also is director of UH-Hilo's Ka Haka 'Ula Ke'eliikolani College of Hawaiian Language, attributes the greater interest in learning Hawaiian to community efforts. Those efforts began in the early 1980s with parents and Hawaiian language instructors who wanted to make sure the language remained strong on Niihau, a privately owned island populated exclusively by Native Hawaiians. As a result, Hawaiian is the only indigenous language in the United States that showed growth in the 2000 census, said Verlieann Leimomi Malina-Wright, vice principal of Anuenue school. About 200,000 of Hawaii's 1.2 million people are of Native Hawaiian ancestry. The university's Hilo campus now has a doctoral program in indigenous language and culture, while the Manoa program has received preliminary approval to offer a master's degree in the language. All sophomore, junior and senior courses in Hilo's Hawaiian studies major are taught in Hawaiian. Hilo also has provided curricula and materials for the public school immersion programs, where elementary and secondary students receive all instruction in the Hawaiian language. The immersion program began in 1987 with about 16 students at two sites in Honolulu and Hilo. "We now have 19 sites, not including four public charter immersion schools," said Keoni Inciong, the state Department of Education's specialist for the Hawaiian language immersion program. Instruction from kindergarten through fourth grade is in Hawaiian, with English introduced in fifth grade, Inciong said. And while some secondary texts are in English, instruction is in Hawaiian, Inciong said. Most of the students are of Hawaiian ancestry, but it's not a requirement, and the majority come from English-speaking homes, he said. "When we started in 1987, the main focus was on perpetuating the Hawaiian language," Inciong said. "Now we have the equal goal of a quality education, with emphasis on culture, traditions and values." Thirty-eight students have graduated from Anuenue school, said Malina-Wright. At least half have gone to college -- including all of last year's class -- and have done well, she said. While some continue with Hawaiian studies, "our first college graduate was an English major who hopes to become a screenwriter," she said. Silva and Basham hope that understanding of the language will increase. "Our vision is that eventually Hawaiian become a language of a large bilingual population. We believe that everyone in Hawaii has a responsibility to the native language," said Silva. Hawaiian is already spoken in the islands in a variety of ways. Island ceremonies usually include a chant or prayer in Hawaiian, and Hawaiian music with lyrics in the native language are making people more aware. The new Hawaiian music category for the Grammy awards requires the majority of vocal songs that are entered be sung in the Hawaiian language. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin publishes a weekly Sunday column in Hawaiian, and The Honolulu Advertiser uses the proper diacritical markings in Hawaiian names and phrases. A Honolulu radio station broadcasts a daily newscast in Hawaiian and a "Hawaiian word of the day" segment. Most U.S. colleges recognize Hawaiian and allow it to fulfill students' language requirements, Basham said. State Sen. J. Kalani English, who is of part-Hawaiian ancestry and speaks Hawaiian, also wants the language used more extensively. He introduced a bill that would require state and county governments to print letterheads and documents in both English and Hawaiian, with Hawaiian listed first. Another bill this session would have required all state and county signs to be in Hawaiian as well as English. That was the idea of Daniel Anthony, a Hawaiian language student from Honolulu who persuaded his aunt, state Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, to sponsor the measure. "It would mean a lot to use the language I love every day," said Anthony. On the Net: Ka Haka 'Ula Ke'eliikolani College: http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/dual/orgs/keelikolani/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:21:10 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:21:10 -0700 Subject: True Xhosa meanings get lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: True Xhosa meanings get lost in translation By Myolisi Gophe http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=6&art_id=vn20050312103908872C514652 Many of the official signs in Xhosa that are appearing around the Western Cape are a fiasco. The signs are so badly translated that they have been described as "meaningless and offensive". Like the one advising pregnant women to phone a clinic when they are in labour, translated as "phone the clinic when your tummy is running". Or the sign that should tell people they can book for a picnic, but saying instead "you can bring book for picnics". A Cape Town road sign proclaiming "no hawking" has been mistranslated into Xhosa as "no walking", completely baffling pedestrians. And the one telling people that drinking is prohibited on a beach informs them instead "there is no alcohol here", in effect an invitation to bring their own booze. Instead of making Xhosa-speaking people feel welcome, the signage baffles, misleads and annoys them. This revelation follows Cape Town Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo's statement that black people do not feel welcome in the city. Ironically, some of the absurd signs have been put up by her own municipality. Language experts have blamed carelessness and negative attitudes for the poor Xhosa translations on official signs on roads, at beaches, hospitals and other public places. Translators appear to be unqualified or have relied solely on dictionaries. Xhosa is one of three official languages in the province, with English and Afrikaans, but the translation into Xhosa at government, provincial and municipal institutions, heritage sites and public spaces has been found to be ridiculous. Language experts say those who commission translations see this indigenous language as valueless and treat it as less important than Afrikaans or English. "When people want translations into Afrikaans they will get qualified translators, editors and proof-readers, but when it comes to Xhosa they just drag in anybody," said Tessa Dowling, director of the African Voices language institution in Muizenberg. Sydney Zotwana, former head of translation services in parliament, said another problem was the lack of standardisation of the language. Xhosa, along with other African languages, was struggling to cope with the new parliamentary, scientific and technological concepts. Dowling and Wynberg Girls' High School Xhosa teacher Thandi Mpambo-Sibukwana recently did a study which showed signage translation was appalling. An example, which Mpambo-Sibukwana described as the worst, was at the Afrikaanse Taal Monument in Paarl. The sign "you can book for picnics" has been translated into Xhosa as meaning "you can bring book for picnics". This article was originally published on page 1 of The Independent on Saturday on March 12, 2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 13 20:44:59 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:44:59 -0700 Subject: Talk on Quechua at Penn (fwd) Message-ID: The Educational Linguistics Forum (ELF) Presents a Brownbag Discussion Transcending or Strengthening Quechua's Emblematic Value: Language Identity in Cochabamba by Inge Sichra, PhD Universidad Mayor de San Simon Cochabamba, BOLIVIA When: ? Friday, March 18, 2005 from 12-1:30pm Where: ?The Graduate School of Education, Rm. 400 Abstract: This work begins by presenting a sociolinguistic panorama of Bolivia (Andean languages, especially Quechua) and of the city of Cochabamba with data from the last censuses. ?Besides reproducing the widely-known characteristic of the country?s indigenous majority, the city of Cochabamba bears the trait of being tenaciously and persistently bilingual in spite of the constant displacement of indigenous languages by Spanish: both in the city and in the country as a whole. ?The second part considers three life stories in order to analyze different adaptation strategies of Quechua to an urban space: both in terms of the functionality of the language, and of the identity speakers assign to it and to themselves as bilingual individuals in a milieu of diglossia. The work questions linguistic and academic assumptions that a native language needs to be modernized and to overcome diglossia in order to have a future. ?The talk concludes that the permanence of the native language in the city of Cochabamba is not necessarily ensured by modernizing it, for even people with a high level of linguistic awareness and loyalty prioritize traditional cultural referents to innovative, followed by ideological referents. The need to overcome social spheres, historically established for indigenous languages in the urban circle, is not clearly perceived. For more information about ELF, please visit http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~pennelf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:21:51 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:21:51 -0700 Subject: Iceland Has a Word for It (fwd) Message-ID: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ecenbarger14_mar14,0,5308774.story COMMENTARY Iceland Has a Word for It Usually a very old word. By William Ecenbarger William Ecenbarger was a longtime reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer. March 14, 2005 I hand the agent my brottfarerspjald, step on board Icelandair Flight 642. Just before takeoff, the flight attendant stands before us clasping a seat-belt buckle and droning through the oryggisbunadur um bord. Some five hours later, we begin our descent into Reykjavik. At the airport, I get my passport stamped at vagabraeftirlit, make a quick refresher stop in the snyrtingar, exchange dollars for kronurs at the gjaldeyrir and pick up tourist information at the upplysingapjonustu fyrir feroafolk. I have come to this nation of 280,000 inhabitants, who speak to each other in a language that is incomprehensible to 19,999 of every 20,000 people on Earth, to see how they are holding up against the onslaught of English. Iceland's linguistic patriots go to incredible lengths to preserve their language. Foreign words are ruthlessly screened out by a special agency, which also invents words for new things and ideas. There's a word for everything in Icelandic ? or there will be shortly. Icelanders have a strong belief in their own national greatness, and that conviction is rooted unshakably in language and words. Literacy isn't a problem here; it's a given. Icelanders believe that men and women should turn a verse as easily as they turn a profit, and both endeavors are considered important to one's well-being. Iceland has more bookstores per capita than any other nation in the world ("better shoeless than bookless" is an unofficial national motto). Sales of a new novel in Iceland will compare favorably with sales for a similar book in Britain ? while a volume of poetry would do even better in Iceland ? with a population about 1/200th that of Britain. The most important tomes are the sagas. Written in the 12th and 13th centuries, these are the great prose narratives of medieval Iceland, bloodthirsty tales of Viking derring-do. Icelandic schoolchildren read their national literature exactly as it was written hundreds of years ago. Modern Icelanders speak virtually the same language as their forefathers of the 10th century. Tomorrow morning's Reykjavik newspapers will be written in the same language as the ancient sagas ? that would be like this newspaper using Chaucerian English. Language preservation worked nicely for centuries because Icelanders lived diphthongs apart from the rest of the world, but in recent decades the cultural floodgates have been opened. English is everywhere ? on televisions, VCRs, the Internet and commercial products. It's part of a global problem: About 400 million people speak English as their first language, an additional 700 million or so use it as a second language and a billion people more are struggling to learn how to speak it. Meanwhile, other languages are disappearing at the rate of two per month. There are about 6,800 languages in the world, but the expert consensus is that 400 of them will soon be extinct. Why care? "When you lose a language," the late linguistics professor Kenneth Hale once said, "you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work of art. It's like dropping a bomb on a museum." The front line of Iceland's preservation battle is in Reykjavik, the home of the Icelandic Language Institute (Islensk Malstod); this government agency was set up in 1964 to devise new words when existing language proves inadequate. When AIDS first came to national attention in Iceland, the main discussion was what to call it rather than how to prevent it. The institute does not believe that AIDS should be called AIDS, and thus the disease is officially known as alnaemi, an ancient Icelandic word meaning "totally vulnerable," which the institute settled on after some three years of study. The preservationists often resurrect words from the sagas. A computer is called tolva, a fusion of the old Icelandic words for number and prophetess, and a TV screen is a skjar, a sheep's placenta once used by farmers as window panes. My favorite is friopjofur, the word for pager, which means "thief of peace." I left Iceland pessimistic. Everywhere I went, I heard English spoken. Though a written language can be purged of foreign words and phrases, policing how people speak is another matter. Many young Icelanders cannot be bothered with a language that is a minefield of subjunctive, inflections and gender (the number 2 has three genders). In one sense, the Icelanders have no one to blame but themselves. Just as they have earnestly defended their language, they have with equal enthusiasm made sure that every schoolchild has a computer and learns English. Thus Microsoft sees no need to translate Windows into Icelandic. The publishers of popular books are beginning to skip translation as well. It's what the Icelandic language purists call a sjalfhelda ? a Catch-22. I fear the handwriting is on the wall ? and it's in English. ----- End forwarded message ----- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:33:00 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:33:00 -0700 Subject: Taiwan Aborigines Battle to Save Their Culture (fwd) Message-ID: Taiwan Aborigines Battle to Save Their Culture http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29908/story.htm ALISHAN - Resplendent in leather headdresses mounted with eagle feathers and trimmed with bear fur, and wild boar tusks tied with ribbons around their sinewy arms, the warriors surround a squealing mountain pig. A few swift stabs in the neck and the hog is dead, to be offered to the God of War in the annual Mayasvi ritual -- the most sacred ceremony for the aboriginal Tsou people in central Taiwan's misty Alishan mountains. Clad in leather and handwoven tribal red, the warriors dip their spears and knives into pig's blood. In the light rain, they join hands around a smoking woodfire and begin a low, melodious chant to welcome the god to the Mayasvi, or war ceremony. Once a post-battle thanksgiving, the festival has become a coming-of-age rite for boys and a way for the Tsou tribe to honour and affirm their unique cultural heritage. "A long time ago when we used to go to battle, we would ask the God of War to help us," said 34-year-old Voyu Peongsi, descended from a family of tribal chiefs in the small Tsou village of Tefuye, nestled in the foothills of Alishan. "Today, it allows the younger generation to understand the culture and songs of our ancestors, and express the spirit of our kuba," he told Reuters. Peongsi and his fellow villagers spent a month rebuilding the kuba -- a large thatched hut raised on cypress logs at the heart of the Mayasvi ceremony. It serves as a sort of village hall for Tsou men on ordinary days. Women are forbidden to enter the kuba and do not join in the Mayasvi until evil spirits have been banished at the end of the ceremony, and the tribe begins to dance and revel till dawn. FOREIGN INTRUSIONS Like many minority groups all over the world, the 6,000-strong Tsou tribe is fighting -- some say losing -- a battle to preserve its traditional customs in modern Taiwan. The clansmen were originally coastal dwellers who were forced into the mountains by encroaching Han Chinese settlers from China. Some Tsou find the debate over whether Taiwan is part of China to be preposterous: if anyone has claims on the island, it is Taiwan's earliest inhabitants, the 12 remaining aboriginal tribes which now form only two percent of its 23 million people. Isolated in the mountains, though, the Tsou