On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:02:49 -0700, Leah
<fenton@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:37:30 -0400, "X. Rayburn" <none@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_re_us/endangered_languages
>>
>>Here is a thought that crosses my mind sometimes: Maybe it would be
>>more honorable to use one's linguistic skills to help keep one of these
>>endangered languages alive, rather than making up half-baked languages
>>that no one will ever speak.
>
>Even a saved/resurrected language may not get any use. A friend is a
>direct descendant of Pocahontas, and her language, Virginia
>Algonquian, which has been extinct for a long time, was reconstructed
>for a movie. The language materials were given to the modern tribe
>members, who apparently have little interest in them, and apparently
>even less interest in having anything to do with "all white"
>descendants of the tribe's most famous member, not even bothering to
>directly answer her inquiries about whether the materials could be
>made available for study! For a tribe supposedly trying to promote
>interest in its history, you'd think they'd be interested in hearing
>from people carrying Pocahontas's blood in their veins who are
>interested in learning more about their lost culture!
>
>As it is, she got more encouragement from the linguist, who was
>pleased to hear from someone who was interested in his work.
>
>So I guess the moral is you have to be a language geek in order to
>appreciate the plight of endangered languages. For my friend's sake,
>I wish more of her ancient language had been preserved for her to
>study several centuries later. Fortunately, the recreation appears to
>be quite accurate and the reconstructed dictionary should be available
>in a year. Since I'm a language geek, we may study the lang together,
>because I've now seen the movie and the lang looks fascinating to me.
This says as much about the attitude of the particular tribe as
anything else. If the people themselves are not interested in keeping
their traditional language, who are we to force it on them? Or "keep
the langauge alive" at all? If they don't want to use it, why should
we be bothered? By all means, if it's still living but moribund,
record it and preserve it as best as books and recordings can do, but
let it die naturally. It's no skin off anyone's nose if a people
reject their ancestral language.
Padraic
>
>Leah
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