Indn Words for Science

[Andre Cramblit]

FYI (attached)

Mia - Main Red Pony wrote:

> 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
>


--


André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations
Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC
(http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs
of American Indians

To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to:
IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to:
http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/applefile
Size: 451 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20040303/c4b4b527/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING SCIENCE
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 90112 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20040303/c4b4b527/attachment.obj>