Anumpa Achukma/Good News
Language Loss Can Be Reversed
2007.11.7
This is a newsletter dedicated to reporting the successes in revitalizing endangered languages worldwide. Share your good news with us by sending us an article about your program or current activity in revitalizing an endangered language.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested.
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Persistence and Perpetuity
In the last issue of this newsletter, I discussed the push needed to overcome inertia. In this issue, I want to return to the idea of persistence. Culture is created, and it only exists as long as we create it. The ‘we’ is you and I and, hopefully, many, many others.
And since each of us is limited by the physicality of a body with its very limited lifespan, each individual and group must plan for the perpetuation of the culture—who is going to carry on this creation? Plan now to leave the language in a state to be carried forward by others. Recruit young people who share your enthusiasm. And recruit even those who find no use for it. Persist, and people will begin to wonder what you have that they don’t.
Also, take the language to the people who need to learn it. Invite them to learn some part of it. Invite them to support the efforts of perpetuating the language. Get more and more people on board. This is a big project, and there is plenty of room for everyone to share in the responsibility and the glory when it triumphs.
Share your successes with others because this gives people hope, and we live in a world that currently offers little hope. And count each new person learning the language as a victory. Finally, realize that almost none of us ever reach our full potential.
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3rd Annual Voices of the Earth: Threatened Languages Poetry Reading
Yup, that’s right. We have now made it to our 3rd event. It just keeps getting better and more interesting.
We are currently putting together our program. If you are in the Albuquerque area and speak one of the several thousand threatened languages, please contact me about sharing your language through this event. You can share it through poetry, song, or storytelling. Just email me at this email address holabitubbe@gmail.com or hoanumpoli@yahoo.com.
Yakoke (thanks)
Shared Successes
(thanks to ILAT listserve, SSILLA e-newsletter, the Comanche Newsletter, and emails)
Rosetta Stone Project
It is the first of endangered language projects subsidized by Rosetta Stone.
Chitimacha
Tribe to Develop Rosetta Stone Software
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosetta Stone Inc., creator of the world's No. 1 language-learning program, has formed a partnership with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana to develop a unique edition of the award-winning software in the tribe's language, Sitimaxa.
The tribe will own distribution and sales rights to the tribal language version created through the Rosetta Stone Endangered Language Program, which has developed culturally relevant language-learning software with the Mohawk of Kahnawake, NANA Regional Corporation of Alaska, and other indigenous communities.
Elem Pomo
Only living Elem Pomo speaker teaches so she won't be the last
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/30/MNAISEMAH.D\TL
Loretta Kelsey closed her eyes, letting memories ripple through her. Visions of coyotes, childhood acorn hunts and fishermen filled her head. A minute dragged by. She opened her eyes, stared at the calm waters of Clear Lake, and began to speak. "Ah wee-e-bee, we-e bit," she said quietly. "Fac-ma, fa-a-kepkin. Aquichin wa mit." The words of the old ways rolled on for several minutes, and as they came, Kelsey fixed her gaze on the ground.
"Sholbit," she finally said, looking up and smiling. "The end."
Kelsey, 59, is the last person on Earth who is fluent in Elem Pomo, an 8,000-year-old dialect spoken by a people who once flourished along the shores of Clear Lake (Lake County). Handed down orally and never written, the language has nearly vanished - and Kelsey, a quiet, almost demure woman with steely gaze, is doing everything she can to make sure the ancient words do not die with her.
Online resources For Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival go to links.sfgate.com/ZYE http://links.sfgate.com/ZYE
For information on the Elem Pomo tribe, go to links.sfgate.com/ZYF
To hear Loretta Kelsey tell a story in Elem Pomo with translation in English, and to hear her translation of several Pomo words, go to <sfgate.com>.
Washo
By Rachel-Cromidas
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Alan Yu, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University, is currently recording and cataloguing the nearly extinct Native American language “Washo” in an online dictionary to be completed in 2009. At present, only about 20 tribespeople speak the language, which springs from a region bordering California and Nevada.
