The Shoshoni Language: From Oral Tradition to the Digital Age

The Shoshoni

Language:

From Oral Tradtion to the Digital Age

Leigh LectureApril 2, 2014

Marianna Di Paolo

Department of Anthropology, University of Utah

& National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian)

Introduction

Focus on

The Wick R. Miller Collection Shoshoni Language Project

The Shoshoni language

a widely spoken, indigenous language of the Great Basin

the northernmost Uto-Aztecan language

Introduction: structure of the

lecture

Language endangerment in general

Overview of the Uto-Aztecan languages

Geographic distribution, language family, and linguistic vitality

Focus on the goals, history, and accomplishments of the

Wick R. Miller Collection Shoshoni Language Project

Language endangerment: a world-wide and local crisis

―Humanity today is facing a massive extinction: languages are disappearing at an unprecedented pace. And when that happens, a unique vision of the world is lost. With every language that dies we lose an enormous cultural heritage; the understanding of how humans relate to the world around us; scientific, medical and botanical knowledge; and most importantly, we lose the expression of communities‘ humor, love and life. In short, we lose the testimony of centuries of life.

―Languages are entities that are alive and in constant flux, and their extinction is not new; however, the pace at which languages are disappearing today has no precedent and is alarming. Over 40 percent of the world‘s approximate 7,000 languages are at risk of disappearing. But today we have tools and technology at our fingertips that could become a game changer.‖

(From the Endangered Languages Project websitehttp://www.endangeredlanguages.com/about/ Accessed March 26, 2014)

http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/about/

Language endangerment:

a world-wide and local crisis

At the time of contact, in North America there were ~300 indigenous languages

In 1997, 175 remained

Today, only 20 are widely spoken by children

In the next 5 years, 70 could cease to be spoken!!!!!

In 1990, there was only an estimated 2,284

speakers of Shoshoni

Almost all of them were over 50 years of age

For Shoshoni to continue as a community language,

it is important for young people to learn it and use it.

Contextualizing Shoshoni:

Uto-Aztecan Languages

Geographic distribution of UA languages

The UA language family

The linguistic vitality of a selection of UA languages

Uto-Aztecan Languages: Geographic distribution at time of European contact

From Merrill, et al. (2009)

Uto-Aztecan Languages: Geographic distribution

Present-day

locations of

Uto-Aztecan

languages

in the U.S.

and northern

Mexico

(Wikipedia)

Uto-Aztecan Languages: Geographic distribution

Present-day

locations of

Uto-Aztecan

languages

in Mexico and

Mesoamerica

(Wikipedia)

Uto-Aztecan Languages: Geographic distribution Numic subfamily

Western Numic:Mono, Northern

Paiute/Bannoc

k

Central Numic: Panamint,

Shoshoni/Gosiu

te,

(Comanche)

Southern

Numic:Kawaiisu,

Chemehuevi/S

outhern

Paiute/Ute

(Map from Crum & Dayley 1997)

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the language familyWhat is a language family?

―Languages are always changing.‖

Over time dialects of a language can change so much as to become separate languages

English and Dutch used to be dialects of the same language. Now

―English is a Germanic language.‖

―Dutch is a Germanic language.‖

Italian and Spanish used to be dialects of the same language. Now

―Italian is a Romance (Italic) language.‖

―Spanish is a Romance (Italic) language.‖

Hindi and Farsi (aka Persian) used to be dialects of the same language. Now

―Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language.‖

―Farsi is an Indo-Aryan language.‖

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the language familyWhat is a language family?

A language family is all of the languages or dialects that can be proven to have descended from one common language (the root of the family tree; the mother language)

The language that the Germanic, Italic, and Indo-Aryan languages descended from is called Proto-Indo-European (PIE)

They, and all languages in the language family, are called ―Indo-European languages‖

PIE is dated to about 5,500 years ago

by about which time there is evidence that it began to break up into separate languages as PIE-speaking people began to migrate from the homeland

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the language family

The language that Shoshoni, Ute, Hopi, Tarahumara, and Classical Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) descended

from is called Proto-Uto-Aztecan

They, and all languages in the language family, are called ―Uto-

Aztecan languages‖

Recent work on dating PUA

Campbell (1997) (well-known for conservative dating)—5,000

BP (‗before present‘)

