Fw: session on writing systems

[Pat Spaulding]

One thing that wasn't mentioned specifically in the summary was a 
concern of the indigenous group I worked with a few years back -  a 
writing system that would help people bridge to literacy in the 
national language. They wanted to use as much of that orthography as 
they could, but did find pride in the two unique symbols they used.
For what it's worth...
Pat

On Mar 10, 2005, at 10:14 AM, Susan Penfield wrote:

>  
> ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Perry Gilmore
> To: Ofelia Zepeda ; Sue Penfield ; Leisy at aol.com ; Beth Leonard ; 
> Teresa McCarty
> Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 8:07 PM
> Subject: Fwd: session on writing systems
>
> FYI...Perry
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>
> From: Leanne Hinton <hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu>
> Date: March 9, 2005 7:16:31 PM MST
> To: sla_membership at lists.berkeley.edu, linganth at ats.rochester.edu
> Cc: munro at ucla.edu, stantonw at gse.upenn.edu
> Subject: session on writing systems
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Last year we had a session on "New Writing Systems" at the AAA. 
> Because of the change of venue, only three of us gave papers in that 
> session. Some of the people who couldn't come would still like to give 
> their papers this year, but since that would not make a full session, 
> I'd like to invite other people to submit papers on this topic as 
> well.  We need to submit this session by April 1, .  Since I am 
> organizing another session this year and giving a paper in it, I can't 
> participate (other than be an avid audience member), but if someone 
> else will volunteer to chair it and be the official organizer, I'd be 
> happy to put it together with that person.
>
> Here is last year's session abstract:
>
> New Writing Systems
>
> Indigenous peoples and minority groups are developing new writing 
> systems for their languages, sometimes with linguists, and sometimes 
> on their own.  While it might be thought that decisions around the 
> development of a new writing system are primarily about the sounds of 
> the language, in fact such decisions are fraught with great social and 
> political issues.  Feeding into the orthographic design are concerns 
> of ethnic identity and alliances, and bias toward or away from writing 
> systems in the dominant language due to political concerns. The 
> specific goals for use of the writing system will also be a factor, 
> such as whether it is for recording of a healthy living language, or 
> for the teaching of an endangered language, and whether there is a 
> large pool of scholarly writing on the language that the community 
> must consult for the sake of language revitalization.  Linguists and 
> language learners may want a system that clearly specifies 
> pronunciation, but speakers don't need every sound specified and may 
> prefer a simpler system, or one that has symbols and spelling rules 
> like a system they are already familiar with. New writing systems may 
> be for indigenous peoples who have traditionally entirely oral means 
> of expression, or may be developed by or for minority groups to 
> replace older writing systems, as an expression of a new kind of 
> ethnic identity or a new relationship to the dominant society.  Whose 
> agenda is met by a particular orthographic design, what needs and uses 
> the new writing system fulfils, and how it reverberates in the 
> community it is designed for, is the topic of this session.
>
> --
>
>  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>  Prof. Leanne Hinton
>  Chair, Dept. of Linguistics
>  1203 Dwinelle Hall
>  University of California
>  Berkeley, CA 94720-2650
>
>  email: hinton at calmail.berkeley.edu
>  fax: (510) 643-5688
>  phone: (510) 643-7621
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
Rosetta Stone - a resource for language revitalization
http://www.RosettaStone.com/languagerescue

Patricia A. Spaulding
Endangered Languages Program
Fairfield Language Technologies
135 West Market St.
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
USA
Phones:
800.788.0822
540.432.6166
ext. 3334
Fax:
540.432.0953
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