Indn Words for Science

[Mia - Main Red Pony]

Hello. 

In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to ask, especially for people working on revitalization. 

Do your languages have words for science? 

I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, cloud, mountain, rain. 

Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". 

So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? Some? 

You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. 

I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and sentences to be collected. 

I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, would not exist. 

The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms linguistically. 

Thanks in advance for your help. 

Mia Kalish

PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be just a Perfect Project!

"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.  Alfred North Whitehead

Mia Kalish, M.A. 
PhD Student, Computer Science
Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352
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