FEL (1/3): Movie Night

[This post is one of three about the 2013 Foundation for Endangered Languages conference. The others will be linked to from this main post as they go up.]

I’m very much a movie person, so I loved having the chance to watch We Still Live Here/Âs Nutayuneân a second time. If you click the title, you can watch clips from the video. The whole film isn’t free online anywhere, but you can buy it on iTunes! The story of Jessie Little Doe-Baird and the Wampanoag who worked together to wake their language back up after 6 generations is purely inspirational, a total must-watch.

In the context of a conference that focused on “endangered” languages, it felt so hopeful and essential to get the reminder than languages don’t simply go extinct like species of plants or animals. Animals like the sea mink are never coming back, but thanks to historical documents, speakers of related languages, dedication, hard work, and collaboration, Wampanoag is being spoken again in Massachusetts. There were more than a few damp eyes in the room during our screening, let me tell you that.

Other clips we watched included…

  • Reflections Part One, by Jeff Bear (Maliseet). (Part Two is here)
  • Nikamowin (song), by Kevin Lee Burton (Cree)
  • A clip from Qanurli? (What Now?) (Inuktitut)
  • A clip from Takuginai (Look Here), aka the Inuit Sesame Street. The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation has been running it since 1986!! We were lucky to have two of the co-producers (Mike Kerr and Cynthia Pitsiulak) come and talk to us about the program, and about IBC in general. (I will admit I daydreamed for a few minutes about a Mi’gmaw Takuginai… The Listuguj Education Directorate definitely has the puppets, anyway!)

Foundation for Endangered Languages conference round-up

October 1-4 was the Foundation for Endangered Languages annual conference in Ottawa! Gretchen made a blog post about it while we were there, and did a lot of good work helping to fill up the #FEL2013 Twitter tag with some interesting quotes from talks. It’s a bit late, but I thought it would be nice to do a round-up post on the blog too, like this one I did after ICLDC this spring. I started writing it, then realized that it was getting tremendously long! So instead, I’ll make a bunch of shorter posts, and this central one will link to each of them in turn. So far there are three posts planned–hopefully I can keep it to that!

  1. Movie Night, particularly the film We Still Live Here/Âs Nutayuneân
  2. Keynote Speakers
  3. Sessions and Talks

 

âpihtawikosisân: “Roadblocks to effective indigenous language development”

For anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the âpihtawikosisân blog, I (Yuliya) highly recommend doing so.  I recently read this blog post, which was not only insightful, but also a wonderful read. As a linguist, I was only aware of some of the issues hampering effective indigenous language revitalization: lack of funding, lack of commitment on a wider level, and suspicion in the communities. It turns out that the bigger picture is more complex, and, as the author points out, includes lack of communication (emphasis is mine):

This is not just about money, this is also about coordination and sharing of expertise. We have so many people out there on their own, trying to do the same things over and over again, not even aware of one another. We have Language Nest programs in some communities that are doing very well; we have unique community-based schools that successfully integrate cultural learnings and graduate academically competent students. We have people creating online and print resourcesapps and so on. We even have people offering free language classes in urban centres. It often feels to me that we are going in a thousand different directions, and in doing so we are all beating the same path without really moving forward.

 

I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read this post, if not for the content, then for the clarity of prose. Using social media, like this blog and the ‘Nnu’gina’masultinej Facebook page, to to communicate, support, and update each other is a small step in the right direction. But taking small steps can produce big results! There are many communities across Canada that are facing similar language issues; it is definitely worth sharing our expertise and experience thus far.

Foundation for Endangered Languages meeting

Today is the middle of the Foundation for Endangered Languages annual conference at Carleton University in Ottawa. I (Gretchen) and Elise are here already and we’ve met up with a few people (hi Hilary!) and we’ll be joined by Jessica and Hisako today. We’ve heard some great talks so far: you can see the program of events here.

This afternoon is an electronic poster presentation on Using Technology to Bridge the Gap Between Speakers, Learners, and Linguists, which will about LingSync and the LingSync Spreadsheet app, by Elise, Erin, Carol, Hisako, Alan, Jessica, and Gina, representing McGill, Concordia, and iLanguage Lab.

I (Gretchen) and a few other people are livetweeting on the hashtag #FEL2013, if you want to follow along.

Blog #1: Confessions of a Mi’gmaq Language Learner — Travis Wysote

By now most of my family, friends, and acquaintances are familiar with my views based on the things I write. I go on and on (and on and on) about the importance of maintaining environmental integrity in order to preserve our language and culture. And while environmental integrity is still a serious concern of mine, I wish to bring shift my attention towards language and culture.

 We Mi’gmaq have been resisting colonial encroachment for centuries. We have fought colonialism and assimilation into the Canadian body politic. We have fought and continue to fight the exploitation of our lands and resources – speaking up on behalf of all our relations. While the fight against these forces has many battlegrounds, such as the forests, the waters, social media and the courts, the fight to preserve language is within: within our Nation, within our communities, within our families, and within ourselves. If the integrity of our territory is diminished, our language and culture are diminished with it. I have always asserted this. But the inverse has recently been brought to my attention: without Mi’gmaq language informing our values, we will partake in the destruction of our own territory. Indeed, we are now beginning to see Mi’gmaq individuals and communities using their lands and waters in ways that our ancestors would find objectionable. This change in values towards the integrity of our territory is a reflection of the lasting legacy of colonialism and assimilation, only hastened by the loss of Mi’gmaq language speakers.

