no news from the LSA...

[Susan Penfield]

All,
Mia is right on -- Our session on Sunday was devoted to much of this. It was
the last LSA session which was both good and bad -- On the bad side, many of
the key players who were at LSA and would have attended (Leanne Hinton,
Keren Rice, Wilhelm Meya --and many others )--expressed regrets in having to
leave early ).However, many others stayed for that event and participated
--as well, we had others in attendance who might not have been there if
other talks had been taking place. Christine Sims spoke eloquently about
many issues and the evolving history of language education from the
community perspective; the folks from the Indigenous Language Institute also
did a great job of sharing their ongoing work -- half of the audience (about
50) stayed to watch Brenda McKenna's video from Nambe pueblo (which was
beautifully done).

  I do think that the profile for endangered languages was raised at this
LSA (beginning with the airing of "the Last Speakers" on Thursday night.)
 BUT -- I would like to underscore that the story hardly begins or ends at
LSA -- and that it remains up to all of us to keep the interest going.

The next LSA, I'm told, will be in Anaheim next January. That's not so far
away in either time or distance (for many of us) ...NOW is the time to start
thinking about how to keep the energy going into next year!! I believe
abstracts are due in April ...so it might be great to propose a special
session on Indigenous Languages and technology related to both documentation
and revitalization (or something like that)...

Best,
Susan

On 1/9/06, Mia Kalish <MiaKalish at learningforpeople.us> wrote:
>
> Hi, Phil,
>
> I want to assure you that we did lots and lots and lots about endangered
> languages. We talked about them; we talked about how documentation efforts
> that do not include an eye and support for revitalization are unethical.
> We
> shared our ways and concepts of building revitalization materials. Numbers
> of us made plans to work together to produce publishable research in
> revitalization, especially as we can be using the internet, because not
> everyone who is interested in a particular topic or aspect is in the same
> physical locale either with others who have the same interest, or with
> others who know the solution or approach.
>
> We talked about involving communities, we talked about empowering
> communities. We talked about building teams, and how those teams should be
> and work. We talked about tools for field work, and tools for archiving.
>
> It's true that a large portion of both LSA and SSILA were dominated by
> linguistic elements, but there was a recognizable chunk devoted to the
> revitalization issue. Some people, not everyone, but lots of people, are
> realizing that we have to make sure these languages don't end up on museum
> shelves, but back in the community.
>
> We even in some places made tiny little headways into issues of language
> extension. The success of the Maori was one of the shining stars that gave
> people something to think about. My presentation was about how we have no
> language for math and science. I showed my materials, and how difficult it
> was to find words for shapes, and how difficult it was to find people to
> record the sounds of the words we do have for numbers.
>
> If the languages don't move into contemporary use, they WILL die, and
> people
> are starting to talk about that. Interestingly enough, it is the younger
> grad students who seem to find this concept intuitively obvious. I don't
> know why that is, but the people who needed no explanation were people who
> were in their 20's, and who were coping with complex issues in the field,
> sometimes in South America, sometimes locally with diverse populations.
>
> We also talked about how Indigenous Languages need to be taught in
> schools,
> both public and private, and we talked about how Indigenous scholars,
> people
> like Mary Eunice Romero, are writing Indigenous pedagogies. There need to
> be
> more Indigenous scholars writing about Indigenous pedagogies. Sandy Grande
> also writes about Indigenous pedagogies; she calls it Red Pedagogy. She is
> a
> critical race theorist, actually. But the bottom line is that the world
> NEEDS TO KNOW that you don't teach Ndn kids the way you teach white kids.
> Vine and Daniel Wildcat have been saying that for a long time, and so have
> the Smiths, and Devon Mihesuah.
>
> We also need more research that shows that if you give people crappy
> materials, they won't learn very well. We need research that helps others
> understand what the technical term "crappy material" means in the context
> of
> teaching and learning. Did you ever notice how people seldom if ever
> evaluate their materials, but they are very ready to use these same,
> uncritically accepted materials, to make people less than?
>
> Anyway, that's the gist of the conference.  This is also the gist of where
> some of us are going (while others, who shall remain nameless of course,
> are
> going to sojourn among the beautiful trout in the equally beautiful Snake
> River in spectacular nearly-southern Idaho. (But of course we aren't
> saying
> WHO, EXACTLY, is doing that. . . . . lalalalalaaaaaa. Send us pictures,
> okay? I love trout, especially the living, breathing, swimming kind.)
>
> Best,
> Mia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:
> ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 12:38 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...
>
> it wasn't me that was left out, it was our endangered languages and i
> am sorry too.  glad to hear you all had a good time though.
>
> Philcc
>
> On Jan 9, 2006, at 12:10 PM, Mia Kalish wrote:
>
> > We were having too much fun going to presentations, giving
> > presentations,
> > recovering from presentations, meeting new friends,  . . . And, in my
> > case.
> > . . . talking about revitalization software and who wants to build it
> > :-)
> >
> > A good time was had by all. Sorry we left you out. . . we apologize.
> > <Hangs
> > head humbly>
> >
> > Mia
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> > [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> > On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> > Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:36 AM
> > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> > Subject: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...
> >
> > Greetings ILAT,
> >
> > I am a bit surprised that there is virually no news coming out from the
> > LSA conference this past week.  The only news item I saw today was the
> > "word of the year" which seems a bit trivial but particularly news
> > worthy.  Nevertheless, we should continue to draw attention to the
> > plight of the world's endangered languages.
> >
> > Phil Cash Cash
> > UofA, ILAT
> >
>



--
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836
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