FOUNDATION FOR ENDANGERED LANGUAGES...

FOUNDATION FOR ENDANGERED LANGUAGES

OGMIOSogmios

Recent demonstrations on Mother Tongue Dayby speakers of minority languages in Peshawar, Pakistan.

(The picture shows representatives of the Hindko language, one of many featured on the day. Hindko is aminority language in the country, with a population of 3,000,000 speakers, as recorded for 1993).(Picture by courtesy of Fakhruddin, FLI, Peshawar) See article on p. 4.

OGMIOS Newsletter 3.05 (#29): Spring-Summer — 15 June 2006ISSN 1471-0382 Editor: Christopher Moseley

OGMIOS Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages 3.05 (#29) (Spring-Summer 2006) p. 2

OGMIOS Newsletter 3.05 (#29): Spring-Summer — 15 June 2006

ISSN 1471-0382 Editor: Christopher MoseleyAssistant Editors: Roger Blench, Joseph Blythe, Serena D'Agostino, Christopher Hadfield, Francis M Hult, Steven Krauwer, Andrea Ritter

Contact the Editor at:Christopher Moseley, 9 Westdene Crescent, Caversham Heights, Reading RG4 7HD, England chrismoseley50.at.yahoo.com

Published by:Foundation for Endangered Languages, Batheaston Villa, 172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA, England

nostler.at.chibcha.demon.co.ukhttp://www.ogmios.org

1. Editorial............................................. 3

2. Development of the Foundation .... 3

FEL X: Vital Voices - EndangeredLanguages and Multilingualism: DraftProgramme for this year's conference inMysore, India (25-27 October 2006) ....... 3

The Conference Venue.................................. 4

Transport ......................................................... 4

No FEL Grants in 2006.............................. 4

3. Endangered Languages in theNews ..................................................... 4

Mother Tongue Day Celebrated inPeshawar in Northern Pakistan ............... 4

Bill would boost efforts to retainPenobscot language................................. 5

Virginia Algonquian raised from the deadfor "The New World" .................................. 5

Himachal Pradesh scholars trying torevive ancient Tankri script ....................... 5

Tankri script, as described athttp://www.kullu.net/culture/cl101.html

Lakota on Path to Recapture Language. 6

Haunting songs of life and death reveal afading world................................................. 6

Indigenous Languages in Final Throes .. 8

4. Appeals, News and Views fromEndangered Communities.................. 9

Strategy to Revitalize First Nation, Inuitand Métis Languages ................................ 9

What is happening in HospitalitoSantiago Atitlán? ........................................ 9

Drop the language bill!............................. 10

5. Allied Societies and Activities ...... 10

Northern California Indian DevelopmentCouncil ....................................................... 10

6. Reports from the Field.................. 10

7. Overheard on the Web................. 10

Ray Kiogima, co-author of "OdawaLanguage and Legends," from theOdawa Bands Governmental Center inHarbor Springs.......................................... 10

Dance at Odawa (=Ottawa) Annual Pow-wow http://www.ottawacampground.ca

Venezuela Revitalizes IndigenousCulture - Anu ............................................. 11

‘Language Planning Challenges andProspects in Native AmericanCommunities and Schools’(Feb 2006) . 11

8. Places to Go - ................................ 11

On the Net and in the World ............ 11

Endangered Languages of theIndigenous Peoples of Siberia................ 11

Voices of Mexican Languages................ 11

Two web resources on Romani languageand linguistics: .......................................... 11

My Name is Yu Ming - Yu Ming is AinmDom ............................................................ 12

Teaching Indigenous Languages ...........12

Preserving and promoting AmericanIndian languages.......................................12

Native greetings online ............................12

Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas de México12

9. Forthcoming Meetings .................. 12

Northwest Indian Language Institute(NILI): "From Language Learner toLanguage Teacher" , Univ. Oregon, July5-21, 2006,.................................................12

Immersion in Conversational Shoshoni.13

Forum Theatre: Reclaiming OurAboriginal Languages, June 28-July 42006, Vancouver, British Columbia........13

What is Forum Theatre?.............................. 13

10. Recent Publications.................... 13

A Grammar of Mina ..................................13

A Grammar of Jahai .................................14

A Grammar of Gayo: a language of Aceh,Sumatra ......................................................14

Book on Gayo by M. Junus Melalatoahttp://www.obor.or.id/20013.htm

UC Publications in Linguistics.................14

UCPL 135: James A. Matisoff, "Handbookof Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System andPhilosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction"(2003). ............................................................ 14

UCPL 136: Jane H. Hill, "A Grammar ofCupeño" (October 18, 2005). ...................... 14

UCPL 137: Alice Shepherd, "Proto-Wintun"(December 15, 2005). .................................. 14

Saving Languages: An Introduction toLanguage Revitalization ..........................14


1. Editorial

As many of you will have heard, ourPresident, who has also been the Editor ofOgmios up to know, has left these shores forsix months to take up a teaching position inJapan. To ensure the continued presence ofyour favourite linguistic journal in yourletterbox or on your computer screen, he hasleft the editorship in the hands of your FELTreasurer.

I hope you won’t detect any drop in thequality of the product, dear reader, but I doapologise for the lateness of this issue; I’vebeen finding my feet in the editorial post.

I want to thank my assistant editors,especially Serena D’Agostino, for helping mefill up these pages with the usual interestingand varied assortment of news from theEndangered Languages scene; it is they, not I,who deserve the real editorial credit.

And don’t forget that contributions are alwaysmore than welcome from the members ofFEL. I know that you all have manyinteresting tales to tell, which the rest of uswould like to hear. Send your contribution tome, either by email tochrismoseley50.at.yahoo.com*

or by post to9 Westdene Crescent, Caversham, Berkshire,England RG4 7HD. The FEL office addressremains as before.

Chris Moseley

*We make a habit of publishing e-mailaddresses in human-readable, rather thanmachine-readable, form, in order to avoidunwanted solicitations for our readers,contributors and editorial staff.

2. Development of the Foundation

FEL X: Vital Voices - EndangeredLanguages and Multilingualism: DraftProgramme for this year's conferencein Mysore, India (25-27 October 2006)

The Foundation for Endangered Languages,in association with the Central Institute ofIndian Languages, will hold its annual 2006conference in India, home of more than athousand languages and dialects, and aconsciously multilingual policy stance by theGovernment of India.

Although many of these languages enjoypolitical and economic patronage, others arestruggling to survive. Among these strugglersare the languages of the Andaman andNicobar Islands, where communities are notonly tiny, but also some of the most anciently

independent tribes on the planet. The viabilityof many such small languages is threatened.

This year's conference concerns the effects ofmultilingualism on smaller languages. Acrucial question for this conference is how farpoorly-conceived language planning policiesmay actually contribute to environmentalimbalance and instability, dangers that areoften very little understood. As we understandthe effort to revitalize languages, this is nomore than the support they need to develop inthe face of new demands, including theincreased bi- and multi-lingualism comingfrom globalization, urbanization and languagecontact.

Contributions selected for the conferencerange across all the continents of the world,with a healthy emphasis on the problems localto the Indian Subcontinent.

25 October 2006Session 1 Outlining the DangerHaobam Multilingualism

EndangeredSipos On the Possibilities of

Revitalising the Synyadialect of the Khantylanguage

Yadav Endangerment ofNepal’s indigenouslanguages

Session 2 Development andChanges

Stockton Carving both sides:globalization ineducation reformand language politics

David Language maintenanceor language shift? Asociolinguistic study ofthe Temuan in urbanKuala Lumpur

Monaka,Kamwendo

Linguistic minorities andmarginalization inBotswana: prospects forsurvival

Session 3 Effects of ContactSom Multilingualism and the

Great AndamanesePuttaswamy Contact and

Convergence in MaltoAnsaldo, Lim Globalization as a means

to empowerment forminority voices –Malayin Sri Lanka

26 October 2006Session 4 Roles for ReligionEcheverria Speaking in tongues,

saving soulsBenedicto,Dolores, Fendly,Gomez

Language loss to a non-existent enemy: the caseof the Tuahka

Hough Beyond linguisticdocumentation: givingnew breath to indigenousvoices

Session 5 Literacy Choices &Documentation

InamUllah Future of Torwali-speaking migrants in theurban areas of Pakistan.

Morey Small languages in apolylingual situation -the case of Turung

Avtans, Abbi Language documentationin Andamans: highs andlows

Session 6 ExtremeEndangerment

Naik Vanishing VoicesCardoso Challenges to Indo-

Portuguese across IndiaMonaghan Wirangu and Gugada –

the survival chances oftwo neighbouringAustralian languages

Session 7 Majority-MinorityRelationships

Elangaiyan Strategies proposed forarresting different types& degrees of languageendangerment in India

Mallikarjun Karnataka, India –a casestudy

Schaefer,Egbokhare

On profiles of use formajority languages inSouthern Nigeria

27 October 2006Session 8 Emerging ComplexityJacquesson History, languages, and

populations: a broadercontext for endangeredlanguages

Modi The complexity andemergence of Hindi asLingua Franca inArunachal Pradesh

Dobrushina Multilingualism inArchi: communication,self-identification andsocial prestige.

