Question on assessing technology for endangered language communities

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

Jim...what an incredible story...maybe I could use this one too in my 
course, with your permission. I am still researching and developing the 
course content. I have not found much on ancestral memory but have found 
much that can relate to it.

-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon



Jimrem at AOL.COM wrote:
> >>Technology simply is a tool that one can either choose to use or 
> not. To say that technology can revitalize language is like saying 
> that a hammer can build a house.
>  
>  
> I would agree, to a point.  While a hammer cannot build a house it 
> certainly is a necessary tool.  It all depends on what use the person 
> or people who want to learn their language make use of available 
> tools.  If you just want to learn how to count to ten and say "I love 
> you" you will not become fluent, but if the language is available in 
> written and audio form and you devote yourself to learning you can 
> achieve a degree of fluency.
>  
> Perhaps one of the best examples of both reviving a language and 
> dedication is the work being done by Daryl Baldwin of the Miami 
> Tribe.  He became interested in his ancestral language, Miami, over 
> ten years ago.  He soon discovered there were no longer any fluent 
> speakers of the language, and no recordings had been made, but it had 
> been meticulously documented by linguists over the years.  Of course 
> linguists use an abundance of technical terminology, and Daryl found 
> it necessary to take college courses in linguistics so he could master 
> this language in order to learn Miami.
>
>  
>
> Once he began to learn Miami, he took the next step and began using 
> the language with his four children.  Originally it was a part of a 
> home schooling project where nothing but Miami was used for an hour or 
> two every day, but it now serves as the common way to speak within the 
> family.  The older children pass the language on to the younger ones 
> and prefer this language to English when they are among themselves.  
> Daryl's wife, who is not Miami, is also learning the language to 
> support the family effort.
>
>  
>
> Several years ago I had occasion to visit Daryl while working on 
> an interactive Delaware language CD.  The oldest Baldwin son was 
> interested in the project and I was impressed with his pronunciation 
> of Delaware although he had never before heard it, and also his 
> comments on the similarity of Delaware and Miami words.   Another 
> linguist who has visited the Baldwin family was struck by hearing the 
> youngest daughter speaking Miami, a language that has been without 
> speakers for more than thirty years.
>
>  
>
> Jim Rementer
>
> Lenape Language Project
>
>     
>
>  
>
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