As ice thaws, Arctic peoples at a loss for words (fwd)

[MiaKalish@LFP]

I saw that. I read that Latin is the 2nd language in Italy? Probably the
first at the vatican. I thought that was So Cool.

People don't think about this very much, like they take fonts for granted.

By the way, since we all now know that Gary might be trying to port ( :-),
if he uses Flash, there are sized templates, because the screen is smaller,
but the pixel sizes haven't really changed. You need to squash the stuff,
and so by using a template for the target device (yes, unfortunately for
developers and happily for language diversity, they are all different
sizes), you see what your workspace is. Works very nicely.

Mia

----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Penfield" <sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: As ice thaws, Arctic peoples at a loss for words (fwd)


> Mia,
> Your last comment was a sad, but possibly very true, footnote about the
> results of a predominantly English focus. This disscusion thread
(including
> the 'food labels' one) reminds me of something my daughter mentioned
> recently. While studying Latin in Rome  last summer, she learned that her
> teacher, one of the Pope's Latinists who is very committed to making Latin
a
> living language again, changed all of the ATMs in Vatican City to Latin
> only -- hmm, another issue in language and technology? Food for thought ?
> S.
>
> Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.
> Department of English
> Second Language Acquisition and Teaching
> Indigenous Languages and Technology
> Language, Reading and culture
> University of Arizona,
> Tucson, AZ 85721
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "MiaKalish at LFP" <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>
> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 8:30 AM
> Subject: Re: As ice thaws, Arctic peoples at a loss for words (fwd)
>
>
> >I think this is just one dimension of the Language Extension Issue.
> >Computer
> > technology is the one I am most familiar with. Living languages just
> > naturally create words, like x-ray, photomicrograph, and carbuerator.
SUV.
> > Railroad. AK-47. For others, the creation of just one new word requires
> > weeks of meetings. Possibly, the new word will never happen in that
> > language, and people will use English.
> >
> > Mia
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "phil cash cash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
> > To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> > Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 10:44 AM
> > Subject: spam: As ice thaws, Arctic peoples at a loss for words (fwd)
> >
> >
> > As ice thaws, Arctic peoples at a loss for words
> >
> > By Alister Doyle
> > http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-11-2004_pg4_8
> >
> > WHAT are the words used by indigenous peoples in the Arctic for
> > Â~ShornetÂ~T, Â~SrobinÂ~T, Â~SelkÂ~T, Â~Sbarn owlÂ~T or Â~SsalmonÂ~T? If you donÂ~Rt know,
> > youÂ~Rre not alone.
> >
> > Many indigenous languages have no words for legions of new animals,
> > insects and plants advancing north as global warming thaws the polar
> > ice and lets forests creep over tundra.
> >
> > Â~SWe canÂ~Rt even describe what weÂ~Rre seeing,Â~T said Sheila Watt-Cloutier,
> > chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference which says it represents
> > 155,000 people in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia.
> >
> > In the Inuit language Inuktitut, robins are known just as the Â~Sbird with
> > the red breastÂ~T, she said. Inuit hunters in north Canada recently saw
> > some ducks but have not figured out what species they were, in
> > Inuktitut or any other language.
> >
> > An eight-nation report this month says the Arctic is warming twice as
> > fast as the rest of the planet and that the North Pole could be
> > ice-free in northern hemisphere summer by 2100, threatening indigenous
> > cultures and perhaps wiping out creatures like polar bears. The report,
> > by 250 scientists and funded by the United States, Canada, Russia,
> > Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, puts most of the blame on
> > a build-up of heat-trapping gases from human use of fossil fuels like
> > coal and oil.
> >
> > The thaw may have some positive spin-offs for people, for instance by
> > making chill Arctic seas more habitable for cod or herring or by
> > shifting agricultural lands and forestry north. But on land, more and
> > more species will be cramming into an ever-narrowing strip bounded to
> > the north by the Arctic Ocean, threatening to destroy fragile Arctic
> > ecosystems from mosses to Arctic foxes or snowy owls.
> >
> > Elk shock: In Arctic Europe, birch trees are gaining ground and Saami
> > reindeer herders are seeing roe deer or even elk, a forest-dwelling
> > cousin of moose, on former lichen pastures.
> >
> > Â~SI know about 1,200 words for reindeer- we classify them by age, sex,
> > colour, antlers,Â~T said Nils Isak Eira, who manages a herd of 2,000
> > reindeer in north Norway.
> >
> > Â~SI know just one word for elk - Â~QsarvvaÂ~R,Â~T said 50-year-old Eira. Â~SBut
> > the animals are so unusual that many Saami use the Norwegian word
> > Â~QelgÂ~R. When I was a child it was like a mythical creature.Â~T
> >
> > Thrushes have been spotted in Saami areas of the Arctic in winter,
> > apparently too lazy to bother migrating south. Foreign ministers from
> > the eight Arctic countries are due to meet in Reykjavik on Nov. 24 but
> > are sharply divided about what to do. The United States is most opposed
> > to any drastic new action.
> >
> > The US is the only country among the eight to reject the 127-nation
> > Kyoto protocol meant to cap emissions of greenhouse gases. President
> > George W Bush says the UN pact would cost too much and unfairly
> > excludes developing states.
> >
> > In some more southerly areas of the Arctic, like CanadaÂ~Rs Hudson Bay,
> > receding ice means polar bears are already struggling. The bearsÂ~R main
> > trick is to pounce when seals surface to breathe through holes in the
> > ice. The Arctic report says polar bears Â~Sare unlikely to survive as a
> > species if there is a complete loss of summer-ice coverÂ~T. Restricted to
> > land, polar bears would have to compete with better-adapted grizzly or
> > brown bears. Â~SThe outlook for polar bears is stark. My grandson will
> > lose the culture I had as a child,Â~T said Watt-Cloutier, referring to
> > Inuit hunting cultures based on catching seals, bears or whales.
> >
> > Salman, owls: Around the Arctic, salmon are swimming into more northerly
> > waters, hornets are buzzing north and barn owls are flying to regions
> > where indigenous people have never even seen a barn.
> >
> > Watt-Cloutier said indigenous peoples lacked well-known words for all of
> > them.
> >
> > The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report says that the region
> > is set to warm by 4-7 degrees centigrade (7-13 degrees Fahrenheit) by
> > 2100, twice the rate of the rest of the globe. The Arctic warms fast
> > partly because dark ground and water, once uncovered, soaks up much
> > more heat than snow and ice.
> >
> > Â~SOverall, forests are likely to move north and displace tundra,Â~T said
> > Terry Callaghan, a professor of Arctic ecology at the University of
> > Lund, Sweden. Â~SThat will bring more species - birds that nest in trees,
> > beetles that live in bark, fungiÂ~T.
> >
> > The lack of words to describe newcomers does not stop at animals and
> > plants. Â~SWords like Â~QthunderstormÂ~R donÂ~Rt exist because they are
> > phenomena indigenous peoples have never known,Â~T said Robert Corell,
> > chair of the ACIA study. reuters
>
>