Session 9 Cooperation withNeighbour Languages

Khadim Language shift in theminority Swat Kohistanicommunity--the case ofUshojo

Coelho Betta Kurumba:prospects for nativelanguage education

Elnazarov Multilingualism inPamir: challenges ofpreservation andrevitalisation

Session 10 Community Responsefor Language Support

Rastogi Challenges andresponses to the survivalof a tribal language Raji

Schreyer Re-orientations inplanning: a "language-as-cultural-resource"model from a CanadianFirst Nation

Sena Minority languages mustbe safeguarded, despitethe difficulties, in aglobalising world


Abstracts of selected papers, and much otherrelevant information, are available at the CIILwebsitewww.ciil.org/Main/Announcement/Abstracts/Index.htm

The Conference Venue

The Central Institute of Indian Languages,Mysore, (CIIL) was set up by the Governmentof India in July 1969. It is a large institutewith seven regional centers spread all overIndia, and is engaged in research and trainingin Indian languages other than English andHindi. It helps to evolve and implementIndia’s language policy and coordinate thedevelopment of Indian languages. Mysore isa city in the Southern Indian state ofKarnataka. The former capital of the princelystate of Mysore, ruled by the Wodeyardynasty since the 14th century, it is now theadministrative seat of Mysore District, thesecond largest in Karnataka, 135 km fromBangalore, the state capital. The city is knownfor its palaces and many other attractions.One of these is the Brindavan Gardens laidout beside the Krishnarajasagar dam (19km),particularly beautiful at night. There are alsothe Royal Palace, the Chamundi Hills,Srirangapatnam Temple, Ranganthittu BirdSanctuary, Oriental Research Institute, andMuseums of Folklore, and of Art andArcheology. The conference dates (25-27October) will allow participants, if they wish,to witness Diwali (the festival of lights) on 23October before coming to Mysore. Alanguage-related excursion is planned for 28-29 October after the conference.

Transport

Bus: Mysore has inter-city and sub-urbanpublic bus transportation.

Rail: Mysore is connected to Bangalore to thenortheast via Mandya, and to Hassan to thenorthwest, to Chamarajanagar via Nanjangudto the southeast.

Air: The nearest accessible airport is atBangalore.

For more details about the conference's localarrangements, please contact Dr B.Mallikarjun at CIIL<mallikarjun.at.ciil.stpmy.soft.net>. Addressother queries to the Chairman at<nostler.at.chibcha.demon.co.uk>.

No FEL Grants in 2006

The Foundation is not issuing any newresearch grants in 2006, while we review ourgrant-giving policy for future years.

Reports have been coming in from last year’sgrant recipients on the work they havecompleted with our financial help, and wehope to feature some of these in future issues.

3. Endangered Languages

in the News

Mother Tongue Day Celebrated inPeshawar in Northern Pakistan

Fakhruddin, Frontier Language Institute(FLI)

Mother tongue day was celebrated here inPeshawar, Pakistan, hosted by GandharaHindko Adabi Board, Pakistan. Scholars,researchers and common people of elevenlanguages participated in it. Before theworkshop a walk was made, led by the deputyspeaker of the NWFP Assembly Mr. IkramUllah Shahid. The MNA, Maulana AbdulAkber Chitrali was the Chief Guest.

The Speakers of eleven languages, Khowar,Palula, Dameli, Kalasha, and Gawar-bati,languages spoken in Chitral district, Torwali,Gawri, and Gojri, languages of Swat, Ormuriof South Waziristan and Pashai ofAfghanistan along with Pashto and Hindkospeakers jointly celebrated the mother tongueday. They made a short walk holding bannersdemanding the development of the lesser-known languages spoken in the area.

Following the walk participants were invitedto join a meeting hosted by the GandharaHindko Adabi Board, Pakistan. Many of theparticipants made speeches in their mothertongues with translation in Urdu. Due torough weather and blockage of road manyrepresentatives could not come from themountaneous regions but they sent theirmessages through others living nearby.

The people who delivered their speech wereProf, Khatir Ghaznavi, Dr, Zahoor AhmadAwan, Maj. (r) Qazi Saeed , Rozi KhanBurki, Zia ud din, M. Shareef Shakib, InamUllah, Jahangir Khan, Qari abdul Salam,Shamshi Khan Kalami, Qazi Inayat Jalil,Asmat Ullah, Abdul Hakim Sailab, FanoosGujar, Muhammad Awais Qarni and MutahirShah.

In their speeches the participants made avariety of demands. They demanded time inthe media, especially on TV, and theappointment of local teachers in the schools.“Our children are facing a great difficulty

because the teachers come from otherlanguages and our children do not understandtheir language”said Mr. Asmat Ullah ofChitral, who is doing language research onDameli, his own mother tongue.

At the end, a joint resolution was passeddemanding establishment of a governmentcentre for training people from the lesser-known languages and development oforthographies for these languages at theUniversity of Peshawar.

“We should hold meetings three or fourtimes in a year to discuss our mothertongues “ said the Chief guest, MNAMaulana Abdul Akber Chitrali. He alsopromised to deliver the messages to thespeakers in the National Assembly ofPakistan.

This was the first time that a great number ofspeakers of different languages gathered herein the provincial capital and made speecheson universal mother tongue day. The peoplehope the government will change its languagepolicies to benefit all of the languagecommunities.

Following this event, several newspapers ofcity published news, articles, editorials andpictures about the mother tongue day meetingwhich had taken place.

The daily Aaj ran the following headline:"Demand for the establishment of languagesdevelopment Centre.”

The article was very positive and said thatrepresentatives of 20 languages participated ina seminar in City University. It also gave thenames of the languages represented in theMother Tongue Day function. It pointed outthat the participants called for thedevelopment of some educational materials intheir languages. It critised the govenament forits lack of support for these local languages,and demanded time in electronic media forlocal languages.

The daily Mashriq Peshawar also spokepositively about the event. It quotedIkramullah Shahid, Deputy Speaker as sayingthat the development of local languages is theresponsibility of the government. Thelinguists have shown the importance andbenefit of local languages. Every one shouldgiven the right of mother tongu eduction.

Daily Express Peshawar called for theestablishment of a center for all languages andappointments of mother-tongue teachers invillages. It pointed out that in many parts ofthe world, much is being done to preserve andto promote people’s languages and cultures,but nothing is happening here. This provincehas a number of languages but thegovenament does not give any attention tothem. TV and Radio has airtime available foronly a few languages spoken in Pakistan.


FLI is based at House 6, Street 1, Salaar Lane,Old Bara Road, Afzalabad,Peshawar, PakistanPhone: +92 91 585 3792; Fax: +92 91 57 00250 Email: info.at.fli-online.orghttp://www.fli-online.org

Bill would boost efforts to retainPenobscot language31January, 2006: The Associated Presshttp://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412342

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - The days in whichPenobscot children were admonished forspeaking their native language in school arelong gone. But the Penobscots still need to domore to rebuild a language that was nearlylost forever, a tribal lawmaker says.

Michael Sockalexis, who represents his tribein the Legislature, has introduced a bill thatwould add $300,000 to a Penobscot LanguagePreservation Fund operated by the stateDepartment of Education. The money wouldbe matched by the National Endowment forthe Humanities.

Many Penobscots know some words orphrases, but few are fluent. Precise figures arehard to come by, but Sockalexis said there areonly a handful of ''traditional speakers'' amongthe tribe's more than 2,300 members, morethan 1,000 of whom still live in Maine.

Sockalexis said he was part of the lastgeneration to be immersed in the Penobscotlanguage at home. But even he is no longerfluent. ''I lost it,'' he said.

With the language ''at a tipping point,'' thegoal is to continue to instill the language inthe tribe's children and to turn it back into aconversational language, he said.

The tribe, which has a reservation on IndianIsland, is working hard to do just that, usingan after-school program that serves allstudents in the K - 8 school, as well as animmersion summer camp at which studentsspeak nothing but Penobscot.

The state funding and the matching fundswould allow the tribe to move the languageprogram back into the regular classroom,Sockalexis said.

Maine's four Indian tribes - the PenobscotNation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Bandof Maliseets and Aroostook Band of Micmacs- speak languages that are closely related.Those tribes and the Abenakis comprise whatis known as the Wabanaki Confederacy.

Wayne Newell, a Passamaquoddy languagecoordinator and an authority on all of Maine'stribal languages, said he prefers to speakPassamaquoddy. ''When we were kids, that'sall you spoke. That's allyou had. That's all yousaw,'' he said.

Now, Newell said, children of all tribes areunlikely to become fluent in their nativelanguages, or to speak them at all, unless theylearn them at school.

"The Last Speakers": UK premiere

The UK premiere of the film "The LastSpeakers" took place in London at the Schoolof Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on 17May 2006. The film is slated for US release inthe fall of 2006, on PBS.

More information can be found at:

http://www.hrelp.org/events/thelastspeakers/and a preview athttp://www.ironboundfilms.com/lastslides.html

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/dharris2/

Virginia Algonquian raised from thedead for "The New World"

Terrence Malick, director and writer of NewLine Cinema's recent Release "The NewWorld," hired our fellow FEL member, BlairRudes, (i/c FEL inc., and chair of our 2000Conference, FEL IV - EL & Literacy) to lendhistorical realism to the movie by coachingthe cast in Virginia Algonquian, the languagespoken by Pocahontas and other NativeAmericans that were encountered in thefounding of Jamestown. Malick had first triedto hire a native speaker, only to discover thatthe language had been extinct since around1785. Rudes is an authority on the survivingmaterial on Virginia Algonquian.

"Originally they wanted the language revivedfor one scene and done by the end of themonth, in keeping with the productionschedule," said Rudes. "But the records of theVirginia Algonquian language are, shall wesay, limited."

Rudes, who teaches at the University of NorthCarolina at Charlotte, "re-built" the languagefrom a list of about 500 words transcribed byWilliam Strachey in 1609, and a few morewords recorded by John Smith. With the vastmajority of the vocabulary missing, alongwith its syntax, Rudes had to fill the gaps withmaterial from other Algonquian languagesand his knowledge of comparativeAlgonquian linguistics.

The product of Rudes' work was soconvincing to the director and actors thatVirginia Algonquian, originally intended tobe spoken in only one scene, grew to becomean integral part of the film's world and wasusedin about a third of the movie, withEnglish subtitles. The translation, which hadto be done on-location, turned into a massiveand intense project for Rudes. "I spent amonth holed up in a hotel room, translatinglike crazy," he said.

The production company is turning over thescripts and language CD's to the descendants

of the Powhatan Confederacy, five state-recognized tribes in Virginia. Rudes expectsto be working with the tribes on languagereclamation programs and is working on adictionary of Virginia Algonquian with HelenRountree, an authority on the history of thePowhatan people.