Yu says his primary goal is to create a full record of the language that can be used for both humanistic and scientific purposes. Washo has no written tradition, so Yu says the online dictionary will emphasize its audio component.“The purpose of having an oral medium transmitted and preserved, Yu said,“is so that, should a Washo in the future want to learn the language, they can hear an elder speaking the language in the flesh, so to speak.”
His online dictionary can be accessed at http://washo.uchicago.edu.
Permanent URL
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2007/10/05/yu-compiles-dictionary-of-dying-language/
Saanich
Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, October 05, 2007
A language traditionally spoken by First Nations in Saanich is being pulled back from the brink of extinction by new technology. The spoken words of elders in the Tsawout, Tsartlip and Tseycum bands are being digitally transcribed, and the words added to a digital dictionary. Students can then use interactive tools and games on computers to learn the language. Yesterday, as Labour Minister Olga Ilich handed over $250,000 to the FirstVoices program, students from the Saanich bands demonstrated how it works. "I can't speak it that good yet, but this is fun. I just like it," said 13-year-old Ben Olsen as he keyboarded his way through a list of words in the language, known as Sencoten.
The provincial funding will be added to a matching grant from the federal New Relationship Trust. FirstVoices is being used for 26 languages across North America and in 18 communities in B.C. The province has 32 languages and more than 70 dialects.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007
Inuit need national language centre
Nunatsiaq News
October 5, 2007
JANE GEORGE
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/71005_575.html
Inuit need a nation-wide language and culture resource centre to preserve and promote Inuktitut throughout Canada, says Mary Simon, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. "It would be important for us as Inuit to have this kind of centre where you can work on the language, as in the Faroes," Simon said, following a meeting of the National Inuit Language Committtee in Ottawa.
In the Faroe Islands, the Faroese Language Committee is an advisory institute, founded in 1985. Its mandate is to preserve, promote and develop the Faroese language. It provides individuals, businesses and government institutions with advice and information about the Faroese language, and helps come up with new words and expressions. It also answers questions about personal names, place names and other names.
Inuktitut, along with Cree and Ojibway, is one of three aboriginal languages in Canada that experts say has a chance of surviving, but Simon said it needs more resources to continue developing. "You need to preserve the old language and come up with new terminology to keep up with what's happening in the Inuit world," she said.
Dakota
By K Knutson | Winona Daily News.
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2007/10/03/news/05words03.txt
Winona State University hosted a workshop Tuesday designed to teach American Indians to use technology to preserve their languages. The weeklong program, run by the Indigenous Language Institute, shows how to use multimedia technology tools and language material templates, such as storybooks, calendars and newsletters. On Tuesday, the class learned how to translate a children’s book from English into other languages, including Dakota and Oneida.
“Our mission is to put the skills and tools of technology into the hands of communities working on preserving languages,” ILI executive director Slaughter said. The ILI is based in Santa Fe, N.M., and has a partnership with IBM that makes these workshops possible. Two are conducted each year in different regions.
For more information contact kknutson@winonadaily news.com
or call (507) 453-3523.
Arwarbukarl
In a true marriage of old and new, the internet is set to perpetuate, if not, revive dozens of Aboriginal languages facing extinction. The Miromaa software project - miromaa means "saved" in Arwarbukarl language - was developed by two Aboriginal men in Newcastle despite assurances from linguists that lay community members were ill-equipped to save languages.
Daryn McKenny, general manager of the not-for-profit Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association http://www.arwarbukarl.com.au led the development of the program. It will be used in a yet-to-be-launched website that aims to take the linguistic salvaging effort worldwide.
Our Languages will be launched with significant pro-bono help from Microsoft under its Unlimited Potential program and technology-enabling company, Dimension Data. It received partial funding from the Federal Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
(DCITA) but additional funds will be needed to add more languages.
The first dedicated national Aboriginal TV channel was launched last month. National Indigenous Television (nitv.org.au) carries 24-hour programming and can be seen by Optus Aurora satellite subscribers and Imparja's Channel 31 viewers in remote Australia. The $50 million venture, backed by the federal department, will be available nationally via Foxtel and Austar from October.
