Rosetta Stone

[Mia Kalish]

This isn't exactly fair. 
Here's my 2 cents on why. 
First, lots of you know that a Mescalero friend - an adult who wanted to
learn her language - and I developed some really good software, not very
expensive, and wanted to introduce it to the Tribe, for adults who wanted to
learn their language, and to help the teachers. The breakdown is about 80%
people who don't speak, many of whom would like to learn, and 20% speakers.
Many of the speakers are elderly, and can't sustain long teaching sessions.
The politics became quite awful, the speakers vs. the want-to-speak, and the
whole project went down the ditch, not once but 3 times. 
The issues - and they seem to occur in tribe after tribe after tribe - is
pedagogy. Half the people think technology should be used, half not. Issues
of sacredness come up. And issues of money. Yes, what sank the Mescalero
project was the money that speakers were going to make from helping with the
movie The Missing. My friend was very, very hurt, because she thought she
was doing a wonderful thing. 
Now, academics did take over a lot of work with endangered languages. .  .
the NSF funds a lot of PhD linguists who want to work with endangered
languages. Phil Cash Cash was funded (congrats, again), but I don't think
there are many other Native linguists . . . I know we had a discussion about
this . . .  
In Hawaii, there was a concerted grass-roots effort to save the language,
and from what I hear, lots of different people work together to make it
happen. 
Where I am, the issues are pretty complex. They are political, social,
age-based, life-style based, as well as technologically-based . . . 

It isn't trivial. But if these languages are going to be saved, and the
incredible thought complexes that inform them with them, SOMEONE has to do
it. 

What'ch'all think of that? 
Mia 






-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of jess tauber
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 2:56 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] Rosetta Stone

First they try to take your language away, by force or other means for
economic or political incentives. OK that's not PC anymore in many places...
and-

Then before it is too late the academics show up to take what's left of your
language away, for their own economic incentives...also not PC anymore and
so-

Now the professionals show up to give you your language back, again for
their own economic incentives...

You had it- we took it- and now if you want it back you have to pay the
ransom. And no cops- I mean it, or the language gets it.

Jess 'Bugsy' Tauber
phonosemantics at earthlink.net