Merrill, et al. 2009: (argues that it was spoken in the west

central Great Basin)—8,900 BP

Brown (2010): (the most conservative estimate)—4,000 BP


Establishing the Uto-Aztecan (UA) language family

Undeniable evidence for the UA language family was first

published about 100 years ago:

Sapir, Edward. 1913, 1919. Southern Paiute and Nahuatl: a

study in Uto-Aztecan, parts. 1 and 2. Journal de la Société des

Américanistes de Paris 10:379-425 and 11: 443-88, and 1915 in

American Anthropologist 17:98-120, 306-328.

Reprinted 1990 in The collected works of Edward Sapir 5:

American Indian Languages, William Bright, ed., 351-444. Berlin:

Mouton de Gruyter.

Uto-Aztecan Languages: language family tree

Uto-Aztecan Languages: language family tree—Southern Uto-Aztecan

Uto-Aztecan Languages: language family tree—Core Nahua

Uto-Aztecan Languages: language family tree—Northern Uto-Aztecan

Uto-Aztecan Languages: language family tree--Numic


Linguistic evidence for language families

Based on very careful linguistic analysis showing that there are systematic similarities and systematic differences between sets of languages

Although the UA language family is thousands of years old, the languages are still remarkably similar

Some UA cognates are still found in all branches/subfamilies of UA

Cognates are words that have a common origin

At one time, before the dialects became separate languages, the cognate words were the same word

Cognate sets are used to establish the genetic relationship between languages

Uto-Aztecan Cognate Sets: establishing the language family

HORN, ANTLER *awaC/*a‘awaC

Shoshoni aan; oonon

Tarahumara awá

Huichol ‘aawaa

Classical Nahuatl kwaa-kwaw(i)-tl ‘head-tree’; a’wa-tl ‘thorn’


HOUSE, HOME *kanni (NUA); *kaLi (SUA); *ki

Shoshoni kahni

Tarahumara garí

Huichol kíi

Classical Nahuatl kal-li


HOUSE, HOME *kanni (NUA); *kaLi (SUA); *ki

ShoshoniPoho kahni

(lit., ‘sagebrush

house’)

Please visit this poho kahni the next time you are at Red Butte Garden


HOUSE, HOME

*kanni (NUA); *kaLi (SUA); *ki

Shoshoni

Soonkahni

‘Salt Lake City’

(lit., ‘many houses’)


ROCK, STONE * tïN-(pV)

Shoshoni tïmpin

Tarahumara ŕeté; ŕeepó

Huichol teetée

Classical Nahuatl te-tl


ROCK, STONE * tïN-(pV)

Shoshoni tïmpin

White Mesa Ute tïpwi-či

Southern Paiute tïmpiN-

Mt. Timpanogos


HAND, ARM *man > *ma

Shoshoni ma”; mo’o

Tarahumara ma; seká

Huichol maamá

Classical Nahuatl maa(i)-tl


HAND, ARM *man > *ma

Shoshoni ma”; mo’o

Mo'niwaini

‘Red Butte Canyon’“The name refers to an occurence after a

battle, the hands of certain captives having

been cut off and hung up at the mouth of

this canyon seemingly as a warning against

trespass.”(Chamberlain 1913)

Uto-Aztecan Languages:

linguistic vitality

How likely is it that a language will survive the mass extinction of the world‘s languages?

Language Endangerment Scale (in handout)

Table of Uto-Aztecan Speaker Data (in handout)

An assessment of the linguistic vitality of a selection of Uto-Aztecan languages

Compilation of data from ~1995-2008

Scale and data from www.EndangeredLanguages.com

http://www.EndangeredLanguages.com

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the linguistic vitality of UA languages

Numbers may vary

because of data collection on language knowledge and use is not straightforward

because of the passing of speakers over time

Numbers may also vary depending on how dialects are grouped or not grouped together into languages

The same language can have different names (Gosiute/Shoshoni)

Speakers & linguists may disagree about whether two varieties are the same language or different languages (Shoshoni & Comanche)

The vitality status of a language may change with more information:

Pipil was thought to be ―Dormant‖ until Lyle Campbell reported on a small group of speakers of the language in the 1980‘s in El Salvador

Pipil‘s current status is ―Severely Endangered‖

The fluent, native speaker base is small but

~3,000 children are learning Pipil as a second language

What causes languages to

become endangered?