Download the actual article from here
http://www.arwarbukarl.com.au/default.aspx?id=160
Read our Indigenous Language BLOG at http://www.arwarbukarl.net.au/blog/
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation
By Samantha Bates
East Oregonian
Saturday, October 13, 2007
http://www.eastoregonian.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=67830
Preserving American Indian languages is important to members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. They believe language ties them to their culture, history and identity. "It's God's gift," said Walla Walla speaker Cecelia Bearchum. "That's the language that was given to us." Umatilla speaker and teacher Fred Hill Sr. agreed, saying preserving the languages is important. "So we won't be lost," he said. "It points us to the religions. It directly ties us to this land and connects us to our past."
This week, the CTUIR language department is training to use a new technology to help preserve the languages. The Phraselator LC is a device that records American Indian phrases and translates them into English. Working with Thornton Media Inc., tribal members and linguists are cataloging translations in Walla Walla, Cayuse and Umatilla.
Don Thornton, founder of Thornton Media Inc., said the Phraselators can store about 80,000 phrases that can be accessed on a touch screen or can be spoken into the device in English or American Indian languages.
Mono
By Charles McCarthy / The Fresno Bee
10/14/07 22:24:12
NORTH FORK -- Just uphill from an authentic cedar tepee -- or "nobi" in Mono -- four children sat down for a lesson in a language on the cusp of being lost. Volunteer teacher Barbara Burrough, one of the few people left who still speaks Mono, held up a cue card with the word "kah-why-you."
"Horse," the youngsters said.
Next was "moo-nah."
"Mule," they said.
Burrough's mother, 81-year-old Gertrude Davis, smiled as she watched the recent lesson unfold. "I speak it, and I have no one to talk to, because no one knows how to speak the language or understand it," she said.
In classrooms, Mono cultural sites and private homes in the North Fork area, Burrough and a few others are working hard to change that, one child at a time.
A nearby tribe -- the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians near Coarsegold -- also is trying to save its language. The Chukchansi are preserving tribal words and songs with state-of-the- art electronic translators inspired by military technology. Tribal elders demonstrated the device last month. The "Phraselator" stores Chukchansi words electronically. When a person speaks into the device in English, it responds with the Chukchansi translation. But at $3,000 apiece, the devices aren't in the Mono Rancheria budget -- at least not yet.
Shoshone-Bannock
Meghan McNamara / Staff Writer / mm164705@ohiou.edu
http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/Articles/Culture/2007/10/17/21760/
As part of American Indian Heritage month, Ronald Snake Edmo, a linguistic anthropologist who is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe, will speak about his poetry and the importance of language to a culture’s life. The Shoshone language runs the risk of being lost as increasingly fewer members of succeeding generations learn to speak it. Edmo, who grew up in a time when children were beaten for speaking Shoshone in school, writes poetry in Shoshone and English.
Lakota
© Indian Country Today October 17, 2007. All Rights Reserved
Posted: October 17, 2007
by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415930
LOWER BRULE, S.D. - For some people, unless they have heard a word before,
its proper pronunciation can be quite difficult. Such can be the case with languages that never had a written version but are now translated into printed form. For anyone who has studied a second language, the difficulty is learning when and how to use the correct tense, gender, verb conjugation and pronunciation.
The Lakota language - and any other American Indian language - is no different. Pronunciation, the proper use of modifiers and knowledge of sentence structure is important when it comes to saving a language that was never written. The intent is to preserve the language as close to its original form as possible.
Earl Bullhead, a Lakota educator on the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota, has developed a phonetics chart that is easy to follow and offers proper pronunciation. He also has a step-by-step approach that offers students a chance to learn not just a core word, but when other letters or words are added to make it plural or gender-qualified, or when it takes on a slightly different meaning.
Bullhead was awarded the Teacher of the Year award by Crazy Horse Memorial, and received the award at the annual Native American Day celebration Oct. 8 at the memorial.
Download the original attachment
Alphabet Flashcards--FREE from NBC
Universal for Native Communities
FYI. I've received permission from my Corp Comm department to open up the alphabet flashcard project to the whole company. So, if you hear of any Indian school or Reservation that offers native language lessons, and would like to have flashcards designed to use in conjunction with the lessons, please let me know. It wouldn't cost them anything. We would just need the list of words with the corresponding translations.
Thanks.
