East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1917-09-20
~lBe Thousand Dialects Are Found i'm
fhr. I,,sn Americas.


the Two Americas,
The Bureau of American Ethnotogy
of the Smithsonian Institution, which
conducts studies and Investigations
among the Indians, is constantly bonn
a1arded with requests for the Indian
word for this and that. 1t may be
worth while TO explain to the public
shercfore. that there is no one Ameri-
,rsan Indian language. on the contrary
there are about 1909 languages in the
awo Americas, and practically SEQ dis
uirct Indian languages north of Mex
8co.
1t becomes. then, impossible to give
tho" Indian word for any English
aaauivaIent and consequently it IS usu-
ally chosen from the language OF the
tribe. which inhabits, or once inhao-
ated. the particular section OF the
country from which the request
comes; for example the world may he
chosen from the Sioux, Delaware
cherokee, Seneca. Zuni or other Ian
Ruage.
One of the exhibits of the Bureau
of American Ethnology at the recent
Panama Pacific Exposition at san
Francisco was a large placard. in tan
sllar form, intended to illustrate the
number and variety of Indian langu-
ages north of Mexico. Although not
exhaustive, it included 33 fanny
z-roups and l67 different tribes. The
equivalent of only one word was
shown, the concept expressed oy
Natin homo. human being
For example. a member of the Cher-
s,kSee tribe says ''yunwi," While ms
nOrmer neighbor of the Creek trloe
saws ''isti." The Delaware of the Al
sEouduin says in for male person
and .Jenno" or 'Ienape" for a human
being. The eastern and central Eski-
mo uses the word "'leuit." meaning
ceople. or ''inuk." person. whereas his
not far distant relative, the Aleut'
SAYS "aliwut' The Zuni Indian eN-
presses the word by ''kwe," and the
Usage by ''nikashiga-'' These few eN-
-amples show in how many ways, an
sIifferent. this one idea is expressed.
In fact, the Indian languages are so
numerous and so difficult to record
thai the American AnthropoIoslca!
Association appointed a committee
some time ago to devise a standard
method for transcribing them It's
report has lust been published by the
Smithsonian Institution. and IS en-
titled phonetic Transcription of In !
dian Languages. 1t goes into detah 1
AS TO the best ana HlbSA llilpioNSN
manner of recording the many Indt- !
an languages Of this country in a !
forrn that is feasible and easily under
stood. The report is intended pri- /
Enarily for philologists and students
of phonetics, md is designed to show
what is necessary in order TO record
an Indian language properly.
Fortunately for the student of In
Slian linEtlistics. nearly all the tribal
ind family languages may be Classi-
lied into groups. SO that it is not ne
-resssarv for the Dhilologist to learn
zach language: he studies the basic
principles of the speech Of lin
qguistlc croun and. following certain .
E-1les and exceptions, IS able to com
5prehend much Of the speech of its .
several branches. He knows. accord
ing to Grimm's law evolved years ago
ny our old friend. the compiler of the
TaIrv tales that certain consonants
correspond in all related languages, as
Tor example, in German. the High
German "das' becomes dat" in Low
German: the '"s" changing to T.
The consonants - N" and "'r'' are
also readily INTERCHANGEABLE. Thus
-ghe scientist recognizes the same word
despite its DISCUSSES.
But it is not with a view of dis
guisfng OF making his speech distinc- {