So many UA languages are endangered!

Is that because of some grammatical problem with UA

languages or some other linguistic problem?

Language endangerment is not caused by the language

per se (the structure/grammar/sound system/vocabulary

of the language)

All human languages are useful, complex systems

All are capable of being used for a range of

communicative activities by their speakers

English is not a better language grammatically than

Yaqui or Shoshoni!

What causes languages to

become endangered?

Language endangerment is caused by the economic, political, social, and historical conditions

that speakers of the subordinate languages have

found themselves in

Such extra-linguistic forces lead to institutional

policies that pressure speakers to stop passing their

language on to their children,

rupturing “intergenerational mother-tongue

transmission”

The transmission of a parent‘s mother-tongue to his/her children

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the linguistic vitality of UA languages

Uto-Aztecan language in the U.S. are endangered because of factors external to the languages such

as

the economic dominance of English

the economic subordination of American Indians

Federal laws/policies

Esp., U.S. educational policies

esp., Boarding Schools

Uto-Aztecan Languages: the linguistic vitality of Shoshoni

Shoshoni

a language with older fluent speakers numbering in the thousands but with very few younger speakers.

fluent native speakers are almost all well over 50 now

very few, young fluent native speakers

Many reasons that Shoshoni is not being used very much

boarding schools

economic hardships associated with Shoshoni; economic success with English

But many reasons to keep Shoshoni alive

native identity and culture associated with Shoshoni

a number of Shoshone and Goshute activists are committed to revitalizing their language

Wick R. Miller Collection

Shoshoni Language Project

The mission of the WRMC Shoshoni Language Project has included:

documenting the Shoshoni language,

developing materials to assist the Shoshoni communities

in local revitalization projects,

training Shoshoni language techers,

disseminating materials,

encouraging Shoshoni people of all ages, esp. young

people, to use their language.

Shoshoni Language Project: the

preservation and dissemination of legacy materials

The Project was at first primarily concerned with preserving the oral tradition of the Shoshoni language speakers captured in the reel-to-reel tapes of the Wick R. Miller Collection.

Recordings made by Prof. Miller throughout the Great Basin in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s

Professor of Anthropology, University of Utah

One of the founders of the U‘s Linguistics Program

Old audio tapes can be very fragile

Eventually they lose quality, disintegrate, and can no longer be played

Fortunately, the Miller recordings were still in very good condition

Shoshoni Language Project: the preservation and dissemination of legacy

materials

Prof. Miller had worked with speakers of Shoshoni to publish 14 of the narratives from the recordings

Miller, Wick R. 1972. Newe Natekwinappeh: Shoshoni

Stories and Dictionary. University of Utah Anthropological

Papers, 94. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

The Shoshoni texts are written in the Miller Orthography,

which Prof. Miller with native speaker and linguist, Beverly

Crum, developed

Original mission of the Shoshoni Language

Project: the preservation and

dissemination of legacy materials

2004-07. Preserving and Enhancing Accessibility of

Gosiute/Shoshoni Material in the Wick R. Miller

Collection, NSF #0418351 (awarded to Mauricio Mixco

(PI) & Marianna Di Paolo (co-PI))

For the preservation, dissemination, and enhanced accessibility of the Wick R. Miller recordings & materials

The Shoshoni Language Project: the

preservation and dissemination of legacy

materials—early accomplishments

Digitized recordings and made analog copies

About 480 Shoshoni narratives and some songs

Traditional stories

Ethnographic narratives of traditional practices

Oral histories

Some songs

The digital recordings facilitated the transcription, translation, and

glossing of the recorded materials.

Completed most of the transcriptions & translations in collaboration Beverly and Earl Crum, Drusilla Gould, Imogene Steele, Boyd

Graham, Bryan Hudson, Helen Timbimboo, Leland Pubigee, Rupert

Steele, etc.