Patty Jones
Sourcing Specialist/Contract Administrator
NBC Universal, Inc. Corporate Sourcing
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
tel: (212) 664-3551
fax: (212) 664-7510
Email: patricia.jones@nbcuni.com
Ngarrindjeri language/Australia
A UNIQUE course that revives the native Ngarrindjeri language and teaches it to students at TAFE SA's Murray Bridge campus has just been completed for the first time, with 16 students graduating. The program, titled 'Introduction to Vocational Education Certificate (with a Ngarrindjeri language focus)', involves studying the language, along with its grammar and pronunciation. TAFE SA regional education manager Tom Haig said the idea of the course was to "revitalise" the language. "The Ngarrindjeri language has been lost to the indigenous community
itself," he said. “It’s a fantastic program.”
Students studied intensively under the guidance of University of Adelaide lecturers Dr Mary-Anne Gail and Doctor Peter Mickan and course coordinator Charmaine Elvey to earn their certificates over a 12-week period.
Recaps of Native convention to be
broadcast in indigenous languages
Associated Press - October 22, 2007 11:24 AM ET
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=7246720
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The Anchorage-based radio station KNBA is planning to give recaps of the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in 3 of Alaska's indigenous languages. The five-minute segments will be given in Inupiaq, Yupik and Koyukon Athabascan by longtime speakers of the language. KNBA has been broadcasting the convention for the past 11 years.
Lost Mi’kmaq texts to be
launched in Cape Breton
The Cape Breton Post
http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=73254&sc=147
SYDNEY — The Stone Canoe, two lost Mi’kmaq texts translated by Elizabeth Paul, edited by Peter Sanger and illustrated by Alan Syliboy, will be launched in Cape Breton. The book is published by Gaspereau Press. The first launch takes place Wednesday in Eskasoni, 7 p.m. at the Eugene Eagle Denny Board Room, Fisheries Complex, 4115 Shore Road and will feature a reading and discussion with Elizabeth Paul, Peter Sanger and Alan Syliboy.
3D Scanner May Save Vanishing
Languages from Extinction
http://www.imls.gov/news/2007/092007.shtm
Washington, DC—Fragile field recordings of American Indian speech and songgathered in the early 1900s may be saved for future generations through breakthrough technology supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The Institute is funding the research and development of a 3D optical scanner through a $507,233 interagency agreement with the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) announced Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice, Ph.D. Sept. 20.
“The 2,700 wax cylinder recordings held by the Hearst museum are jewels in a treasure trove of early recordings that we hope will be rescued,” Radice said. “Saving the delicate recordings, which literally may keep alive some of these Native American languages, fits squarely within the goals of IMLS’s conservation initiative -- Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action.” Nationwide, there are approximately 20,000 Native American fieldwork recordings on fragile wax cylinders, the earliest method of recording and reproducing sound.
Ringtone
I haven't tried it yet, but it seems fairly easy enough to make a language-based ring tone.
Phil
UofA
~~~~
Make your own ring tone
Excerpt from http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/207588
1. Turn your future ring tone into an MP3 file.
• Download the free Mac- and PC-friendly audio editor Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), and download and unzip LAME (lame.sourceforge.net). LAME helps Audacity make MP3 files.
• In Audacity, click Edit/Preferences/File Formats, then click "Find Library." Find the LAME file you just downloaded, and click it. Now, Audacity can make MP3s.
• Use Audacity to record a 15-second snippet.
• Delete all unwanted recorded music, then export as an MP3 file.
2. The E-mail Method for transferring the MP3 file from your computer to your phone.
• E-mail the MP3 file to your phone as an attachment. Your phone's e-mail address is your 10-digit phone number @carriername.com (e.g., messaging.sprintpcs.com or vzwpix.com).
• On your phone, download the attachment to your phone, then use the ring tone program in your phone to make your attachment your new ring tone.
3. The Bluetooth Method for transferring the MP3 file from your computer to your phone.
• You'll need Bluetooth radio technology on both your computer and yourmphone. Follow the instructions that came with your phone to pair it with your computer using Bluetooth (This involves pressing a couple of keys then holding the phone near your computer).
• Once the two are paired, use Bluetooth to beam your MP3 file from your computer to your phone. Then use your ring tone function on your phone to make the new music clip your ring tone.
