Native American Nuuchahnulth language gets first dictionary (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Native American Nuuchahnulth language gets first dictionary

[phot inset - The Native American language has been in steady decline
ever since English speakers colonised North Western America in the 19th
Century. Picture / Reuters]

26.05.05 4.00pm
by Ian Herbert
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10127646

The language known to the dwindling band of Native Americans who speak
it as 'Nuuchahnulth' (pronounced Noo-cha-noolth) is like few others in
its spectacular range of dialects and its capacity to convey complex
ideas through simple words.

'Nuuchahnulth' itself means 'along the mountains', a reference to the
inaccessible Vancouver Island mountain range on Canada's Western coast
where it is spoken.

The language has been in steady decline ever since English speakers
colonised North Western America in the 19th Century, reducing those
able to speak it from 3500 in 1881 to around 300 today - and most of
them aged over 60.

Salvation may now have arrived, however, with the first dictionary of
the language to be created in its 5000-year existence, which has been
completed by a Canadian-born linguist based at Newcastle University.

The 537-page book is being despatched to Vancouver Island to support the
efforts of elders to revive Nuuchahnulth among younger members of the
community's 10,000 population, who have drifted into the predominant
use of English.

Vital to the preservation of Nuuchahnulth (which is better known as
'Nootka') has been the work of the anthropologist and linguist Edward
Sapir who from 1910 to 1924 travelled through North America researching
native languages.

He chronicled Nuuchahnulth at a time when it was spoken by young and old
alike but after his death, in 1939, his work was waylaid. It reappeared
only in the 1970s, since when it has remained in the archives of the
American Philosophical Society.

It has proved as vital to Newcastle's Dr John Stonham, whose team of
researchers used a computer programme to analyse Sapir's
extraordinarily detailed notes, creating a database of approximately
150,000 words of the language.

Dr Stonham has been working at Nuuchahnulth for 20 years. Learning the
language - which has three basic vowels, 40 consonants and a very
complex sound structure when spoken - will not be easy for the young
Vancouver Islanders.

Nuuchahnulth encompasses around 15 languages, each with distinct
variations in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, which are
acknowledged in the dictionary. Some differ to the same extent as
Geordie and Cockney, though one of the southerly forms is entirely
incomprehensible to the others.

The language is even more complex in its oral, story-telling forms.
Speakers are known to employ a set of hisses or extra consonants
depending on whether they are talking to or about children, fat or
short people, lame people, hunchbacked men or anyone who has an eye
defect.

The dictionary provides hope to those who have expressed concern about
the death of many of the world's minority languages.

Scientists warn that up to 95per cent of the world's 6000 languages are
heading for extinction, causing irreparable damage to human
civilisation, because of encroachment on the territories of indigenous
peoples, mass migration and the desire to learn the dominant languages
of the world, notably English.

Of the 176 living languages spoken by the tribes of North America, 52
have become extinct since AD1600. Approximately 30 of the 235 languages
spoken by the Aboriginal Australians have disappeared altogether.

The dictionary provides a fascinating insight into the essential
vocabulary needs of those making a life on a remote coastline. Entries
include the words for 'mosquitos', 'high rubber boots' and 'to be
secluded in the house observing taboos, so as not to spoil a hunter's
luck.' (The communities' superstitions are reflected in a tradition of
wearing head-dresses and masks to represent supernatural wolves and
serpents.)

Despite the islanders' evolution from communal houses to more modern,
prefabricated homes built with the timber on which their small economy
is largely based, communities remain tight-knit.

There is a "very strong desire by many of the younger people to speak
their native tongue," said Dr Stonham.

He believes the dictionary, part of a project funded by the Arts and
Humanities Research Council, can preserve both the language and culture
of the island's societies.

"Language is intricately bound up with tradition," he said.

"Noam Chomsky said you can learn about all languages by studying just
one. This work will contribute to a better understanding of the
structure of English and many of the world's languages, not just those
of the Native Americans."

Nicholas Ostler, president of the Foundation for Endangered Languages,
which is based in Britain but has international members, said: "A
dictionary often provides the greatest single step in the progress of a
language to fully literate status, a status that has been achieved by
only a third of the world's languages to date."

Almost extinct:

Speakers of Mati Ke - an Aboriginal language, have decreased from 1000
to a handful. One claims his sister speaks it too, but not to him,
since tribal taboos forbid them to communicate after puberty.

The Native American tongue of Yuchi - an isolated language that bears no
relation to any other living tongue - is spoken by a handful of elders,
usually while eating

The Leco - language of the Bolivian Andes is spoken by about 20 people

The Cambap - language of Cameroon in Central Africa is used by just 30
native speakers.

- INDEPENDENT