The Shoshoni Language Project: the

preservation and dissemination of legacy

materials—early accomplishments

Produced a searchable Shoshoni-English/English-Shoshoni

multi-dialect electronic dictionary (―the Big Dictionary‖)

30,000-word entry compilation of dialect lexicons

(many provided by Beverly Crum)

Recently made available on the Shoshoni Language

Project website

Began dissemination of materials from the WRMC

Shoshoni Language Project: language maintenance & revitalization mission

We quickly learned that many people in the tribal communities were already involved or

wanted to be involved in keeping their language

alive

The preservation and dissemination of the old

recordings on CDs helped

People began listening to their relatives voices again

Usually an emotional experience

Many words and phrases in the stories had not been

used for a long time

Sometimes the transcribers had to seek out very

elderly people for help on the translations

Shoshoni Language Project: language maintenance & revitalization mission

Our NSF-funded project was coming to an end

More work clearly needed to be done

Some of the communities asked us to assist with language revitalization projects they had initiated

Some of this work has been funded by ANA grants to individual tribes

In Spring of 2007, asked by Brian Mason, Barrick Corporation, to submit a grant proposal to continue work on the WRMC

Since that time, Barrick funding has been crucial to our ability to engage in Shoshoni language revitalization outreach efforts

Further development of the Shoshoni

Language Project: documentation →

language maintenance & revitalization mission

2007-present. The Wick R. Miller Collection: Returning to the Communities. Barrick Gold of North America Corporation, Inc. grants. (Marianna Di Paolo (PI))

Early (documentation) accomplishments:

Completed the first draft of the Shoshoni transcriptions, glossing, & English translations of the 480 WRMC narratives

Developed indices for the WRMC ethnographic field note, notebooks, and recorded narratives

Developed a searchable version of ethnographic field notes

Shoshoni Language Project: documentation

→ language maintenance & revitalization mission

Making existing materials available again to Shoshoni communities often means using

technology, e.g.,

―Returning‖ traditional narratives recorded

~45+ yrs ago to family members today

WRMC recordings on digital media

How to Read and Write Shoshoni. Crum &

Miller, with revisions by Bryan Hudson

originally published in 1992; reissued in 2011

Shoshoni Language Project: documentation

→ language maintenance & revitalization mission

Using technology to develop and disseminate new materials, e.g.

4,000-entry Shoshoni Talking Dictionary

Project begun in collaboration with Boyd Graham, Education Director, Ely Shoshone Tribe

Originally funded by ANA grant to the tribe

Now funded by Barrick grant

Built in LexiquePro, freeware from SIL

Multi-speaker, pan-dialect

Distributed on DVD (May 2014 update)

Available on SLP website in late 2014

Shoshoni Language Project:

documentation → language

maintenance & revitalization mission

WRMC Transcription/Translation update:

The narratives—traditional stories, oral histories, traditional practices

Vary in length

some only a few minutes long, some over an hour long

Now working on proofreading and completing final translations (Mixco, Di Paolo, & Elwood Mose)

To be published in a series of books with accompanying CDs of the original recordings




WRMC Transcription/Translation Publication Project: Plan for 2014-2015

Possible titles (or themes) for the first four volumes:

1. How the World Came to Be The Way It Is

2. Coyote and Others Fail to Heed Advice or are Too Proud

3. Shoshone Oral History

4. Shoshone Traditional Activities (Ethnography)




How the World Came to Be The Way It Is (31 narratives)

Cottontail Shoots the Sun (11 narratives) Sun and Cottontail WRMC_009_01 Maude Moon 6/12/1967

Tapu ma‘ai Tapai WRMC_041_01 Albert McGill

Sun and Cottontail WRMCT_043.03 Albert Stanton Jr.

Ittsape' Tapu ma'ai WRMCT_064.01 Johnny Dick

Cottontail WRMC_074_03 Martha Hooper

Cottontail WRMC_083_04 Tom Premo

Cottontail Shoots the Sun WRMC_084_01 Tom Premo

Cottontail Rabbit and Sun WRMCT_088.01 Dave Charley

Sun and Cottontail Kill the Sun WRMC_089.02 Maude Cortez

Cottontail kills the Sun WRMC_114_01 Sadie & Lillian Ariwite

Cottontail WRMC_118_03 Dan Brady

Origin of the Indians Coyote brings duck eggs up from the south WRMC_002_02 Maude

Moon

(and 4 more)




How the World Came to Be The Way It Is (cont.)