care little for politics and live mainly from subsistence farming and hunting. Aside from Christian missionaries, no foreigners intruded on them until the Japanese colonisation from 1895 to 1945. The Japanese stopped customs that they considered barbaric, such as the Tsou practice of taking human heads as war trophies. The Mayasvi was itself halted for a about a decade. Then, when the Chinese Nationalist government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the mainland to the Communists, the Tsou language was smothered. The Nationalists imposed Mandarin Chinese in schools and banned all other languages and dialects. "People say we are gradually losing our culture but it's actually happening very quickly," said Liao Chin-ying, a Chinese primary school teacher who married into a Tsou family in the neighbouring village of Dabang, next to Tefuye. She said less than 10 percent of young people can speak Tsou, compared to 90 percent of the elderly. The government now allows schools to teach Tsou once a week, but Liao thinks that is not enough to pull the language back from the brink of extinction. "If you don't teach the mother tongue, then you lose your culture. Without your mother tongue, your culture becomes fossilised and doesn't truly exist any more," she said. DYING LANGUAGE Liao speaks only Tsou to her 2-year-old daughter but says her little girl insists on replying in Mandarin because the other children in the village do not speak their native tongue. Christian missionaries are trying to help preserve the Tsou language by using a romanisation system. "Some of the priests here speak better Tsou than me," said Yangui Iuheacana, a Tsou woman who teaches village children how to spell Tsou words using the alphabet. "They're helping to put together the first-ever Tsou dictionary and are translating the Bible into Tsou," she said. It's easy to see why small villages like Tefuye and Dabang, with only about 1,200 residents between them, fear assimilation. Mandarin is essential for anyone seeking further education or work, and for men doing compulsory military service. Yet Tsou pride in tradition is evident everywhere, from the carefully observed Mayasvi to the scars on Peongsi's arms and legs -- the legacy of his numerous tussles with boars, bears, deer, goats and monkeys. The Tsou still teach their boys how to hunt and farm up in the lush mountains far away from Taipei's bustling streets and the high-tech microchip plants that helped turn the leaf-shaped island into the world's 15th-largest economy. It used to be that every boy had to spear a boar by himself before being considered a man and allowed to marry. But the government has now restricted hunting grounds, concerned over a dwindling number of indigenous animals in Taiwan. Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organisation three years ago also ushered in cheaper food imports, forcing some aboriginal groups to abandon fruit farms and switch to speciality crops like tea or wasabi, or move into the tourism industry. The more confident and hopeful Tsou speak of government efforts to nurture native cultures, such as designating land for aboriginal use and opening Aboriginal culture museums. The government also launched an aboriginal television channel on Jan. 1 and gave each Tsou household a free satellite dish. But villagers say there's no reception up in the mountains. Story by Tiffany Wu Story Date: 14/3/2005 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 14 19:57:45 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:57:45 -0700 Subject: APTN head defends new dubbing policy (fwd) Message-ID: March 11, 2005 APTN head defends new dubbing policy Isuma, MLAs, culture minister oppose decision to dub Inuktitut language programming ARTHUR JOHNSON http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50311_02.html Given his background, credentials and current job, Jean LaRose is the kind of guy who should be spending most of his time accepting awards and honours for his efforts in promoting aboriginal languages in Canada. But LaRose, who was born in Quebec of First Nations descent and now heads the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, arrived in Iqaluit this week to face hostile critics, some of whom accuse him of trying to marginalize or do serious damage to the Inuktitut language, and others who flat-out say he is a racist. LaRose?s new pariah status across Nunavut arises, he says, from a well-intentioned desire on the part of him and his network to make programming more accessible to more people and to broaden it out to include more aboriginal languages. In fact, he says, this was precisely what the TVNC, the predecessor organization of APTN, pledged to the Canadian Radio and Television Commission that it do with the new network. LaRose said he was merely reaffirming this pledge when he called, in a recent request for proposals from filmmakers and other program creators, to start ?versioning? or ?dubbing? their works into other languages, including French and English, rather than just providing a translation in subtitles. This is done by replacing speech in the soundtrack of programs or films with translations delivered by other actors. This would help to achieve a wider audience for programming, to satisfy audience demands for more programming in their own languages, and would vastly broaden the range of aboriginal languages heard on the network, LaRose said. But the response in Nunavut from filmmakers and government leaders was universally negative, he acknowledged. ?The line forms to the left and it just doesn?t stop,? he said ruefully about his Nunavut critics. Topping the list is Louis Tapardjuk, Nunavut?s minister of culture, language, elders and youth, who insists that the new policy is a step backward. ?Any channel that you turn on the dial on TV, you don?t pick up any other languages except English and French, and APTN is the only station that our unilingual Inuit in Nunavaut can understand,? Tapardjuk told CBC News. He?s campaigning to have all members of the Legislative Assembly oppose the new policy. Tapardjuk, other MLAs and everyone else were to get a chance to accost LaRose at a public consultation scheduled for March 10 in Iqaluit., just before Nunatsiaq News went to press. Marie-Helene Cousineau of Igloolik Isuma Productions said in a letter to APTN that she found it ?disturbing both politically and artistically? to hear about LaRose?s request for proposals. ?How ironic that APTN would refuse to licence aboriginal language films not dubbed in English or French,? she wrote. ?How do you call that: Self-hatred? Post colonialism? Short vision? Racism?? LaRose said being accused of racism stings. What?s more, he said, APTN?s intent has been badly misinterpreted. Inuktitut language programming now makes up 23 per cent of all of APTN?s content. All other aboriginal language programs comprise just 2 per cent. LaRose said he?d like to see Inuktitut programs dubbed into other aboriginal languages, as well as English and French, because that?s what viewers say they desire. He said he?s had positive responses from producers in the south, including one French language producer who expressed a willingness to dub programs in aboriginal languages. It would mean, he acknowledged, additional costs for producers, but APTN would be willing to negotiate higher licencing fees to offset these costs. But he said he also understands that in some cases, the opposition to dubbing by some Inuktitut language producers might be intractable. In these cases, he said, he intends to offer producers the alternative of having their undubbed programs appear on prime time spots on APTN?s ?northern? feed,? which is seen in Nunavut, while in the south the programs would only be broadcast in the less desirable afternoon afternoon spots, when there are fewer viewers. Of course, he said, that would mean such producers would receive lower licencing fees. Whatever the outcome, LaRose seemed resigned to the prospect that he has made some enemies. ?It?s very hard to meet all expectations,? he said. ?Language is one of those things that can flare out the passions of people.? ? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 02:16:47 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:16:47 -0700 Subject: Language Documentation and Description, Volume 2, 2005 (fwd) Message-ID: Language Documentation and Description Volume 2 http://www.hrelp.org/publications/papers/volume2/ The second volume of ELAP's Working Papers, Language Documentation and Description (Peter Austin ed.) will be available from March 2005 and can be ordered now. The volume is a collection of papers dealing with three topics in language documentation: -training and capacity building for endangered languages communities -archiving -multimedia documentation Most of the papers arose from workshops held at SOAS in November 2003 and February 2004. They represent important contributions to the theory and practice of the new field of language documentation by some of the leading scholars in the field, along with contributions from younger researchers. The volume will be of interest to anyone concerned with documenting and describing languages. Cost: ?10.00 (postage included); for ordering information, see below. Contents: Introduction Peter K. Austin Dictionary making in endangered speech communities - Ulrike Mosel Language endangerment, language documentation and capacity building: challenges from New Guinea - William A. Foley Countering purism: confronting the emergence of new varieties in a training program for community language workers - Margaret Florey The need for capacity building in Mexico. Misi?n de Chichimecas, a case study - Yolanda Lastra Training speakers of indigenous languages of Latin America at a US university Anthony C. Woodbury and Nora C. England Linguistic study by speakers: efforts of an Institute E.Annamalai Capacity building for some endangered languages of Russia: voices from Tundra and Taiga - Tjeerd de Graaf and Hidetoshi Shiraishi Capacity building in an African context - Gerrit J. Dimmendaal Language planning in West Africa - who writes the script? - Friederike L?pke Language documentation and archiving, or how to build a better corpus - Heidi Johnson Documentation in practice: developing a linked media corpus of South Efate - Nicholas Thieberger Planning multimedia documentation - David Nathan Reconceiving metadata: language documentation through thick and thin - David Nathan and Peter K. Austin From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 02:20:27 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:20:27 -0700 Subject: Multilingual, Multiperson, Multimedia (fwd) Message-ID: Multilingual, Multiperson, Multimedia: Linking Audio-Visual with Text Material in Language Documentation Patrick McConvell AIATSIS http://conferences.arts.usyd.edu.au/viewpaper.php?id=31&cf=2 Abstract ?Language documentation? for endangered and Indigenous languages has been rapidly moving towards a more holistic view of what is to be captured, including a range of genres, conversation as well as narrative. Most of the languages concerned also exist in a multilingual, multivariety language ecology, in which different age groups may speak, and switch between different varieties. This inevitably becomes part of what is being recorded and is crucial in the understanding of language shift and maintenance. Added to this is the growing realisation of the importance of paralinguistic elements such as gesture even to the basic interpretation of utterances. For proper documentation, what is required now is a system that can handle video, audio, transcription, translation and other annotation, synchronically linked. In this paper I will investigate the functionality of the CLAN system of a/v-transcript linking, widely used for child language and multilingual studies, and briefly compare this to other available alternatives. As for archival holdings of a/v and transcriptions, most of what already exists cannot be immediately moved into such a/v-text linking systems, because of the enormous amount of work involved. There is a need however for some standard system for preliminary digital linking of a/v with existing transcripts, translations and annotations, which may be separated from each other physically and institutionally. From this, more robust linking for analysis and multimedia presentation can be developed. This paper reviews some of the systems being used and the extent to which the metadata element ?Relation? can be refined to carry out this task. Please follow the link below to download a pdf version of this paper: http://www.paradisec.org.au/paper2.pdf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 19:24:02 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:24:02 -0700 Subject: Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap (fwd) Message-ID: Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2005/15/c3521.html KELOWNA, BC, March 15 /CNW/ - A national roundtable has recommended a series of immediate actions to improve success rates for aboriginal students. The recommendations are contained in a report released today by the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education (SAEE). They were developed at an unprecedented gathering of senior policy makers, aboriginal leaders, researchers and experts held at Concordia University on February 22nd to examine ways to close the achievement gap for aboriginal students. The fifty participants in the Moving Forward roundtable identified a range of strategies to accomplish this goal. Among these were: - Collect and report better data for monitoring performance and guiding improvement efforts - Establish common indicators and standards of student attainment and program quality - Ensure parity of educational services on and off reserves by investing in support structures and training for aboriginal peoples - Improve training, support and working conditions for teachers in aboriginal settings - Recognize aboriginal authority over curriculum to reflect community view - Create Centres of Excellence in Aboriginal Education to conduct research, develop culturally relevant teaching and language materials, and communicate best practices - Integrate school and community learning for all ages more seamlessly - Build parent capacity to participate in their children's education by creating aboriginal parenting centres and support associations - Establish a national network for sharing research and best practice in aboriginal education "After decades of inaction, jurisdictional disputes and unacceptable failure rates, a joint strategic plan to promote educational progress for native children is an important breakthrough," notes Helen Raham, Executive Director of SAEE. "This roadmap is a collective way forward for all parties responsible for the success of aboriginal learners. We are pleased the Council of Ministers of Education Canada has endorsed a number of these actions this week and that other organizations and levels of government have expressed a desire for collaborative efforts to create tangible progress." A non-profit education research agency founded in 1996, SAEE recently published ten case studies on aboriginal schooling, Sharing Our Success. Financial support for the aboriginal education policy roundtable was provided by Max Bell Foundation and Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. For further information: Helen Raham, Exec. Director, SAEE, (250) 717-1163; Moving Forward in Aboriginal Education: Proceedings Report: http://www.saee.ca/movingforward; Media Backgrounder: http://www.saee.ca/movingforward/MovingForwardMedia.pdf From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 15 19:31:54 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:31:54 -0700 Subject: Pandor Receives Report On Indigenous Languages (fwd) Message-ID: Pandor Receives Report On Indigenous Languages By Mahlatsi Mgidi, Pretoria http://allafrica.com/stories/200503150358.html Education Minister Naledi Pandor has received a framework report on the development of indigenous African languages for use in higher education. The report was put together by specialists in higher education and was led by Professor Njabulo Ndebele, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. When conducting research, the team looked at the country's historical and legislative contexts that nurtured language growth. Departmental spokesperson Tommy Makhode said the language policy for higher education promulgated in November 2002 was committed to the long-term development of indigenous African languages as mediums of teaching and learning. He explained that the report expressed a view that "a crisis is looming in the country regarding the preservation, maintenance and associated identity of indigenous African languages. "The anticipated crisis is attributed to the preference for English instead of African languages in formal communication in the private and public sectors as well as in general social practice." The report also points to the declining numbers of students who wish to study African languages, which has resulted in the closing down of African language departments in a number of higher education institutions. The report has since recommended the establishment of "a well-coordinated, long-range national plan to provide adequate resources and support for indigenous African languages" to prevent further decline of indigenous languages. This could be achieved if the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and the Department of Arts and Culture's National Language Services (NLS) were supported, maintained and monitored. "The report makes a point that the objective to develop official indigenous languages as mediums of instruction in higher education requires systemic under girding by the entire schooling system and the enhanced public and social use of these languages in the daily lives of South Africans," Mr Makhode explained further. The report will be available on the department's website after the minister had analysed it. Meanwhile, the department has received a R150 million donation from the European Union for Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS) that will be implemented over the next four years starting this year. HEAIDS is the higher education sector's response to HIV and AIDS designed to enable institutions to prevent and manage the pandemic. The programme will support learning and knowledge development and will among other things ensure the institutions addressed the pandemic and that teacher education faculties and personnel departments identified their roles in the fight against the disease. The programme will also help with initiatives aimed at prevention, behavioural change, care and support, gender, curriculum integration, knowledge generation in the sector and the population as a whole. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Tue Mar 15 19:58:14 2005 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:58:14 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics, 27-28 Oct. 2005 Message-ID: FYI - note extended deadline (fwd from Linguist list)... DZO Date: 11-Mar-2005 From: Isabella Ties Subject: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics Full Title: Lesser Used Languages & Computer Linguistics Short Title: LULCL Date: 27-Oct-2005 - 28-Oct-2005 Location: Bolzano, Italy Contact Person: Isabella Ties Meeting Email: ities at eurac.edu Web Site: http://www.eurac.edu/Org/LanguageLaw/Multilingualism/Projects/Conferen ce2005.htm Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Computational Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Lexicography; Text/Corpus Linguistics; Translation Call Deadline: 03-Apr-2005 Meeting Description: The aim of this conference is to provide an overview of the state of the art in research on lesser used languages, with special reference to their computational support. Central to the conference are methodological issues such as: * strategies for an efficient support of lesser used languages, * problems with theoretical approaches developed for major languages when applied to lesser used languages and * the cultural, economical and political specificity of a user group for which computational resources are created. Furthermore, the conference intends to promote the networking among participants in order to enhance the exchange of information, experience and resources. LULCL 2005 Lesser Used Languages and Computer Linguistics 27th - 28th October 2005 Eurac research, Bolzano DUE TO GENERAL DEMAND THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 3rd APRIL 2005 IMPORTANT DATES * Submission of abstracts: 3rd April 2005 * Notification of acceptance: 16th May 2005 Invited Keynote speakers: Clau Sol?r (University of Ginevra, Swizerland) Oliver Streiter (University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Scientific Committee: Anna Alice Dazzi (Lia Rumantscha, Swizerland Dafydd Gibbon (University of Bielefeld, Germany) Christer Laur?n (University of Vasa, Finland) Oliver Streiter (University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan) Marcello Soffritti (University of Bologna, Italy) Please visit the LULCL 2005 web site: http://www.eurac.edu/Org/LanguageLaw/Multilingualism/Projects/Conferen ce2005.htm From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 16 17:46:51 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 09:46:51 -0800 Subject: Native Songs & Images Message-ID: The Northern California Indian Development Council has a web-based archive of traditional images and sounds. Photo Galleries: Three galleries of stunning photography with accompanying descriptions, as well as the NCIDC Staff Photo Gallery and Council Member Photo Gallery. The NCIDC Song Gallery contains sound clips that are small segments of Traditional Karuk songs. They were recorded by Andre Cramblit, the Operations Director of NCIDC, a Karuk Tribal Member. To find the site go to: http://www.ncidc.org/ click the galleries link underneath the picture of the traditional Pit House. .:.? 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: 1271 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mikinakn at SHAW.CA Wed Mar 16 18:42:10 2005 From: mikinakn at SHAW.CA (Rolland Nadjiwon) Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 13:42:10 -0500 Subject: Native Songs & Images Message-ID: Great gallery and songs Andre...thanks. ------- wahjeh rolland nadjiwon ----- Original Message ----- From: Andre Cramblit To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:46 PM Subject: [ILAT] Native Songs & Images The Northern California Indian Development Council has a web-based archive of traditional images and sounds. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 17 18:53:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:53:44 -0700 Subject: Language limbo (fwd) Message-ID: Language limbo By Terry Leonard ASSOCIATED PRESS Published March 17, 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/world/20050316-100326-8599r.htm MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Along a boulevard lined with flowering acacia trees, young people in designer clothes and high-heel shoes chatter on the sidewalk, struggling to be heard over the driving Latin rhythms spilling from a nightclub. ????Maputo's vibrant night life 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. ????But one thing is in ever-shorter supply and in perhaps even less demand: Mozambique's indigenous languages, the storehouse of 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 young Mozambicans in traditional crafts. ????While Mozambique has 23 native languages, the only official one is Portuguese ? a hand-me-down tongue from colonial times that simultaneously unifies a linguistically diverse country and undermines the African traditions that help make it unique. ????The United Nations estimates half the world's 6,000 languages will disappear in less than a century. Roughly a third of those are spoken in Africa, and about 200 already have fewer than 500 speakers. Specialists estimate half the world's people now use one of just eight languages ? Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and French. ????A U.N. 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, for centuries have practiced 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, Mr. Chihale looks up from his cluttered desk at MozArte, a crafts project funded by the United Nations and the Mozambican government, and complains bitterly about how his country's memory is fading away. ????"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 Mr. Chihale, who speaks the Chopi language at home. ????Anthropologists speculate that tribal people whose ancestors have lived for tens of thousands of years on India's Andaman and Nicobar islands survived the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami catastrophe because of ancient knowledge. They think signs in the wind, the sea and the flight of birds let the tribes know to get to higher ground before the waves swept over the shores. ????But finding economic reasons to keep tradition alive can be a challenge. ????In Mozambique, cheap foreign imports have destroyed the market for local crafts beyond what little can be sold to tourists. Horacio Arab, the son of a basket weaver who learned his father's trade, said he improved his skills at MozArte, but then abandoned weaving because he couldn't make a living. ????Mozambican linguist Rafael Shambela says the pressures from globalization are often too great to resist. To save native languages and culture will require societies to find ways to cast them with an inherent value, he argues. ????On a small campus along a dirt road south of Maputo, Mr. Shambela has joined a government effort to write textbooks and curricula that will allow public school students to learn in 16 of the country's 23 languages. But the program is limited by Mozambique's poverty. ????"A language is a culture," said Mr. 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." ????The trade-off for settling on Portuguese as a unifying force after independence in 1975 has been an erosion of the rites and rhythms of traditional life. ????"From dating to mourning, the rules are becoming less clear," Mr. Shambela said. ???? From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 17 22:55:34 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:55:34 -0700 Subject: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion (fwd) Message-ID: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion Published: March 17, 2005 By PAUL DAQUILANTE Of the News-Register http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=191433 GRAND RONDE - The Willamina School District and the Grand Ronde Tribe are close to agreement on the launching of a Chinook language immersion program for first- and second-graders, Superintendent Gus Forster said. Forster said the curriculum would be offered to between 15 and 20 district students. He said enrollment will be open to tribal and nontribal members. The Chinooks were once a strong tribe with related bands near the mouth of the Columbia River and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains. Until recently, however, Chinook jargon, also known as Chinuk-wawa, was almost extinct. Interest has rebounded in recent years. The tribe is now trying to make it the language of the future. Tony Johnson, who teaches in the tribe's education center, is working with the district to create the program, Forster told the school board at its Monday night meeting at the middle school. Johnson has worked with Portland linguist Henry Zenk to create a written Chinuk-wawa alphabet. He has also designed a computer program so Chinuk-wawa characters can be typed. Meanwhile, Johnson has developed a teaching program that has become a model for Pacific Northwest tribes. Both he and Zenk are licensed by the state to teach the language. "We're committed to this," Forster said. "We're getting very close. It's going to be very interesting." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:06:36 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:06:36 -0700 Subject: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork (fwd) Message-ID: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork By JOSH NIVA Anchorage Daily News http://www.adn.com/life/story/6285692p-6161026c.html Published: March 18th, 2005 Last Modified: March 18th, 2005 at 04:12 AM Dimi Macheras lists the greats as his early artistic influences: Donatello. Raphael. Michelangelo. Leonardo. Not those old dudes from the Renaissance, but those cool green guys from the sewers -- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "I was in first grade when the Ninja Turtles came out," Macheras, 23, said. "The Turtles had a really profound effect on me, and that carries with me today, taking something as simple as a turtle and really making it interesting." Macheras knows all about giving fascinating makeovers to everyday creatures. It's his job, in many ways. He's the cultural arts director for Chickaloon Village Traditional Council and a member of the tribe. For the past two years, he's worked on a project that -- much like the Turtles -- gives old legends life through modern media. He's illustrating ancient Native stories with anime-style artwork and snagging new young fans along the way. The Koht'aen Kenaege' Project was launched almost three years ago to revive and teach the oral language Ahtna Athabascan. The final product was recently completed: an interactive package of eight CD-ROMs with lessons spanning alphabet and symbol introduction, pronunciation, conversation and the complete retelling of traditional stories. Macheras was brought in to provide the visuals. Almost every image came from his hand and imagination: the moose ("difficult to draw"), squirrels ("easy to draw"), trees, homes, humans and complex storytelling scenes. One of Macheras' favorite assignments was creating interpretations of two Athabascan stories ("Besiin" and "The Grizzly Bear") often told by his grandmother, Katie Wade. Wade, 83, is the matriarch of Chickaloon Village, the founder of Chickaloon's Ya Ne Dah Ah School and the Koht'aen Kenaege' Project's living link to the language. Macheras has heard the stories since he was a child and still can't get enough. He promised his grandmother he wouldn't change content even if it was raw (in "Besiin," an owl swoops into a village and abducts a crying child). In turn, his grandmother gave him artistic freedom for his interpretations. "I have so much room to work with; it's the best setting I could ask for," he said. Macheras gave a modern touch to the tales, using styles similar to popular cartoons and Japanimation, comic books and graphic novels and even films like Disney's "Brother Bear." Macheras said his art is also energized by music, especially hard-driving electronic genres like drum&bass, which constantly bumps from his computer speakers. He says it gives him the charge to tackle the demanding stories; each runs 30 to 40 pages. "I hope it shows in my work that I'm having a good time drawing this stuff," he said. It does. The art breathes with the same kinetic buzz found in Macheras' music. Bears, owls and people leap off the page in dynamic motion and color. Humans morph into threatening grizzly bears while other humans, some looking like ninjas, wage battle with owls and killer salmon. His modern approach is also evident in smaller tasks, like flash cards and conversation portions of the CD-ROM. Instead of drawing only Native people using the language, he pulled characters from a range of ages, races and styles, including teens wearing baggy pants. "I think it's important for a kid to be able to relate to it," Macheras said. But this isn't exactly a grandmother's form of storytelling. Or is it? The elders aren't complaining. "He's sort of like a visionary," said Patricia Wade, his mom. "He can merge the ancient with the modern in such a way that it makes sense. I would guess that everyone is very happy that these stories are not only being preserved but in such a way that they can make a splash." Kari Johns, Chickaloon Village's education director and Koht'aen Kenaege' Project supervisor, added: "I've only heard positives. People just love what they see." REINSPIRED AT HOME And Macheras loves his job. "All I do here is listen to music and draw," he said of his Chickaloon Village Traditional Council offices outside Palmer. He quickly amended the statement with, "Well, that's not all I do." Macheras was more than a little aimless two years ago. He was hopeful when he graduated from Palmer High in 1999 and departed for The Art Institute of Seattle. He didn't land a degree in his two years there but did amass a hefty student loan bill that haunts him today. He traded Seattle for Florida, but warm temperatures didn't change his outlook. Florida's flat landscape left him creatively flat and longing for the mountains and comforts of home. For the first time in his life, he stopped drawing. "That was a low point as far as my art goes," he said. "I didn't feel inspired." He returned home to Palmer and quickly found the job with the Chickaloon Village, which he says, "fell right into place. It was a good opportunity to be able to get a job drawing." Suddenly, he had no trouble finding inspiration. His muse was his home, his culture and his grandmother, who he calls "Gramm." "She's the center of it all," he said. "It's all because of her." That passion for family and tradition has fueled his drawing and his production. "The amount of work he's done, I can't even put a number on it," explained Johns. "From when he started two years ago to now, it's amazing." Macheras shrugs off the workload as no big deal. He draws like most people walk or