Volkswagen acquires the Hochank language

[Henning Garvin]

Since my name has been mentioned in the note from Johannes about the Hocank
Documentation Project, I would like to reply to some of the apparent jeers
directed at this project.

The Volkswagen grant is a wholly cooperative venture  Between our Nation and
the administrators of the grant

First of all, my self and another young lady are both enrolled members of
the Hocank Nation, both of us born and raised within our communities.  We
have been put on this project because it has already been recognized that
research is better if conducted from within the community rather than by an
outsider.  (yes, we have all read 'Deconstructing Methodologies'  and
realize it can be  extrapolated to a variety of fields)

An extensive project such as this has never been undertaken before,
regarding the Hocank Language.  We don't have the material this project has
the opportunity to provide.  Kjetil and I have degrees in Linguistics, but
you should all know that an undergraduate degree does not provide the
experience or expertise necessary to do a project such as this on our own.
Johannes and his "crew" will provide that background.

The data we gather will be archived in Nimjegen, but we also will have that
Data  in our own archives within the Nation.  Our Division Manager coined
the term "Oral Library" for this purpose and it will be used both as
teaching tools and repository of data for future generations.

The currciculum developers will be responsible for creating useable teaching
material based on the outcomes of this project.  We, as members of our
tribe, will be ascertaining the needs of our potential learners and trying
to determine the best method of presentation.  WE will be determining how
best to use what has been done.

We also fully realize that the use of grammatically oriented material is not
the only way to teach a language.  Our Language Division is currently
involved in numerous projects including, Immersion, Master-Apprentice
Program, Language Nests, and others.  The threat of Language extinction is
too great to solely focus on one method.  So rest assured we are not leaving
other proven methods in the dust for the sake of an outsiders research.

As far as the motivations of our researchers, I know plenty of people that
do work such as this to further their own career.  Fortunately, I have met
Johannes and have been able to see his respectfulness and how genuine he is
about preserving not only the Hocank language, but endangered languages in
general.  People tend to forget when they make off hand accusations such as
this that they usually haven't met the people it is directed at and are, at
that point, working off stereotypes.

Even if Johannes' motivations were not solely for the sake of our language,
which I think I have stated they surely are, he would still be providing
something of benefit.  We could still get alot of use out of what he will
produce, even if he was "doing it for his own career".

Lastly, it would have been great if the money were given to the tribe
directly, but guess what?  We don't have anybody in the tribe the expertise
or experience necesary to do this project, so we probably would have had to
hire an outside white linguist anyway, so what is the difference.  Our
language division, our president, and our legislators made the decision that
this would be a good project and could benefit our Nation greatly.  Most
importantly, the men of our traditional Court, our Clan Leaders including
our Traditional Chief, agreed that this could work well for our people.  I
was brought up not to question them, so those of you who disagree and insist
on casting a shadow on what we are trying to do, I can put you into contact
and you can take it up with them.

Henning Garvin
Linguistic research
Ho-Chunk Nation Language Division






>From: Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
>Reply-To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
>To: Siouan List <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
>Subject: Re: Volkswagen acquires the Hochank language
>Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:32:47 -0600 (MDT)
>
>On Fri, 24 Oct 2003, warr0120 wrote:
> > Sometimes funny things aren't so funny anymore.
>
>I guess reactions are mixed.  I should perhaps point out for the benefit
>of those who don't know that warr0120 is Pat Warren at the U of Minnesota.
>It hadn't dawned on me that the "General Motors Acquires ..."  humor
>articles were perhaps spoofing the Volkswagon grants.  I guess I had those
>imbecilic (Sony?) ads with the clicks in mind.
>
>I have to admit that I consider documentation projects to be good things,
>and I believe that Volkswagon has a good track record as far as getting
>the contracted work done.  Anyone who's every worked on language knows
>that the only way to get a reasonable amount of work done is to spend a
>lifetime on it.  Several lifetimes, actually.  If you can find somebody
>who will pay some of the incidental costs, so nuch the better.
>
>Apart from that, I have a pretty good opinion of Johannes Helmbrecht,
>based on his work on Winnebago to date.  He's been a long term member of
>the list and occasional contributor.  I appreciate him letting us know
>what's going on.
>
>JEK

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