Chapter 17 Culture and Language
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American Sign Language and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006) Honors Program 2005 Using space to describe space: American Sign Language and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Cindee Calton University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2005 - Cindee Calton Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pst Part of the American Sign Language Commons Recommended Citation Calton, Cindee, "Using space to describe space: American Sign Language and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis" (2005). Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006). 56. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pst/56 This Open Access Presidential Scholars Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006) by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Using Space to Describe Space: American Sign Language and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Cindee Calton University of Northern Iowa Undergraduate Research April 2005 Faculty Advisor, Dr. Cynthia Dunn - - - -- - Abstract My study sought to combine two topics that have recently generated much interest among anthropologists. One of these topics is American Sign Language, the other is linguistic relativity. Although both topics have been a part of the literature for some time, neither has been studied extensively until the recent past. Both present exciting new horizons for understanding culture, particularly language and culture. The first of these two topics is the study of American Sign Language. The reason for its previous absence from the literature has to do with unfortunate prejudice which, for a long time, kept ASL from being recognized as a legitimate language. -
The Language of Humor: Navajo Ruth E. Cisneros, Joey Alexanian, Jalon
The Language of Humor: Navajo Ruth E. Cisneros, Joey Alexanian, Jalon Begay, Megan Goldberg University of New Mexico 1. Introduction We all laugh at jokes, exchange humorous stories for entertainment and information, tease one another, and trade clever insults for amusement on a daily basis. Scientists have told us that laughing is good for our health. But what makes something funny? Prior definitions of humor, like this one by Victor Raskin (1985), have categorized humor as a universal human trait: "responding to humor is part of human behavior, ability or competence, other parts of which comprise such important social and psychological manifestations of homo sapiens as language, morality, logic, faith, etc. Just as all of those, humor may be described as partly natural and partly acquired" (Raskin 1985: 2). The purpose and end result of humor, much like that of language, is the externalization of human thought and conceptualization. This externalization carries multiple meanings, partly as an outlet to express certain emotions, partly as a social device, and partly as an exercise of the intellect. The active engagement of this human ability allows some to earn their livelihood from a career in making jokes. Thus, there is the possibility in a culture to broadcast one’s own personal opinion and world view in a series of jokes. Chafe explains that this is an intrinsic attribute of Homo sapiens; it is "The essence of human understanding: the ability to interpret particular experiences as manifestations of lager encompassing systems" (1994: 9). Humor acts to level the field, allowing people who identify with each other to create social groups. -
Chapter 1 Navajo and the Athabaskan Languages
Chapter 1 Navajo and the Athabaskan Languages The Navajo language belongs to the Athabaskan/Dene language group. The Athabaskan language family stretches across Alaska and northwest Canada, with branches on the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington, and in the Southwest of the United States. Most Navajo people live in the southwestern parts of the United States in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico also belong to the Southern Athabaskans. The Navajo population today is approximately 300,000. The Navajo Nation covers approximately 25,500 square miles, about the size of West Virginia. 1. The Status of Navajo In 1951, Reichard recorded that Navajo was spoken by some 60,000 persons two-thirds of whom do not and perhaps never will speak English. We are at point where the opposite is true or worse. Estimates about the current number of speakers vary substantially, from 80,000 to 150,000 speakers. The Navajo language has a larger speech community than any other indigenous language in the United States, yet the language is in far greater danger than most linguists realize. Most Navajo men and women over the age of 50 speak Navajo fluently. Navajos in their thirties and forties have varying degrees of fluency. Some can understand the language fairly well but are not able to produce it accurately. There are fluent speakers who are in their twenties, but more know only a few common phrases. The vast majority of Navajos under age 20 speak only English. This decline has been well documented. Platero (2000) documents a sharp decline in the percentage of Navajo pre-school age children who speak Navajo, from 80% in his 1974 study, to about 45% in 1992. -