talk. He's a compulsive doodler who sketches people he sees at cafes or in meetings. He has stacks of drawings at work and in his briefcase, all from pencil or drafting pen on paper. He's always been this way, says his mom. She remembers her Dimi (pronounced dim-ee) drawing circles as a baby. Macheras said his early work included recreating the characters he saw on cereal boxes. "I have a great picture of him in diapers with a piece of paper in his left hand and a pencil in his right hand," Wade said. "It was a nonstop thing since he was very young. It's almost like he came in to draw." SIGN OF SUCCESS Macheras' perfect job is disappearing. His position is funded by a language preservation grant from the Administration for Native Americans. That grant runs out soon. And that's fine with Macheras. He's been back in Alaska long enough to itch for a larger urban area. Maybe he can land a job as an illustrator or animator. The dream job is in comic books. Right now, he hopes he can continue his work with Chickaloon Village on a contract basis, drawing more of his grandmother's stories (he's already working on "The Magic House"). But even if put the pencils down today, his art has already left a permanent mark. The Koht'aen Kenaege' Project is now officially part of the language curriculum at the Ya Ne Dah Ah School. A handful of parents and locals are also participating. Children -- ages ranging from 2 to 14 -- are engaged, and in some cases, progressing as quickly as the teachers. "They are right at our heels," Johns said. She said the kids are pulled in by the interactive aspects of the material and Macheras' art. Macheras is proud; he was once a student there, too. "That's our success, when students come back, work for the tribe and contribute so much," Johns said. "He's a tribal member, and we're lucky to have such a bright young person especially interested in the language." Macheras said he and the project team -- Thomas Brannen, the programmer and multimedia mastermind; Daniel Harrison, a language specialist; and Johns, the director -- are just excited to have the material available for mass consumption. "We've been holed up here for two years," Macheras said, "and now we're finally out there showing people what we've been doing." Macheras and his mom are also bringing the stories -- complete with PowerPoint presentation -- to forums and public schools. They hope the schools will add the program to their cultural education curriculum. Johns also hopes other oral languages from around the state will use the project's format as a template to teach and preserve. For now, the group is happy selling a few of the storybooks. "(Money generated) will all go directly back to the school," Macheras said, with pride. Response has been good, so far, well, except for a few young public school students frightened by scary owl scenes from "Besiin." Most are eating it up. "They love the pictures, of course," Wade said. And elders are pleased the language is chronicled. "It's there forever; it won't get old 10 years down the road," Johns said. "Once it's documented, it's a visual being. Not just oral. Once we're all gone, it will still be around. It's key in preservation and revitalization." Macheras needs his own creative renewal, eager to relocate in the Pacific Northwest. And he has plenty of motivation for that next step following the success and fulfillment he's found in his recent work. "The way I see it, it's been just more incentive to push myself with my artwork," he said, before adding, "and to become successful through my artwork to pay off those (student) loans." Josh Niva can be reached at jniva at adn.com. DIMI MACHERAS AND PATRICIA WADE will present stories "Besiin" and "The Grizzly Bear" at noon and 2:30 p.m. March 26 at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Macheras will sign copies of the books afterward. For more on the Ya Ne Dah Ah School and the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council, visit www.chickaloon.org. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:11:21 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:11:21 -0700 Subject: Chickaloon tribal member chronicles ancient tales with anime-style artwork (fwd) In-Reply-To: <20050318120636.zw0s400gskwg4so4@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: ILAT people, fyi, it is worth taking a look at the article news link to view examples of the artists work. very interesting. phil cash cash UofA, ILAT list manager From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 18 19:34:30 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:34:30 -0700 Subject: Mexico compiles visual dictionaries of indigenous languages (fwd) Message-ID: Mexico compiles visual dictionaries of indigenous languages www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-18 10:01:46 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/18/content_2712873.htm ????MEXICO CITY, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The old Indian languages and dialects of the different indigenous groups living in Mexico are being collected by linguists of the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) and included in visual trilingual dictionaries. ????The INAH said on Thursday in a statement that these dictionaries will contain Spanish and English translations to indigenous languages, combined with images. ????By the end of the year, there will be dictionaries for the languages of Chontal (which is spoken in Tabasco), Oreme (in northMexico), Zapoteco (in Juchitan, Oaxaca), Popoluca and Tepehua (in Veracruz), Huastec (in Veracruz, San Luis Potosi), Nahuatl (in central Mexico), Tepehuan (in north Nayarit and south Sinaloa), Mame (in Chiapas) and Chichimeco Jonaz (in Guanajuato). Only 800 people speak Chichimeco Jonaz. ????Linguist Benjamin Perez said that in average each of the dictionaries will contain 4,000 terms "that illustrate the presentvitality of the language and its users," as well as manners to approach everyday life of the different ethnic groups. ????A seminar on visual dictionaries is underway in Mexico City, to"attain a reappraisal of the Indian languages and to make their users aware of the languages' importance, beauty and complexity," according to the expert. ????The project is supported by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Latin Union and the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona of Spain. Enditem From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Sat Mar 19 21:08:43 2005 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:08:43 -0700 Subject: The Giant Who Walks Amongst Us (fwd) Message-ID: The Giant Who Walks Amongst Us Jenn Director Knudsen March 17, 2005 http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/03/wo/wo_knudsen021605.asp? p=1 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 205 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: knudsen021605.gif Type: image/gif Size: 27453 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- Giant Jimmy Jones is a friendly, helpful giant. In fact, this book character is so helpful, he can make the sun shine on an otherwise gray village. The giant simply walks across the page, reaches up to the cloud cover and pushes it out of the sun's way so the villagers can catch some rays. Those light rays may be virtual, but the book this scene pops out of is not. Using augmented reality (AR), the technology behind the interactive version of Giant Jimmy Jones, New Zealand author Gavin Bishop recently collaborated with Mark Billinghurst and his colleagues at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) to turn the book into not only a storytelling device, but also a storytelling experience. A child can flip through its pages and read it like a conventional book. But with a handheld display and computer vision tracking technology, the child can watch the story literally come to life. "You can see animated virtual characters overlaid on the real book pages and hear the voice of Gavin Bishop reading the story," says Billinghurst, director of the HIT Lab NZ.. While Giant Jimmy Jones currently only exists in a lab setting, there are scores of others being developed at places such as Georgia Tech University?s Augmented Environments Laboratory. Technology is not the hindrance to turning books into interactive devices whose readers can exist within them and manipulate their stories. The most difficult roadblock stems from the limitations of physical books, most notably the reality that embedding markers that can interact with VR-headgear is expensive and produces ugly visual results on the page.? Virtual Stories Unlike virtual reality that exists only within the confines of a computer-generated world, augmented reality includes virtual space digitally, seamlessly overlaid onto a real environment, explains Kelly L. Dempski, a senior researcher at Chicago-based Accenture Technology Labs. For example, AR can be used in tandem with a child reading from a book and a computer loaded with AR software. The child, then, could virtually place characters from his story anywhere in the room. The challenge, of course, is to get the technology to work with the user. A wearable computer in the form of a head-mounted display (HMD) is worn like a fighter-pilot helmet, fitting over the head and eyes, and projecting images within the user's visual field. Improvements have led to devices that resemble glasses, but even these are unwieldy, unsanitary and limited to one user at a time. The HMDs also suffer tracking problems, or perfect registration, which means that the virtual overlay doesn't quite match up with the physical space upon which it is projected. That visual slip confuses the brain, making a child feel off balance, mirroring the effects of alcohol consumption, Dempski claims. The user would lose the ability to differentiate between what she's really seeing and what's being injected into a scene via the lens. However, experiments with these head-mounted displays has paved the way for more practical, more commercially viable AR devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and projectors. A PDA was used to view Magic Book, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2000 by a team of researchers, including Billinghurst, then with the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory. But this book's images -- of boxy buildings and a stiff, humanesque figure -- weren't very sophisticated or capable of much interaction. Instead, the 3-D visuals were like "pop-up drawings on paper," says Ulrich Neumann, professor of computer science at the University of Southern California . The real breakthrough for the mobile AR will come when books are loaded with "trigger symbols," or markers, that a PDA could track and then turn into organic images leaping off the page. Doing so, though, isn't practical and is a visual turn off to readers; the markers look like barcodes, says Ramesh Raskar, a senior research scientist with Mitsubishi's Electric Research Labs (MERL). (Ulrich, Billinghurst and others are working on algorithms for tracking to reduce the barcode look.) That has led researchers look at alternatives such as radio frequency identification tags (RFIDs) and touch sensors in lieu of visible computers and their components. "The point is to hide the computer," Raskar says. "The technology should be entirely transparent." Building a Better Virtual Story Spatial augmented reality makes this possible. Instead of merely overlaying images on top of objects within a reader's view, a projector makes objects and images appear to blend into your very world -- in front, to the side and behind you. The advantage of this technology's use in interactive storybooks is the reader can create non-linear and event-driven stories. Raskar says a child no longer would have to read his book page by page, and any physical action of his could change the action in and plot of the story. "To open a book and see this animation happen is counter to anyone's experience," Neumann says. "This is not to replace the imagination, but to help it along a bit" in the same way film adds dimensions to stories. But Raskar says the future of spatial AR technology in books is limited. So AR for storytelling may leap completely off the page. Steven Feiner, computer science professor, and his colleagues with Columbia University's Computer Graphics and User Interface Lab and in collaboration with its Graduate School of Journalism, have turned documentary films into more interactive and educational tools. In one of the lab's "situated documentaries" about Columbia University's system of underground tunnels, a viewer hears narration and sees both the campus and flag-like markers that indicate where portions of the story are located, Feiner explains. By selecting a flag, the viewer immerses herself in a narrated, 3-D surround view of one of the university's thousands of such tunnels. Feiner's documentaries, though, are hypermedia stories embedded in the real world and presented using a mobile augmented reality system. For hands- (and head-) free presentations, projectors and touch sensors are being used by Raskar and his MERL colleagues to graphically animate physical objects. In their lab, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, they've created a Taj Mahal that reflects a 24-hour light cycle; in only a few moments' time, you can see the effect light would have on the building's onion domes and flanking towers as a simulated sun rises and then falls. Using the same technology, a nine-year-old girl, using a white paint brush, white piece of paper and white bird house, demonstrates how she can choose a new color from a digital palette and "paint" her paper and bird house. "Children are extremely attracted to these displays," Raskar says in a phone interview. And adults -- the ones with money in their pockets -- are extremely attracted to demonstrations of spatial AR in advertising. Paul Dietz, senior research scientist at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories and a colleague of Raskar's, says its MERL lab in Cambridge is host to a music store display. At the store's entrance is a fancy set of speakers, playing catchy hip-hop music. Interest piqued, the shopper walks closer to the setup, and the music changes genres and the volume picks up. Now standing next to the display and looking straight at a speaker, the shopper sees the inner workings of the hi-fi equipment itself. And if he handles a component, the display changes yet again. Raskar explains the technology behind this exhibit, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2004 is similar to that in a photocopier; when an office worker walks by the copy machine, it detects her presence and clicks on. These types of technologies, though, aren't cheap -- and currently make it difficult to move these devices into widespread public use, particularly in the book publishing world. But physical books may not be its future form factor. It may instead be a room -- or "interactive narrative playspace" -- in which a child creates his own adventure, such as KidsRoom, begun years ago at the MIT Media Laboratory. "Our reliance on a physical book provides some limitations on the type of stories that can be told," says Billinghurst of HIT Lab NZ in an email. "Although of course it still provides traditional writers an exciting new medium to work in." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8540 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Mar 20 23:27:55 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:27:55 -0800 Subject: Chinook Immersion Message-ID: Willamina to offer Chinook immersion Published: March 17, 2005 By PAUL DAQUILANTE Of the News-Register GRAND RONDE - The Willamina School District and the Grand Ronde Tribe are close to agreement on the launching of a Chinook language immersion program for first- and second-graders, Superintendent Gus Forster said. Forster said the curriculum would be offered to between 15 and 20 district students. He said enrollment will be open to tribal and nontribal members. The Chinooks were once a strong tribe with related bands near the mouth of the Columbia River and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains. Until recently, however, Chinook jargon, also known as Chinuk-wawa, was almost extinct. Interest has rebounded in recent years. The tribe is now trying to make it the language of the future. Tony Johnson, who teaches in the tribe's education center, is working with the district to create the program, Forster told the school board at its Monday night meeting at the middle school. Johnson has worked with Portland linguist Henry Zenk to create a written Chinuk-wawa alphabet. He has also designed a computer program so Chinuk-wawa characters can be typed. Meanwhile, Johnson has developed a teaching program that has become a model for Pacific Northwest tribes. Both he and Zenk are licensed by the state to teach the language. "We're committed to this," Forster said. "We're getting very close. It's going to be very interesting." -- ? 