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.
Leah
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