Coyote Steals Fire (1 narrative)

Theft of Fire WRMC_074_06 Martha Hooper

How the Number of Months and the Seasons Came to Be (5

narratives)

Seasons WRMC_014_02 Maude Moon

Months WRMC_054_02 Wilson Jack

Number of Months WRMC_076_07 Earl Dean Harney

Number of Months WRMC_078_05 Lucy Jones

Coyote, skunk and the birds and the origin of the seasons

WRMC_072_02 Tom Wesaw

How Pine Nuts Came to Grow Where They Grow Now (14 narratives)

Theft of the pinenut WRMC_093_08 Judy Sam

(and 13 more)

The Shoshoni Language Project:

language maintenance & revitalization

mission??

Is it possible to turn the loss of the Shoshoni language around?

While it may not be possible to rebuild most endangered

language speech communities, the Shoshoni community

may be one of the exceptions:

There are physically-active fluent speakers in most Shoshone and

Goshute tribal communities,

Many reservation children still hear the Shoshoni language in

some traditional domains at least occasionally and some hear it

in the home

Most of the tribes have been engaged in language revitalization

activities.

Shoshoni Language Maintenance &

Revitalization: involve people of all ages

Most of the fluent native speakers of Shoshoni are now grandparents and great-grandparents

They are the repository of the language

Most of the middle-aged adults did not have the opportunity to become fully fluent speakers, but may be passive “speakers” Mostly because of earlier Boarding School experiences

But whether or not they speak Shoshoni, their support of the language is very important

The upcoming set of parents (teens) could help turn things around

if they become L2 speakers of the language

and facilitate their children becoming native speakers

Language Maintenance &

Revitalization: guiding principles

In working with Shoshoni-speaking communities to encourage

the use and the learning of the Shoshoni language, the

Shoshoni Language Project focuses on two principles:

language revitalization is rebuilding a speech community,

and

it is necessary to engage people of all ages in the process—

fluent elders as well as teenagers because young people

are ―the next generation of parents‖.

Rebuilding a speech community requires many players,

but crucially rests on collaboration between fluent native-speaking elders & L2 teenagers and young adults

Shoshoni Language Maintenance &

Revitalization: involve people of all ages

Both elders & young people are likely

language activists

the know-how + the drive

Language revitalization as

rebuilding a speech community

WHY is rebuilding a speech community

important for revitalizing a language?

Intergenerational mother-tongue transmission,

the process that creates fully fluent native

speakers, would be very difficult to re-establish

without community support outside the home

when a language as dominant, and all-

powerful as English is an easy alternative for

young adults (parents) and children.



In order to want to use a language, people have to have

a reason to use it and

people to use it with.

If there is no speech community, then there is

probably

no one to talk to outside the home

Easy to stop using it.



If young people do not use the language outside the home with other young people,

it won‘t help them bond with peer group (the language

won‘t be ―cool‖)

they may be less likely to keep using Shoshoni later in life,

as older family members pass away

they may be less likely to find a spouse that speaks or

supports the language

so it may be less likely that their children will acquire it

Intergenerational transmission may once again get interrupted.



The WRMC Shoshoni Language Project has

developed a number of language revitalization

activities and materials in collaboration with

Shoshone and Goshute people in Nevada, Utah,

and Idaho that have resulted in increasing the

frequency of social interaction in the language,

a defining characteristic of a speech community

(Gumperz 1972), by providing something for

people of all ages and levels of interest in their

ancestral language.

Language revitalization as rebuilding a

speech community: funding

Long-term funding from Barrick has been crucial for this work.

Language revitalization takes a long time.

Most Shoshoni communities have few resources.

Most Federal agencies do not provide long-term

funding for language revitalization and there are

few grants available.

Rebuilding a speech

community: teaching Shoshoni Many speakers have been working hard to teach Shoshoni language

courses in the communities, schools, and higher education:

Owyhee, NV

High School

Community classes

Ely, NV

White Pine Co. High School

Duckwater Elementary School

Ibapah Elementary School

Chief Taghee Elementary Academy (Ft. Hall, ID)

Elko Head Start & community classes

Idaho State University

University of Utah (Bryan Hudson, Shoshoni (ANTH) courses during SYLAP)

Great Basin College

Etc.