1999-2005 News-Register Publishing Co. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 22 06:53:54 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:53:54 -0800 Subject: Bridging The Divide Message-ID: Karen Buller National Indian Telecommunications Institute The National Indian Telecommunication Institute was founded to bring technology to American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaskan Native communities in order to expand their opportunities for education, economic development, and civic involvement. Advanced technologies also allow Native American communities to preserve cultures that are rich in oral history but often misunderstood or overlooked. NITI?s many initiatives include the Virtual Museum Project, an interactive Comanche language. More info @: http://www.niti.org/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 22 17:34:51 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:34:51 -0700 Subject: Proud first-graders now say: Cherokee spoken here (fwd) Message-ID: from the March 22, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0322/p12s01-legn.html Proud first-graders now say: Cherokee spoken here By Diana West | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor LOST CITY, OKLA. - Their parents were mocked for speaking it. Their grandparents were punished. But for three classes at Lost City Elementary School in Oklahoma, Cherokee is the only language spoken in the classroom. Lost City is one of the first public schools in the United States to immerse students in an American Indian language. The program started in fall 2003 with kindergarten and classes for 3-year-olds. This year the program expanded to include first grade. "We do what other classes do but it's all in Cherokee," says Anna Christie who teaches a combined kindergarten and first-grade class at the school. Ms. Christie talks to them in Cherokee, calling the children by their Indian names. At naptime, she tells Matthew Keener or "Yo-na" (Bear) not to put his mat too close to Lane Smith "A-wi" (Deer). Cherokee songs play softly in the room. A Cherokee calendar hangs on the wall. Students practice writing words and numbers in Cherokee. First grader Casandra Copeland, "Ji-s-du" (Rabbit), counts aloud in Cherokee. It's called an immersion class because the children speak nothing but Cherokee. The Cherokee Nation in nearby Tahlequah, Oklahoma creates the curriculum. "The goal is to get them fluent," says Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language project supervisor. "If we don't do anything about it, [the language] is not going to be here for the next generation." It is estimated that presently fewer than 8,000 of 100,000 Cherokee people speak the language and most of them are over 45 years old. Mr. Oosahwee, who grew up speaking Cherokee as his first language, says, "I feel fortunate that I was able to communicate with my grandparents and aunts and uncles." Now these children can talk to their parents and grandparents. "I can talk to my grandpa," says Matthew Keener. He is also teaching his mother to speak Cherokee. Oosahwee says at first there was mixed feelings from the community about the program. Some parents were excited while others were hesitant. "They didn't want the kids to experience negative reactions like they had." He can identify with that because he was mocked and ridiculed as a child for speaking his native language at public school. But since Lost City also started a night class to teach Cherokee to Grades 5-8, staff, and parents, he says interest has started to grow. An instructor volunteers his time, and use of the school facility is free, so there is no cost to the community for the night class. About 65 of the 100 students enrolled in the Lost City Elementary School are Cherokee. Some non-Cherokee students have opted to learn a second language and belong to the immersion classes although participation in the program is entirely voluntary. All eight grades are exposed to Cherokee at a weekly "Rise and Shine" assembly where they begin by saying "o-si-yo" meaning hello. They discuss the Cherokee character word for the week. One week it was truthfulness or "du-yu-go-dv." Next year immersion classes will include second graders. Kristen Smith, who teaches the 3-year-olds, was 5 when she learned the Cherokee language from her grandparents. Her son, Lane, who is in the first grade class, comes home every day with a new word or phrase. "Now Lane and I can talk in Cherokee," she says. Lane also teaches some Cherokee words to his 11-year-old brother, Kristian. "This is something the whole family can share," their mother says. Fonda Fisher, Lane's great aunt, says, "He automatically responds in Cherokee. He even sings Cherokee in the shower." She adds, "Lane is learning what it is to be Cherokee and to be proud." From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 22 18:48:45 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 10:48:45 -0800 Subject: Red Lake Press Release Message-ID: 24 people shot in Red Lake, the majority at Red Lake High School - 10 fatalities Preliminary reports are sketchy and they are all unconfirmed, but it is believed as many as 24 people have been shot on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, and at the Red Lake High School, and as many as 10 are reported to have died as a result of those shootings. The majority of the shootings took place at the school. At the time of this report, the school was still under lockdown and considered a hostile area yet, with local police, FBI investigators, state police, Leech Lake Police and county deputies at the scene, although students still in the building had all been released. According to early reports, sometime after 2 p.m. a student of the school, allegedly shot his grandfather and grandmother at their home in the Back of Town (BOT) area in Red Lake, then went to the Red Lake High School in his grandfather's law enforcement vehicle, where he shot and killed a school security guard, 8 students and 1 teacher. There are reports of as many as 12 fatalities from the shootings, and 12 wounded--some critically. The names of all the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives. The boy's grandfather was a veteran law enforcement officer for the Red Lake Police Department with over 30 years experience, and the entire reservation is shocked, stunned and grieving. Although still under investigation and further details will be released at a conference scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow, the student was reportedly involved in a confrontation with Red Lake Police inside the school after the shooting, and may have fatally shot himself. The weapons he reportedly used may have belonged to his grandfather, and a fire department official stated the boy was wearing a police utility belt with service revolvers and also had used a shotgun A press conference was scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Complex in Red Lake. Prior to the conference in Red Lake however, Paul McCabe of the FBI issued a statement, confirming 8 had died in the shooting, 2 were male students and 2 were female students--including the shooter, a juvenile male--a female teacher, an adult male, and at the residence, a male and female. He said at this time they believed the shooter was acting alone and was among those who had died. He said those students who had died were in one classroom when they were shot. McCabe wouldn't elaborate further, stating the investigation was ongoing with numerous law enforcement agencies taking part in the investigation, including the FBI, Red Lake and Leech Lake police departments, Beltrami Council Sheriffs Department and State police. A press conference was held at the Criminal Justice Center in Red Lake at 7 p.m. "First of all I'd like to thank everybody for their concern,? Chairman Jourdain stated in the conference. "Today we've had an unfortunate and tragic series of events here on the Red Lake Reservation. At this time we're going to defer any specific information over to the Department of Public Safety and also to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is, without a doubt, the darkest hour in the history of our tribe. And I just want to again, send our heartfelt wishes out to the families, the victims, and everybody throughout America, in light of the unfortunate events that happened here today." Jourdain said our community was shocked and in dismay, when asked how the community was reacting. He said in dealing with the tragic events, they would rely on people in the community who are leaders, teachers and healers to come forth and advise everyone on how to go about healing the community. Right now, he said, they were all in the initial stages of shock. They would rely on the advise of elders and professional people to guide them through the crisis. When asked about the security of the reservation, Jourdain stated Red Lake had it's own police department, and the school district also had their own security. "I think the events today were something that could not be avoided," Jourdain said. He said he had no specifics on the shooter, that he wasn't at liberty to comment specifically on the matter. He did say he believed a student came into the school and shot several individuals. Jourdain said he anticipated there would be many support mechanisms that would converge on the reservation, and they also had professionals on the Reservation who had experience in things of this nature--although not this traumatic--when asked about support people for the community. He said those resources would be made available to the community. He was asked if there was any warning of the incident happening, which Jourdain said he didn't know, but didn't see any indication that there was. "It just caught everybody completely by surprise and the whole town was floored by the events that happened here today,? Jourdain said. He stated the building was currently secure, all students were out of the building, and the investigation on currently ongoing. The enrollment of Red Lake High School was between 250-300, Chairman Jourdain stated, and further questioning was deferred to Public Safety Director, Pat Mills. Mills stated they were still conducting their investigation and unable to give out a lot of information. "The only thing I can tell you right now is we have multiple victims in this instant, it did occur at the school, and there are a number of juveniles involved," Mills stated. "Tomorrow, hopefully around 2-2:30 p.m. we'll have another press release and at that time we'll get into more details of what transpired. There are some situations here that we're still checking into that started this incident that occurred. We did receive a 911 call this afternoon at 2:55 p.m. this afternoon that there was a shooting at the [school]. Our officers did respond almost immediately and the officers did confront the alleged suspect at that time in the school building. There was an exchange of gunfire and that's where we're at now--doing the investigation to determine what took place." Mills further stated that they wanted to let the people know they did have the suspect--they knew who the suspect was, and there were no other individuals out there involved in the incident, so the community wouldn't have to worry about anything else. "All the family members and victims were being taken care of," Mills said. "They're meeting now at IHS (Indian Health Service), they're being provided counseling in any way they we help them, along with the sheriff's department who sent out some of their chaplains to assist us in any way." He wouldn't get into any details of the incident, and stated there has been security at the school since 1995. He said there were cameras situated in the school, they have reviewed the tapes, and would relate that information at another conference. The school was locked down after the initial call was received and to his understanding, teachers and staff knew what to do and did what had to be done according to school policies. This occurred within a matter of minutes. Mills stated they have had emergency drills involving similar scenarios just last year, and he felt teachers and staff did what they were trained to do during the crisis. Superintendent of Schools, Stuart Desjarlait, on behalf of the Red Lake Board of Education, offered their condolences for the victims, and were in the process of getting their crisis management plan into place. "We have one in place and that saved a lot of kids today, and teachers utilizing that plan and following it through on what was supposed to be done on in this case and in situations like this,? Desjarlait said. "We have a tremendous staff at Red Lake High School for knowing what to do. We won't be having school for the rest of the week. Tomorrow the district is closed, and the next day the staff will be coming back in." Desjarlait said they would be working with elders, spiritual leaders, mental health counselors, and getting a plan ready when high school teachers come back--and when the students come back to school next Wednesday. He would not comment on the incident specifically due to the investigation still ongoing, and he said the district had about 1500 kids in four buildings. Red Lake's School District consisted of the high school, a middle school and elementary school located in Red Lake, and another K-8 grade school in the Ponemah District about 25 miles north of Red Lake. Mills explained why the FBI was investigating the incident. He said the federal government is responsible for all major crimes that occur on Indian Reservations. Red Lake falls under that jurisdiction of the FBI. Major crimes include homicides, rape, assaults, kidnapping and ect. The Red Lake Police Department handles a lot of the misdemeanor cases and assists the FBI on their felony cases. All Red Lake Schools will be closed until Tuesday of next week, and a press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, when more details will be released, along with the names of victims. .:.? 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 .:.? 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: 10160 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 24 18:22:13 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:22:13 -0700 Subject: Speaking in (Native) Tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Speaking in (Native) Tongues To save endangered languages, elementary schools across the Southwest experiment with Native American language immersion programs ?By Diana West and Stacy Teicher, Christian Science Monitor March 24, 2005 Issue http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_191/news/11604-1.html Lost City Elementary School in Oklahoma is not the first school to offer a Native American language immersion program to its students, but it is one of the first public schools to do it. Diana West of The Christian Science Monitor reports that Lost City Elementary now offers a Cherokee language immersion program for three-year-olds, kindergartners, and first graders. Next year the program will expand to include second-graders. In Lost City Elementary's voluntary program all courses are taught in the Cherokee language and the teachers refer to the students by their Indian names. The goal is to preserve the Cherokee language, which Harry Oosahwee, the tribe's language project supervisor, believes will die in one generation if something is not done immediately. West points out that only an estimated 8,000 people currently speak Cherokee. One of the reasons the Lost City Elementary program is unique is that it demonstrates a state-sponsored departure from the United States' institutional assimilation of Native American children. Starting in the 1800s, children were sent away to boarding schools where they were prohibited from speaking their languages or wearing their traditional clothing and hairstyles, says Stacy Teicher of The Christian Science Monitor. It wasn't until the 1970s that Indian Nations won the right to contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to control these government schools. Teicher says that the importance of native language and culturally sensitive teaching is catching on in the Southwest also. In the Flagstaff school district, Navajo language classes are offered. Flagstaff High School has a panel of ten Native American academic advisors that helps teachers with culturally sensitive subjects and helps develop culturally relevant courses. They also offer an elective Navajo history class after school. But even in Flagstaff, Native American students still have to battle prejudice, and very little of the mainstream curriculum touches on Indian history or culture. Initially, Lost City's program was met with some resistance because elders were concerned that children would be ridiculed (like they were when they were kids) for speaking their native language at a public school. However, the program is proving to not only serve as a way to preserve the language, but also as a source of pride. One community elder, in commenting about her great nephew, said: "Lane is learning what it is to be Cherokee and to be proud." -- Barb Jacobs From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 24 18:26:19 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:26:19 -0700 Subject: Grant supports bilingual education (fwd) Message-ID: Grant supports bilingual education The Daily Press Last Updated: Thursday, March 24th, 2005 09:14:25 AM http://www.ashlandwi.