Cree broadcast wins journalism award

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC, has dozens of locations in Canada and around the world, including CBC North, which provides TV and radio broadcasts in languages such as Chipewyan (chp), Cree (cre), Dogrib (dgr), Gwich’in (gwi), Inuktitut (ike), Inuvialuk (ikt), North Slavey (scs) and South Slavey (xsl).

This past weekend, the Canadian Association of Journalists held their annual conference, including an awards ceremony. Among the winners was the episode “Breaking the mold,” broadcast on the Cree-language Maamuitaau program.

Learn more in the article “Serving Canada’s north – excellence in 8 aboriginal languages” on the Editor’s Blog of CBC News.

Yiddish in Winnipeg

The Ethnologue claims 5,400 first-language speakers of Western Yiddish (yih) and 1.7 million of Eastern Yiddish (ydd), though estimates vary as reported by Wikipedia.

As also reported in Wikipedia, Yiddish is a fusion of German, Hebrew and Slavic languages with borrowings from other languages. The name Yiddish itself means “Jewish.” Yiddish has made many contributions to English, and Wikipedia has a list of such words.

Today, the Mameloshen Festival of Yiddish Entertainment and Culture starts in Winnipeg, Canada. In addition to the three shows in this year’s festival, Winnipeg has a weekly Yiddish radio program on CKJS hosted by Rochelle Zucker and a women’s Yiddish reading group.

This blog post was inspired by “Yiddish is alive and well in Winnipeg” which has a lot more information about Yiddish and Yiddish in Winnipeg.

Finding the Words

CBC recently ran a fourteen-part series on languages in southern Alberta. Called “Finding the Words,” the audio broadcasts cover languages such as Blackfoot (bla), Tsuu T’ina or Sarcee (srs) and Stoney (sto).

Topics include why languages are falling silent, how native language use correlates to lower suicide rates, and three- and four-year-olds who have begun responding in Blackfoot after being taught by elder Beverly Hungry Wolf in a preschool program.

Canadian Conservative government pro-language

Yesterday, the Conservative Party of Canada won a majority government for the first time in its eight years of existence.

James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, announced today that funding for the CBC will be maintained at the current level or increased. He said, “[The CBC] is essential for respect for all of our official languages and all of the regions of the country — broadcasting in aboriginal languages in the North.”

The CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a public television and radio broadcaster. Among its services is CBC North, which operates in the Canadian Arctic. Their programs include broadcasts in:

• Cree (cre)
• Dene Suline or Chipewyan (chp)
• Dogrib (dgr)
• Gwich’in (gwi)
• Inuktitut (iku)
• Inuvialuktun (ikt)
• North Slavey (scs) and South Slavey (xsl)

CBC Radio 3 provides free music, with a category for Aboriginal artists, though a casual glance at a few pages revealed only music in English. The CBC also has a bilingual program titled “Legends,” recording traditional oral stories.

Eugene Homer Casad, Cora Scholar Passes

Linguist Eugene Homer Casad passed away on February 1st. A graduate of Biola University and University of California at San Diego, he spent his life working on Cora (crn), a language spoken in the Mexican state of Nayarit.

One of the 68 indigenous languages recognized by the Mexican government as national languages, Cora is spoken by about 8000 people according to the Ethnologue. It is also one of the four indigenous languages that share time with Spanish on the radio station XEJMN-AM.

According to the Ethnologue entry for Cora, Casad authored 22 articles on Cora and co-authored a 23rd. Three of those can be downloaded from the Ethnologue site along with two others on Cora.

A small English-Spanish-Cora glossary is available at Pequeño Diccionario Inglés – Español – Cora.

Casad’s obituary may be read in the Gainesville Daily Register and the Linguist List.

Irish Gaelic Makes Inroads and Outroads

Gaeilge or Irish is the first national language of the Republic of Ireland, a status enshrined in the constitution. It is taught as a second language as a compulsory subject in government-funded schools and appears to be making a strong comeback as evidenced by its use in newspapers and broadcasts. While many speakers are proud of their language, there are also many naysayers more concerned about gainful employment where English skills are what count.

In 2006, the Irish government moved forward with a plan to make the nation completely bilingual over a two-decade period, an amazing development in the field of endangered languages.

In the United States, a major destination in the Irish diaspora, people of Irish descent make up twelve percent of the population and Irish pride is common, particularly on St. Patrick’s Day.

Gaeilge classes are offered at many universities in the US, and now there is a weekly hour-long broadcast (archives) offered in New York on WFUV that provides language lessons along with cultural and historical information.

Even social-networking site Facebook is getting into the Gaeilge act. Having translated more than 8000 terms in order to provide a full language experience for users, they have more than twice that to go as of January. Equivalents for such expressions as pizza toppings and (user) profile all must be decided on, and the Facebook approach is to use consensus to select terms, thereby increasing the scope of the Gaeilge vocabulary.

The Internet offers a wealth of resources to learn Gaelige. Here is a selection:

• Daltaí na Gaeilge – grammar, forums, educational materials, class locations
• Ten one-minute lessons – subscription page, blog-style listening page
• YouTube – few of the Irish lesson videos seem useful. The Pimsleur series is an exception.

This article was inspired by the AP article “Radio show leads the way for Gaelic comeback.”

Iñupiaq/Inupiatun (esi)

Roosevelt Paneak has a glossary of Iñupiaq (esi) words. This language is spoken at the northern extremities of the world, where the word for November means sunset (Nippivik wanes into Siqiñaatchiaq).

This citation is taken from the Tulugaq (“raven” in Iñupiaq) blog by Alaskan (and current Texan) Linda Lanz. Her blog includes an interesting map showing where Iñupiaq is spoken.

Also check out the SIL Iñupiaq online dictionary on the Alaskool site from the 1970 publication Iñupiat Eskimo Dictionary by Donald H. Webster and Wilfried Zibell .

Another good resource for learning Iñupiaq is the website of radio station KNBA, featuring a Native word of the day plus archives!

A special mention goes to The Plants of My People, written by Cheryl Ann Wood/Kylee Bautnuq Punguk, an ethnobotany complete with Native, English and Latin designations and accompanying photographs. This book does not appear to be available for sale.