Modern lessons in an ancient tongue (fwd link)

[phil cash cash]

Modern lessons in an ancient tongue
SDSU offers university-level Mixtec program

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
2:00 a.m. October 10, 2009

COLLEGE AREA — In the glow of a projector casting an image of avocados on a
screen, San Diego State language instructor Angelina Trujillo scribbled words
that the vast majority of people on campus have never heard.

“Tyichi,”  she enunciated, as students repeated after her. “Tyichi. 
Avocado.”

An image of a squash appeared next. “Yiki,”  she said, writing it on the
screen.

The students in Trujillo's class were learning Mixtec, an ancient, indigenous
language of southern Mexico, with the vocabulary lesson that day about fruits
and vegetables. It is the only such university-level instruction in the nation.

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