From: ufruss@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (Russell Bernard)
Subject: paper on native languages (Mexico)
Date: Mon, 11 May 1992 00:51:58 GMT

Original-Sender: ufruss@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (Russell Bernard)

this is from russ bernard, university of florida. ... i've recently
published a paper in _human organization_, the journal of the
society for applied anthropology, on language preservation. the
paper is available on line, if anyone would like a copy. i describe
the native literacy and language preservation center in oaxaca,
mexico. the indians there are writing and publishing books in their
own languages (mixtec, n^ahn^u, chinantec, amuzgo, zapotec, and so on).
the idea comes from my work with jesus salinas, a n^ahn^u from
hidalgo (we use the ^ as a tilde on the net). salinas wrote, in
n^ahn^u, and i translated, an ethnography of his own culture.
the book appeared as _native ethnography_, sage publications, 1989.
this edition of the book is in english only, and comprises four
volumes in one: the geography, the fauna, the flora, and religion.
three of the four volumes (all but the volume on religion) are
now available in spanish and n^ahn^u, from the instituto nacional
indigenista in mexico.

the article in _human organization_ describes the oaxaca project and
offers some evidence regarding use of computers to help preserve
native languages.  the basic idea is that many native peoples will have
to develop written literature if their languages are to survive.

people are giving up speaking native languages and those languages
are disappearing at a much faster rate than at any time in history.
this will diminish cultural heterogeneity for the human species and
this could be a terrible tragedy. for individual peoples, the loss
of their language is sure to be a tragedy. there are, i believe,
economic and political reasons for people to preserve rather than
give up their languages. but for many groups (not all), only developing a
written tradition ... that is, publishing books, newsletters,
whatever ... will keep their language from dying.

the reason that all peoples of the world do not have written
traditions, in my view, is that it is not commercially attractive
to publish books in all languages. so i've been teaching some
native people (bilingual spanish-indian language school teachers
in mexico) to use word processors (designed for whatever
orthography they prefer to use) to write and publish books in
their own languages.

the general format is spreading. there are programs developing in
bolivia, and in cameroon using the basic format: low-cost
computers and bilingual (national language-local language) school
teachers who want to teach  children effectively to read and
write local languages. local publishing produces things
that at least some people want to read, of course.

there are problems, of course. i disagree with the idea of the
"great divide" between cultures that have a literary tradition and
cultures that don't. i also disagree with the idea that a written
tradition destroys an oral tradition, that is, that writing
previously nonwritten languages destroys something important.
the matter is not settled, but while we discuss it and research it,
languages are being lost, and at an alarming rate. i hope that
senator inouwe, and others who are developing programs to
strengthen the use of native languages (including hawaiian) will
consider helping people everywhere develop their own presses.
--
    Gary S. Trujillo                            gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Somerville, Massachusetts              {wjh12,bu.edu,spdcc,ima,cdp}!gnosys!gst
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