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=4&story_id=196768 The Red Cliff Art of Knowledge (gikendaasowin) Project has received a grant from the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund to print and distribute an illustrated bilingual storybook to promote Ojibwa language fluency and awareness. A local artist will illustrate the story, using a comic book format. The publication will be distributed to local schools with lesson plans and will also be available to residents and visitors to the region. Brian Goodwin, language and culture consultant, will oversee the project. The Red Cliff Language and Culture Committee has been working to find ways to make the Ojibwe language more visible in Red Cliff and the surrounding communities. In a recent survey it was determined there are less than five elders who are fluent "first language" Ojibwa speakers. The committee researched approaches that other indigenous nations have employed to establish language fluency. The Art of Knowledge Project was submitted as a grant request to the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund under its Human Rights Fund guidelines. The grant of $3,000 will support printing and distribution of the storybook, which will be available later this year. "We are pleased to be able to support this project," according to Nancy Sandstom, chairman of the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund Advisory Board. "This innovative and creative approach has the potential to reach a broad audience." This is the first grant made from the Human Rights Fund. The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund encourages private giving for the public good. With contributions large and small from many individuals, families and businesses, its 11-member advisory board is working to establish a permanent endowment to address the changing charitable needs of the Bayfield - Madeline Island - Red Cliff region. The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund is one of three affiliate funds of the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation. The Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation manages over 180 different funds, each with its own charitable purpose. Since its inception in 1983, the Foundation has distributed more than $20 million in grants and scholarships. For information on applying for a grant from the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund or to learn about ways to contribute to the Fund, contact Lois Albrecht at the AIACF office by email aiacf at centurytel.net or phone 715-779-7021. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 25 23:44:08 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:44:08 -0700 Subject: Entrepreneurial U.H. Students Setting up Language Documentation Center (fwd) Message-ID: Hawaii Reporter Freedom to Report Real News Entrepreneurial U.H. Students Setting up Language Documentation Center By Lisa Ann Ebeling, 3/25/2005 1:18:16 AM http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?5ada08d6-26ed-477f-b53a-99c516104320 Two years ago in fall 2003, Meylysa Tseng, an international student from Taiwan was inspired by the rich cultural diversity at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Meylysa, a Ph.D. student in linguistics, was looking for a good community service project to organize. Suddenly, she realized that there were many speakers of different endangered languages studying at the university and that graduate students of linguistics could teach language documentation skills to these students. At first many were skeptical. They thought the project would not take off. But, that did not discourage Meylysa who went on to recruit her other classmates to seek support from various departments within the University. One semester later, nine previously under-documented languages of the world received much needed attention, were further away from extinction and the effort saw the winning of two awards: the Jacob Peace Memorial Award and the NAFSA "Partnership in Excellence Award." Today, the Language Documentation Project (LDP) continues its social mission by training students from countries with endangered languages on how to document their languages and to apply for grants to expand their projects. This semester there are 20 students being trained by graduate students in the Linguistics Department, led by an equally dedicated graduate student, Valerie Guerin from France. The project now utilizes computer software to improve the documentation and archiving process and places its resources on the Internet for speakers of the languages documented, as well as other researchers to access them. Valerie?s dedication has been rewarded. This May, she will present the project at the NAFSA international conference in Seattle. According to Valerie the LDP director, the project?s secret ingredient is, ?the spirit of aloha and cooperation in reaching out to the international student community at the university. The students who speak endangered languages are placed in a constructive environment where people care about their languages and culture. And in cooperation, everyone wins. The Department of Linguistics benefits by having its student engage in real and useful research. The University as a whole is enriched by the presence of these laudable efforts. Graduate students in linguistics are provided with an opportunity to pass on their training and skills. In the process, everyone broadens their cultural knowledge and is motivated of the importance of language preservation.? One of the languages documented so far is the Kemak language spoken by approximately 50,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as the East Timor. There are more than 15 other languages spoken in this newly formed nation, which was recognized as an independent state from Indonesia in 2002. The Kemak language faces a serious threat of extinction as it is no longer widely spoken. To date, there has been very little documentation of the Kemak language. Matias Gomes, an East Timorese student joined the LDP in spring 2004 and worked together with linguistics graduate student, Ryoko Hattori to compile a basic 300-word vocabulary list, a writing system for the language and later the first alphabet picture book in the Kemak language. Their work was later recognized and awarded the Jacob Peace Memorial Award. Matias and Ryoko were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue their work. Since then, they have produced other products such as a recording of a Kemak funeral song and a Kemak sketch grammar. [photo inset - East Timorese students recording sound files. Three East Timorese students, Alvaro, Joao and Nelson, are working on a comparative word list for various dialects of Makasae. Matias, now in his third semster with the LDC, is continuing his work on Ema. Ryoko and Frances, their advisors, look on. Photo by Lisa Ann Ebeling.] [photo inset - Philip Lee] What happens next? Recently, an entrepreneurial business student has been working to take LDP to greater heights. Philip Lee, a Japan-focused MBA student from Malaysia began working with Valerie and the LDP team to write a business plan to transform the LDP into the leading language documentation center in the Asia Pacific region. The business plan was short listed in the semi-finals of the 2005 U.H. Business Plan Competition and the final winner will be announced at the end of this month. When interviewed, Philip?s eyes gleamed with optimism, ?we plan to get state accreditation for The Language Documentation Center (LDC) within the next year. And our five year plan is to position LDC as the premier language documentation center in the Asia Pacific region. We have innovative ideas and determination. The spirit of cooperation that springs from the team will see great success?. Philip adds that the University of Hawaii at Manoa is one of only two universities in the world currently offering a language documentation Masters program and the unique culture in Hawaii that respects diversity promotes the success of this center. ?Our work is in line with the University?s Strategic Plans to position itself as one of the world?s foremost multicultural centers for global and indigenous studies. Yes, maybe my goals for LDC have been rather conservative, as we are truly capable of being the world?s leader in language documentation!? The LDC will hold an exhibition in Bishop Museum on April 2nd and 9th. Its booth will present an interactive world map that allows visitors to select languages on the screen and hear greetings in some of the endangered languages from around the world. The LDC will also demonstrate its virtual museum of languages archived on its website demonstrating a goal in line with the Bishop Museum?s conservation mission. Native speakers who have been working on the project will also be present. These future local language leaders will proudly display creative works of their culture and language. The LDC expresses its appreciation to Bishop Museum for its partnership in this exhibition. ?As we continue to form more partnerships with Hawaiian organizations, we will be able to enlarge our social mission. It is impressive how Hawaii has developed its culture and language and I believe as we have more intercultural exchanges, we will learn and enrich each other?s cultures. We will even help others in preserving their culture?, Philip eyes glitter with optimism again. Come support the language documentation project at the Bishop Museum. Also on display at the Bishop Museum from April 1 onwards is the ?Journey With A King? exhibit and there is a celebration on April 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A special performance will be rendered by the Konan High School Jazz Band from Japan and the Le Jardin Academy Ukulele Choir. ?The Journey With A King? recounts stories of adventure and travel, from King Kalakaua?s personal journal and other interesting exhibits. Lisa Ann Ebeling is a first year MA student in liguistics from California. She has been working with the LDC since Fall 2004. Contact her at: lebeling at hawaii.edu HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia at HawaiiReporter.com Making a Difference... ? 2005 Hawaii Reporter, Inc. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:34:40 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:34:40 -0700 Subject: Chamorro language urged (fwd) Message-ID: Article published Mar 27, 2005 Chamorro language urged By Oyaol Ngirairikl Pacific Sunday News ongirairikl at guampdn.com http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050327/NEWS01/503270306/1002 Hundreds of students competed in "I Fino Chamorro: I Bent?nan I Kettur?-ta," either as individuals reciting poetry or as groups that chanted stories of the ancient Chamorro mariners who lived, loved and died on Guam. It was the second year of the Chamorro Language Competition, and competition was fierce. And while competition usually is viewed as a healthy way to encourage hard work and perseverance in children, the language competition is helping to perpetuate the use of the Chamorro language, said Peter Onedera, a Chamorro instructor at the University of Guam and one of the island's most prolific authors and playwrights. "We're slowly losing sight of our language because there are so few occasions to use it," Onedera said. "English has superseded everything when it comes to communication." The problem created by a Chamorro culture speaking a foreign language is that cultural ideas and values are lost in translation. And once lost, a language and its culture can never be regained. But Onedera said the language competition perpetuates the use of Chamorro language at different levels, requiring students to know the history and the meaning of the words they speak or chant. "One of the criteria when the students are competing is they have to execute the pronunciation and the actions that accompany the verbs and what not," Onedera said. Students from the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands schools again joined Guam's public school students in the competition this year. "Those kids gave so much flavor to the competition because CNMI has more Chamorro language speakers in the younger generations than we do on Guam," Onedera said. "That serves as a kind of impetus for our kids on Guam to know their language better." Onedera hopes that the competition will grow in the future to include students from Department of Defense schools and private schools. "We plan to make this a traditional part of the UOG Charter Day festivities, and hopefully, we'll be joined by other schools," Onedera said. "That's an ideal competition." Several of Guam's students may end up participating in a Chamorro language writing workshop that Onedera is organizing. "It's called 'Ta Tuge,' which means 'to write,' because it's important that our children be knowledgeable in the different forms of Chamorro language. A lot of people think Chamorro is mainly a street language of sorts, but there are levels of Chamorro, such as educational and political," Onedera said. "I'm hoping that we perpetuate the written language so that we can ensure the language doesn't die." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:38:14 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:38:14 -0700 Subject: 'Oh say, can you see' in Navajo? (fwd) Message-ID: 'Oh say, can you see' in Navajo? By Bill Donovan Staff Writer http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/mar/032505navajo.html [photo inset - Katherine Duncum has created an album of patriotic songs which she translated into Navajo and recorded. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)] GALLUP ? Katherine Duncum knew from the beginning that it would not be an easy task recording popular patriotic songs in Navajo. But in the mid-1980s, she decided to try it and as a result recorded "American National Songs in Navajo and English," which has sold out its run of 3,000 tapes. This year she has updated her selections and has come with "American Patriotic Songs," also in English and Navajo and this time in a CD format. With Americans, including many Native Americans, now fighting a war in Iraq, Duncum thought this would be a good time to record patriotic songs in Navajo. Among the tunes on the album are "Amazing Grace," "The Marine Corps Hymn," "Yankee Doodle," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," America the Beautiful," "The Star Spangled Banner," and "God Bless America." "It was a challenge," she said, of her efforts to convert some of the best-known song in the English language into the Navajo language. The problem, as anyone who knows Navajo is aware, that many words in the English language are converted into Navajo by use of a phase that describes what the word means. For example, the Navajo word for telephone would be translated as "something in steel that you talk with it." The challenge then is to convert the English into Navajo and keep the sense of what the English means and at the same time keep to the number of notes in the song. "You just have to fit it in," she said. The 1988 tape received a lot of praise from Navajos and others who praised her for doing something no one else had ever done before. Born in 1940 in a traditional hogan in the Black Mesa area, Duncum received her G.E.D. certificate at the age of 30. She then spent the next 12 years of her life getting a college degree and then her doctorate in religious and philosophical studies from the School of Theology at Claremont, CA. Since then she has taught Navajo culture and language courses at a number of area colleges, including Din College, Northland Pioneer College, Prescott College and Northern Arizona University. She has also taught elementary students at several schools in the Kayenta, Dennehotso and Shonto areas. It's there that she began getting interested in the idea of translating popular English songs into Navajo. "When I first started, the dominant language among the students was Navajo." she said. "Now the dominant language is English." Learning a song in Navajo, she said, is one of the best ways to preserve the Navajo language. She said that she's now in the process of finishing up two more CD collections that will be available this summer. The albums will feature popular Christmas songs such as "Santa Claus is coming to Town" into Navajo. The album of patriotic songs can only be purchased at the present time by contacting Duncum by writing to P.O. Box 1394, Kayenta, AZ 86033. Persons can also call either (928) 697-8268 or 672-2371. The album costs $15. Persons who want it mailed will also be charged a $3.50 fee for postage and handling. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 26 22:41:17 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:41:17 -0700 Subject: Tuned into te reo (fwd) Message-ID: Tuned into te reo 26.03.05 by Geoff Cumming http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10117136 [photo inset - Veeshayne Armstrong says Maori Television has made a huge difference to her and her son Hohaia's Maori language learning. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey] Throughout her 13-year career in Maori broadcasting, Veeshayne Armstrong got by on a limited grasp of te reo. Growing up in Moerewa, both her parents spoke Maori but would never use it at home. "Their attitude was the Maori language wasn't going to do anything for you." Times have changed. Armstrong studied Maori in school but did not become a fluent speaker. Still, she picked up a Maori broadcaster of the year award with Mai FM and has worked in film and television, including a part in the acclaimed The Maori Merchant of Venice. Finally this year she enrolled in an intermediate-level Maori language course at AUT. To be able to go home and switch on Maori TV to hear and put in context what she's learning in the classroom is a huge bonus, she says. Her 8-year-old son, Hohaia, is also a fan of the Maori Television Service. Hohaia attends a kura kaupapa immersion unit as part of his schooling at Newton Central Primary. When he gets home, like many kids his age, he switches on TV. He listens to the news in Maori, watches shows in Maori - his favourite is a surfing show "because one of my best friend's Dad's in it". "He's really excited about it," says Armstrong. "It's another choice to just watching Sticky TV or SpongeBob." Maori households such as Armstrong's won't be the only ones on Monday celebrating the first anniversary of the Maori Television Service. Teacher Karen Leuschke never misses an episode of Korero Mai, the nightly language and cultural instruction programme, with its built-in soap, Akina. "It's the first soap I've ever watched," says Leuschke, the year 12 dean at St Cuthbert's College, who has "not an ounce" of Maori blood. "People know never to ring between 7 and 7.30. I organise my evenings around it. It's got charm, it's got integrity and it's lots of fun." Akina has garnered the sort of viewer loyalty more commonly associated with Coronation Street or Shortland St: its producers flooded with mail when a character is written out, fans writing with condolences or to wish characters luck. The programme uses repeated phrases, with timely interventions by presenter Piripi Taylor, to teach te reo. Episodes are repeated for three days with a revision programme on Sundays. "I knew Maori words but couldn't put them together," says Leuschke, who teaches languages, among other subjects. "The system they use suits me, having a little bit of tikanga [culture] and waiata. "I think it's important for all us to know a little bit of Maori and now I can say I speak a little bit of Maori." In December, the channel released audience research showing that non-Maori outnumbered Maori among the 667,000 who had watched MTS since it started. Leuschke says she often lingers to watch other programmes after Korero Mai. "A lot of TV is very standardised. The people who make Maori TV often seem to be having fun - it's a little more relaxed." When MTS started broadcasting last March, the TAB could have offered short odds on the channel folding within its first year. From the scandal of original CEO John Davy's false credentials to rows over taxpayer-funded productions that never went to air, its birth was as drama-packed and convoluted as any long-running soap. The axe swung on leading characters as wildly as a soap in ratings freefall - Derek Fox, who stepped in after Davy, departed amid sexual harassment allegations to be replaced by Ani Waaka, who left in November. Other heads rolled, including programming boss Joanna Paul and Maori language general manager Joseph Te Rito. The whiff of scandal has quickly lifted and the Maori channel has become just part of the spectrum for unsatisfied couch potatoes. But as National's Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee puts it, the jury is still out on whether MTS is justifying its existence. Its purpose is to promote Maori language and culture "through the provision of a high-quality, cost-effective service ... that informs, educates, and entertains a broad viewing audience, and, in doing so, enriches New Zealand's society, culture, and heritage". While supporters maintain MTS is having a far-reaching impact in the community, they cannot produce the vital audience figures to silence the doubters. Indeed, Neilsen Media Research excludes MTS from ratings surveys because it has yet to pass the 4 per cent threshold among its 1300-strong sample panel. The channel's future under a National-led Government appears bleak. Brownlee says he has yet to see any figures suggesting MTS is meeting its aims. "It's a lot of money for what it's reaching. If they could show they are getting the reach they are supposed to be getting it would be a different story. But I can't see them ever doing that." Administration of MTS costs the Government $13 million a year. Maori broadcasting funder Te Mangai Paho has earmarked $40 million a year to fund MTS programmes for the next three years. In comparison, NZ on Air spends about $62 million to support local content on mainstream TV. Brownlee says National would review the channel's future before committing ongoing funding. While a court decision affirmed the Crown's obligation to promote te reo through TV broadcasting, National believed the Government could meet its obligations by using TVNZ's charter. Brownlee may be missing the widescreen picture. MTS backers say it is not just about the language - the Maori channel generates pride in tikanga (Maori culture) and reveals Maori stories that would otherwise not be heard. It is a focal point for what some refer to as the Maori renaissance - a demonstration of "can do" optimism, which promises far-reaching benefits across society. And it is distinctively Maori - not afraid to take risks, to laugh at itself, to do things differently. Derek Fox, now director of Mana Maori Media, says shows such as Marae DIY and Kai Time On The Road show that reality television need not be staid and formulaic. Frequent use of a live studio, while budget-driven, also adds vitality. "That was the only way we were going to get a bigger bang for our bucks. If we did things the same way as other TV stations it would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that we didn't have." Radio Waatea general manager Willie Jackson says there's no disputing the impact the channel has made in the community. "They have some fabulous bilingual shows like Kai Time On The Road, Marae DIY and Ask Your Auntie. The bilingual approach has been a huge success for them - people will stay tuned if they understand what's happening." Despite these successes, there's a loaves and fishes feel to what's happened so far. Production houses want access to more funding - railing against an agreement with Te Mangai Paho to "cap" production costs at $20,000 a half hour. "We are charged with giving the same quality as we would in a mainstream programme for an absolute fraction of the price," says Kiwa Films executive producer Rhonda Kite. "We do a documentary for TVNZ or TV3 for $100,000 to $140,000 an hour compared with $40,000 an hour for MTS." For Veeshayne Armstrong, MTS means part-time work doing voiceovers and as a voice on films and cartoons dubbed into Maori. "As a parent who sent her son to a kura kaupapa, I think it's really important that it's not just left at school - Maori television is another resource and it's so accessible. It helps to normalise te reo and have it as part of everyday life. "It is helping to bring Maori into the 21st century." Jim Mather, the channel's new chief executive, is conscious of the need to broaden the viewer base and improve market share. He promises more subtitling, particularly on Te Kaea, the nightly news bulletin. More programmes will be aimed at younger viewers - "the Maori speakers of the future". Market research is under way to better understand what audiences want. And a marketing drive to entice new viewers is planned. The channel offers wider benefits for Maori, says Mather. "Over and above revitalising the language and culture, we have opportunities to provide some very positive role modelling, such as Maori business programmes. "There are social development benefits that will come from Maori television as well." Maybe two decades from now the 20th anniversary of Maori Television will be marked by its CEO quoting vital statistics: not just audience ratings but improved Maori academic achievement and lower youth offending - as well as a profitable balance sheet for the Government. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 03:54:58 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:54:58 -0700 Subject: 12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (fwd) Message-ID: 12th Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium Call for Papers Call Deadline: 30-Mar-2005 SILS 12 is hosted by the First Peoples' Cultural Foundation and the University of Victoria, on the University of Victoria Campus. Preference will be given to presentations that describe innovative, holistic approaches to Indigenous language revitalization. Presentations can take the following format: 20 minute talk (plus question period), 1 1/2 hour workshop, panelist in a choice of topics. Suggested topics for talks, workshops and panels include: Weaving Language and Culture Programs Together; Language Immersion Programs; Revitalizing languages without speakers; Repatriation of language recordings; Other: (please feel free to suggest a topic) Application forms and further information are available at http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/ Telephone: (250) 361-3456 Fax: (250) 361-3467 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 03:57:42 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:57:42 -0700 Subject: Dene (Athabaskan) Langauges Conference (fwd) Message-ID: Dene (Athabaskan) Langauges Conference Call for Papers Call Deadline: 15-Apr-2005 The Dene Languages Conference will be held at the University of Victoria on June 6-7, immediately following the ''Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium'' (SILS) on June 2-5. Please send abstracts on any topic relating to Dene languages to me at the address below. Electronic formats are preferred (.pdf or .doc files please; please test for font issues). I am expecting that the talks will last for 20 minutes with 10 minutes for discussion. We will have a digital projector available for the Dene languages conference, and other equipment should be available also. (Please specify your requirements.) The deadline for abstracts is 15 April 2005. Some people will be presenting at both SILS and the Dene languages conference, or at one only. Either way, there is a lot of information about Victoria on the SILS website that will be useful for you. Check it out at: http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/ The on-campus housing page is at: http://housing.uvic.ca/visitor/visitoraccom.php On-campus housing will be the cheapest, but there are many other nice places to stay in Victoria. The SILS website has information on hotels, etc also. It is not necessary to register for SILS if you are only going to attend the Dene languages conference. (There will probably be a small registration fee for the Dene languages conference but details are not known on this yet.) Victoria is on Vancouver Island, Coast Salish territory, a short plane or boat trip from Seattle or Vancouver, which are on the mainland. Because of being on an island, flights can fill up fast, so please take this into account when making your travel plans. Please watch the SILS website for further information on transportation options. We are expecting perhaps 500 people for SILS, so it could be a busy place! The organizers are aware that the timing is short, but the opportunity to hold a Dene languages conference together with SILS was too good to miss. There will be further information forthcoming as the organizers get more organized! Looking forward to seeing you in Victoria in June 2005 for SILS, or the Dene languages conference, or both! --Leslie Saxon (for the organizing committee) (saxon at uvic.ca) PS. Plans are underway for a larger Dene languages conference in Yellowknife at the end of June 2006. We have enlisted the support of some people in the Government of the Northwest Territories and they are very supportive! From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 04:09:44 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:09:44 -0700 Subject: The Northwest Indian Language Institute (fwd) Message-ID: THE NORTHWEST INDIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE SUMMER INSTITUTE 2004 Hosted by the Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon July 6 ? July 23 2004 This year?s NILI summer program will be located at the University of Oregon. We will focus on language learning, language teaching and methodology, TPR, Storytelling, materials development, computer materials generation, storytelling and song. http://babel.uoregon.edu/nili/index.html From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 28 04:14:20 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 21:14:20 -0700 Subject: 26th Annual American Indian Language Development Institute (fwd) Message-ID: 26th Annual American Indian Language Development Institute Power and Powerless: Ideology and Practice in Indigenous Communities June 6, 2005 - July 1, 2005 http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aildi/AILDI2005.htm Our 2005 theme, Power and Powerless: Ideology and Practice in Indigenous Communities, will take into consideration the dichotomy that exists among the stakeholders in American Indian language education. Issues of language, identity, values, and education rights and the question of who the decision-makers are for Native American language practices and methods of teaching will be primary considerations. The theme will be highlighted with special presentations, guest lectures, films and panels. The American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) provides a unique educational experience for teachers of Native children. The AILDI format offers native and non-native teachers the opportunity to become researchers, practitioners, bilingual/bicultural curriculum specialists, and especially effective language teachers. The common concern of language loss, revitalization and maintenance brings educators, parents, tribal leaders and community members to this university setting to study methods for teaching Native languages and cultures and to develop materials. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Mar 28 23:11:44 2005 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:11:44 -0800 Subject: SODA Message-ID: Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA) The modestly named Southern Oregon Digital Archives, created by the Southern Oregon University Library, in Ashland, contains a hidden treasure of full-text pdf versions of hundreds of primary ethnographic, linguistic, and historical sources on the native groups of southern Oregon and adjacent northern California (Takelma, Klamath, Shasta, Modoc, Achumawi, Oregon Athabaskan, and others). You will find here, for example, Dorsey's "The Gentile System of the Siletz Tribes" (1890); Sapir's "Takelma Language of Southwestern Oregon" (1922); all four parts of Gatschet's "The Klamath Indians" (1890) -- even Waterman's "Yurok Geography" (1920). A very useful resource for anyone with an interest in the indigenous languages and cultures of this region. The URL is: http://soda.sou.edu .:.? 