7.1436, Sum: Bibliography for Native North American languages

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-7-1436. Mon Oct 14 1996. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  150
 
Subject: 7.1436, Sum: Bibliography for Native North American languages
 
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Sun, 13 Oct 1996 22:11:37 CDT
From:  fcosws at prairienet.org (Steven Schaufele)
Subject:  Sum: bibliography for Native North American languages survey
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Sun, 13 Oct 1996 22:11:37 CDT
From:  fcosws at prairienet.org (Steven Schaufele)
Subject:  Sum: bibliography for Native North American languages survey
 
Dear fellow linguists:
 
A few months ago i posted the following query:
 
>I'm trying to develop a survey course on languages native to the North
>American continent, and have so far had little luck finding any good
>text material to serve as background reading, etc.  Does anybody out
>there have any good suggestions?  I'll summarize for the list.
 
Summary is long overdue, and i can only plead the pressures of my
current employment situation, which leaves very little time for
scholarly activity.  First of all, i would like to thank all the
people who responded.  Many of these responses developed into at
least short dialogues, but i would now like to try to mention all
of them:
 
Peter Daniels <pdaniels at press-gopher.uchicago.edu>
Julia S. Falk <jsfalk at pilot.msu.edu>
Louanna Furbee <anthnlf at mizzou1.missouri.edu>
John E. Koontz <john.koontz at nist.gov>
Monica Macaulay <mamacaul at facstaff.wisc.edu>
Marianne Mithun <mithun at hunmanitas.ucsb.edu>
Robert L. Rankin <rankin at lark.cc.ukans.edu>
Rood, David S. <rood at spot.colorado.edu>
Shirley Silver <silver at sonoma.edu>
Michael B. Smith <smith at oakland.edu>
Karl Teeter <kvt at husc.harvard.edu>
Markell R. West <markell at afterlife.ncsc.mil>
 
Please forgive me if i've left anybody out!
 
Although i've mentioned her in the above list, i must single out
for extra-special thanks Monica Macaulay, who very graciously
sent me a huge file of stuff from a class she has taught on this
subject from time to time -- nearly 9 pages of bibliography, plus
syllabi, etc.
 
In discussing my query with one respondent, i offered this
clarification on what i hoped to come up with, in the way of a
survey course for undergraduates:
 
>I think it can be done.  Of course, it would have to be geared
>to fairly general interests.  (In other words, not a seminar on
>`Polysynthesis in North America'!)  What i have in mind is a
>general survey course, designed to (1) provide some general
>knowledge to those who are mildly interested in Native American
>culture, while correcting some stereotypes, misunderstandings,
>and popular fallacies, and (2) whet the appetites of people who
>might then want to go on and study Native American culture and
>(especially) languages in greater detail.  A lot of technical
>stuff would have to be left out -- some of the courses i've been
>hearing about from people who have taught them involve students
>developing outlines of grammars of individual languages, working
>with native informants, etc.; that's a bit more sophisticated
>than what i have in mind -- but a lot of stuff could be included
>that would make the students aware of the range of linguistic
>expressions and grammatical phenomena attested in the native
>languages of this continent, as opposed to what we're used to in
>typical `Standard Average European' languages.  As such, what i'm
>really talking about is something solidly within the general
>liberal-arts general-education goal.
 
And now, some of the leading resource materials recommended to me
by various people:
 
Campbell, Lyle.  1996?  American Indian Language: the Historical
Linguistics of Native America.  Oxford University Press.
 
Campbell, Lyle, & Marianne Mithun, eds.  1979.  Languages of
Native America.  University of Texas Press.
 
Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 17 -- due out sometime
in 1997, acc. to Marianne Mithun, is said to be devoted entirely
to language.
 
Hinton, Leanne.  1994.  Flutes of Fire: Essays on California
Indian Languages.  Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books.
 
Mithun, Marianne.  1997 (proj.)  a book for the Cambridge
Language Survey series.
 
Sebeok, Thomas A., ed.  1973.  Linguistics in North America, Part
III: Native Languages of North America (Current Trends in
Linguistics, vol.  10) The Hague: Mouton.
 
Silver, Shirley, & Wick R. Miller.  1997 (proj.) American Indian
Languages: Cultural and Social Contexts.  University of Arizona
Press.
 
`There's a Native American encyclopedia coming from Scribners --
or it may already be out; it may have been related to the
1492/1992 events, in fact -- with a good series of articles on
American languages, with an overview by Mithun and chapters by
other specialists.' -- Peter Daniels
 
Many people recommended the Hinton book, even though it's
concerned only with California, as a very useful introduction to
Native-American linguis- tics.  Apart from that, i very quickly
noticed that three of the most frequently-mentioned resources
aren't due from their respective publi- shers until sometime next
year, from which i concluded that maybe the 1997-98 school year
might be a better time to plan on teaching a course such as i've
got in mind.  Maybe i should be grateful i'm not in a position to
do it right now??!
 
Again, thanks to all.
 
Best,
Steven
- -------------------
Dr. Steven Schaufele
712 West Washington
Urbana, IL  61801
217-344-8240
fcosws at prairienet.org
 
**** O syntagmata linguarum liberemini humanarum! ***
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