Rebuilding a speech community: teaching/using Shoshoni

Community courses are often taught

to help Shoshoni speakers maintain their language,

to help passive speakers become active speakers, and

to help develop L2 learners

Course-based language revitalization projects are important because they jump start the process of rebuilding the speech community.

Some communities are also holding events for speakers to meet to listen to traditional stories (e.g., from the WRMC) and talk about them.

Rebuilding a speech community:

supporting the use/teaching of Shoshoni

Develop and disseminate Shoshoni Language Curricula, Lesson Plans, and Materials

White Pine Co. High School credit course

Collaborated with Ely Shoshoni Tribe (Boyd Graham)

ANA grant

University of Utah Shoshoni courses (Bryan Hudson)

Shoshone/Goshute Youth Language Apprenticeship Program

K-6 Goshute Language Program

Collaborated with Confederated Tribe of the Goshutes, Ibapah Elementary School, the Tooele School District, and the Utah State Office of Education (Ruby Ridesatthedoor)

Pre-K/Head Start Shoshoni Language Program



Claymation films In Shoshoni with English subtitles

First film in collaboration with Ely Shoshone Tribe—ANA grant

Classroom posters Shoshoni teacher talk

Oyo'on Tapaiwani Taikwappeh Encouraging the use of Shoshoni in classroom

management

Animals, colors, etc.

Counting in Newe



Classroom posters:

counting in Shoshoni

with handgame sticks



Shoshoni language teacher workshops

First Teacher Workshop offered in 2008

Funded by ANA grant to the Ely Shoshone Tribe

Others funded by Barrick grant

Goals

Share materials and ideas

Learn that ―you‘re not alone in your efforts‖

Others are trying, too

Hear others use Shoshoni in public spaces

Reconnect with other speakers

Especially important for elderly or isolated speakers



Shoshoni Language Teacher Workshop

Wendover 2009



Teacher Workshops in 2013

Teaching Students their Ancestral Language for Communication

CELCNA Teacher Workshop

March 8-9, 2013

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT

Breaking Through Barriers in Teaching & Learning Shoshoni

October 5, 2013

Battle Mountain, NV



Teacher Workshops in 2014

Foundations for Learning: Increasing Shoshoni Language Use in Early-Childhood Learners

Rolled out Shoshoni Language Pre-K/Head Start Program

Elko, Nevada

March 7-8, 2014

About 180 participants!!

From Ft. Hall, ID to Fallon, NV

Duckwater Workshop, TBA



Foundations for Learning: Increasing Shoshoni Language Use in

Early-Childhood Learners

2014 Teacher Workshop


developing a community of young

adult L2 learners--SYLAP

The Shoshoni Language Project is best known for the Shoshone/Goshute Youth Language Apprenticeship Program (SYLAP)

Proposed by Ph.D. student, Katherine Matsumoto-Gray, in a term paper

Modeled after a STEM summer experience for minority students that KMG participated in while in high school, offered at the University of Wyoming

Offered for first time in Summer 2009

Up to 10 first-year participants each summer

Sophomores to graduating seniors

48 young people have participated thus far

All of the costs of SYLAP are covered by the Barrick grant


developing committed young adult

L2 learners—SYLAP

Introduces Shoshone and Goshute high school students to a university setting to encourage them to pursue a college degree and to get them involved in the revitalization of the Shoshoni language

SYLAP has three components:

Learning the Shoshoni language in a college course

Participating in a paid apprenticeship in documenting the Shoshoni language and developing language teaching materials for their home communities

Encouraging Shoshone and Goshute youth to pursue a college education:

Instilling life-skills and self esteem through group activities, Shoshone cultural activities, and college preparation workshops


SYLAP outcomes

The apprenticeship empowers young people to make a difference in their own lives and for their

communities by connecting and assisting with

their home communities‘ language revitalization

programs

All of the young people who have been SYLAP participants are still in high school or have

graduated from high school and most go on to

college


SYLAP outcomes

Fluent native speaker “elders” are an integral part of SYLAP

Elders assist Bryan Hudson as teachers in the Shoshoni courses

Drusilla Gould, Delphina Gould, Boyd Graham, Ruby

Ridesatthedoor, Norm Cavanaugh, Laurie Gibson, Naomi

Mason, Arloa Kelly, Elwood Mose, Rosie Jones, Bernice Lalo,

etc.

