Fwd: Re: Chicago's Field Museum

Thu Jan 1 16:45:44 UTC 2009

Agreed.  For me, the single most unacceptable pronunciation guide in  
this exhibit's captioning is:

tay-COOT-lee for 'lord, ruler'

Why?  Because it shows that the person responsible for putting this  
before the public not only does not know how the Nahuatl word is  
pronounced but is so arrogant that s/he hasn't made any effort to  
find out.

It's not by any means the best that could be done to indicate an  
approximate pronunciation to English or Spanish speaking museum-goers.

Nobody would butcher French or German or Spanish this way and get  
away with it.  So instead of brushing off as nitpickers the people  
who really DO know Nahuatl, how about affording this actually very  
well-known language the respect of engaging someone knowledgeable to  
vet the captions before they go up?

Fran

On Jan 1, 2009, at 11:06 AM, Michael McCafferty wrote:

>
>
> In this day and age it is inexcusable for a museum of such renown as
> the Field Museum to have crappy linguistics. It's just beyond the  
> pale.
> Were this the turn of the 20th century, it would be understandable,  
> but
> this sort of thing happens quite often today, especially in books,
> history books. A recently published and quite popular--and otherwise
> well written--book on an American Indian tribe comes to mind. The
> author, a historian, did not once consult a linguist about the native
> language forms used in the book--and so that aspect of the work is  
> just
> sloppy and substandard. There's no excuse. It's not that hard to  
> find a
> linguistic authority. Museum exhibitors need to wake up. That's all.
> Other than that, the exhibit does indeed look wonderful.
>
> Ok. Back to dancing on the head of a pin.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Jerry Offner <ixtlil at earthlink.net>:
>
>> If we brush aside, for the moment, the legions of linguistic  
>> angels by now
>> arrayed and thoroughly crowded on the head of a pin, and the more
>> interesting lingustic questions of museology and making non-Western
>> languages somewhat accessible and hopefully even interesting and  
>> engaging
>> to museum visitors, what is the substance of the exhibit like?
>>
>> Some images can be seen at:
>>
>> http://www.fieldmuseum.org/aztecs/
>>
>> but are there new or very rarely seen objects?  Is any of the  
>> commentary
>> the least bit inaccurate or otherwise controversial?  How is it on  
>> the
>> Apocalypto scale--responsible and broad spectrum or sensationalist  
>> and
>> leering?  Certainly, the website's tone is promising.  Have they  
>> eschewed
>> the seemingly inevitable atmospheric flute music in favor of  
>> another theme
>> or approach?
>>
>> Having mounted a few exhibits myself, they are a very difficult  
>> balancing
>> act between sponsors, museums, museum directors, trustees and  
>> curators,
>> availability of material, outside marketing consultants, outside  
>> academic
>> consultants, exhibition preparation and design staff (often the most
>> inspiring, creative and unsung group), etc. etc. (It sounds  
>> difficult, but
>> it is great if exhausting and humbling fun). It would be a shame  
>> if all
>> this (admittedly lingustically-oriented) list has to offer about this
>> exhibit are some obscure, conflicting and ranking comments on  
>> pronunciation
>> guides for the English/Spanish (and other language) non-academic  
>> visitors
>> to the exhibit.  I don't recall seeing anything on the aztlan list  
>> about
>> the exhibit other than the announcement of its existence.
>>
>> And backed to those crowded angels--how exactly would one have  
>> written a
>> pronunciation guide that would engage the public? Are there prior  
>> examples
>> of excellence?  What about next time?  And what about this time?   
>> Do the
>> comments offered so far encourage non-specialists to use  
>> specialists next
>> time or do they just further isolate all parties?
>>
>> Show us.
>>
>> Jerry Offner
>>
>>
>>> [Original Message]
>>> From: Michael McCafferty <mmccaffe at indiana.edu>
>>> To: <nahuatl at lists.famsi.org>
>>> Date: 12/31/2008 09:49:57 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [Nahuat-l] Fwd: Re:  Chicago's Field Museum
>>>
>>> Quoting "Robert A. Neinast" <neinast at att.net>:
>>>
>>>> Michael McCafferty wrote:
>>>>>>> Oh, and for a final
>>>>>>> "tl" they had it pronounced simply as "t".
>>>>>
>>>>> It's like that in some dialects, so it's not a great offense.
>>>>
>>>> Don't forget, this exhibit was "The Aztec World," not
>>>> "The Modern Nahuatl Dialects World."
>>>
>>> Naturally, an exhibit of this caliber should have -tl instead of -t.
>>> That's agreed.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Or were there dialects 500 years ago that did this?
>>>
>>> Yes. In fact, the sound written -tl derives from a proto-Uto-Aztecan
>>> /*t/ following /a/. It's not unreasonable to assume that some  
>>> ancient
>>> dialects did not take that /*t/ to the sound written -tl. I don't
>>> believe the necessary evidence exists to corroborate that notion,
>>> however.
>>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Bob
>>>> --
>>>> " . . . and shun the Frumious Bandersnatch."
>>>> Robert A. Neinast
>>>> Pickerington, OH
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
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