2008 - INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF
LANGUAGES
http://www.unesco.ru/eng/articles/2004/Valya02112007175015.php
The year 2008 has been proclaimed International Year of Languages by the United Nations General Assembly. UNESCO, which has been entrusted with the task of coordinating activities for the Year, is determined to fulfil its role as lead agency. The Organization is fully aware of the crucial importance of languages when seen against the many challenges that humanity will have to face over the next few decades.
Languages are indeed essential to the identity of groups and individuals and to their peaceful coexistence. They constitute a strategic factor of progress towards sustainable development and a harmonious relationship between the global and the local context.
They are of utmost importance in achieving the six goals of education for all (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on which the United Nations agreed in 2000. As factors of social integration, languages effectively play a strategic role in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1); as supports for literacy, learning and life skills, they are essential to achieving universal primary education (MDG 2); the combat against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 6) must be waged in the languages of the populations concerned if they are to be reached; and the safeguarding of local and indigenous knowledge and know-how with a view to ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG 7) is intrinsically linked to local and indigenous languages.
Moreover, cultural diversity is closely linked to linguistic diversity, as indicated in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and its action plan (2001), the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005).
However, within the space of a few generations, more than 50% of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world may disappear. Less than a quarter of those languages are currently used in schools and in cyberspace, and most are used only sporadically. Thousands of languages – though mastered by those populations for whom it is the daily means of expression – are absent from education systems, the media, publishing and the public domain in general.
We must act now as a matter of urgency. How? By encouraging and developing language policies that enable each linguistic community to use its first language, or mother tongue, as widely and as often as possible, including in education, while also mastering a national or regional language and an international language. Also by encouraging speakers of a dominant language to master another national or regional language and one or two international languages. Only if multilingualism is fully accepted can all languages find their place in our globalized world.
UNESCO therefore invites governments, United Nations organizations, civil society organizations, educational institutions, professional associations and all other stakeholders to increase their own activities to foster respect for, and the promotion and protection of all languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts.
Whether it be through initiatives in the fields of education, cyberspace or the literate environment; be it through projects to safeguard endangered languages or to promote languages as a tool for social integration; or to explore the relationship between languages and the economy, languages and indigenous knowledge or languages and creation, it is important that the idea that “languages matter!” be promoted everywhere.
The date of 21 February 2008, that of the ninth International Mother Language Day, will have a special significance and provide a particularly appropriate deadline for the introduction of initiatives to promote languages.
Our common goal is to ensure that the importance of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in educational, administrative and legal systems, cultural expressions and the media, cyberspace and trade, is recognized at the national, regional and international levels.
The International Year of Languages 2008 will provide a unique opportunity to make decisive progress towards achieving these goals.
Alaskan Languages
Alaska's high court rules on English-only law
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska's highest court struck down a central provision of a state law requiring only English to be used for all government business. However, the Supreme Court in an 89-page decision Friday let much of the law stand.
Attorney Doug Pope said the ruling means that his clients in Togiak can continue to conduct city council meetings largely in Yup'ik, the only language some of them speak. And while public records must be in English, versions in other languages also can be provided and maintained in the same government files.
The dissenter, Chief Justice Alex Bryner, said the entire law should have been thrown out as violating the U.S. and Alaska constitutions. Instead, the majority focused on two sentences in a provision defining the scope of the law, the first of which reads: "The English language is the language to be used by all public agencies in all government functions and actions."
The court found that to be unconstitutional because it violates federal and state rights of free speech.
Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
Symposiums and Conferences
29th Annual American Indian Language Development Institute
Creating Spaces for Indigenous Languages in Everyday Life
June 4-July 2, 2008
The University of Arizona and Department of Language, Reading & Culture invites you to the 29th American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI). AILDI 2008 will have a special focus on Native teachers in the classroom and language. Special topics will include NCLB & Native students, language immersion methods in the classroom and Native children's literature & writing.
AILDI offers six graduate credits or undergraduate credit hours during four weeks of intensive study. Courses can be applied toward regular degree programs and teacher endorsements.
Visit our website in early December for updates!
