Sunday, August 12, 2007 (SF Chronicle)<br><br>
Young Chilean keeps nearly extinct languages alive<br><br>
Jen Ross, Chronicle Foreign Service<br><br>
(08-12) 04:00 PDT Santiago, Chile --<br>
While most 16-year-old boys are busy playing video games or worrying<br>
about girls, Joubert Yanten spends most of his spare time reading dictionaries<br>
and singing tribal songs.<br><br>
In the heart of Chile's bustling capital, this teen finds a place to<br>
meditate amid the plants on the patio of his family's modest home. He hums<br>
to himself, in the high-pitched tone of a pubescent boy. Minutes later,<br>
his voice deepens, and he seems to enter a sort of trance. Guttural sounds<br>
escape his mouth, as he pronounces the inflections of this native tongue<br>
with obvious ease.<br><br>
Yanten is speaking Selk'nam, the language of an extinct aboriginal group<br>
that lived in the Tierra del Fuego islands off southern Chile and<br>
Argentina. They were among the last native communities in South America to<br>
be settled, in the late 19th century.<br><br>
When the Spaniards arrived in Chile, 11 languages were in widespread use:<br>
Quechua, Aymara, Rapanui, Chango, Kunza, Diaguita, Mapudungun, Chono,<br>
Kawesqar, Yagan and Selk'nam. Today, only the first three remain.<br><br>
Experts now consider Yanten to be the only living speaker of a language<br>
that died with the last ethnic Selk'nam in the 1970s.<br><br>
His obsession began at age 8, when he wrote an elementary school project<br>
on Chile's native groups. "It frustrated me that no one really saw the<br>
magnitude of the extinction of an entire race in the south," he said. "Now<br>
you'll only find a couple of indigenous faces; it's really sad."<br><br>
But learning a language when there is no one to speak it with is no small<br>
task. Yanten used dictionaries and audiocassettes of interviews and<br>
shamanic chants, recorded by Jesuit missionaries.<br><br>
The teen leafs through the photocopied pages of a Selk'nam dictionary he<br>
borrowed from the library, which includes special sections on grammar and<br>
sentence structure. He explains that Selk'nam differs from Spanish in that<br>
the object comes at the beginning of a sentence, followed by the subject<br>
and the verb.<br><br>
He then pulls out a worn CD and plops it into his player. The low-pitched<br>
chant of a medicine woman fills the room, while Yanten sings along in<br>
perfect harmony.<br><br>
Experts say there are precedents for reviving extinct languages, and the<br>
use of songs is key to the process of learning pitch and intonation.<br><br>
"Through recordings, people can understand the mechanics and grammar of a<br>
language," said Arturo Hernandez, a language professor with the Catholic<br>
University of Temuco, in southern Chile. "Listeners can imitate sounds and<br>
learn to speak in a less technical way, just like someone who learns a<br>
language using a CD or DVD. ... What's surprising in this case is that<br>
this is not a professional, but a boy who began learning at the age of 8."<br><br>
In an age when more than half of the world's 6,000 languages are nearing<br>
extinction, Hernandez says Yanten's quest to revive Selk'nam won't be<br>
easy, but could make waves with the right media coverage.<br><br>
A straight-A student, Yanten is something of a child prodigy.<br>
Besides Selk'nam and Spanish, he also speaks fluent Mapudungun - the<br>
language of Chile's largest indigenous group - the Mapuche. He considers<br>
himself only semi-versed in the native languages of Onikenk, Haush,<br>
Kawesqar, and Quechua - not to mention English.<br><br>
He's also learning Yagan - a nearly extinct language from Chile's far<br>
south. He's been learning from its last living speaker, Christina<br>
Calderon, for three years, on the phone and by Internet messages. She has<br>
sent him recordings of songs and tribal stories. Yanten has also traveled<br>
to visit her in remote Tierra del Fuego, most recently on a trip financed<br>
by a Chilean television station.<br><br>
But Yanten's love affair with language doesn't end with words; he is also<br>
composing songs in Selk'nam. In an effort to popularize traditional native<br>
music, he is fusing it with modern electronic beats, and working on a demo<br>
CD with friends.<br><br>
"Music uses language to connect people in a communication community,"<br>
said Rodrigo Torres, an ethno-musicologist from the Universidad de Chile.<br>
"Music has the power to penetrate where logic and reason don't, creating a<br>
type of emotional connection, which is very positive."<br><br>
Yanten's mother, Ivonne Gomez, a housewife, believes there may be a<br>
mystical element to his exceptional linguistic abilities.<br><br>
"I've always believed that the spirits of his ancestors are with him,"<br>
she said. "He goes through many changes of voice and of mental state."<br><br>
Her great-grandfather was Selk'nam, something she hid from her son when<br>
he was younger.<br>
"I never wanted to say anything because when I was in school, kids used<br>
to tease me and call me 'Indian,' " she explained. "That made me sad, so I<br>
said to myself, 'Why should I tell that to my son?' "<br><br>
But by the time Yanten was 12, his linguistic abilities were confirmed by<br>
a university professor. So his mother told him about his ancestry, and<br>
started recording his singing and encouraging him to perform. He now gives<br>
performances every two or three months at universities and museums in<br>
Santiago.<br><br>
Yanten has recorded two CDs of Selk'nam music, using his own savings from<br>
part-time work at a grocery store. His father is an artisan, and his<br>
lower-middle-class family had to take out loans to finance his unusual<br>
passion. Yanten applied for cultural grants from the government, but was<br>
rejected because he's younger than the minimum age of 18.<br><br>
So Yanten has teamed up with a cultural group called Fuego Ancestral<br>
(Ancestral Fire), which promotes the culture of Tierra del Fuego<br>
indigenous, through documentaries, musical presentations, talks, and<br>
workshops on traditional medicine.<br>
"People can identify with the spirituality of indigenous cultures, and<br>
their knowledge, culture and language are all an important part of<br>
connecting ourselves with nature and with our past," said Oscar<br>
Galleguillos, director of Fuego Ancestral. "And I don't think you have to<br>
be of native ancestry. We're all members of a tribe. There's the French<br>
tribe. The North American tribe. The Chilean."<br>
Yet lack of financial support has frustrated Yanten and those who work to<br>
preserve Chile's indigenous heritage.<br>
"It's unfortunate that in our country, culture gets no support," said<br>
Juan<br>
Carlos Avilez, an anthropologist from the rural town of Curacavi, who<br>
recently came to see Yanten perform at a Santiago museum. "Not only should<br>
the state be helping this special boy, but a university should study and<br>
work with him." ----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
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