[Lexicog] endangered entries for endangered languages

[Wayne Leman]

I assume that a number of us subscribed to this list study endangered 
languages. I do. I'm continuing work with Cheyenne speakers to bring greater 
accuracy to our dictionary entries. Occasionally we encounter a form which 
was used sometime in the past but no longer is. Sometimes it is no longer 
even recognized by any current speakers. Sometimes speakers can pronounce a 
word but no longer know what it means. This is especially true of some 
proper names. Sometimes we don't know for sure exactly how to spell parts of 
a word. It may have been recorded in an informal way by a soldier or a 
frontiersman.

Unless significant social changes occur, Cheyenne will no longer be a viable 
language 30 or so years from now. But Cheyennes value having had their 
language recorded and likely will value it in the future, just as members of 
tribes in California value having had some of their, now extinct, language 
recorded in the past.

Might any of you have recommendations for entering lexical forms for which 
we have little certainty today since they are no longer recognized by any 
speakers. We could simply create dictionaries of extant forms. We could do 
that for English, but we would be missing a wealth of archaic forms which 
were used at one time in English. It seems to me that when we have some kind 
of records, however inadequate, that some forms were extant at one time, but 
no longer are, that there is value in including them in a dictionary.

What do you all think?

Wayne
-----
Wayne Leman
Cheyenne dictionary online:
http://www11.asphost4free.com/cheyennedictionary/default.htm 



 
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