5th Annual Tulane Maya Symposium
(New Orleans, Feb. 15-17)
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From (hernandez2240@bellsouth.net )
20 Sept 2007:
Please join us the weekend of February 15-17, 2008 for the Fifth AnnualTulane Maya Symposium and Workshop, hosted by Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Through a series of lectures, workshops, and a roundtable discussion, specialists at this year's symposium explore the physical and sacred geography of the Maya region. The history, geology, stories, beliefs, and rituals surrounding caves,cenotes, and mountaintop shrines from across the Maya area are among the topics that will be discussed.
For further information, contact Denise Woltering (crcrts@tulane.edu ) at the Stone Center. Because New Orleans is hosting the NBA All-Star game the same weekend, we encourage you to make plans soon to attend! Please visit our website at http://stonecenter.tulane.edu/MayaSymposium/ for the 2008 program, registration, lodging information, and a retro- spective of the 2007 symposium.
* Symposium on the Dene-Yeniseic Hypothesis (Anchorage, February 29)
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From Jim Kari (ffjmk@uaf.edu )
4 Sept 2007:
A symposium on the Dene-Yeniseic relationship is being planned for the annual meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association, which will be held in Anchorage from Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1, 2008. The symposium is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Feb. 29.
In several published and unpublished papers Edward J. Vajda has presented evidence for a genetic relationship between the Yeniseic language family of Central Siberia and the Na-Dene languages of North America (in which he includes Athabaskan-Eyak and Tlingit, but not Haida). Yeniseic
consists of Ket (fewer than 200 speakers in 2006) and several extinct languages (Yugh, Kott, Assan, Arin, Pumpokol). Linguists have long suspected such a connection, and Ruhlen (1998) offered some possible lexical cognate sets between the two language groups, including Haida in the comparison as well. Vajda's analysis of Ket verb morphology, however, goes much further in providing specifics that can demonstrate relatedness, and anchors these in a reconstruction of the ancestral proto-language.
In August 2006, the Linguistics Department of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig hosted a Na-Dene/Yeniseic Workshop. In his summary of this meeting, Bernard Comrie wrote: "New data presented by Edward Vajda on possible sound correspondences in basic vocabulary and prefixing verb structure between Yeniseic and Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit offer the beginning of real potential evidence of a genetic relationship between these two families. If substantiated by additional results, this promises to become the first genetic connection between Old World and New World language families demonstrated on rigorous principles. With geographic contact being precluded, the question of a genetic link between Yeniseic and AET can now be regarded as a serious inquiry rather than merely speculation based on listing random similarities." Since that time, Vajda has marshaled additional lexical evidence for the relationship.
This Dene-Yeniseic symposium in Anchorage will provide an opportunity for discussion and scrutiny of this exciting hypothesis. Bernard Comrie will give an introduction to the symposium. Edward Vajda will give an overview Na-Dene language stock. Johanna Nichols will discuss the statistical soundness and some of the implications of the D-Y hypothesis. We invite others to participate. Some possible topics to explore include: the prehistoric and ecological implications of the ancient spread of a group of Dene-Yeniseic languages from North Asia to interior and coastal Alaska; new interpretations of Siberian and Alaska archaeological sites that might be suggested by this hypothesis; which avenues of linguistic investigation show the most promise for reconstructing proto-Dene-Yeniseic; and what implications this relationship may have for modern Dene and Ket ethnic identity.
For further information, contact Jim Kari (ffjmk@uaf.edu)
or Ed Vajda (vajda@eva.mpg.de).
2008 Yuman Language Summit
April 28-30, 2008
Barona Convention Center
Barona Indian Reservation
Lakeside, CA
For more information contact
Rich or Diane
(619) 443-7003x2
CONFERENCE ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF NATIVE AMERICA 2008
http://hum.utah.edu/display.php?pageId=1049
Dates: (4th annual CELCNA), March 28-30, 2008, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Call for papers: Papers or posters are invited on any aspect of American Indian languages, in particular on documentation or revitalization. American Indian participants are especially invited. Papers are 20 minutes each in length, with an additional 10 minutes for discussion.
Deadline: for ABSTRACTS : Jan. 18, 2008. The Program Committee will announce results about Feb. 1.
