chInUk lu7lu this weekend!...and...SSILA Bulletin 92 (fwd)
David Robertson
drobert at TINCAN.TINCAN.ORG
Tue Aug 10 07:39:21 UTC 1999
klahowyam!
Note: The Chinook Gathering is this weekend at Grand Ronde Community, um,
south of Portland, Oregon. (My geography is rusty!) Easy to find, and if
you haven't made up your mind yet, come on down and 'wawa' with us a bit.
It looks to be a great time again this year. Directions on request.
And now: From the latest Society for the Study of the Indigenous
Languages of America email bulletin...this will give you some idea of the
importance of what the Grand Ronde Tribes and Tony J. are trying to do...
Endangered languages in the news
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From Martha Ratliff (martha_ratliff at wayne.edu) 30 Jul 1999:
I thought you would be interested to know about two recent stories on
endangered languages in popular publications.
1) The August 1999 issue of the _National Geographic_ features stories
on "Global Culture", and includes an article on "Vanishing Cultures"
which was written with input by Joe Grimes and quotes Michael Krauss
and Ken Hale. That issue also includes a linguistic map of the world!
(It paints continents in shades of the same hue, suggesting relationship
where there is none, but no linguistic map is perfect...)
2) Guy Gugliotta, reporter with the _Washington Post_, is preparing a
big story on endangered languages (with an emphasis on language pre-
servation) for his paper, and has been talking with a lot of people,
I'm sure a number of you. He says he's hoping it will appear the
weekend of August 7th. I'll let you know when it does in fact appear.
--Martha Ratliff
Chair, Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation
Linguistic Society of America
(martha_ratliff at wayne.edu)
B
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92.2 REQUESTS FOR COLLABORATION
* The Indigenous Language Institute/IPOLA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From ipola (ipola at roadrunner.com) 14 July 1999:
The Institute for the Preservation of the Original Languages of the
Americas (IPOLA) is beginning a project ("The Indigenous Language
Institute", ILI) to centralize crucial information on indigenous
language programs in North America, the goal of which is to enable
indigenous communities to share and learn from each other to make
their programs even more effective.
Many communities are now looking for ways to revive, (re)vitalize,
and stabilize their heritage languages. Other communities have already
experimented with many different types of language programs, but there
is no composite data on what these programs are, what problems and
issues surround a program, how a program is operated, what needs there
may be in existing programs, and how a community goes about setting
a program up.
The purpose of this data collection project is to gather information
from as many different types of programs as possible, analyze their
common methods, processes, effectiveness, and problems/issues, and
create an organized data base. The information then will be dissemin-
ated to a wide range of communities and individuals who plan to create
new programs.
We would like to request your assistance in (1) identifying language
programs, either community-based or (tribal/private/public) school-based,
and (2) getting specific information (see the topics below). Working
from your recommendations, we will contact a number of programs and make
arrangements for our two graduate student researchers (Mary Linn and
Sheilah Nicholas) to make site visits. The result of each visit will
be a report about the program, and a draft will be shared with the
individuals Mary and Sheilah have met with for comments or modifications.
We want to make sure that the information is accurate and that it can
be shared with other Native American communities. We will follow the
same procedure with any information we obtain directly from you.
The first phase of the project will be restricted to language programs
in the United States. Thereafter (in about 8 to 12 months) we anticipate
expanding the coverage to Canada.
Thank you in advance for your willingness to assist us in this important
project. All responses should be directed to IPOLA, at the address below.
--Inee Yang Slaughter
Executive Director, IPOLA
--Akira Yamamoto
ILI Oversight Committee
Institute for the Preservation of the Original Languages of the Americas
560 Montezuma #201-A, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
(ipola at roadrunner.com)
The following topics will be covered in the site visits:
[B-------------------------------------------------------
1. Community profile: Location; Total population; Estimated number
of speakers; Position of the language program in the community
(degree of the community support -- including financial support)
2. Language program profile
a. What is your language program?
b. How the program was established (e.g., as a part of the tribal
school, of the public school, of the continuing education, etc.),
and who was instrumental in establishing it (e.g., a language and
culture department, a language committee, a volunteer/advocate
group, a church group, etc.)?
