Saving Languages and Dena’ina

A Plan to Save Thousands of Endangered Languages is an NPR interview (July 14, 2006) with Terry Langendoen and a cameo appearance by Peter Kalifornsky speaking Dena’ina. (Note that the text on the NPR page wrongly states there are 6,000-7,000 declining languages. The interview correctly states that about half that number are in decline.)

Langendoen is the coordinator for cyberinfrastructure of the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division, and co-director of the linguistics program, National Science Foundation.

Peter Kalifornsky is a speaker of Dena’ina. To find out more about Dena’ina, see the Dena’ina Qenaga Website. The “Learning” tab includes an e-mail address for a mailing list. Stories (written and sound) are available under the “Literature” tab.

Blogger note: I am going to vacation tomorrow and look forward to more interesting projects to celebrate language life in early June.

Ös in US Geography Bee

As reported in the Seattle Times today, Ös known as Чулымский язык in Russian and Chulym in English (clw) was in one of the questions of the final round of the National Geographic Bee (think spelling bee, but with geography questions).

As posted in the article, the question was: Chulym, an endangered language with fewer than 20 fluent speakers, is still spoken along a river with the same name that flows through the Tomsk Oblast in what large country? See the answer by hovering your mouse here.

The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire provides an introduction to the Chulym Tatars and the language.

Although the Ös or Chulym people traditionally do not have a written language, Vassilij Gabov, one of the few native speakers left, devised one for a journal he kept based on the Cyrillic alphabet. This remarkable feat was brought to light by linguist K. David Harrison, as detailed in the Science & Spirit article “Lost in Translation“. As detailed in the 2002 article, an elementary primer and children’s storybook were planned to be forthcoming. Additionally, a documentary “The Last Speakers” details Harrison’s and Greg Anderson’s work with the Ös.

Harrison and Anderson have also published two texts as “Shaman and bear: Siberian prehistory in two Middle Chulym texts“. Harrison is interviewed in 2004 by NPR’s Robert Siegel in “Disappearing Languages Recorded in Siberia“.

2008 - International Year of Languages

With apologies for this brief entry, the General Assembly has pronounced 2008 the International Year of Languages (media release). Thanks to Indigenous Languages Speak for the entry Good News about this announcement.

Although intermittently at first, the United Nations General Assembly generally names each year for a topic of focus. Recently, years have received more than one proclamation, with 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth (a triennium), the Potato, and now Languages. See the Wikipedia entry for the UN years.

News bits

Indian language preserved on CD (July 1, 2000): The National Indian Telecommunications Institute uses a grant from the Fund for Four Directions to record Comanche.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: An Overview (May 21, 2007): Article by Jon Reyhner summarizing the history, current situation and issues of Native education in the US.

Language Activists Panel Summary (1996): Article by Jon Reyhner summarizing opinions on Native education policy in the US.

Oneida Indian Nation Works to Recover its Language (November 21, 2006): NPR broadcast by David Chanatry.

Language Preservation/Retention (2003): Article on Dakotah revitalization efforts including a Scrabble effort. Links to “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.

Turtle Island Storytellers Network: Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains storytellers hold festivals and other events to maintain the time-honored crafts of storytelling and singing.

Teachers looking for budgets

The US education system is complex. Education is the responsibility of individual states, and with 50 states, that means a wide variation in how language revitalization programs are handled both because of state language policy as well as budget availability. Nevertheless, there is a national Department of Education and funding is provided from time to time for national educational policies. Additionally, the Administration for Native Americans provides funding for projects.

The most successful method of teaching a language is considered to be immersion, where only the language being taught is used in the classroom. Setting up an immersion program for an endangered language not only requires establishing a curriculum, but often creating textbooks as well, costly ventures that states may not be willing or able to fund.

In the “Treasure State” of Montana, it was hoped that the state would provide money to fund immersion programs for three languages, Gros Ventre, Salish and Blackfeet (Blackfoot). The bill did not even pass out of committee, however, as noted in the Billings Gazette article Tribal-language teaching struggles. (Salish perhaps refers to what the Ethnologue refers to as Kalispel-Pend D’oreille.)