Article Title
Dennis L. Malone and Isara Choosri Stabilizing Indigenous Languages 1 Symposium Report Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Dennis L. Malone and Isara Choosri* A note from Pat Kelley, SIL International Literacy Coordinator Few of our field practitioners are strategically located for attending some of the conferences around the world that may be related to the work we do in literacy. Also, in many cases, especially if no paper is being presented, there may be limited funds available for transportation. Yet there is much to be learned from such conferences: for example, vocabulary and new terminology, current trends, what’s “out there” in the prominent theory and practice of related fields applicable to our work, current research, issues defined by the “voices” for literacy, etc. For that reason, when our SIL literacy personnel and national colleagues do attend or present at a conference, on occasion we’ll include a “Conference Report” … so that our field personnel may glean information from them. When possible, contact details will be provided in order to request additional information. These reports will reflect the growing trend in the Literacy domain for copresenting and coauthoring, which hopefully will continue as we determine to see capacity building in this area among our national colleagues. Dennis Malone (SIL International in Bangkok, Thailand), and Isara Choosri (Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development at Mahidol University at Salaya, Thailand) coauthor this report of the Ninth Annual Symposium on Stabilizing Indigenous • Dennis Malone ([email protected]) is an International Literacy Consultant, serving with his wife Susan in the Asia Area. He is involved in minority language education projects in the Asia Area and also serves as a guest lecturer at the ILCRD. -
Building Meaning in Navajo
University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses March 2016 Building Meaning in Navajo Elizabeth A. Bogal-Allbritten University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Semantics and Pragmatics Commons Recommended Citation Bogal-Allbritten, Elizabeth A., "Building Meaning in Navajo" (2016). Doctoral Dissertations. 552. https://doi.org/10.7275/7646815.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/552 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BUILDING MEANING IN NAVAJO A Dissertation Presented by ELIZABETH BOGAL-ALLBRITTEN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2016 Linguistics © Copyright by Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten 2016 All Rights Reserved BUILDING MEANING IN NAVAJO A Dissertation Presented by ELIZABETH BOGAL-ALLBRITTEN Approved as to style and content by: Rajesh Bhatt, Chair Seth Cable, Member Angelika Kratzer, Member Margaret Speas, Member Alejandro Perez-Carballo, Member John Kingston, Head of Department Linguistics DEDICATION To my parents, Rose and Bill. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I thank the members of my committee. I came to the Univer- sity of Massachusetts because of my admiration for the work done by Rajesh Bhatt, Seth Cable, Angelika Kratzer, and Peggy Speas. That admiration has only grown during the dissertation process. I thank my chair, Rajesh Bhatt, who has been a tire- less mentor to me through all stages of my graduate career: from the first workshop, through the job market, and, of course, through the dissertation. -
MIXED CODES, BILINGUALISM, and LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requi
BILINGUAL NAVAJO: MIXED CODES, BILINGUALISM, AND LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Charlotte C. Schaengold, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Brian Joseph, Advisor Professor Donald Winford ________________________ Professor Keith Johnson Advisor Linguistics Graduate Program ABSTRACT Many American Indian Languages today are spoken by fewer than one hundred people, yet Navajo is still spoken by over 100,000 people and has maintained regional as well as formal and informal dialects. However, the language is changing. While the Navajo population is gradually shifting from Navajo toward English, the “tip” in the shift has not yet occurred, and enormous efforts are being made in Navajoland to slow the language’s decline. One symptom in this process of shift is the fact that many young people on the Reservation now speak a non-standard variety of Navajo called “Bilingual Navajo.” This non-standard variety of Navajo is the linguistic result of the contact between speakers of English and speakers of Navajo. Similar to Michif, as described by Bakker and Papen (1988, 1994, 1997) and Media Lengua, as described by Muysken (1994, 1997, 2000), Bilingual Navajo has the structure of an American Indian language with parts of its lexicon from a European language. “Bilingual mixed languages” are defined by Winford (2003) as languages created in a bilingual speech community with the grammar of one language and the lexicon of another. My intention is to place Bilingual Navajo into the historical and theoretical framework of the bilingual mixed language, and to explain how ii this language can be used in the Navajo speech community to help maintain the Navajo language. -