For the full press release, visit the UNCCpublicity site below.]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/uonc-ucl011906.php

Himachal Pradesh scholars trying torevive ancient Tankri script

By Rajiv Kimta

Kullu, Feb.9 (ANI): Tankri, once a full-fledged script of the Pahari language, spokenby people residing in the mountains, is beingrevived by the natives of Kullu. Many ofthese people are taking lessons to familiarisethemselves with this ancient script. Manyscholars are trying to revive the script andalso salvage whatever they can of the ancientmanuscripts.

"This Tankri script has suffered due to the'language policy' of the British who accordedthe status of official script and language toUrdu in their official administration. Thismade everyone clamour for the Urdu scriptschools and that was justified then as learningin Urdu language and script meant anassurance of a job. Soon after the introductionof Urdu in 1846 policy of the British, theTankri script using schools closed down andpeople forgot this script," says Khub RamKhushdil, a teacher at the workshop.Recently, a 10-day workshop was organisedto acquaint people with the Tankri script andexpose them to the ancient manuscripts,which use the script.

The students were informed about thelanguage and how it has been neglected. TheTankri script once held sway in themountains. Pahari, the extensively spokenlanguage of Himachal Pradesh, especially inKullu, Lahaul, Spiti, and Kangra, is ofSanskrit origin. Studies have revealed thatpeople living in mountain areas in HimachalPradesh, who are also known as "Pahari" usedTankri or Thakari. During the Muslim rule,later on, the Persian script came into fashion.Much later these dialects adopted theDevanagari script.

Linguists also say that during feudal times,Kullu literature was written in Tankri scriptand reached its peak in the 17th century.Khushdil says that in the pre-British timeswhen the valley was still under princely rule,Tankri was the script of the royal courts.Tankri inscriptions are also found on slabs,temples and sculptures. One of the students,who delved deep into the history of the scripthas evolved a road-map for Tankri's revival.


"From the old course we have books andrecords which are related to the Ayurveda,herbs and medicines apart from many otherthings. Lots of these books are scripted inTankri and so that makes the preservation andrevival of this script so essential. We areplanning to approach the Government ofIndia's Mission Pandulipi (manuscript)project with our resources and for furtherpromotion we shall adopt the Guru-Shishya(the ancient Teacher-Disciple equation)Parampara (tradition)," says Shashi Sharma,one of the students. For the students the 10-day long classes was a highly gratifyingexperience.

"I am so impressed that I have promisedmyself that I would peel every crust of disusethat has accumulated on this heritage script ofours and will try to help it to regain and keepit to its glory," said Deepak Sharma. There are400 registered languages in India but Hindi inthe Devanagari script is the official language.The Indian Constitution recognizes 17regional languages, of which the most widelyspoken are Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil,Telugu , Malayalam, Kannada and Urdu.(ANI)

Lakota on Path to RecaptureLanguage

PINE RIDGE, S.D., March 15 (AScribeNewswire) -- The Lakota Sioux language,made famous through its portrayal in the 1990film "Dances with Wolves," is now one ofonly a small handful of Native Americanlanguages with enough remaining speakers tosurvive into the next generation, announced amajor language organization. Lakota iscurrently one of the last major NativeAmerican language hold-outs in what is aworldwide crisis of linguistic extinctions.

To keep the Lakota language fromdisappearing completely, an ambitiousrevitalization campaign has been organized bya group of tribal leaders and linguists. Thecampaign is spearheaded by the nonprofitLakota Language Consortium, whichdevelops the Lakota-language teachingmaterials used in 23 area schools and whichtrains language teachers. The organization'sgoal is to encourage the use of the languageby a new generation of speakers. Childrenusing the group's language materials becomeproficient in Lakota by the fifth year of use.

The group plans to have a fully sequencedcurriculum that students can follow from firstgrade through college.

The consortium's latest Level 2 textbook iscurrently being distributed to schools acrossIndian country. For Leonard Little Finger, thegreat-great-grandson of Chief Big Foot andone of the group's co-founders, the textbookssymbolize an important milestone for theLakota. Little Finger notes that, "the effects ofgovernment policies were profoundlydestructive to our language and our ability to

pass it on to our children. These materials areso important because they are the first everdesigned to raise children to speak Lakota.Not since before our great-grandparents wereconfined to the reservations, have we beenallowed to raise our children speaking thelanguage. As Lakotas, we will not let ourlanguage die, and these books give me hopethat my grandchildren, at least, will have theprivilege to speak their language."

Tribal elders and traditional leaders havemade it a priority to keep the language alivefor future generations. 81-year-old ClarenceWolf Guts, the last surviving Lakota codetalker from WWII, points out that, "ourpeople need to know that Lakota had animportant position and to learn to be proud tospeak Lakota. It is good that the kids are nowlearning Lakota in the schools." Oglala SiouxTribe Vice-President, Alex White Plume,shares this opinion and explains that throughthe group's efforts, ³we are finally makingsome progress in teaching the language to thechildren.²

The group recently received the nation'sleading language revitalization award, theKen Hale Prize, from the Society for theStudy of the Indigenous Languages of theAmericas. The consortium was distinguishedfor its outstanding community language workand deep commitment to the promotion andrevitalization of Lakota. Still, the group'sLinguistic Director, Jan Ullrich, points outthat "revitalizing a language is no easy taskand much more needs to be done to educatethe public about the state of endangeredlanguages and the needs of indigenouspeoples." Ullrich concedes that NativeAmerican language loss is an enormousthough silent crisis. "The fact is, few peopleknow about the seriousness of the languagecrisis - that there are perhaps only a dozenlanguages that have a chance of surviving inthe United States out of the original fivehundred. When a language disappears, welose an important record of our humanexperience - our linguistic heritage.Languages encompass a people's unique andirreplaceable songs, prayers, stories, and waysof seeing the world. Ninety percent of theserepositories of knowledge will pass intooblivion unless we do something about it."

The organization's goal is to expand itsrevitalization efforts beyond the classroomand to more actively bring the language backinto use within the community. They aim toprovide incentives for young people to speakthe language, to develop Lakota-languagetelevision programming, and to expand theliterature available in the language.

They model their actions on the best practicesof other successful language revival effortsfrom around the world. However, the group'sExecutive Director, Wilhelm Meya says thatfunding continues to be the primary obstacleto the return of the language, "government aidis almost nonexistent and there are very few

grants available for endangered languages.Individual donations seem to be the only hopeendangered languages like Lakota have."

Luckily, there are other people besides theLakota themselves who want to see thelanguage preserved. Meya explains thatsupport for the group's effort has come from anumber of less common sources such asGerman nonprofit organizations like theTatanka Oyate Verein. "We have had to becreative to garner support for our efforts. It'svery important that we succeed," Meya says.He also cites several other unique donors tothe Lakota language, including theWashington Redskins Charitable Foundationand Sioux Tools. Meya notes that the sportsfranchise, in particular, "is committed tohelping the Lakota language and is a veryproud supporter of our cause." Meya explainsthat individual donors have also played asignificant role in helping language rescueefforts. One such donor, Jim Brown ofBemidji, Minnesota, is ardent about the needto support Lakota. He emphasizes, "it is myduty to do whatever I can to help NativeAmerican cultures survive. I'm very pleased tobe part of this effort to keep the Lakotalanguage alive and available to all of us."

The remaining Lakota speakers are acutelyaware of the high cost of the potential loss oftheir language. Elmer Bear Eagle, a residentof Wounded Knee, remembers with fondnesswhen most people still spoke Lakota andlaments the current state of the language. Asan extra in "Dances with Wolves," he wasvery glad to be able to speak Lakota in thefilm but observes that, "if we can't save ourlanguage soon, all of our children will need toread the subtitles in the movie, just likeeverybody else, to understand what it beingsaid in Lakota. Then, we will have truly lostour uniqueness as Lakota people."

More details on the Lakota LanguageConsortium are available at:http://www.lakhota.org

CONTACT: Wilhelm K. Meya, LakotaLanguage Consortium,812-340-3517, fax 812-857-4482,meya.at.lakhota.org<mailto:meya.at.lakhota.org>

Haunting songs of life and death reveala fading worldby Nicolas Rothwellwww.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18146439%255E5001986,00.html

o Songs, Dreamings and Ghosts: TheWangga of North Australia. AllanMarett, Wesleyan University Press,292pp, $27.50

A GENERATION ago, when musicologistAllan Marett was beginning his fieldwork onthe Aboriginal song-cycles of northernAustralia, he was asked an intriguing questionby a young indigenous man.


Why was traditional Aboriginal music - musicof endless subtlety and beauty - not as highlyvalued as the Aboriginal paintings thatAustralians have come to view as potentemblems of national identity?

This book is Marett's attempt to provide ananswer and to redress that imbalance. Themost profound and detailed study of anindigenous musical genre yet attempted, it hasbeen two decades in the making, and evenbefore publication acquired a kind oflegendary status among the small circle ofexperts addicted to the sounds of indigenoussong. It is a specialist volume, yet it is writtenwith a clear, cool passion.

It sets out the overwhelming evidence for thefinesse and compositional craft of the TopEnd's song cycles and brings the master-singers of the region and their beliefs andexperiences to vivid life. It deserves thewidest possible attention, not just becauseMarett is the doyen of Australianethnomusicologists, and this is hismasterwork, but because the art form he seeksto anatomise is dying.

Aboriginal song is, of course, elusive: in itstraditional form, it is sung in language, it isbrief, coded, meshed with dance. It tends tobe ceremonial in nature, and this has keptoutsiders from disseminating its splendours tothe wider world. For what do everydayAustralians know, in truth, about indigenousmusic, other than the noise of the didge andthe guitar chords of Treaty?

Marett turns his attention on the Aboriginalsongmen of the Daly region, who live todaygathered in the remote community of Wadeye,close to the Bonaparte Gulf, and at Belyuen,on the Cox peninsula opposite Darwin. Theirkey song cycles, the Wangga, take the form ofsharp, jewel-like chants, accompanied byclap-stick and didgeridoo. Poetic in theextreme, filled with rhythms that summon up,like Western leitmotifs, whole worlds ofassociation, these are musical slivers thatmake up a dictionary of the singer's world.Their core is religious: the Wangga are sungat times when the living and the dead drawtogether. They are often learned in dreams;and they plunge deep into the entwined fabricof the traditional domain. Marett picks apartseveral songs and unfurls the aspects of lifethey express: "The essentialinterconnectedness of the living and the deadthrough ceremony; the mutual responsibilitiesof the living to look after each other ineveryday affairs; the exigencies of everydaylife; and the intimate relationship that theliving and the dead maintain with a sentientlandscape".