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: 1375 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:38:47 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:38:47 -0700 Subject: Miami Language Project - Part 3 (fwd: radio link) Message-ID: Miami Language Project - Part 3 Wednesday, March 30, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18058 Language skills are often developed over a lifetime. But researchers on the Myaamia at Miami University in Oxford have a more daunting task. They work to restore and put into use a centuries-old language that hasn't been spoken conversationally in nearly 45 years. It starts with publication of a Miami language dictionary this spring. Miami Tribe researchers vow to again make it a living language by teaching it to English speaking Miami children. Tom Borgerdring reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (3:39) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:40:29 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:40:29 -0700 Subject: Miami Indian Language Project - Part Two (fwd: radio link) Message-ID: Miami Indian Language Project - Part Two Tuesday, March 29, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18056 The Miami Nation, which once encompassed much of Western Ohio, was lost to white settlers through a series of battles and treaties and finally by forced removal in the mid 1840s. With the tribe's removal, their language declined too. But a joint project of the tribe and Miami University seeks to restore what's known as the Miami-Peoria language. Tom Borgerdring reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (3:48) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:41:32 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:41:32 -0700 Subject: The Myaamia Project Revitalizes Miami Indian Language - Part One (fwd: radio linnk) Message-ID: The Myaamia Project Revitalizes Miami Indian Language - Part One Monday, March 28, 2005 http://www.wksu.org/news/story/18054 A project to recover a Native American language will get a boost this spring with the publication of a dictiionary. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University in Oxford combined tribal knowledge with University resources to bring back a language that was spoken through-out much of Ohio and Indiana prior to statehood. It's the Myaamia Project. Tom Borgerding reports: Realplayer / Windows Media (4:48) From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 30 17:49:52 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:49:52 -0700 Subject: Northern voices, foreign tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Northern voices, foreign tongues Producers are up in arms over a decision by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to replace subtitles with dubbing By SARAH EFRON Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Page R1 Special to The Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050329/ABORIGINAL29/TPEntertainment/Film Inuit film and television productions are going to end up sounding like badly dubbed kung-fu movies. That's the fear of Zacharias Kunuk, director of the 2001 film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), which was shot entirely in the Inuit language, Inuktitut, and was shown around the world with subtitles. Kunuk is joining other filmmakers and politicians in Nunavut to speak out against the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network's new policy of asking producers to dub their programming into other languages instead of subtitling them. "We've been producing films for 15 years and we've never had any trouble producing in Inuktitut," Kunuk says. "Now it's the one TV network that belongs to us aboriginal people of Canada that's giving us a problem. It feels like we're moving backwards." Kunuk spoke at an emotionally charged public consultation last month in Iqaluit, Nunavut, that was organized by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Inuit elders and film and video producers voiced concerns that the network's move to dub aboriginal-language programming into French and English could damage the territory's fledgling TV and film industry and roll back efforts to promote Inuktitut. However, APTN's CEO Jean LaRose, a member of the Odanak First Nation in Quebec, says the new policy will have exactly the opposite effect: It will promote the use of aboriginal languages across Canada. The issue flared up after APTN sent out a request for proposals asking for new dramas, children's shows and series to be dubbed into more than one language: For example, an Inuktitut drama would be dubbed into English and French, while a French series would be dubbed into English and Inuktitut. LaRose says the move prepares them for the transition to HDTV, which can carry four tracks of Secondary Audio Programming, allowing the viewer to select which language they want to listen to. He says this will allow the network to reach more viewers and generate additional revenue. But film and video producers who make programming in Inuktitut have reacted with anger, engaging in a public e-mail debate with LaRose. John Houston, president of Ajjiit, the Nunavut Media Association, an advocacy group for the territory's film and television industry, feels dubbing will reduce the quality of their productions. Houston is a non-aboriginal filmmaker who is fluent in Inuktitut, and his APTN-funded programs feature elders speaking their own language with English subtitles. "When you watch an elder speaking Inuktitut, you might not understand a word he's saying, but a lot more is transmitted than just straight content," Houston says. "You hear the elder pausing. You hear the earnestness in his voice. Taking away an elder's voice and replacing it with an English voice feels like an insult to me. It feels wrong." Feature films like Atanarjuat aren't currently eligible for funding from APTN, but Houston mentions it as an example of an Inuktitut film that reached a wide audience while using subtitles. Houston says if people had the option of listening to an English dub, many would never hear the beauty of the Inuktitut language. He's also concerned that if APTN programming is available in English at the press of a button, young Inuit might not listen in Inuktitut. Nunavut's minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Louis Tapardjuk, recently sent a letter to APTN expressing his concern. "Speakers of aboriginal languages right across Canada are struggling for the very survival of their mother tongues and film and television are very powerful tools to reach out to young people and spark an interest in their language," Tapardjuk says. "When producers are encouraged to provide programming with dubbing in English or French, it undermines our efforts in Nunuvut to promote Inuktitut." Almost all of APTN's aboriginal-language programming is currently in Inuktitut, and LaRose says dubbing will help the network diversify its content. "I know that in the North right now, there is a great concern about the rapid loss of the Inuktitut language," LaRose says. "I can understand their concerns, but at the same time I have to look at the national mandate of the network, which is to program in as many aboriginal languages as we can and give every language an opportunity to be heard. There's been a strong reaction of fear, but we are not trying to take anything away from the Inuit, we're just trying to give other groups the same opportunity to hear their own stories." LaRose says APTN's policies are flexible and he's not closing the door to subtitled programming. "It's not our preference because we'd rather have dubbed versions we can use with the Secondary Audio Programming. However, if a producer says they're doing a documentary with elders and they are adamant that they don't want other voices speaking for them, we'll still work with the producer and come to an agreement." However, LaRose says subtitled programming may be broadcast only on APTN's northern feed and producers will receive lower licence fees, as they won't have the additional cost of dubbing. His comments haven't been much of an assurance to Northern filmmakers, who fear losing their national exposure and wonder if they'll end up with smaller budgets. Some worry that by insisting on using subtitles, their proposals simply won't be approved. And producers like John Houston feel they don't have any time to waste, as they're documenting the last living elders who grew up on the land. LaRose, who is still crossing the country doing public consultations, hopes the emotional debate will die down as people get more information. He says the expectations for the aboriginal broadcaster are extremely high, and everywhere he goes, native people all want the same thing: to see more of their own culture on the TV screen. From fmarmole at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 31 02:01:37 2005 From: fmarmole at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Francisco Marmolejo) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:01:37 -0700 Subject: U.S-Mexico-Canada Higher Education Conference Message-ID: (Francais/Espanol versions below) CONAHEC Conference Announcement - Register Now and Save the Dates! ? Dear Colleagues: Make plans to attend the leading event designed to connect the higher education communities of Canada, Mexico and the United States! Join us if you are interested in developing linkages with key representatives from higher education institutions in the NAFTA region. EVENT: CONAHEC's 10th North American Higher Education Conference "Beyond Boundaries: Building Bridges of Collaboration in Higher Education" LOCATION: San Juan, Puerto Rico DATES: October 12-15, 2005 For more information, visit the conference website (where you will find a link to the online registration system) at: http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 The Call for Proposals is available on the website! We hope to see you in San Juan! ? ********************************************************************** Annonce du colloque de CONAHEC ? Inscrivez-vous maintenant et prenez note des dates ! Ch?rs Coll?gues : Pr?voyez d?s maintenant d?assister au grand ?v?nement qui rassemblera les collectivit?s de l?enseignement sup?rieur du Canada, du Mexique et des ?tats-Unis ! Inscrivez-vous au 10i?me colloque de CONAHEC et profitez d?un tarif sp?cial ! 10i?me colloque nord-am?ricain sur l?enseignement sup?rieur de CONAHEC << Au del? des fronti?res : ?tablir des nouvelles collaborations dans les ?tudes sup?rieures. >> qui aura lieu ? : San Juan, Puerto Rico 12 ? 15 d?octobre, 2005 Visitez le site d?Internet du conf?rence (o? il y a un lien au syst?me de registre en ligne) ? : http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 L?appelle des propositions est disponible dans le site! Nous esperons vous voir ? San Juan ! ? ********************************************************************** Anuncio de la conferencia del CONAHEC ? ?Reg?strese ahora y aparte las fechas! ? Estimados Colegas: Haga planes para participar en el evento m?s importante dise?ado para enlazar a la comunidad de educaci?n superior de Canad?, M?xico y los Estados Unidos. Reg?strese en l?nea en nuestro portal electr?nico y aproveche la cuota especial de registro. X Conferencia de la educaci?n superior en Am?rica del Norte del CONAHEC ? M?s all? de las fronteras: Construyendo puentes de colaboraci?n en la educaci?n superior? que se llevar? a cabo en: San Juan, Puerto Rico 12 al 15 de octubre del 2005 Visita el sitio de Internet de la conferencia (en donde hay un v?nculo al registro en l?nea) en: http://www.conahec.org/conahec/Conferences/SanJuan2005 La Convocatoria para la presentaci?n de ponencias est? disponible en el sitio de Internet! ?Esperamos verle en San Juan! ? Best Regards, Meilleures voeux, Cordiales saludos, Francisco Marmolejo Executive Director Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC) University of Arizona 220 W. 6th St. University Services Annex, Bldg. 300A Rm. 108 PO Box 210300 Tucson, AZ 85721-0300 USA Phone: (520) 621-9080 Fax: (520) 626-2675 E-mail: fmarmole at u.arizona.edu http://conahec.org From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 31 16:14:24 2005 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:14:24 -0700 Subject: NSU to help preserve language (fwd) Message-ID: Thursday, March 31, 2005 [photo inset - The Cherokee Immersion Class Choir sang several songs in traditional Cherokee language Tuesday to celebrate the kick off of a new program at NSU that will work to preserve the language. Photo by Sean Kennedy] NSU to help preserve language By SEAN KENNEDY, Press Staff Writer http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/articles/2005/03/31/news/top_stories/aaalanguage.txt Preservation of traditional tribal language has been an ongoing battle for American Indian tribes across the nation for years. "Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith, in one of the first meetings I had with him after he was elected, told me we need to address the preservation of the Cherokee language," said Northeastern State University President Larry Williams. "He said we must save the native language of the Cherokee people." Thanks to the combined efforts of the Cherokee Nation and NSU, the university will debut a new bachelor of arts in education in Cherokee education this fall. NSU and the Cherokee Nation made the announcement at a joint press conference Tuesday morning at the Gene Branscum Alumni Center. The program will prepare college students to teach Cherokee language and culture for pre-K through 12th grade, with emphasis on speaking, reading and writing the Cherokee language. "It's a long and difficult process to get new programs approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education," said Williams. "We got approval of our program in record time. It usually takes three, four or five years to get a new program approved." NSU received the official seal of approval for the program in February. John Ketcher, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, said this was an important step in preserving the traditional language and culture of the Cherokee people. "For years, the Cherokee ministers kept the Cherokee language alive in their Sunday school classes," said Ketcher. "But now fewer and fewer people are speaking the language. This program is a step in the right direction." Smith said that through the cooperative efforts of the university and the tribe, a strong effort is being made to preserve the language of the Cherokee people. "We need to take a moment and acknowledge the greatness that is going to come from the seed being planted here today," said Smith. A 2002 survey conducted by the Cherokee Nation revealed that less than 7 percent of tribal members in northeastern Oklahoma could speak the language. According to the Fishman Scale of Language Loss, the Cherokee language is about two generations away from extinction. "We always have to be mindful that this is a first step," said Smith. "We need to develop 10,000 new speakers to keep the language alive. This program is teaching teachers to teach the language and the vital importance of the language to our culture. This will help bring our language back from the edge of extinction to the grandeur that it once was." The four-year program will start off with several basic courses offered for students, Elementary Cherokee I, Conversational Cherokee I, Intermediate Cherokee I, Cherokee Conversational Practicum and Cherokee Cultural Heritage. During the course of pursuing their degree, students will take a total of 40 hours in Cherokee language and culture, 40 hours in education, along with required core classes and electives. "This is a great achievement," said Smith. "The Cherokee education degree supports our long-range goal to revitalize the Cherokee language. Young Cherokees want to learn their language, and by certifying language teachers, we can give our kids the chance to study their language in public schools, as well as at home. I thank our education team for their research, and I commend the university for recognizing the need for this degree." Dr. James Pate, NSU vice president for academic affairs, said the college and the Cherokee Nation have a long history of working together, dating back to the university's inception in 1909. To keep the program going, NSU must enroll 18 students by 2010, and have several students graduate by the end of the 2009-2010 school year. "Each of our students enrolled in the program will be provided with a foundation in Cherokee language and culture," Pate said. The new program will also mean new positions at NSU, with a full-time program coordinator and at least two full time faculty members teaching, with a possible third faculty member, Pate said. Pate said the program at NSU will be a model for the nation because it is the only one of its kind at a state university that offers a degree to teach an American Indian language and culture. Western Carolina University is also watching the program, as officials there are considering creating a similar program for the Eastern Band of Cherokees in North Carolina. One of the challenges will be creating a job market for graduates outside the bounds of northeastern Oklahoma, Pate said. But it's something the university is studying.