8. Classifiers
158 II. Morphology 8. Classifiers 1. Introduction 2. Classifiers and classifier categories 3. Classifier verbs 4. Classifiers in signs other than classifier verbs 5. The acquisition of classifiers in sign languages 6. Classifiers in spoken and sign languages: a comparison 7. Conclusion 8. Literature Abstract Classifiers (currently also called ‘depicting handshapes’), are observed in almost all sign languages studied to date and form a well-researched topic in sign language linguistics. Yet, these elements are still subject to much debate with respect to a variety of matters. Several different categories of classifiers have been posited on the basis of their semantics and the linguistic context in which they occur. The function(s) of classifiers are not fully clear yet. Similarly, there are differing opinions regarding their structure and the structure of the signs in which they appear. Partly as a result of comparison to classifiers in spoken languages, the term ‘classifier’ itself is under debate. In contrast to these disagreements, most studies on the acquisition of classifier constructions seem to consent that these are difficult to master for Deaf children. This article presents and discusses all these issues from the viewpoint that classifiers are linguistic elements. 1. Introduction This chapter is about classifiers in sign languages and the structures in which they occur. Classifiers are reported to occur in almost all sign languages researched to date (a notable exception is Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL) as reported by Nyst (2007)). Classifiers are generally considered to be morphemes with a non-specific meaning, which are expressed by particular configurations of the manual articulator (or: hands) and which represent entities by denoting salient characteristics. -
Navajo Verb Stem Position and the Bipartite Structure of the Navajo
678 REMARKSANDREPLIES NavajoVerb Stem Positionand the BipartiteStructure of the NavajoConjunct Sector Ken Hale TheNavajo verb stem appears at the rightmost edge of the verb word. Innumerouscases it forms a lexicalconstituent with a preverb,occur- ringat theleftmost edge of thesurface verb word, much in themanner ofDutchand German verb-particle arrangements in verb-secondfinite clauses.In Navajothe initial and finalpositions are separated by eight morphemeorder ‘ ‘slots’’ recognizedin the Athabaskan literature (and describedin detail for Navajo in Young and Morgan 1987). A phono- logicalsolution to this and a numberof otherdeep-surface disparities isexploredhere, based on theinsights of earlierworks on theNavajo verb,including Speas 1984, 1990, McDonough 1996, 2000, and Rice 1989, 2000. Keywords: verbmorphology, morphosyntactic disparity, spell-out, Navajo,Athabaskan 1Verb Stem Position TheNavajo verb stem forms asinglelexical constituent with the prefixal, particle-like category called preverb inthe Athabaskan linguistic literature (see Rice2000). However, like particle- verbcombinations in Dutchand German verb-second clauses, the parts of thisconstituent in the Navajocounterpart are separated in the surface forms ofverbal projections in syntax. In the Navajoversion of thisarrangement, the preverb occupies the leftmost position in the verb word, andthe verb stem occupies the rightmost position. TheNavajo verb in (1) canbe used to illustrate the phenomenon. The verb is segmented intoits various parts in (2), and the components are identified in slightly greater detail in (3). (1) Sila´o t’o´o´’go´o´ ch’´õ shidinõ´daøzh.(Young and Morgan 1987:283) ‘Thepoliceman jerked me outdoors (to get me out of afight).’ (2) ch’´õ sh d n-´ daøzh PreverbObject Qualifier Mode/ SubjVoice V (stem) Iwishto dedicate thisarticle totheNavajo Language Academy, asmall groupof linguists and teachers devotedto Navajolanguage research andeducation. -
The Case of Navajo
Language Documentation and Description ISSN 1740-6234 ___________________________________________ This article appears in: Language Documentation and Description, vol 6. Editor: Peter K. Austin Language management for endangered languages: the case of Navajo BERNARD SPOLSKY Cite this article: Bernard Spolsky (2009). Language management for endangered languages: the case of Navajo. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description, vol 6. London: SOAS. pp. 117-131 Link to this article: http://www.elpublishing.org/PID/073 This electronic version first published: July 2014 __________________________________________________ This article is published under a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial). The licence permits users to use, reproduce, disseminate or display the article provided that the author is attributed as the original creator and that the reuse is restricted to non-commercial purposes i.e. research or educational use. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ______________________________________________________ EL Publishing For more EL Publishing articles and services: Website: http://www.elpublishing.org Terms of use: http://www.elpublishing.org/terms Submissions: http://www.elpublishing.org/submissions Language management for endangered languages: the case of Navajo Bernard Spolsky 1. Introduction In this paper I outline an approach to building a theory of language management and its application to endangered languages. As I see it, language management is one of the three interconnected components of language policy (see Sallabank, this volume): the other two are language practices and language beliefs. To clarify how this works, I will illustrate the model with the case of Navajo, which is the second largest Native American tribe (after Cherokee) in the United States but whose language is not unreasonably considered to be endangered (Lee and McLaughlin 2001). -