The native speaking elders develop a collaborative

relatioship with the teenage L2 learners

Elders assist the SYLAPers in the materials development

projects

The elders create a ―safe‖ (non-threatening) environment for

the young people—no criticism for language learning ―errors‖

The young people work with the elders in a respectful

manner and hang out with them in the evening


developing committed young adult

L2 learners—SYLAP

SYLAPers began to ―return‖ in 2010

Mission expansion: We now also support the young people

who have taken part in SYLAP as they move on to college

and/or begin to work in their home communities in

language or cultural maintenance and revitalization

We currently have five SYLAP participants working for the Project, all of whom are pursuing college degrees:

Sam Broncho, Trent Griffith, Justin Martin, Eric Komperud,

and Devin Gardner.

Please see out website for the Five Years of SYLAP video

http://shoshoniproject.utah.edu/


SYLAP: Children‘s Books Project Each year, SYLAP students work in groups to create

children‘s books, assisted by elders.

Starting in 2009, the books focused on traditional

stories for students learning the language.

Since 2011, the goal of the books also includes

teaching Shoshoni to early learners.

Published books:

Books in progress:

SYLAP: Children‘s Books Project

Audio books & video books

We are currently working to record and create an

audio companion to each book.

Each book will also be made into a video.

Kutise Itsappeh is a completed video book that is

available online.

The Shoshoni Talking Dictionary

& SYLAP

The Shoshoni Talking Dictionary was started in 2009 in collaboration with the Ely Shoshone Tribe, which received an ANA grant to create a 3,000-word dictionary.

The Talking Dictionary is now a SYLAP project

SYLAPers learn to record elders reading words for the dictionary by using professional recording equipment

SYLAPers also learn how to edit the sound files and enter them into the dictionary database

The Talking Dictionary is under revision. The update will be available

in May 2014.

The Shoshoni Talking

Dictionary & SYLAP

The Shoshoni Talking

Dictionary & SYLAPTalking Dictionary demo

aikwa ~ aiku ~ aiko ‗tongue‘

BG ~ RR ~ DG

SYLAP—videogame project

Returning SYLAPers develop a videogame, with assistance from

the Entertainment Arts & Engineering program at the U: Enee!

Cora

Artwork

http://www.theeneegame.com/game-artwork/

Trent

Language (the game is only in Shoshoni)

Sound engineering

Devin

Programmer (continues to work to de-bug and develop the game)

Zeph

Producer, mentor




SYLAP residential experience--

forming a speech community

Statement by Sam Broncho on the Resident Assistants’ influence on using the Shoshoni language.

As an RA I was able to work with the students outside of the classroom. I was able to help them utilize the language in real situations.

There were numerous occasions where we would be sitting in the kitchen or the living room and they ask me to hand them something. But instead of simply handing it over, I tell them [in Shoshone] to say it in Shoshone before I give it to them. The students were timid at first, but as they got used to the environment and other students they began to open up and use the language more and more.

We like to [provide] an extremely safe environment for the students to use Shoshone, without criticism and without judgment.



Sam Broncho: Why learning Shoshone in the SYLAP setting works so well:

SYLAP allows students who are in the same age range and who are at the same level of comprehension to work and learn together. Other classrooms allow a wide range of people to take their courses, but SYLAP is focused on juniors and seniors in high school. This allows them to realize that they are not the only students who are trying to learn their language.

This is important because they aren‘t intimidated by fluent speakers and the fluent speakers we do work with understand the criticisms that are usually given in their home towns.



Shoshoni-only “hours”

Evening activities shared by SYLAPers and elders that

only allow the use of Shoshoni

No English!



Post SYLAP

Sense of comraderie has already been established

SYLAPers continue to use the language with each

other outside of the program

They all have learned to read & write using the same

standardized spelling system

Use technology to stay in touch with their new BFFs in

communities across the Great Basin

FaceBook/Twitter/Social Media

Texting


SYLAP & social media

The SYLAPers bond into a peer-group speech community centered around their experience

with the Shoshoni language

Social networking keeps them connected after they

return home

Shoshone FaceBook, texting, etc.

