Fw: language

[Rankin, Robert L]

Willem's caveat applies to Quapaw and Osage also.  I think the problem may well rest in different definitions of fluency.  After all the speakers who could converse easily about novel topics are gone, it is common to find persons who know a long list of vocabulary items described as "knowing" the language.  
 
Bob

________________________________

From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of willemdereuse at unt.edu
Sent: Tue 11/27/2007 4:50 PM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu; Jimm GoodTracks
Cc: iowaysonline at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Fw: language



Interesting article. Thank you Jimm. I hope David Rood comments as well.

Caution about the lists of Oklahoma languages at the end.  Concerning
Chiricahua Apache, among others.  I have it from a reliable source that
there are no fluent speakers of Chiricahua in Oklahoma. (There might
well be more than 10 fluent speakers of Chiricahua on the Mescalero
Reservation in New Mexico.)

Quoting Jimm GoodTracks <goodtracks at peoplepc.com>:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Pat Benabe
> To: Jimm Goodtracks
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 8:56 AM
> Subject: language
>
>
> http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071126_1_A1_ahref1651
> 8
>
> Tribal language fading away
>
> by: SE RUCKMAN, World Staff Writer
> 11/26/2007 1:37 AM
>
> Doris Jean Lamar is the last fluent speaker of the Wichita and Affiliated
> Tribes.
>
> (...)>
> *****
>
> Fluent, but for how long?
>
> Indian languages with fewer than five fluent speakers:
>
> Chirachua Apache
> Osage
> Otoe
> Ottawa
> Plains Apache
> Quapaw
> Wichita
>
> Indian languages with zero remaining fluent speakers:
>
> Alabama
> Cayuga
> Delaware (Lenape)
> Hitchiti, Mikasuki
> Kaw (Kansa)
> Kitsai
> Koasati
> Mesquakie (Fox)
> Miami, Peoria
> Modoc
> Natchez
> Seneca
> Tonkawa
> Wyandotte
>