A Correspondence Between the Rev. John Heckewelder, of Bethlehem
m ! 3Mm (forfrr ^IWfon Ctlmun iGtiTuiit^ntOcrstttt 1 n r . if «a • .. .\ > P * I 1 \ . / f \ i -^Jc v% • ho L TRANSACTIONS OF THE HISTORICAL % LITERARY COMMITTEE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. VOL. I. domestica vobis ; Invenies illic et facta legendus avus.—Ovid. Sxpe tibi pater est, ssepe PHILADELPHIA: Small, Printed and Published by Abraham No. 112, Chesnut Street, 1819. m y ^^1 oSlft, L I i No. II. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE REV. JOHN HECKEWELDER, OF BETHLEHEM, AND PETER S. DUPONCEAU, ESQ. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE HISTORICAL AND LITERARY COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCffiTY, RESPECTING The Languages of the American Indians, " ll, II I' ' ! i CONTENTS OF NO. II. INTRODUCTION Page 355 357 Letter I.—Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 9th January, 1806, 358 II—Dr. C. Wistar to Mr. Heckewelder, (same date) 360 1X1.—Mr. Heckewelder to Dr. Wistar, 24th March, 363 IV.—The Same to the Same, 3d April, 364 V.—Mr. Duponceau to Dr. Wistar, 14th May, 364 VI.—Dr. Wistar to Mr Heckewelder, 21st May, 366 VII.— Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 27th May, VIII.—Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 10th June, 369 375 IX.—The Same to the Same, 13th June, 377 X.—Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 20th June, 382 XI.—The Same to the Same, 24th June, XII.—Mr Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 13th July, 383 387 XIII.—The Same to the Same, 18th July, 22d July, . XIV.—Mr Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 392 • XV.—The Same to the Same, 24th July, 31st July, 396 . XVI.—Mr. -
The Burmese Monk
Through the Looking-Glass An American Buddhist Life Bhikkhu Cintita Copyright 2014, Bhikkhu Cintita (John Dinsmore) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, Under the following conditions: • Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). • Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes. • No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. With the understanding that: • Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. • Public Domain — Where the work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license. • Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights affected by the license: • Your fair dealing or fair use rights, or other applicable copyright exceptions and limitations; • The author's moral rights; • Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights. • Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Publication Data. Bhikkhu Cintita (John Dinsmore, Ph.D.), 1949 - Through the Looking Glass: An American Buddhist Life/ Bhikkhu Cintita. 1.Buddhism – Biography. © 2014. Cover design by Kymrie Dinsmore. Photo: Ashin Paññasīha and Ashin Cintita with lay devotees in Yangon in 2010. -
Newsletter Xxvi:2
THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF THE INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAS NEWSLETTER XXVI:2 July-September 2007 Published quarterly by the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Lan- SSILA BUSINESS guages of the Americas, Inc. Editor: Victor Golla, Dept. of Anthropology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521 (e-mail: golla@ ssila.org; web: www.ssila.org). ISSN 1046-4476. Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Meeting SSILA. Printed by Bug Press, Arcata, CA. The 2007-08 annual winter meeting of SSILA will be held on January 3-6, 2008 at the Palmer House (Hilton), Chicago, jointly with the 82nd Volume 26, Number 2 annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. Also meeting concur- rently with the LSA will be the American Dialect Society, the American Name Society, and the North American Association for the History of the CONTENTS Language Sciences. The Palmer House has reserved blocks of rooms for those attending the SSILA Business . 1 2008 meeting. All guest rooms offer high speed internet, coffee makers, Correspondence . 3 hairdryers, CD players, and personalized in-room listening (suitable for Obituaries . 4 iPods). The charge for (wired) in-room high-speed internet access is $9.95 News and Announcements . 9 per 24 hours; there are no wireless connections in any of the sleeping Media Watch . 11 rooms. (The lobby and coffee shop are wireless areas; internet access costs News from Regional Groups . 12 $5.95 per hour.) The special LSA room rate (for one or two double beds) Recent Publications . 15 is $104. The Hilton reservation telephone numbers are 312-726-7500 and 1-800-HILTONS.