Additional information: Contact Tamrika Khvtisiashvili t.khvtisiashvili@utah.edu
, or for particular questions, Lyle Campbell at ,lyle.campbell@linguistics.utah.ed>
If you need information not easilyarranged via e-mail, please call Tel. 801-587-0720 or 801-581-3441 during business hours, or Fax 801-585-7351.
15th
Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium
Language is Life: Strategies for Language Revitalization
High Country Conference Center, Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona, May 2 & 3, 2008
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/SIL9brochure.html
Positions
* Postdoctoral Research Fellows, RCLT, La Trobe University, Australia
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From Alexandra Aikhenvald (A.Aikhenvald@latrobe.edu.au) 18 Oct 2007:
Applications are invited for two three-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. They are to commence on 1st March 2008, or soon thereafter.
Applicants should have been awarded their doctorate within the last five years. They should have experience of linguistic fieldwork and will, ideally, have already completed a grammatical description of some previously undescribed language (not their native language) in terms of basic linguistic theory. The University may consider cases in which the period is in excess of five years due to special circumstances. Applications will be considered from candidates whose thesis is
currently under examination. Applicants must hold a doctoral degree or have equivalent qualifications at the date of appointment. A Fellowship will not normally be awarded to an applicant who already holds an appointment within the University.
The successful applicant will work as part of a team with Professor Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Professor R.M.W. Dixon, and other members of the Research Centre. Ideally, we are looking for one Postdoctoral Research Fellow who will work on a language from South America and one who will work on a language from New Guinea. However, in exceptional circumstances, applicants with primary interest in another area will be considered. Each appointee will undertake extensive fieldwork and will produce a comprehensive description of some previously undescribed language. The choice of language will be made after discussion between the successful applicant and Professors Aikhenvald and Dixon.
Each Fellowship will be a three-year appointment and is intended to advance the research activities of the University by bringing to or retaining in Australia a promising scholar.
The remuneration package is $65,610 to $70,427 per annum (the Australian dollar is currently worth approximately $.92 US), which includes 17% employer superannuation.
Before making a formal application, potential applicants should communicate with Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald at a.aikhenvald@latrobe.edu.au
Closing date: Close of Business, Friday, 7th December 2007
* Syntax or Phonology & American Indian Languages, University of Utah
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From Ed Rubin (erubin@linguistics.utah.edu) 2 Oct 2007
The Department of Linguistics at the University of Utah invites applications for a tenure-line position to begin July 1, 2008, pending budgetary approval. Although we anticipate hiring at the rank of Assistant Professor, a more senior appointment is possible in exceptional circumstances. The Ph.D. must be completed by the time of appointment.
The successful applicant will have a primary specialization in theoretical syntax or phonology. We prefer applications from candidates with a secondary specialization, especially in, but not limited to the documentation of American Indian languages. Though not required, expertise in securing external funding for research will be considered an asset. Preference will be given to candidates whose research interests mesh with those of the present faculty and who will contribute actively to the success of the department's research and teaching missions.
Duties require a sustained research program, the mentorship of graduate and/or undergraduate student-scholars, a normal teaching load of four courses per year, and departmental and/or university service. Salary is competitive, and commensurate with abilities and experience. The University of Utah offers a generous benefits package and research support.
The Search Committee will begin screening applicants on November 20, 2007, and the position will remain open until filled. Candidates should send a letter of application, a CV, and representative scholarly publications to the address below. Candidates should arrange to have three letters of reference sent directly to the same address. Candidates should please indicate whether they will attend the LSA meeting in Chicago.
Address for all materials:
Edward Rubin, Chair
Syntax/Phonology Search Committee
Department of Linguistics
255 S. Central Campus Dr., Rm. 2300
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students from diverse backgrounds, and who possess a commitment to improving access to higher education for historically underrepresented students. Moreover, the University of Utah is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer, and encourages applications from women and minorities, and provides reasonable accommodation to the known disabilities of applicants and employees.
* American Indian Studies, Iowa State University
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From David J Oliver (doliver@iastate.edu ) 7 Sept 2007:
The American Indian Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University invite applications for a tenure-track position at the level of assistant or associate professor. The appointment will be in both the American Indian Studies Program and one of the departments in the College where tenure will be held. Potential departments include Anthropology, History, Political Science, and Sociology. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. in an appropriate academic discipline with a specialty in the indigenous peoples of the Americas. She/he will also have demonstrated ability to accomplish research-intensive publications.
