Software for Scholarship

Work is underway to better cross-analyze ancient texts using advanced software tools. This work is a collaboration called the Archimedes Project between the Dept. of the Classics at Harvard Univ. and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science - see Scholars resuscitate dead languages.

The Archimedes Project specifically aims at learning about how the science of mechanics developed by looking at ancient texts. The outcome should be new tools that allow language data to be more accessible and languages easier to learn by computer.

One of the methods used is to examine Arabic translations of lost Greek documents and reconstruct the Greek. The software brings together a variety of tools that assist with this. One of the primary software programs is Arboreal, which allows you to annotate text using XML. (This Arboreal should not be confused with the linguistics program Arboreal that allows you to create syntax trees.)

Other tools developed include Donatus, which provides online analysis of morphology, and Pollux, an online interface providing a collection of dictionaries including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Sumerian.

This entry was prompted by the entry Reviving Dead Languages: A Promising Trend? at Alex’s Language and Society Blog.

Three news items

Doris Jean Lamar is the last speaker of Wichita: Tribal language fading away (includes a slide show in Wichita and English)

Director Conner of Tamastslikt Cultural Institute awarded money for hunting and language: Buffett Award money to be used for cultural projects

Washington Post article includes mention of Yawuru and Magati Ke (perhaps Marti Ke): At a Loss for Words

Anishinaabemowin in Press & Music

A native speaker of Anishnaabemowin who survived the residential (boarding) school with her language in tact, Helen Roy is busy promoting Anishnaabemowin at Michigan State University (MSU), a campus located centrally between three Great Lakes and both west and south of the US-Canada border.

Various names are used for the language and dialects: The course listing refers to the language as Ojibwe, which seems to be what the Ethnologue refers to as Ottawa. The Wikwemikong page uses Odawa-Ojibway. Anishnaabemowin refers to the language of the Anishnaabe, people of the Ojibway, Budawatomi (Potawatomi), and Odawa (Ottawa) tribes.

Yesterday, the Lansing State Journal published a bilingual article quoting Helen Roy in Objiwe, followed by English in parentheses. Even more exciting, their Webpage provides an MP3 (audio file) of her speaking. Try right-clicking and saving, then opening the file to listen to it.

Helen Roy has also gotten together with David Fuhst to produce two CDs: “Pop Songs Anishinaabe’amaadeg” and “Anishinaabe Nagamowinan”. They can be ordered from the Noongo e-Anishinaabemjig: Songs page.

To learn more about the classes at MSU, see the LSJ article “Native Tongue: MSU classes help Ojibwe language survive“. Also of interest to researchers, Michaelina Magnuson developed a questionnaire designed for Anishnaabemowin instructors and offers writing samples related to language education. An article on incorporating indigenous languages into major universities focusing on Ojibwe at MSU is available through AnthroSource ($6.00 for people without a subscription). The article is Redefining the Ojibwe Classroom: Indigenous Language Programs within Large Research Universities by Mindy J. Morgan.

See also the Wikipedia article Anishinaabe language and the Native Languages’ Ojibwe page for more information. Also see Language Geek’s The Ojibwe Language for language information, fonts and computer input.

Thanks to Turtle Talk for the original article that prompted this entry.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

On 13 September, the UN passed its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

While the term “indigenous” is not defined, its 46 articles affirm the right to self-determination including the pursuits of economic, social and cultural development (Article 3). Other rights include:

• Maintaining distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions while participating in those of the state (Article 5),
• Not being forcibly assimilated (Article 8),
• Revitalizing and developing their language and educate in their language (Articles 13-14),
• Redress for past injustices (Article 28),
• Access across international borders (Article 36), and
• Financial and technical assistance from the state to achieve these rights (Article 39)

With Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States voting against, and 11 countries abstaining, the Declaration passed with 144 countries in favor.

Analysis at the Jurist: The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Towards Re-empowerment by law professors S. James Anaya and Siegfried Wiessner.

This post prompted by an entry on the Declaration at Turtle Talk.

Pinker Lecture to Benefit ELF - Thursday

Steven Pinker will be lecturing at Harvard on Thursday, November 15, at 8:00 PM with the proceeds to benefit ELF, the Endangered Language Fund. The lecture will be on his book The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature and will be in William James Hall. Admission is $20 ($10 for students).

This map shows Kirkland Street in the lower right quarter, where William James Hall is located. A schedule of lectures by Pinker may be found at Steven Pinker - Public Lectures. Nick Emlen’s Linguist List post that was the source for this entry may be found here.

Kiranti-Koits/Sunwar: Language Work in Nepal

In Eastern Nepal, Sunwar (suz) is spoken by about 26,000 (2001 census) in about 30 villages. According to Dr. Lal Rapacha, founder and director of the Research Institute for Kiratology, the preferred name for the people is Kiranti-Koits (pronounced with a nasalized “o” sound).

Like many lesser spoken languages around the world, Sunwar loses active speakers when yunger speakers move to the city. In Nepal, speakers migrate to the capital Kathmandu. Sunwar is a lower-prestige language than the national language of Nepali (nep), and moreover, due to a cross-linguistic misunderstanding, the Sunwar are often believed to be of an untouchable caste in Nepal. As a result, children born of intermarriages in Kathmandu generally grow up learning the language of the non-Sunwar parent.

For her PhD, recent graduate Dörte Borchers visited the region near the Mount Everest Base Camp and learned Sunwar. It appears her acts of observation and interaction have caused a reaction, lifting the awareness of the people to the language. You can read an abstract of her dissertation at the Universiteit Leiden PhD Defences 2005 page as well as the table of contents (English) and summary (Dutch) at DSpace.

Read Helene de Bruijn’s article “Research on near extinct language raises awareness among users” that was the basis for this blog entry. References for further study are available on the South Asia bibliography page. Further information including a font, photographs and a bulletin board are available on the Sunuwar group page. A video is available on YouTube about a Sunuwar font; presumably the language in the video is Sunuwar.

According to Borchers’ 1998 abstract “Sunwar (Koints)”, the language has been under study since the 1960s.

This article has been corrected to reflect the comments below. I apologize sincerely for the errors. No insult or offense was intended to the Kiranti-Koits people.