Hidatsa update

[David Kaufman]

Thanks, John B., for your response and update on Hiraca.  Glad to hear from you and know you're still involved in the tribe's efforts to revitalize it.

Also, I wanted to ask the list about Biloxi.  I was informed that there are a lot of texts available.  I'm not sure if it's still spoken or if it's one of the unfortunate extinct Siouan languages.  Also, I'm wondering if anyone is currently involved in its research.  Since I'm still willing and able to work on a Siouan language, and since right now it's rather difficult financially for me to travel across the country to do fieldwork, I feel I'd be in a very good position to study an "extinct" language which involves only written materials and texts.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get more info on this language and its current status and where I may be able to get hold of copies of its texts?

Thanks.

Dave Kaufman

John Boyle <jpboyle at uchicago.edu> wrote:
Hello, I'm wondering what the status is right now of work on the Hiraca (Hidatsa) and Hocak (Winnebago) languages.  I have not seen list email correspondence from John Boyle recently, whom I know was working on Hiraca (at least he was a couple of years ago when I visited Chicago).  I wouldn't mind getting hold of any new documentation, dictionaries, updated grammars, or any other materials which may have been recently published, or which I may obtain for my own library and self-study purposes. I recently sent an email regarding Cherokee and Hawaiian.  (I take it by the lack of response that there are no Siouanists out there also delving into these non-Siouan languages, or know of anyone who does.)  These are the two indigenous languages I'm putting most of my efforts into right now, but I always keep an eye on Hiraca, Hocak, and some other Siouan languages as well, although I'm not formally or professionally involved in working on these languages.  It's strictly for my own
 information and personal interest. Thanks. Dave Kaufmandvklinguist2003 at yahoo.com

---------------------------------




Hi All,


Well, I'm still working on Hidatsa.  I have just completed a dissertation chapter on relative clauses which is more or less ready to go.  It is pretty theoretical with a lot of syntactic trees, but if anyone would like a copy, I'd be happy to send a pdf.  I have also spent a good chunk of the summer entering Wes Jones' Word List/Dictionary into an excel spread sheet, so that it is searchable.  Unfortunately, I use fonts that are probably not compatible for PC users.  I hope to do a find and replace in the near future so that it is available for the schools on the reservation and anyone else who would like a copy.  Throughout the coming year, I plan on checking all of the words and adding more to the list.  All in all, it is a really good word list although some of the non-traditional words are not agreed upon by some people, so we'll want to flag those.
        We are also working on lesson plans and grammar exercises for the schools to ensure that we are in line with all of the "No Child Left Behind" guidelines.  In addition, we hope to be completing a "Sketch" for Lincolm on Hidatsa within the next year and a half.  With regards to texts, I have completed interlinear breakdowns for all of the Lowie and Earth Lodge texts in addition to several others, giving us a total of 13 completed texts (which is over 1150 lines).  There is still some inconsistency within the texts as my analysis has changed over the years, so I wouldn't feel so comfortable giving these out.  In addition, some of the Hidatsa feel that some of these stories shouldn't be told to outsiders, so we still have to work through that culturally sensitive point.
        Other than that, things are going well on Ft. Berthold.  The new immersion programs are working well for the younger children and the high school programs are becoming more uniform in their content.
        With regards to Hocank, I assume that Helmbrecht is still actively working on the language and I know that there are very active language revitalization programs going on on all of the reservations.


So that's what's going an as far as I know.


All the best,


John (Boyle not Koontz)

		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
vote.yahoo.com - Register online to vote today!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/siouan/attachments/20041009/1c82ec86/attachment.htm>