Murdoch Syllabics
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SYLLÀB ICS : ; A SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION by JOHN STEWART MURDOCH A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of GraduaËe Studies of the University of Manitoba in partía1 fulfillment of the r.qrrirements of the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION @-rg s r Permission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF T"IANITOBA ro lend or sell copies of thís díssertation, to the NATIONAL LTBRARY 0F cANADA to microfilrn this dissertation and to lend or se11 copies of the film, and UNTvERSTTY MrcROFrLlfs ro publish an'abÁt.".r of Èhis dÍssertation. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the disserËation nor extensive abstracËs from it may be printed or otherr¿ise reproduced ivithout the author t s written peruri.ssion. SY LLAB i CS : A SUCCESSFUL TDUCATIONAL iNNOVATION BY JOHN STTWART MURDOCH ,'\ tlicsis srrbnlittctl to tlrc I:lrcLr Ity ol' CìraclLratc Stt¡tl ics of' thc. Linivcrsity o1'Ìilanitoba in ¡rartial lulfillulcnt of'the recluircrne uts of tlr,-' clt'gree ol' ¡,IASTTR OF EDUCATION o 198l Pcrnrission has becn grantecl to the LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- Sli'\' olr lvlANlTOtsA to lernd or sell copics of this thcsis, to thc N¡i.'I'IONAL LIlllìAIìY OF CANADA to microfilnr this lliesi::incì to lÌ!l(l or scll co¡r!¡5 crf'thc filnl, and UNIVEIìSITY l\41(.ltOlrlLMS to prrblish an abstract of tliis thesis. -i-hc ;irthol rescrvcs othcr pubiicatioll rights, alld Iieither thc lltcsir. nr,ri cxte¡rsi'¡c crtracts f'ront it nla¡r þ9 printed or other- rvisc rc ¡rloduccil rvi tlrorr L l.lle aLttlior's written pet'ntissiott. AC KNOIILED GEMENTS The writer is indebted to Professors Bruce Sealey and Skip Koolage who, as advisors and friends provided strong support and most constructive criticism Èhroughout this study. Gratitude is expressed to Professor Keith I{i1son for his advice and suggestions for the improvement of the first draft. The scope and depth of this study was only possible through the interest and construcËive criticisms of: Dr. Ríchard Preston, McMaster University; Joyce Banks, National Library of Canada, Rare Book Room; Dorothy Keely, General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada; Ahab Spence, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College; Smith AËimoyoo, SaskatcherrTan Indian Cultural College; and John Long, Moose FacEory Island Schools. For a careful and untiring effort, this author wishes to thank Julie Iserhoff for the Ëyping of this thesis manuscript. FÍna1Iy, this auEhor acknowledges Ëhe patience and encouragement of his dear friend and wife Gertí. LIST OF FÏGURES Figure Pag e 1 .01 Map of Canada: Indian Linguis tic Fanilies 2 L.02 A DernonsLration of the Cree Syllabic System 4 1.03 Map of Canada: The Spread of Sy11ab ics 2.0L A Comparíson of Early Rouan Or thographies Used 25 2.02 A Comparison of Evanst Syllabary with PiËtman-Taylor Shorthand 27 3.01 Map of Canada: The Early Spread of Cree SyllabÍcs 4L 3.02 Ins truc tio ns for Preventíon of T.B. Printed on Cloth in Syllabics ....... 43 3. 03 Book on Be aver Conservation Compiled and Dis tributed by H.B. C. 45 3.04 Syllabíc Alphabetic Orthographic E quiva I ences 60 3.05 Letter of Maskepetoon, a Cree Chief Lo Jame s Evans, LB44 63 4.01 Classic or Unilinear Scale of CulÈural Develop ment (A sumrnary of main ideas) B5 6.01 À Theoretical Model for ConEemporary Educa tors L7L 6.02 CarÈoon: t llonest Ed U. Kayshun I s Good Used Carsr L82 C.01 Map of Jarnes Evans I Travels 330 l_1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pa ge ACKNOI^/LEDGEI"fENTS i LIST OF FTGURES l_ l_ Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem 7 Hypotheses of This Study I Design of Study 9 Liuritations of This Study 10 Definitions 13 0rganizatÍon of Lhe Remainder of the t7 S tudy THE EVOLUTTON OF THE CREE_SYLLABIC SYSTI]}I 20 Influence by Short hand Writing 26 Adj us tment s of Syl 1abíc Characters to 0Ëher Languages 34 CREE SYLLABICS AS A SUCCESSFUL INNOVAT IO N 40 RES ISTANCE TO THE USE OF CREE SYLLAB IC S 76 Early Cultural Anthropology B2 5. JAI'IES EVANS, INNOVAT0R 95 James Evans' Early Years (1801 - 1B3B) 95 Evans t Voyages Ëo Nerv Territories (1838 - 1843) IO7 Pag e Evans t Final Years (1843 - 1846) L22 6. CONCLUSION 160 Theoret.ical I'ramework for the Innova tors 17 3 The l^Iork of James Evans as an Innova tor 17 6 Inrplicatíons for Contemporary Educators L7 I BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLTSHED SOURCES 189 BÏBLIOGRAPHY OT' PRIMARY SOURCES 212 . APPENDIX A 239 À Catalogue of Texts in Syllabic Characters APPENDTX B ..... 