Speak now...or forever hold your peace (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

The general observation made by the folks/company who promote and sell the
phraselator is that the majority of communities who buy the phraselator are
those with only a few fluent speakers left. 
The story below is a good example of this. 
Phil
UofA
Quoting phil cash cash :

> [photo inset - Joe Ayala, center, works with his mother, Holly Wyatt, left,
> one of the few Chukchansi tribal members left to speak the native language,
> in recording phrases that will be downloaded later to a "Phraselator."]
>
> Speak now...or forever hold your peace
> Rare Chukchansi speakers gather to record and preserve their language.
>
> By Charles McCarthy / The Fresno Bee
> 08/19/07 04:33:04
> http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-printerfriendly/story/116195.html
>
> COARSEGOLD -- A few Native Americans who still speak the ancient Chukchansi
> language are preserving tribal words and songs with state-of-the-art
> electronic translators inspired by military technology.
>
> Jane Wyatt, 62, of Coarsegold, and her sister, Holly, 65, were among six
> tribal members who gathered Friday across the street from the Picayune
> Rancheria's busy Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold to try out a
> newly acquired "Phraselator."
>
> The electronic translator was developed just a few years ago from technology
> used for military translators, said Don Thornton of Thornton Media Inc.,
> based in Banning. Thornton Media is working with 70 tribes in the United
> States and Canada to preserve native languages, he said.
>
> "What's my name?" he asked the box in his hand. He pressed another button
> and it replied in what Thornton said was Chukchansi.
>
> The Wyatt sisters learned the unwritten Chukchansi language at home while
> they were growing up in the Madera County foothills. Chukchansi is one of
> many native California dialects considered to be nearly extinct.
>
> "We're recording our language ... to save our language," Jane Wyatt said. "I
> learned because my grandmother raised me. That's all we spoke."
>
> She estimated that of about 500 Chukchansi scattered throughout the United
> States, the six tribal members using laptop computers and a hand-held
> military black-box recorder Friday at Picayune tribal headquarters were
> probably among the few fluent enough in the language to teach others.
>
> Jane Wyatt said she and her sister have been teaching the Chukchansi
> language at the Wassuma Round House culture center in Ahwahnee.
>
> Not all those recording Chukchansi for the electronic translator were tribal
> elders. Dustin Johnson, 19, of Coarsegold said his grandmother taught him
> the language.
>
> The Wyatt sisters agreed that their tribe has lived "forever" in the
> California foothills. But even communication with their Mono neighbors was
> limited by language difficulties. Contacts with Spanish- and
> English-speaking invaders influenced native languages.
>
> For instance, the Chukchansi word for apple is pronounced "abbule" and the
> word for mattress is the same as the Spanish word. Of course until the
> tribe encountered outsiders, it had no mattresses.
>
> Juanita Lahon, 37, of Coarsegold expected to record some songs from tribal
> culture, such as one in which a coyote asks the creator's permission to
> howl at the moon.
>
> "There's a song for everything," she said. "Everybody has to ask permission
> to do something."
>
> Preserving language is important because it's intertwined with tribal
> culture, artifacts and family life, Lahon said.
>
> "That's the way we say what's what and what goes where," she said.
>
> Until the white settlers arrived, there were no "cursing words" in the
> tribe's language, Lahon said.
>
> Even the name Chukchansi was bestowed by white settlers little more than a
> century ago. Before that, the tribe was Yokut, meaning "the people," Holly
> Wyatt said.
>
> Picayune Rancheria tribal administrator Cornel Pewewardy said the tribe has
> purchased three Phraselators.
>
> They arrived Friday with Thornton.
>
> The list price is about $3,000 apiece, he said. The three devices will be
> kept to begin a language program, supported by tribal funds, to preserve
> the language that has no books.
>
> "The culture and language are hand in hand," Pewewardy said.
>
> Without written records, it's hard to estimate the tribe's former population
> or map exactly where they ranged. The Chukchansi homeland roughly centered
> on the present casino location, but tribes didn't observe strict cultural
> land boundaries.
>
> Those arrived with the whites, Pewewardy said.
>
> The reporter can be reached at cmccarthy at fresnobee.com or (559) 675-6804.
>
> [photo inset - John Walker / The Fresno Bee
> The electronic "Phraselator" was developed just a few years ago from
> technology used for military translators. The Chukchansi tribe bought three
> of the translators to record and help teach the native language.]
>
> [photo inset - John Walker / The Fresno Bee
> Jane Wyatt, right, one of the few Chukchansi Indian tribal members left to
> speak the native Chukchansi language, records phrases, that will be
> downloaded later to a "Phraselator." Tribal member Juanita Lahon, left,
> also speaks the native language.]
>
> [photo inset - John Walker / The Fresno Bee
> Kara Thornton, vice president of Thornton Media Inc., demonstrates the
> "Phraselator" during a session Friday morning.]


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20070820/759a167c/attachment.htm>