The world revealed is one of infinitely variedsongs and rhythms, swift, succinct, full ofconviction.

Marett gives his readers a glimpse of theurgency with which these themes are

perfected and performed: there are vignetteswhere he is scolded for using the wrongwords in a practice singing session; at onepoint he turns in amazement from his chapter-length analysis of a single, minute-long snatchof music, staggered by the amount ofsubmerged information it contains.

In his field years Marett became very close toseveral great song-masters from Belyuen, andhe was planning to devote himself to thestudy of one of these figures, BobbyLambudju Lane, a man at once gentle andvoluble, Western-trained, literate, a fluentspeaker of English and of his own traditionallanguages. Lane "had the rare capacity tospeak the texts of songs and give theirtranslations the moment he had finishedsinging".

He was, in short, the Homer of Wangga song,the man at the end of the tradition who couldfix and read the music's mobile shards. ButLane died at 52, and, as Marett says bluntly,even though other singers have taken up hisduties, "the tradition will probably neverrecover from this blow".

Much of Marett's book is devoted toexaminations of Lane's work, above all ahaunting, evanescent song from Badjalarr, alow-lying sandy islet that has become, in theimagination of the Belyuen people, a far-off,generalised land of the dead, although on ourmaps it is merely North Peron Island, afavourite weekend sports-fishing haunt forDarwin's boat-going class.

Lane's death has been duplicated many timesacross the north: the old songmen are dying inthe Kimberley and in Arnhem Land, a curtainof silence and mass-consumption music iscoming down. Hence the vital importance ofthis book as a guide to the power and fluidityof a traditional form.

Marett covers much ground: he shows howsingers shift their songs to explain theirrelationship to country; how melodies relateto certain ancestor figures; how songs anddances set out social themes.

An astonishing idea lurks glinting in theclosing pages of his work as he considers thedepth and scale of the musical system beinguncovered. Like many music scholars, he isintrigued by the ultimate questions: where didthe music come from and what connectionsmay exist between Aboriginal and SoutheastAsian traditions?

The role of the Macassan traders who visitednorth Australia in contact times may wellhave been critical in spreading musicalmodels. But, more broadly, Marett speculatesthat deeper study could well reveal"something startling" about north Australianmusic, namely that it forms a continuum, inits rhythmic organisation, with the music ofthe Middle East, Southeast Asia, India andIndonesia.

Such elusive, attractive ideas: but how canthey be tested when the material is dying out?Marett is centrally involved in a newrecording project, which is strongly supportedby the surviving traditional songmen of thenorth. "My own experience," he says briskly,"is that most Aboriginal communities, at leastin the north of Australia, want their music tobe more widely disseminated and betterunderstood."

At the recent Garma culture conference innortheast Arnhem Land, a clarion call wassent out in headline words: "Indigenous songsshould be a deeply valued part of theAustralian cultural heritage. They representthe great classical music of this land. Theseancient traditions were once everywhere inAustralia, and now survive as living traditionsonly in several regions. Many of these arenow in danger of being lost forever.Indigenous performances are one of the mostrich and beautiful forms of artistic expression,and yet they remain unheard and invisible."

It is this trend of eclipse and culturalextinction, tragically immediate and fast-advancing, that Marett's meticulous,pioneering work - at once tribute andtestament - has been written to resist.

'Tis True: Irish Gaelic Still Charmsby Patricia Bellew Gray

The New York Times, March 12, 2006

EVERY Thursday afternoon in a chalk-dustyclassroom at Yale University, seven studentsgather to learn Irish Gaelic, a languagethought dead more than a century ago.Today's lesson is a flowery bouquet ofendearments.

"Mo mhuir in" and "A chuisle mo chroi"translate to "love of my heart" and "O pulse ofmy heart" in English, and the class stumbles abit over the unfamiliar phrases, but presseson.

"These are my commandos," Pat Whelan,their teacher, said with obvious pride. "TheIrish language will never die so long as thereis one person left in the world who yearns tohear the voices of our ancestors come alive."

The Irish language is enjoying a renaissancein the United States, part of an upsurge ofinterest in the music, history, dance andculture of Ireland. Connecticut iscontributing to that revival, in part because ofthe thousands of residents whose parents,grandparents and great-grandparentsemigrated from Ireland.

Longing for a link to their past, andundaunted by the challenges of a languagemore closely related to Breton - spoken inwestern France - than English, scores ofpeople are attending weekly language classesin Fairfield, Milford, New Haven, Danburyand Glastonbury.


Indeed, so strong is demand that "our biggestchallenge is in finding a qualified teacher,"said Kathleen Thopsey, who organizes thelanguage class at the Gaelic-American Club inFairfield. Her club has been seeking a teacherfor more than a year. Meanwhile, a half-dozenor so students there struggle to teachthemselves pronunciation and shades ofmeaning from books and tapes.

So, like the itinerant teachers who roamedIreland in the 1700's, Pat Whelan travels fromcity to city in Connecticut, teaching teenagersand adults Irish, along with a smattering ofhistory, culture, politics, folklore, poetry and,if the mood strikes him, music.

Mr. Whelan has had little formal schooling.Born in Dublin, he dropped out of school at14 and eventually emigrated to the UnitedStates. Now 69, he is semi-retired and livingin Glastonbury.

He also isn't a native speaker of Irish. Helearned the language as a boy at school. (Irishlanguage studies are mandatory for schoolchildren in Ireland up to age 18, though thelanguage is in common daily use only in a fewisolated spots in the West, namely in Galway,Kerry and Donegal.)

Several years ago, Mr. Whelan took up thelanguage again on a whim and found acalling.

"The language is very seductive," he said. "Itis soft and musical, the language of romantics,and, if you are very lucky, it burrows rightinto your soul."

Gaelic Irish is among the most ancient oflanguages in Europe. Many scholars regardIrish-language literature as among the oldestcontinuous literary traditions in WesternEurope; they trace its beginnings to the fifthcentury.

Thousands of manuscripts in Irish from theMiddle Ages were preserved in monasteriesand provide an extraordinary window onmedieval times.

After Ireland was conquered by the British inthe 1600's, the language began to fall fromgrace. English was the language of thebureaucracy.

Famine killed 1 million, mostly Irishspeakers, in the 1840's. Millions more left forthe United States, where the language wasseen as a badge of shame, a vocal marker ofthe ragged, uneducated poor. Today,according to Irish government estimates, thenumber of native speakers in Ireland rangefrom 100,000 to 250,000, most of them in theGaeltacht, a term for Irish-speakingcommunities in western Ireland.

Among the students in Mr. Whelan's class,which is part of a community program held atYale, is Victoria A. Farrell, 17, a high schooljunior from Beacon Falls. She began studying

Ireland's legends and myths a few years agofor various school projects and, as a result,developed a keen interest in the language.This is her first year of lessons. "Irish isharder to learn than French or Spanish, but Ilove it for what it tells me about my culture,"she said.

On this bitter winter afternoon at Yale, Mr.Whelan's students will learn a great dealabout the culture. For instance, Mr. Whelansaid, the Irish language has no simple wordfor "yes" or "no," though it does havenegative sentence constructions.

"I have a theory about that," Mr. Whelan said."Think of it: Nothing shuts down aconversation faster than a flat 'no' or a 'yes,'and there's nothing quite so beautiful as themusic of good conversation to the Irish."

So, a student challenged Mr. Whelan, howwould a girl tell an unwelcome suitor that shewill not marry him? She would say, in Gaelic,of course: "'Tis a fine husband you wouldmake, I am sure, but I will not marry you,'" hesaid.

Nor do older Irish usually use a greeting asabrupt as "Hello." Mr. Whelan has a theoryabout that, too. Not only does the Englishword sound too short to be amiable, it makesno mention of God.

Gaelic Irish is a very spiritual language, hesaid. In greeting someone, the Irish speakermight say "Dia dhuit" or "Bail o Dhia ar anobair," which translate to "God be with you"and "God's blessing on the work." Irish is "alanguage with a very optimistic view of theworld," Mr. Whelan said to his students.Therefore, he said, "in Irish, 'I am sad' wouldbe 'Ta bron orm' or, more literally, 'I havesadness upon me.' That's because we believethat our sadness can and will be lifted fromus. It is not necessarily a part of us."

Mr. Whelan's students are part of a trend thatis also gaining momentum across the country.The poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill of DunLaoghaire, County Dublin calls the language"the corpse that sits up and talks back."

These days, that corpse is engaged in coast-to-coast chatter. Daltaí na Gaeilge, a non-profit advocacy group for the language inElberon, N.J., estimated that about 30,000speak the language in the United States, upfrom a few thousand when the organizationwas founded in 1981.

Irish is also turning up at some colleges. Atthe University of Notre Dame in South Bend,Ind., 297 students are enrolled this winter inclasses to learn Irish, up more than sixfoldsince 1998. Dozens more were turned awaybecause the classes had become too large.

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield isdeveloping an Irish studies minor that willinclude language classes. Two years ago, theuniversity opened a satellite campus in

Dingle, Ireland, where it sends students forimmersion in the language and culture.

The federal government's Fulbright Programalso recently announced it would invite threeIrish-language instructors to teach atuniversities starting in the fall.

The once-abandoned language is now seen asvery trendy, said Brian O'Conchubhair,assistant professor of Irish language andliterature at Notre Dame. "Ethnicity is invogue."

For some students, though, learning thelanguage is less a novelty and more a journey.Steve Hultgren, 53, a computer engineer fromMiddletown, has been taking classes for ayear at the Irish American Community Centerin New Haven. His last name is Swedish, butdeep in his past he is quite sure there are someCelts.

"I feel at strangely at home in this language,"he said. "It is difficult to learn, but I feel I amreconnecting with my heritage in a verymeaningful way."