In SYLAP, they learn to read and write Shoshoni,

facilitating social media

The Shoshoni language instructor, Bryan Hudson, has

encouraged this online bonding experiece

Some native speaker elders participate in the social

media sites

Post-SYLAP--forming a speech

community

Post-SYLAP--forming a speech

community

Rebuilding a speech

community Some of the people that Wick recorded ~45 yrs ago were

monolingual or nearly monolingual in Shoshoni

Few if any children today are learning the language as a first language

Kathy Adams-Blackeye (Duckwater) said that only 30% of her community now speak the language. It was 100% not too long ago (probably in her childhood).

It took several generations to go from a point where almost all children were learning the language as a first language at home, to the place where the communities find themselves in now

It will probably also take a good many years and concerted effort by the Newe people to rebuild their speech community,

It is possible to turn it around and keep the language going

But it will take people of all generations to want to do it and to work together to do it



Finally, viewing revitalization as re-structuring a speech community (i.e., recreating its

infrastructure) suggests that it may take at least a

generation of revitalization work involving all age

groups to produce sustainable results.

Fishman (2003): ―Do not give up; but do not get your priorities wrong, because you do not get

many chances in this game. And above all

remember that living languages are not primarily

in institutions, but above them, beyond them, all around them.‖ (p. 198)

Website

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AcknowledgementsFor their part in the shaping of these ideas, but none of the blame for my

misunderstandings, I acknowledge: The wonderful Shoshone and Goshute people who have been so open and

welcoming over the last decade and who have taught me more than I ever expected to learn, especially Beverly Crum, Drusilla Gould, Boyd Graham, Laurie Gibson, Ruby Ridesatthedoor, Elwood Mose, Norm Cavanaugh, and so many others!

My linguist collaborators; Mauricio Mixco, Wick Miller, Beverly Crum, and Jeanne Lachowski.

The students and others who have worked on the Wick R. Miller Collection project over the years, and who have inadvertently or with intent helped me think out these issues, especially Jen Mitchell, Katherine Matsumoto-Gray, Julia James, and Derron Borders.

For contributing to this presentation: Derron Borders, Sarah Arnoff, Jen Mitchell, Bryan Hudson, Sam Broncho, Devin Gardner, and Katherine Matsumoto-Gray

My ―new‖ colleagues in the Department of Anthropology. The Barrick Gold Corporation, who has so generously funded the WRMC Shoshoni

Language Project, and especially Brian Mason, Tim Buchanan, Bill Upton, and Kristi Begay.

Wick Miller for ―pushing back the frontiers of science‖ day after day.

References Brown, Cecil H. 2010. "Lack of support for Proto-Uto-Aztecan at 8900 BP." PNAS 107(11).

Campbell, Lyle. 1997. American Indian Languages: a Historical and Comparative Assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.

Merrill, William L., Jonathon B. Mabry, Gayle J. Fritz, Karen R. Adams, John R. Roney, and A. C. McWilliams. 2009. "The diffusion of maize into the southwestern United States and its impact." PNAS 106(50):21019–21026.

_____, et al. 2010. "Reply to Hill and Brown; maize and Uto-Aztecan cultural history." PNAS 107(11).

Sapir, Edward. 1913, 1919. Southern Paiute and Nahuatl: a study in Uto-Aztecan, parts. 1 and 2. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris 10:379-425 and 11: 443-88, and 1915 in American Anthropologist 17:98-120, 306-328. Reprinted 1990 in The collected works of Edward Sapir 5: American Indian Languages, William Bright, ed., 351-444. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Stubbs, Brian. 2011. A Uto-Aztecan Comparative Vocabulary. Preliminary edition. Blanding, UT: Rocky Mountain Books and Productions.

http://multitree.org/trees/23630 (Tree is based on Campbell 1997 and many other studies.)

http://multitree.org/trees/23630

The Shoshoni Language: From Oral Tradition to the Digital Age

Education

indigenous languages

community language

contextualizing shoshoni

years of agefor shoshoni

family tree

lecturelanguage endangerment

time of contact

northern paiute