Last year, the national government stepped up to the plate and passed the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act (text / PDF of bill) to provide funding for immersion programs. Fort Belknap, home of the Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine (language: Assiniboine) tribes, has applied for a grant under that act. Perhaps this funding will provide the budgets educators need.

The Native Languages of the Americas website offers some glossaries of Gross Ventre, and a dictionary is underway as shown on the legacy site for the “Plains Center“. Gros Ventre and Assiniboine (noted as Nakota/Nakoda) classes are available from Fort Belknap College. A small glossary of Salish words with sound files is available from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes site. The Native Languages of the Americas website offers language links including a few short glossaries and one to The Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes.

Software for Language Learning

CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction COnsortium) has an annual conference to discuss methods of using computers to assist with language instruction. This year’s symposium has just passed, but in 2001, Robert Balas and Anne George presented on their “La Taupe” and “A travers la lumiere” programs that allow popular video software QuickTime videos to be integrated with a dictionary and more to assist students of French.

In 2002, Canku Ota reported that La Taupe was adapted for students to learn Upriver Halkomelem, a tonal dialect of Halkomelem (hur) in the US. The article notes that the Nooksack people have adopted this language as Nooksack has been lost.

The language program can be found in the Education Department programs of the Nooksack tribe under Halqemeylem. A CD is also available for tribe members. For more information on the language, see the Language Geek (including keyboard software for typing), Snuneymuxw First Nation with a dictionary, the Halkomelem ethnobiology website for sounds, and the University of Victoria website for basic language lessons.

Ladino in Spain

A descendant of medieval Spanish, the endangered language Ladino (lad) is once again of interest in Spain.

A language spoken by the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula (the Sephardic Jews), Ladino followed them when they were exiled in Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492 and in Portugal by King Manuel five years later. Although most speakers of Ladino are now in Israel, the Sephardic Diaspora spread in Europe, north Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas.

Today, the Cervantes Institute is set to open a Ladino Department including an archive of materials, as outlined in “Language institute helping Ladino revival“. Although a dictionary of Ladino and English is available, according to a review by Bortnick, spellings are not uniform, making it difficult to use.

Wikipedia has an interesting article on Separdic culture and on the Ladino language.

News Links

Obituary: Karl V. Teeter: Researcher of Wiyot and Maliseet

Nationalism, Native Language Maintenance and the Spread of English: A Comparative Study of the Cases of Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico: A dissertation by Sharon Clampitt, provided online

Effective Language Education Practices & Native Language Survival: from Native American Language Issues 1990. Contents include Dene standardization and Māori immersion courses for adults

Language Maintenance and Language Shift - a contrarian viewpoint: Nine reasons why endangered languages are not so important. The author states they are merely impressionistic

Stabilizing Indigenous Languages: Special edition (1996) of the Center for Excellence in Education Monograph Series from Northern Arizona University

The Role of Attitudes in Language Shift and Language Maintenance in a New Immigrant Community: A Case Study: Telugu is not an endangered language, but native speakers of Telugu have a minority community in New Zealand

News Links

Linguistic diversity and scholarship: Endangered languages as a critical part of diversity and as a resource for scientific inquiry

3 at UA nominees for Regents’ Professor: Ofelia Zepeda, cofounder of the American Indian Language Development Institute is nominated for Regents’ Professor

One for the Road : Short review of Mark Abley’s Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages

Communicating about our work: Review of the SOAS Endangered Languages Week

Web site tries to preserve language: Professor and elder have created a Website for Oneida

SA still holding its African tongue: Xhosa education in South Africa

Stopping the Tip

In India, the Oraon tribe speak Kuruk or Kurux (kru), a Dravidian language. With more than two million speakers, according to the Ethnologue, it would seem the language is safe.

According to Indian radio site See More Catholic News, however, a tip is underway. A May 9 article relates how social and cultural advancements in conjunction with urban migration have led to Oraon people abandoning their language. As a measure toward saving the language and culture, a meeting was recently held and a new script created, called Tolong Sinki.

According to Google, there are no Websites available that discuss Tolong Sinki, but a collection of stories, basic vocabulary words, and conversations along with recordings may be found at Linguistic Data of Kurux (Kurukh).