Indigenous Languages in Final Throesby Diego Cevallos

Published on Friday, April 14, 2006 by InterPress Service <http://www.ipsnews.net/>/

MEXICO CITY - Hundreds of languagesdisappeared from Latin America and theCaribbean over the past 500 years, and manyof the more than 600 that have survived couldface the same fate in the not-so-distant future.United Nations agencies and many expertsmaintain that it is an avoidable tragedy, butthere are those who see it as the inherent fateof all but a few languages.

Faced with Western culture and the dominantpresence of Spanish, Portuguese and Englishin the Americas, indigenous languages likeKiliwua in Mexico, Ona and Puelche inArgentina, Amanayé in Brazil, Záparo inEcuador and Mashco-Piro in Peru, are justbarely surviving, the result of their continueduse by small groups of people -- most ofwhom are elderly.

But there are others like Quichua, Aymara,Guaraní, Maya and Náhuatl whose futurelooks a bit rosier, because overall theselanguages are spoken by more than 10 millionpeople and governments support theirsurvival through various educational, culturaland social programmes.

Around the globe there are some 7,000languages in use, but each year 20 disappear.Furthermore, half of the existing languagesare threatened, according to the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO). This agency, whichpromotes the preservation and diversity of theworld's languages, maintains that thedisappearance of even one language is a


tragedy, because with it go a unique cultureand cosmo-vision.

But not everyone sees it that way. "Theextinction of languages is a phenomenoninherent in their very existence, and it hasbeen happening since humans emitted theirfirst sound with a linguistic meaning," JoséLuis Moure, a University of Buenos Airesphilologist and member of the ArgentineAcademy of Letters, told Tierramérica.

In contrast, Gustavo Solís, a Peruvian linguistwith expertise in vernacular and author oflanguage studies of the Amazon region, says"there is nothing in the languages that saysone should disappear and another shouldcontinue."

"Every disappearance of language and cultureis a great tragedy to humanity. When itoccurs, a unique and irreplaceable humanexperience is extinguished," Solís said in aconversation with Tierramérica.

There are cases, says this expert, that show itis possible to plan the revitalisation oflanguages so they won't die, but such effortsin Latin America and the Caribbean fall short.When the Europeans arrived in the Americasin the 15th century, there were 600 to 800languages in South America alone, but withthe colonisation process "the vast majoritydisappeared. Today there are languages ontheir way to extinction because of the unequalcontact between Western society and someindigenous societies," Solís said.

Fernando Nava, director of Mexico's NationalInstitute of Indigenous Languages (INALI),said languages disappear through naturalevolution, which is understandable, orthrough cultural pressure and discriminationagainst its speakers, which is preventable. It isthe second cause that many governments,international agencies and academics arefighting, because it is considered anunacceptable phenomenon, Nava toldTierramérica.

In this area, Latin America and the Caribbeanare just in the stage of raising awareness, headded.

According to UNESCO, half of the languagesexisting in the world today could be lostwithin "a few generations", due to theirmarginalisation from the Internet, cultural andeconomic pressures, and the development ofnew technologies that favour homogeneity. InMay, the UN agency will publish an extensivestudy about the languages of the Amazonregion, many of them spoken by very fewindividuals. The study is a bid to drawinternational attention to their plight.

Surviving in the Amazon jungles are isolatedindigenous groups, who refuse to havecontact with the Western world and its"progress". They total around 5,000 peoplebelonging to various groups of the AmazonBasin, among them the Tagaeri in Ecuador,

Ayoreo in Paraguay, Korubo in Brazil and theMashco-Piro and Ashaninka in Peru.

According to Rodolfo Stavenhagen, UNspecial rapporteur on the situation of humanrights and basic freedoms of indigenouspeoples, these groups are facing "a truecultural genocide". "I fear that under currentcircumstances it will be difficult for them tosurvive many more years, because so-calleddevelopment denies the right of these peoplesto continue being peoples," he said.

Although the list of languages and dialects inuse worldwide is very long, the vast majorityof the population speaks only a handful oflanguages, like English, Chinese, andSpanish. To ensure that linguistic diversity ismaintained, the international communityagreed in recent years on a series of legalinstruments, and experts hold regularmeetings to discuss the issues.

One such meet took place Mar. 31 to Apr. 2in the western U.S. state of Utah, whereofficials and academics from across theAmericas studied ways to prevent thedisappearance of dozens of languages in thishemisphere. Since 1999, through a UNESCOinitiative, Feb. 21 is celebrated asInternational Mother Language Day. Thereare also agreements in the UN system, like theUniversal Declaration on Cultural Diversityand its Action Plan, from 2001, and theConvention on Safeguarding IntangibleCultural Heritage, signed in 2003.

Also dating from 2003 is theRecommendation on the Promotion and Useof Multingualism and Universal Access toCyberspace, and from 2005 the Conventionon the Protection and Promotion of Diversityof Cultural Expressions. The Argentine expertMoure says it is important to work towardspreserving languages, even when the numberof speakers is small, because "they aremarkers of identity that merit maximumrespect and scientific attention."

But "I am not so sure that the death of alanguage necessarily means the disappearanceof the associated cosmo-vision, because itsspeakers never stop talking (unless theythemselves disappear through disease orgenocide), but rather, after a period ofbilingualism, they adopt another language thatis more useful to them because of its greaterinsertion in the world," he said "This a fact ofreality, and I believe it should be recognisedwithout turning to excessive conspiracytheories," said Moure. Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter Press Service

4. Appeals, News and Views

from Endangered Communities

Strategy to Revitalize First Nation,Inuit and Métis Languages

Dear friends of Language Revitalization

I and my fellow Task Force members havejust completed a comprehensive report to theCanadian government as requested laying oura comprehensive basis for a long term strategyfor enhancing our 60-70 endangeredlanguages in canada You can view, downloador order copies for free by going tohttp://aboriginallanguagestaskforce.ca/

and scrolling down to Foundational Report.

Please pass on the info. We need to insureCanada implements the recommendations .You help is needed.

Thank youchair, Task Force on Language And Culture

Ronald Ignace

What is happening in HospitalitoSantiago Atitlán?

Friends and colleagues: We believe those whostudy people of the past also have obligationsto people in the present. The ancient Mayahave fascinated archaeologists and the publicfor generations, but living Maya descendants,often ignored in the shadow of their storiedancestors, now face a disaster of immenseproportions. You can see what is happeningin Hospitalito Santiago Atitlán, the latestvideo feature on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel(http://www.archaeologychannel.org).

As keepers of what they believe is the verynavel of the world, people in the highlandGuatemalan town of Santiago Atitlán hold thecosmos itself in balance by performing rituals(see TAC video Balancing the Cosmos[http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/Vidmap/Guatemala.html] echoing the ancienttraditions of their prehispanic Mayan


ancestors. Closed by civil war, the town'shospital, or "Hospitalito," reopened after 15years with great hopes in April 2005. OnOctober 5, 2005, tropical storm Stan sent asix foot wall of mud that struck theHospitalito and buried alive 1400 townresidents. This video documents the disaster,the recovery effort and the ongoing plea forhelp.

This and other programs are available onTAC for your use and enjoyment. We urgeyou to support this public service byparticipating in our Membership andUnderwriting programs.http://www.archaeologychannel.org/member.htmlhttp://www.archaeologychannel.org/sponsor.shtmlOnly with your help can we continue andenhance this nonprofit public-education andvisitor-supported service. We also welcomenew content partners as we reach out to theworld community.

Richard M. Pettigrew, Ph.D., RPA, Presidentand Executive Director, ArchaeologicalLegacy Institute

Drop the language bill!

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/OPINION/60530004/1014

We should have pride in our country and inthe things that make us Americans, includingour common language. But America has neverbeen a country in which only English hasbeen spoken, so it's with regret that the Senatepassed a bill earlier this month proclaimingEnglish the national language.

The Senate measure, which was approved 63to 34, wants to "preserve and enhance" therole of English by restricting federalcommunications or services to Englishwithout altering current laws that requiresome documents and services in otherlanguages.

We don't need a language law, though, for afew good reasons.

For one, English is the predominant languagein the United States, and nothing in more than200 years of nationhood has threatened itsunofficial status. Up until the 1980s, few eventhought about the need for a nationallanguage declaration.

The proposal, if it becomes law, also is anaffront to this country's diversity.

Many Native Americans still speak theirnative languages. They are proud of theirlanguages, as they should be, and it doesn'tmake someone less of an American if they donot speak English.

But the simple fact of the matter is that mostpeople naturally will assimilate and lose theirnative language, and if not them, theirchildren. Again, that's something that hasbeen happening throughout our history and is

happening right now at a rate greater thanever.

But English-only supporters raise unfoundedfears that somehow things are different todayand English will be squeezed out of existence.It won't, even given the diverse world we livein. Just because the merchandise signs atLowe's are in English and Spanish andproduct assembly instructions are printed infour or five languages, it does not meansuddenly the Senate will become bilingual.

And lastly, opponents to the nationallanguage bill are correct - if made law, theSenate's bill could eventually negateexecutive orders, regulations, civil serviceguidances and other multilingual ordinancesnot officially sanctioned by acts of Congress.

We are and have been a big country, bigenough to accommodate many people withmany ideas and languages. Their presencedoesn't affect the status of English - it neverhas - but the Senate's national language billdoes make us look small-minded.Originally published May 31, 2006

5. Allied Societies and Activities

Northern California IndianDevelopment Council

André Cramblit:<andre.p.cramblit.86.at.alum.dartmouth.org>is Operations Director for the CaliforniaIndian Development Council NCIDC(http://www.ncidc.org), a non-profit thatmeets the development needs of AmericanIndians.

To subscribe to a newsletter of interest toAmerican Indians s send an email to:IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe attopica.com

or go to:http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo

6. Reports from the Field

[None in this issue.]

7. Overheard on the Web

Ray Kiogima, co-author of "OdawaLanguage and Legends," from theOdawa Bands Governmental Center inHarbor Springs

by Craig McCool

<mccoolrecordeagle.at.sbcglobal.net>

HARBOR SPRINGS - Ray Kiogima rarelygets a chance anymore to talk with others inhis native language.

