[Algonquiana] Fwd: Mohican language consultation?

[Monica Macaulay]

Hi folks,

I got the message below but am not really able to participate.  I’ve emailed with Prof. Wheeler and she’s given me permission to forward this to the list.  So if anyone can help her out, please respond to her (she’s just joined the list).

- Monica

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Wheeler, Rachel" <wheelerr at iupui.edu>
> Subject: Mohican language consultation?
> Date: January 11, 2015 at 12:30:46 PM PST
> To: "mmacaula at wisc.edu" <mmacaula at wisc.edu>
> 
> Dear Prof. Macauley,
> 
> I’m a historian teaching in the Religious Studies department at IUPUI. My work is mostly in the 18th century, but I have begun a collaboration with a musicologist and with members of the Stockbridge Mohican community in Wisconsin to try to bring back to life some Mohican language hymns preserved in the Moravian Archives. I visited the reservation in November and met with a number of members of the church community and some interested in language revival. My music colleague (Sarah Eyerly) specializes in early Moravian music, so she has been able to put the original music back with the texts. Sarah and I and a Stockbridge musician, Brent Michael Davids have been talking about creating a mini-hymnal for use in the church. Brent is also interested in perhaps writing new music for the hymn texts. One issue is pronunciation. None of us are linguists, so I’m hoping to find some help from linguists who work with native languages. I have Carl Masthay’s publication of Schmick’s Mahican dictionary, but still, I don’t really know how to use it. The German phonetical spelling is likely not so helpful to modern English speakers, so I’m hoping to find some better way of rendering the 18th texts pronounceable. 
> 
> I am currently in the process of applying for an IU grant for some summer funding, and I have room to ask for funds for consultants. Would you be willing and able to help with this? When I was on the reservation, there was talk of a summer gathering in Stockbridge of Algonquian peoples, devoted to language, culture, and religion. I am hoping to attend, and get a better sense of if and how I can help make the Moravian sources more available and useable to those interested in Mohican language.
> 
> best wishes,
> Rachel
> 
> 
> Rachel Wheeler, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Religious Studies
> Cavanaugh Hall 335
> 425 University Boulevard
> Indianapolis, IN 46202
> phone (317) 274-7394
> fax (317) 278-3354
> wheelerr at iupui.edu
> 
> To Live upon Hope: Mohicans and Missionaries in the Eighteenth-Century Northeast (Cornell, 2008)
> http://amzn.com/0801478898
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/algonquiana/attachments/20150113/a4f5c767/attachment.htm>