3. The goal of the program
a. Long range goal
b. Immediate or specific objectives: what is aimed at and when it
is to be accomplished.
c. How the specific objectives are to be accomplished (e.g., by
teaching in a tribal school class, how often, how long for each
session; by implementing a master-apprentice approach; etc.).
d. Who manages it (e.g. a designated tribal office, the Bilingual
Education Unit in the school district, etc.) Also, who finances
it (grant money from ANA, by the tribe, etc.).
4. Who are the teachers? How are teachers selected, recruited, and
trained?
5. Who are the learners?
6. What materials are used? How are language materials prepared and
produced? What are the materials (documentation, grammar, dictionary,
books, interactive materials, photo-books, language tapes, language
cards, etc.)?
7. Are there language researchers separate in addition to teachers?
If so, how are they recruited and trained? What do they do? Do
those researchers actively participate in the language program?
How do they contribute to the goals of the program?
8. Are there curriculum and materials developers in addition to
teachers? How are they recruited and trained? Have you (or they)
developed your curriculum? How about language teaching materials?
9. Results: How long has the program been running? How have the
objectives been accomplished? What has been effective?
10. Needs: What are the needs of your program? What would make your
program even more effective and successful?
11. Sharing: Can the curriculum, language teaching materials, or any-
thing else be shared with other communities? Can we give your name
(or someone else in the program) to others who need assistance in
planning and developing a curriculum and/or language teaching
materials? Or is it easier for IPOLA to have a copy of relevant
materials for dissemination to those who seek assistance?
The field linguists
-------------------
* Sheilah Nicholas is a member of the Hopi Tribe in Arizona and a
doctoral student in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona.
She participated in the American Indian Language Development Institute
(AILDI) at the University of Arizona first as a student and then as a
teaching assistant. She served as Coordinator of the Sixth Annual
Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Conference(SILC) which AILDI hosted
in conjunction with the 1999 summer institute.
* Mary S. Linn is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics at the University of
Kansas. She has been working with the Euchee (Yuchi) community in
Oklahoma since 1994. Mary has been involved in language maintenance and
revitalization in Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Native American Languages
Development Institute, the Euchee Language Class of Sapulpa, and with
the Oklahoma Native Languages Association. She has been one of the key
participants in language workshops and training programs for Native
language teachers in Oklahoma.
* Survey of language revitalization strategies
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From Joan Smith/Kocamahhul (j.smith at ling.canterbury.ac.nz) 27 July 1999:
We are writing both to seek help and to offer help. We have a small
three-year grant to survey research and applied programs on language
revitalization (project title: "Strategies for Language Revitalization").
The goal is to assemble a basic resource/reference on strategies,
techniques, and methods used to revitalize endangered languages or to
help speakers and communities in language maintenance and in resisting
language shift. In many instances, appropriate strategies require an
understanding of causes of language shift and language endangerment,
and therefore part of the project is also addressed to these causes.
We hope also to determine, at least in part, which strategies/techniques
are more valuable and which are less fruitful in general.
We would like to ask help with our project. We would be very grateful
to you for any information you could send us of the following sort:
(1) About language revitalization (and related) projects you know about
(anywhere in the world).
(2) About the various methods, techniques, strategies utilized to resist
language loss and to strengthen or revitalize the language.
(3) About things attempted that have been successful, and also things
not so useful.
(4) About causes of language shift and language endangerment in the
situation(s) you are aware of, or factors favoring maintenance.
(5) Names of other people, projects, organizations, publications, web-
sites, and the like which we may not know about which are relevant to
the project.
In return, we will be happy to share with you the final product --
the compilation and evaluation of resources and techniques in language
revitalization -- when we have finished the project. We anticipate
it being a valuable general resource/reference for individuals and
organizations concerned with this problem.
If you want to send information in French, German, or Spanish, we don't
mind (or in Finnish or Turkish, too, for that matter). We prefer e-mail,
but regular mail and fax are also fine.
Thank you in advance,
--Joan Smith/Kocamahhul & Lyle Campbell
Linguistics Department, University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
fax: 64-3-3642969
(j.smith at ling.canterbury.ac.nz)
(l.campbell at ling.canterbury.ac.nz)
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