The number of people who speak Odawa hasdwindled over the years. Now, Kiogima said,you could count on a single hand the numberof locals who are fluent in the old language.

"In the tribe, we've probably got four peoplebesides me," Kiogima said. "I used to enjoytalking Odawa to people who were fluent init, but they die off."

Kiogima, 73, an elder with the Little TraverseBay Bands of Odawa Indians, has donesomething about it, recently publishing abook containing Odawa/English translationsof more than 1,000 common words andhundreds of phrases. The book, "OdawaLanguage and Legends," is the culmination ofdecades of work.

It is the only known instance in which theregional Native American language has beentranslated to English. Kiogima broke downthe Odawa words - historically spoken butrarely written - to their syllable sounds, thentranscribed them, phonetically, into Englishequivalents.

Ah-nee, for example, means "Hello." There isno Odawa word for Goodbye, Kiogima, said.The closest thing is Bah mah pee: "Later."

The language of the Odawa people is apparenteverywhere in northern Michigan. The wordCheboygan, for example, comes from theOdawa phrase Zhah boo guhn, or "The waythrough."

But while traces of the language are ever-present, the heart of the language is dying,said Carla McFall, who runs the LittleTraverse Bay Band's language preservationand revitalization program.

"Ray's generation is the last generation that isfairly fluent," McFall said. "This is the verylast chance" to preserve the language.

Kiogima - Ki means 'land'; Ogima means'boss' or 'ruler' - lived as a teenager in HarborSprings with his grandmother, who spokelittle English and insisted her grandsonbecome fluent in Odawa.

"She told me right out that if I was going tolive with her and talk to her, I was going totalk Odawa," Kiogima said.

His five brothers also learned Odawa, butonly Kiogima retained the knowledge intoadulthood. He taught his own children a fewwords, but realized that, by-and-large, theyounger generation would never learn thelanguage.

"I thought, if we can write it, we can preserveit, and that's what I want," he said. "It's always


been a dream of mine, to have it writtendown. We want to get it to the youngercrowd."

Preserving and resurrecting the language isimportant, said McFall.

"A people is defined by its language," shesaid. "Without it, we lose a lot. Not just thelanguage, but culturally as well."

Kiogima offered an analogy: "It would be likea person without a home or a man without acountry," he said. "He would be lost."

Translation? "Kah mah-buh duh yah zeengojibi wah daht." "This man has nowhere tolive."

http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/may/14native.htm

Venezuela Revitalizes IndigenousCulture - Anu

http://venezuelahoy-europe.blogspot.com/2006/05/venezuela-revitalizes-indigenous.html

Caracas, 10 May 2006 (Prensa Latina)Venezuelan experts and officials supported bythe UN Children´s Fund (UNICEF) will meetin Maracaibo on Thursday to revitalize the"Anu" culture and language.

Indigenous communitarian promoters,teachers and other officials of the EducationMinistry and the Venezuelan Central and Zuliuniversities will converge at this importantmeeting.

The preservation and recovery of the "Anu"culture and language are part of the greatnational efforts in the field of Bilingual andIntercultural Education.

This process of revitalization includes thedevelopment of actions to contribute with thelinguistic training of professionals and thecreation of didactic aids and methods to beused at classrooms.

Thus, the process becomes perfectopportunity to open new spaces for theinterchange among the communitarianfactors, main promoters of the initiative.

‘Language Planning Challenges andProspects in Native AmericanCommunities and Schools’(Feb 2006)

Mary Eunice Romero Little(m.eunice.at.asu.edu) of Arizona StateUniversity and Alex Molnar (epsl.at.asu.edu),of Education Policy Studies Laboratory sharethe result of their study on ‘LanguagePlanning Challenges and Prospects in NativeAmerican Communities and Schools’(February 2006)

The authors point to the advantages oflearning heritage language:

•Heritage-language immersion is a viablealternative to English-only instruction forNative students who are English-dominantbut identified as limited English proficient.•Time spent learning a heritage/communitylanguage is not time lost in developingEnglish, while the absence of sustainedheritage-language instruction contributessignificantly to heritage-language loss.•It takes approximately five to seven years toacquire age-appropriate proficiency in aheritage (second) language when consistentand comprehensive opportunities in theheritage (second) language are provided.•Heritage-language immersion contributes topositive child-adult interaction and helpsrestore and strengthen Native languages,familial relationships, and cultural traditionswithin the community.•Literacy skills first developed in a heritagelanguage can be effectively transferred toEnglish, even for students with limitedproficiency in the heritage language uponentering school.•Additive or enrichment language educationprograms represent the most promisingapproach to heritage- and second-languageinstruction.• The aforementioned LPP efforts arefundamental to tribal sovereignty and localeducation choice.

www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPSL-0602-105-LPRU.pdf

8. Places to Go -

On the Net and in the World

Endangered Languages of theIndigenous Peoples of Siberia

Dmitrij Funk <d_funk.at.iea.ras.ru> wrote tous:

By the way, we were able to organize ourround table and... you are welcome to look atsome results presented at the web-site

http://lingsib.iea.ras.ru/en/

In addition to the materials from the Roundtable, we placed the following info on ourinformation Internet portal:

o descriptions of 28 Siberian languages aswell as bibliographies on the presentlanguages with a search option;

o data on the current and competeddocumentation projects of the languagesof Siberia and on foundations providingfunding of education and researchprojects;

o presentation of technical devices forwork with the data of different languagesincluding those applicable to the fieldwork held by linguists andanthropologists.

Best warm regards from the totally frozenMoscow, Dmitrij

Voices of Mexican Languages

We invite you to visit the web page

http://lef.colmex.mx

This is the page of Laboratorio de estudiosFónicos del CELL, at El Colegio de México.You will find some voices of MexicanLanguages under the link “El viento del nortey el sol (versión en varias lenguas)”.Comments are welcome!

SincerelyDra. Esther Herrera ZendejasCentro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios,El Colegio de México,Camino al Ajusco 20, Col. Pedregal de SantaTeresa, México, D.F

Two web resources on Romanilanguage and linguistics:

The Romani Linguistics Page operated by theRomani Project at the University ofManchester offers background information onthe language, bibliographies, a sample ofaudio files with transcriptions, maps ofisoglosses, a database of phrases in variousdialects (searchable by wordlist, bygrammatical category, and by free choice ofphrase), downloadable publications, and otherresources:http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/

The Romlex project, a co-production of theRomani projects at Graz University, AarhusUniversity, and the University of Manchester,is a lexical database covering some 25different varieties of Romani, translated into15 different target language:http://romani.kfunigraz.ac.at/romlex/

Yaron MatrasProfessor in Linguistics


School of Languages, Linguistics andCulturesUniversity of Manchester, Oxford RoadManchester M13 9PL, UKPhone (direct): +44 - 161 - 275 3975Email: yaron.matras.at.manchester.ac.ukPersonal page:http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/SubjectAreas/LinguisticsEnglishLanguage/AcademicStaff/YaronMatras/Romani project:http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/Research/Projects/romani/

My Name is Yu Ming - Yu Ming isAinm Dom

Many Irish teachers know of this movie,but may not know that it is availableonline at the following URL

http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/yu_ming

Louis JanusCeltic Language Teachers Mailing ListCELTIC-T.at.LISTS.UMN.EDU

A bored Chinese shopkeeper learns Gaelicand moves to Dublin only to find the localsno longer speak their mother tongue. FollowYu Ming as he pursues his dream of life in theCeltic world. (13 minutes.)

"An affecting - if incredible - tale of culturalnaiveté combined with fearsome languagelearning skill! Fun, Fast, & Free to view.Comhghairdeachas doibh, Atomfilms!"Nick Ostler

Teaching Indigenous Languages

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL.html

This web site is an outgrowth of a series ofannual conferences started in 1994 atNorthern Arizona University focusing on thelinguistic, educational, social, and politicalissues related to the survival of theendangered Indigenous languages of theworld. The first two conferences were fundedby the U.S. Department of Education's Officeof Bilingual Education and MinorityLanguages Affairs (as of 2002 Office ofEnglish Language Acquisition) to helpachieve the goals of the Native AmericanLanguages Act of 1990, which makes itgovernment policy to promote, protect, andpreserve the Indigenous languages of theUnited States.

At the heart of this site are 97 full text papersfrom the 1997 through 2003 StabilizingIndigenous Languages conferences as well asthe 2000 Learn in Beauty and 1989 NativeAmerican Language Issues conferences

Preserving and promoting AmericanIndian languages

From http://www.native-languages.org

Welcome to Native Languages of theAmericas! We are a small non-profitorganization dedicated to the survival ofNative American languages, particularlythrough the use of Internet technology. Ourwebsite is not beautiful. Probably, it neverwill be. But this site has inner beauty, for it is,or will be, a compendium of online materialsabout more than 800 indigenous languages ofthe Western Hemisphere and the people thatspeak them. »

Native Languages of the Americas OnlineResources

1. Alphabetical master list of NativeAmerican languages, with links tospecific information about each languageand its native speakers.

2. Linguistic family groupings showingthe relationships between Amerindianlanguages.

3. Vocabulary word lists in variousAmerican Indian languages.

4. List of Native American peoplesfeatured on our site.

5. Kids Menu of Native Americaninformation presented for youngerreaders.

6. List of Native American books and otherresources by and about AmericanIndians.

7. Links to general American Indianlanguage resources available online.

Don’t skip the « How you can help section »,where of the ten ways suggested to promotenative languages only the last one has to dowith money!

