Native Languages and 'science'

[Mia - Main Red Pony]

good ness gracious, this was Moonhawk and Sakej Henderson. Moonhawk was a dear, dear friend who passed away 2 years ago. I met Sakej only through his words. . . but Moonhawk held Sakej in highest regard. 

Thank you for this email; when I communicate with others, I am reminded about how much a "Western" concept people seem to think science is. In fact, the people who lived here before the colonists had calendars, ways of measuring, building, healing, understanding, learning, and to my great pleasure, stealing horses. 

I think of these things as "science". I guess most people don't. 

But I liked your email, and the charming reminder, through the Universe, from my beloved friend, who I truly miss. 

sincerely, 
Mia
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MM Smith 
  To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:32 PM
  Subject: Native Languages and 'science'


  I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion.

  The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.'


  http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm

  In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992?


    Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned

    (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at.
    Noun/verb-dominated Languages

    And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'.

    (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity you give to other things gives you access to other forces.

    Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something.

    Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate.
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