304 Identífyjng Features of Cree Sy11abíc I,üriting and Type S ty1äs APPENDIX C 323 À Chronology of James Evans Lífe and 0ther Relevant EvenÈs APPENDIX D 337 A Chronology of Àcculturative Stress Suffered by James Evans During the Period September 1B3B to December 1841 Chapter I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to examíne the nature and evoluËion of a successful innovation by an early Euro-Canadian míssionary-educator, whereby a non-literate people, the Crees, became functionally literate in a remarkably short Ëime. Data from published, unpublished and manuscrípt sources, t,ogether with personal conrnunicaÈions will be examined critically. Using the most, reliable of details, a portrait of the innovaÊor, a mod.el of Èhe innovatíon and the subsequenË paËtern of developmenË will be consËructed. Wíth such a clearer understanding, and utilizíng conËemporary theory on innovaËion and culÈural change, a model for fuÈure ínnovaËors and innovations in Cree educatíon wíl-l be devised. The results of this study will be of use to educators responsíble for education ín Cree communít.ies, indeed most Algonquian communities, nolr faced ¡.¡ith control of their education sysËems. It will also offer an historical perspective on what has become a major contemporary issue ----choosing a writÍng system for the communityrs native language. Thousands of Crees who had no literate Ëraditions ín 1840 were literate only a decade later wíthout any schooling at all. ThÍs was the result of an ínnovation by James Evans, a \^Iesleyan Methodist Missíonary. Evans, during his years as a teacher and missionary became a fluent speaker of the OjÍbwa Indian language. Ojibwa, like Ðffi Map of Canada: Indian LinguÍstic Families (1840-1981) J f.\.^ rNUrT " Ir\/'er,\5 þ oc h \'l iA l-t**N il rîflK N Figure 1.01 Source: Neville(1970) 3 Cree, ís a language of the Algonquian farníly of languages which are spoken in Canada and parts of the northern United SEaLes, (see map, page 2). In 1836, Evans and some of his peers were ínstrucÈed by their mission society Ëo devise a simple Roman orthography for the 0jib\,ta language.*1 This done, Evans supervised Èhe printing of an edítion of hymns and prayers ín the new orËhography in Ne¡¿ York during 1837. As early as 1836, Evans had considered a syllabíc system r¿hich departed t frcm Ëhe conventional Roman orthographies of the Èimer- but not untÍl after his arrival aX Norway House, did he pursue the idea in earnesË. By 1841 Evans had devised the system more commonly known as "Cree a Sy1l-abicstt.- Thís was a sysÈem or syllabary of characters, each representing a syllable, (see fígure 1.02). Duríng the early winter of LB4L-I842, Crees who traded at Norway House where Evans was stationed had already learned to read and write their language ín Èhe syllabic sysÈem. Later the same winter, these Norway House Crees were hunting and trapping in their Ëerrítory, which lies between Norway House and York Factory, (see figure 1.03). The Crees who traded at York Factory hunËed and Ërapped close by. Duríng that same winter, the Norway Indíans showed Ëhe York FacËory Indians how Eo read and r¿rite the syJ-labic characËers. In a similar manner, the York Factory Crees ËransmiËted these literate skills to the Crees who traded at ForË Severn. In Octobet of 1842, tr^ro Fort, Severn Indians arrived aL }foose Fort with hymns in the syllabic characËer".4 ,r, L847, Ehe Oblate míssionary, André-Marie Garin reporËed to his superiors that only the very o1d and feebl-e r.rere noË already literate in the AbiÈibi region of whaÈ is nor¿ north-eastern Ontario and north-!ùestern Quebec.5 fnt" Figure 1.02 A Demonstration of the Cree Syllabic System T he chart below is reproduced from C. D. Ellis' " Proposed Roman 0rthography for Cree", Append'ix 5, p. 65. iil V.i Þ ol Þool aal A'l .tttt {u tll< * ** A o'l A^ piii Vp.l )ooi )pool (ou i{0..1 I n ,ti fl ,itl U r.l l r., 5 rooi Cr. I ç r..1 C.t j tc n .rl I ciil 1..1 J .., J.ool L.. ttLr..rl P o'l Þ riil go.i -.i rool bru bk ¡ d i þ0..1 f mil Ëmiil l'.1 J'.i j L'. c Lm I 'ooi i f''..i ú ni,l -o n. ,o, nool o-nu I O- naal ) o-n -"i Ll lll| -o -o rril ( liil Jloi la I c-l )lel -)loo;c r.lli,..l ¿"l /,i,l \,.i ¿ ,,i ¿ ,ooi 1,u I \,..1 r\ hs sil t= cag J ,l ,,ti "l, r.l -r, i á sool.¡ su t.tI r..1 ir-l Þ u,l Èvi,l,4r"l{ r"ji r..i ?ru I / yaal Llv O"rl f\-riilrur.l P.oj P'oo¡Ç ra i ç ,..1 ì qr % * Originaì Evans style (see Appendix) co sk tr* Horden-l,latk'i ns styì e (see Appendi x ) x hk ô ow Because syìlabics are based on pji-kas sjl-laa-p'iks ar pest aawn A bh /t LAtt <q V'.'c .do shorthand most English sentences Sort-haant most in-kl iS sen-ten-sis c.)çc 'qfc.c J.