Laura Redish, DirectorNative Languages ofthe AmericasPO Box 130562St. PaulMN 55113-0005

Native greetings online

Kids can visit the site of the CanadianMinistry of Indian and Northen affairs to find9 native languages audio files of greetings andbasic conversation:

www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ks/5000_e.html#body

Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas deMéxicoFrom Yolanda Lastra(ylastra.at.servidor.unam.mx) 4 Feb 2006:

I would like to announce that the first elevenvolumes of the Archivo De LenguasIndígenas can now be consulted on the Webat:

http://www.colmex.mx/alim/The volumes available include:1. Zapoteco del Istmo (Velma Pickett)2. Trique de San Juan Copala (Fernando yElena Hollenbach)3. Mixteco de Santa María Peñoles (Jon Dalyy Margarita Holland de Daly)4. Chocho de Santa Catarina Ocottlán (CarolMock)5. Mazateco de Chiquihuitlán (AllanJamieson)6. Zoque de Chimalapa (L. Knudson)7. Chontal de la Sierra (Viola Waterhouse)8. Mixe de Tlahuitoltepec (Don D. Lyon)9. Chinanteco de San Juan Lealao (JohnRupp)10. Náhuatl de Acaxochitlán (Yolanda Lastrade Suárez)11. Huave de San Mateo del Mar (Glenn yEmily Stairs)

Yolanda Lastra, Coordinadora

Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas de México

9. Forthcoming Meetings

Northwest Indian Language Institute(NILI): "From Language Learner toLanguage Teacher" , Univ. Oregon,July 5-21, 2006,From: Jesse Blackburn Morrow

The Northwest Indian Language Institute(NILI) will be holding its Summer Institute"From Language Learner to LanguageTeacher" at the University of Oregon July 5-21, 2006, including a Master-Apprenticeworkshop led by Leanne Hinton, July 6-8.

Since 1998, NILI's Summer Institute hasoffered training in teaching methods, appliedlinguistics, curriculum and materialsdevelopment to those involved with theteaching of Native languages here in theNorthwest. The Institute is a setting wherethe unique situations of the region's variousTribal language programs are respected, andwe seek to provide skills and materials thatwill enhance your own language revitalizationefforts. Participants have said they attendpartly for the knowledge they gain from otherparticipants, and the enjoyment of spendingtime with others involved in the same questfor language revitalization. See below formore details of the Institute and Master-Apprentice Workshop. Please let us know assoon as possible if you're interested inattending either the Workshop or full Institute(and tell us a bit about your situation withteaching/learning a NW language) so that wemay send you a registration form, and planwith you in mind.Hope to see you in July!

MASTER-APPRENTICE WORKSHOP(JULY 6-8)Led by Dr. Leanne Hinton (UC-Berkeley),who was instrumental in development of thesuccessful California Master-Apprentice


Program in 1993. This method of languagelearning is a great way to create new speakersof a language when only a few Elder speakersremain, and to pass along traditional valuesand customs in a natural setting.

INSTITUTE COURSES (JULY 5-21)*Methods, Materials, and Technology for NWIndian Language Teaching- content will be shaped to fit the needs ofregistrants [3 credits]*Sahaptin Language Class [1 credit]*Chinuk Wawa Language Class [1 credit]*Intro to Linguistics for Teachers andStudents of NW Languages [1credit]*Advanced Linguistic Study (of the languageof your choice) [1 credit]

RATES*Tuition for the full NILI Summer InstituteJuly 5-21 (a total of 5 UO credit hours) is$1300. This includes the 3 day Master-Apprentice Workshop, textbook, and acomputer lab fee.*For those wanting to attend ONLY theMaster-Apprentice Workshop July 6-8, theworkshop fee is $250, which includes the costof the textbook. The cost of campushousing/meals for 3 nights (or hotel costs)and parking are additional.

For housing/meals and parking rates, aregistration form, or more information, pleasecontact NILI Director Janne Underriner, orAssistants Jesse Blackburn Morrow orRacquel Yamada.

Northwest Indian Language Institute1290 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR97403-1290Email <nwili.at.uoregon.edu>Voicemail 541.346.3199Fax 541.346.5961http://babel.uoregon.edu/nili

Immersion in Conversational Shoshoni

Learn to speak the Shoshoni language inShoshoni Country!

Idaho State University, located inSoutheastern Idaho, eight miles South of theFort Hall Indian Reservation, is offering theShoshoni Summer Language Institute duringthe summer of 2006. This languageimmersion workshop will be taught in a two-week block from July 31 to August 11, 2006.Workshop participants can either take it foruniversity credit or choose our non-creditoption simply to learn about Shoshonilanguage and culture. The course is designedfor complete beginners, but people who havesome knowledge of the language are alsowelcome. The course is perfect forprofessionals (especially in education, socialwork and health care) who interact withNative Americans in the performance of theirprofessional duties.The course will includeexposure to Shoshoni culture, including

topics like the Shoshoni kinship system,visiting a Shoshoni house, and what to do at agive-away, etc. With the course ending on thesame weekend as the annual Shoshone-Bannock Festival, one of the biggestpowwows in the Northern Rockies, this is aunique opportunity to learn the Shoshonilanguage while experiencing Shoshoniculture!For more information and to sign up contact:ISU Division of Continuing Education &Conference Services1-800-753-4781208-282-3155extendedlearning.at.isu.eduor visit us on the web atwww.isu.edu/conteduc/

From SSILA Bulletin number 234: February14, 2006 c/o delancey.at.uoregon.edu234.4

Forum Theatre: Reclaiming OurAboriginal Languages, June 28-July 42006, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Patricia Shaw writes, on 17 June 2006:

Just in case there's a chance that any of youor your friends could be in Vancouver herefor the week of June 28-July 4, it would begreat to have you involved in this VERYexciting project that we're doing onendangered languages in collaboration withHeadlines Theatre. We would love to haverepresentation from Aboriginal peopleelsewhere in the province or beyond.

UBC Aboriginal Languages and LiteracyInstitute (ALLI 2006) and Headlines Theatreare seeking 20 Aboriginal people toparticipate in a unique process where theywill work with theatrical games and exercisesto bring out the core stories of their struggleswith the loss of their traditional Aboriginallanguages, and the challenges of reclamationand revitalization of their linguistic heritage.

What is Forum Theatre?Forum Theatre is a unique type ofparticipatory theatre. The play that developsout of the workshop is usually quite short --perhaps 5 or 10 minutes in duration. It is runonce, all the way through, so the audience cansee the situation and the problems presented.The play builds to a crisis and stops there,offering no solutions. The play is then runagain, with audience members able to "freeze"the action at any point where they see acharacter struggling with a problem. Anaudience member yells "stop!", comes into theplaying area, replaces the character s/he seesin a moment of struggle, and tries out his/heridea..

Workshop Dates: June 29-July 3 9am-5pmJuly 4 12noon-11pmUBC Theatre rehearsal space, HUT M-17,Room 128Performance: July 4 8pm UBC FNHLLonghouseNo acting experience is necessary. BUT: Ifyou are interested in being involved in thisproject, you must have the time and energy tocommit to the whole schedule. Participantswill be given lunch each day and will receivean honorarium for their involvement in thisprocess.To become a workshop participant or forfurther information, please contact:Michelle La Flamme +1-604-872-0611<laflammeiam.at.hotmail.com>

10. Recent Publications

A Grammar of MinaZygmunt Frajzyngier, Eric Johnston, incooperation with Adrian Edwards,

December 2005. 16 x 24 cm. XX, 512 pages.Cloth. Euro [D] 148.00 / sFr 237.00 / forUSA, Canada, Mexico US$ 207.20. *ISBN 3-11-018565-2MOUTON DE GRUYTER

A Grammar of Mina is a reference grammarof a hitherto undescribed and endangeredCentral Chadic language. The book contains adescription of the phonology, morphology,syntax, and all the functional domainsencoded by this language. For eachhypothesis regarding a form of linguisticexpression and its function, ample evidence isgiven. The description of formal means and ofthe functions coded by these means iscouched in terms accessible to all linguistsregardless of their theoretical orientations.

The outstanding characteristics of Minainclude: vowel harmony; use of phonologicalmeans, including vowel deletion and vowelretention, to code phrasal boundaries; twotense and aspectual systems, each systemcarrying a different pragmatic function; alexical category ‘locative predicator’hithertonot observed in other languages; some tense,aspect, and mood markers that occur beforethe verb, and others that occur after the verb;the markers of interrogative and negativemodality that occur in clause-final position;the conjunction used for a conjoined nounphrase in the subject function that differs fromthe conjunction used for a conjoined nounphrase in all other functions.In addition to thecoding of argument structure, adjuncts, tense,aspect, and mood categories, Mina also codesthe category point-of-view. The language hasa clausal category ‘comment clause’used inboth simple and complex sentences, whichovertly marks the speaker’s comment on theproposition. The discourse structure has theprinciple of unity of place. If one of theparticipants in a described event changesscene, that is coded by a special syntactic


construction in addition to any verb ofmovement that may be used. Because of theseunusual linguistic characteristics, theGrammar of Mina will be of interest to a widerange of linguists.

Zygmunt FrajzyngierProfessor, Dept. of Linguistics, Box 295University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309USAPhone: 303-492-6959Fax: 303-492-4416http://spot.colorado.edu/~frajzyng/

A Grammar of JahaiNiclas Burenhult PL 566This book is a linguistic study of Jahai, alanguage belonging to the Northern Asliansubgroup of the Aslian branch of the Mon-Khmer language family. The language isspoken by groups of foragers in the mountainrainforests of northern Peninsular Malaysiaand southernmost Thailand, its total numberof speakers estimated at around 1,000. Thisstudy describes the grammar of Jahai,including its phonology, processes of wordformation, word classes, and syntax. It alsoincludes a word-list. While primarily aimed atlinguistic description, the study makes use ofsuitable theoretical models for the analysis oflinguistic features. In particular, models ofProsodic and Template Morphology areemployed to describe the language’s intricateprocesses of affixation. Typologicalcomparisons are made at times, especiallywith other Aslian languages.2005 ISBN 0 85883 554 1 xiv + 245 pp.Prices: Australia AUD$64.90 (incl. GST)Overseas AUD$59.00

The many faces of Austronesian voicesystems: some new empirical studiesI Wayan Arka and Malcolm Ross, editorsPL 571

The Ninth International Conference onAustronesian Linguistics and the FifthInternational Conference on OceanicLinguistics were both held at The AustralianNational University in Canberra duringJanuary 2002. Rather than publish a singlevery diverse collection of conference papers,the organisers favoured a series of smallercompilations on specific topics. One suchvolume, on Austronesian historicalphonology, has already been published byPacific Linguistics as Issues in Austronesianhistorical phonology by John Lynch.