The normal teaching load is two courses per semester (or four courses in two semesters in a nine-month year), one in the American Indian Studies Program and the other in the academic department, with attendant mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students. Information regarding the American Indian Studies Program and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is found at http://www.iastate.edu/~catalog/2005-07/courses/amin.html and
The deadline for applications is October 19, 2007, or until the position is filled. Applicants should send 1) a letter of application including statements of teaching philosophy and research interests; 2) a curriculum vitae; and 3) the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of three referees/references. Please submit application materials electronically followed by a hard copy.
Application materials should be forwarded to: Cindy Bartleson, American Indian Studies Program, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 202 Catt Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-1050, cmbartl@iastate.edu
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and members of historically under-represented groups to apply.
* Director, Indigenous Nations Studies Program, University of Kansas
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From Allard Jongman (jongman@ku.edu ) 4 Sept 2007
The University of Kansas invites applications for a full-time Associate or Full Professor position and Director of the Indigenous Nations Studies Program. The Director has primary responsibility for all aspects of the M.A. program focused on Indigenous Peoples worldwide http://indigenous.ku.edu
This is a unique program with a global focus. The successful candidate will be appointed in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program with the possibility of a joint appointment in another academic unit. We invite applications from specialists in all fields whose scholarship relates to the program focus.
The program focuses on the traditions, diversities, mechanisms for cultural survival, and aspirations for self-determination of Indigenous Peoples globally. The program is committed to the empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and their communities through the rigorous study of the complex problems and issues that face Indigenous cultures.
For a complete position announcement and requirements, please refer to the CLA&S website http://www.clas.ku.edu)
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Application Procedures: A complete dossier includes: a letter of application addressing the required/preferred qualifications; a brief statement outlining the candidate's vision for a globally focused Indigenous Nations Studies program; a CV; and at least 3 letters of recommendation (not to exceed 5).
Send all materials to Danny J. Anderson, Chair of Search Committee, Indigenous Nations Studies Program, University of Kansas, 1410 Jayhawk Blvd., Lippincott Hall #104,
Lawrence, KS 66045-7515. E-mail inquires to < djand@ku.edu>
Priority review of applications begins November 1, 2007.
The University of Kansas is an EO/AA Employer and encourages applications
from underrepresented group members.
* Curator, Endangered Languages, Smithsonian Institution
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From Ives Goddard (goddardi@si.edu )29 Sept 2007:
Because of recent retirements, the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian will be recruiting four new curators in the coming months. The announcements for these positions will be sent out in late fall. However, we will be recruiting at the November AAA meetings in Washington, DC. The vacancies will also be advertised on USAJOBS.gov. The four positions seek innovative scholars focused on the following areas of specialization: Human-Environment Interaction, Globalization, North American ethnology, and endangered languages.
The individual who fills this last position will direct an endangered languages program, and will also conduct endangered language research, documentation and preservation.
These new curators will join a large and diverse department, currently with 72 full-time staff members, including 17 curators. The Department is organized into three research divisions: archaeology, physical anthropology and ethnology, along with Collections Management, the National Anthropological Archives, the Human Studies Film Archives, and the Repatriation Office. A number of programs lie within the three research divisions including the PaleoIndian Program, the Asian Cultural Heritage Program, the Archaeobiology Program and the Arctic Studies Center. Some of the current research in the Department centers on humankind's earliest beginnings, the domestication of plants and animals, the rise of state-level societies in Mongolia, expressive culture in Africa and Polynesia, North American ethnohistory, circumpolar ethnology and the human dimensions of global climate change. The Anthropology collections hold over 2.3 million archaeological objects and over 200,000 ethnology objects, over 9,000 linear feet of archival documents, and 8 million running feet of film and video.
Successful candidates for the four positions will need to combine skills in field- and collections-based research, outreach and public programming, and experience securing external funding.
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George Ann Gregory, Ph.D.
Choctaw/Cherokee
Fulbright Scholar