The present volume represents another suchcompilation. It contains an introduction bythe editors and ten papers on voice inAustronesian languages which provide bothfresh data and some new perspectives on oldproblems. The papers touch on the many facesof Austronesian voice systems, ranginggeographically from Teng on Puyuma inTaiwan to Otsuka on Tongan, typologicallyfrom voice in agglutinative languages inTaiwan and the Philippines to voice inisolating languages (Arka and Kosmas on

Manggarai and Donohue on Palu’e), and inapproach from Clayre’s areal/historical surveyof Kelabitic languages in Borneo to single-language studies of voice like Davies onMadurese, Quick on Pendau, and theAndersens on Moronene. Katagiri andKaufman each take a fresh look at an aspectof Tagalog voice.

2005 ISBN 0 85883 556 8 v + 278 ppPrices: Australia AUD$69.30 (incl. GST),Overseas AUD$63.00

A Grammar of Gayo: a language ofAceh, SumatraDomenyk Eades PL 567

Gayo is a regional language of Indonesiaspoken by some 260,000 people in the centralhighlands of Aceh province, at the north-western tip of Sumatra. The Gayo people havehistorically had close ties to the majorityAcehnese of the coast, while maintaining theirdistinct cultural and linguistic heritage. Gayoremains the first language of most ethnicGayo to this day, and it is the vehicle for arich oral literary tradition. The languagebelongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch ofthe Austronesian family of languages. It istypologically unlike Acehnese, but sharescertain features such as voice with the Bataklanguages of the neighbouring province ofNorth Sumatra. Gayo features a voice systemof the type that has been referred to assymmetrical, whereby neither actor norundergoer voice can be considered the basicor unmarked alignment. The language alsofeatures valence-increasing affixes, and arange of verbal affixes that mark intransitiveverbs to indicate information about variousdifferent semantic types of events. Thisgrammar is the first detailed descriptiveaccount of the phonology, morphology andsyntax of Gayo. The analysis draws upon datathat reflect the cultural context in which thelanguage is spoken, and in the appendices twoGayo texts with their translations areincluded.

2005 ISBN 0 85883 553 3 2005 xii + 350 pp.Prices: Australia AUD$83.60 (incl. GST),Overseas AUD$76.00

The Bookshop, Research School of Pacificand Asian Studies, ANU Canberra ACT 0200AustraliaTel: +61 (0)2 6125 3269 Fax: +61 (0)2 61259975 e-mail Thelma.Sims.at.anu.edu.au

UC Publications in Linguistics

Full-text downloadable PDF versions of thelatest volumes in the University of CaliforniaPublications in Linguistics series are availablefor no charge at the California DigitalLibrary's "eScholarship" website:

http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucpress/ucpl/The volumes available in this format are:

UCPL 135: James A. Matisoff,"Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman:System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction" (2003).

[This 800-page Volume is a clear andreadable presentation of the current state ofresearch on the history of the Tibeto-Burman(TB) language family, a typologically diversegroup of over 250 languages spoken inSouthern China, the Himalayas, NE India,and peninsular Southeast Asia. The TBlanguages are the only proven relatives ofChinese, with which they form the great Sino-Tibetan family.]

UCPL 136: Jane H. Hill, "AGrammar of Cupeño" (October 18,2005).

[Hill's grammar reviews the phonology,morphology, syntax and discourse features ofCupeño, a Uto-Aztecan (Takic) language ofCalifornia. Cupeño exhibits many unusualtypological features, including split ergativity,that require linguists to revise ourunderstanding of the development of the Uto-Aztecan family of languages in historical andareal perspective.]

UCPL 137: Alice Shepherd, "Proto-Wintun" (December 15, 2005).

[A reconstruction of Proto-Wintun, the parentlanguage of a group of California Indianlanguages. It includes a grammatical sketchof Proto-Wintun, cognate sets withreconstructions and an index to thereconstructions. The book fills a need for in-depth reconstructions of proto-languages forCalifornia Indian language families, both fortheoretical purposes and deeper comparisonwith other proto-languages.]

Saving Languages: An Introduction toLanguage Revitalization

Lenore A. Grenoble & Lindsay J. Whaley,Dartmouth CollegeHardback: ISBN: 0521816211. £ 45.00Paperback: ISBN: 0521016525. £ 17.99Cambridge University Press, 2005

http://us.cambridge.org

Language endangerment has been the focus ofmuch attention over the past few decades, andas a result, a wide range of people are nowworking To revitalize and maintain locallanguages. This book serves as a generalreference guide to language revitalization,written not only for linguists andanthropologists, but also for languageactivists and community members whobelieve they should ensure the future use oftheir languages, despite their predicted loss.Drawing extensively on case studies, it setsout the necessary background and highlightscentral issues such as literacy, policydecisions, and allocation of resources. Itsprimary goal is to provide the tools for asuccessful language revitalization program.

Foundation for Endangered Languages

Manifesto

1. Preamble

1.1. The Present Situation

At this point in human history, most humanlanguages are spoken by exceedingly few people.And that majority, the majority of languages, isabout to vanish.

The most authoritative source on the languages ofthe world (Ethnologue, Gordon 2005) lists just over6,900 living languages. Population figures areavailable for just over 6,600 of them (or 94.5%). Ofthese 6,600, it may be noted that:56% are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people;28% by fewer than 1,000; and83% are restricted to single countries, and so areparticularly exposed to the policies of a singlegovernment.

At the other end of the scale, 10 major languages,each spoken by over 100 million people, are themother tongues of almost half (49%) of the world'spopulation.

More important than this snapshot of proportionsand populations is the outlook for survival of thelanguages we have. Hard comparable data here arescarce or absent, often because of the sheer varietyof the human condition: a small community,isolated or bilingual, may continue for centuries tospeak a unique language, while in another place apopulous language may for social or politicalreasons die out in little more than a generation.Another reason is that the period in which recordshave been kept is too short to document a trend:e.g. the Ethnologue has been issued only since1951. However, it is difficult to imagine manycommunities sustaining serious daily use of alanguage for even a generation with fewer than 100speakers: yet at least 10% of the world's livinglanguages are now in this position.

Some of the forces which make for language lossare clear: the impacts of urbanization,Westernization and global communications growdaily, all serving to diminish the self-sufficiencyand self-confidence of small and traditionalcommunities. Discriminatory policies, andpopulation movments also take their toll oflanguages.

In our era, the preponderance of tiny languagecommunities means that the majority of the world'slanguages are vulnerable not just to decline but toextinction.

1.2. The Likely Prospect

There is agreement among linguists who haveconsidered the situation that over half of the world'slanguages are moribund, i.e. not effectively beingpassed on to the next generation. We and our

children, then, are living at the point in human historywhere, within perhaps two generations, most languagesin the world will die out.

This mass extinction of languages may not appearimmediately life-threatening. Some will feel that areduction in numbers of languages will easecommunication, and perhaps help build nations, evenglobal solidarity. But it has been well pointed out thatthe success of humanity in colonizing the planet hasbeen due to our ability to develop cultures suited forsurvival in a variety of environments. These cultureshave everywhere been transmitted by languages, in oraltraditions and latterly in written literatures. So whenlanguage transmission itself breaks down, especiallybefore the advent of literacy in a culture, there isalways a large loss of inherited knowledge.

Valued or not, that knowledge is lost, and humanity isthe poorer. Along with it may go a large part of thepride and self-identity of the community of formerspeakers.

And there is another kind of loss, of a different type ofknowledge. As each language dies, science, inlinguistics, anthropology, prehistory and psychology,loses one more precious source of data, one more of thediverse and unique ways that the human mind canexpress itself through a language’s structure andvocabulary.

We cannot now assess the full effect of the massivesimplification of the world's linguistic diversity nowoccurring. But language loss, when it occurs, is sheerloss, irreversible and not in itself creative. Speakers ofan endangered language may well resist the extinctionof their traditions, and of their linguistic identity. Theyhave every right to do so. And we, as scientists, orconcerned human beings, will applaud them in tryingto preserve part of the diversity which is one of ourgreatest strengths and treasures.

1.3. The Need for an Organization

We cannot stem the global forces which are at the rootof language decline and loss.

But we can work to lessen the ignorance which seeslanguage loss as inevitable when it is not, and does notproperly value all that will go when a language itselfvanishes.

We can work to see technological developments, suchas computing and telecommunications, used to supportsmall communities and their traditions rather than tosupplant them.

And we can work to lessen the damage:by recording as much as possible of the languages ofcommunities which seem to be in terminal decline;by emphasizing particular benefits of the diversity stillremaining; and

by promoting literacy and languagemaintenance programmes, to increase thestrength and morale of the users of languagesin danger.

In order to further these aims, there is a needfor an autonomous international organizationwhich is not constrained or influenced bymatters of race, politics, gender or religion.This organization will recognise in languageissues the principles of self-determination,and group and individual rights. It will paydue regard to economic, social, cultural,community and humanitarian considerations.Although it may work with any international,regional or local Authority, it will retain itsindependence throughout. Membership willbe open to those in all walks of life.

2. Aims and Objectives

The Foundation for EndangeredLanguages exists to support, enable andassist the documentation, protection andpromotion of endangered languages. Inorder to do this, it aims:-

To raise awareness of endangeredlanguages, both inside and outsidethe communities where they arespoken, through all channels andmedia;To support the use of endangeredlanguages in all contexts: at home, ineducation, in the media, and insocial, cultural and economic life;To monitor linguistic policies andpractices, and to seek to influencethe appropriate authorities wherenecessary;To support the documentation ofendangered languages, by offeringfinancial assistance, training, orfacilities for the publication ofresults;To collect together and makeavailable information of use in thepreservation of endangeredlanguages;To disseminate information on all ofthe above activities as widely aspossible.

Membership in the Foundation is opento all. If you need an application form,please contact the Editor at the addresson page 2 above.

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