The result is that we Mi’gmaq must make that extra effort to keep the language and culture alive. The only thing holding us back is ourselves. And I understand if this is a touchy subject. I don’t want to put blame on anyone or make people feel shame. Quite the opposite – I want nothing more than to see Mi’gmaq who are beyond proud of who they are and what they have, can, and will accomplish.

I wish to speak to the importance of a recent accomplishment. From my perspective, the Mi’gmaq Language Summer Workshop on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, was an absolute success. The speakers were eloquent, a natural occurrence when our People speak from their hearts. The food was fantastic. The booths were interesting and ranged from more formal ones to informal ones and the information they shared was of critical importance with regards to language retention and language revitalization. Perhaps this was why the discussions were so lively.

There were two things about this gathering that really caught my attention. The first was witnessing the Mi’gmaq Immersion Nursery students singing traditional songs with Pu’gwales, a local drum group. Not only are these children basically the cutest things ever, it was more than heartwarming to see them take pride in their accomplishments as the next generation of Mi’gmaq speakers. The other thing that piqued my interest was the interaction with Elders during the discussions towards the end of the workshop. I was fortunate enough to have been a moderator/note-taker for a group of roughly a dozen Mi’gmaq women.

I learned a lot about how the Elders feel about the language and how the Youth have or have not taken to it. One discussion in particular touched me on a personal level. Without sharing any names, I would like to relate what I have learned with readers. One of my relations talked about how she was confronted by her daughter one day. The daughter resentfully asked the mother why she had failed to pass her native language onto her at a young age. The mother was left speechless. It caught me off-guard to hear her say such a thing because my experience mirrors that of the mother – not the daughter.

Readers who know me may find this strange because I’m only 24 years young, but take note of what I am about to say. It is my experience, and possibly that of other Youth, that Elders sometimes resent the Youth for not already knowing the language. So we have arrived at a situation where Elders sometimes feel like the Youth resent them for not teaching them the language, while Youth sometimes feel as if the Elders resent them for not having learned the Mi’gmaq language. The level of misunderstanding between these two groups is the result of a breakdown in communication. This realization has bothered me since.

While learning the language in the most practical sense is vitally important, learning to forgive each other inter-generationally is a form of healing that I suspect will facilitate language learning and retention. All I can say is that this language workshop was a step in the right direction and it is critical as Mi’gmaq that we organize and participate in more of them. I believe that the importance of the Mi’gmaq language is the one thing we can all agree upon. And while many of us are busy becoming experts in our respective fields, we can all become experts of the Mi’gmaq language together. An “expert” is defined, by the way, as someone who has spent 10,000 hours on a subject. If you were to take a one-hour Mi’gmaq class every day for a year, it would take over 27 years to “officially” become an expert. While I love my Mi’gmaq classes, I think we can all agree that 27 years is unrealistic.

It is incumbent upon us to seek out avenues whereby we can integrate language into our daily lives. We need to take this issue to formal avenues such as Chief and Council, but also realize that the responsibility lies with us to raise the issue in informal avenues. There’s many ways to do this. Allow me to humbly suggest one. It would be great if people could just greet each other in Mi’gmaq. Those who already speak might discover other speakers and network with them, but speakers might also discover that there are people (Youth, such as myself, in particular) who are trying to learn. Learners need to hear Mi’gmaq spoken to them. They need to be prompted to listen. They need to struggle to understand. They also need to be prompted to speak. This effort can only serve to strengthen our language, our culture, and the bond we share as citizens of this paradise we call Mi’gmagi. Wela’lioq!

Elders and Youth get closer at Mi’gmaq Language Summer Workshop

Although I enjoyed everything at the workshop, the part that I enjoyed the most was the discussions. I loved hearing what the elders in my group had to say. I always assumed that if the elders didn’t think Mi’gmaq was not important enough for their children to know and speak, then it wasn’t important enough to bother learning. My grandparents gave my father the language but he didn’t give it to me and because this is the case for majority of the people in my generation it’s easy to see how our precious language could be lost in just one generation. I realized after hearing what the elders had to say in our discussion group was that they regret not passing on the language and are genuinely afraid that the language will someday soon be lost. They also thought that the youth are not interested in learning Mi’gmaq which I can imagine discouraged them a bit. I don’t think I would have ever known how the elders felt towards the language had I not attended this workshop and they would not have known how us youth felt. The assumptions that we had about each other were wrong. They do value and care about the language and so do we. We are interested in learning Mi’gmaq and they’re so happy to see that we are taking the initiative. We want to learn our language and they’re willing to meet us halfway if they see that we are trying. I feel more comfortable and more at ease speaking Mi’gmaq to them knowing that they want us to learn. It was nice to clear up the misunderstandings and bring the gap between the generations a little closer.

Courses at LED and the Mi’gmaq Language Summer Workshop

Mi’gmaq language classes have started this week at the Listuguj Education Directorate. Supposed to be three days a week, students have requested a fourth day in order to improve their language skills. Classes are off to a wonderful start! Wellugutioq ms’t wen!

Listuguj Education Directorate and the McGill Linguistics department will host a Mi’gmaq Language Summer workshop. See the new Mi’gmaq Language Summer Workshop page for more information.

‘Nnu’gina’masultinej!

Let’s Learn the Native Language – ‘Nnu’gina’masultinej!

MaryAnn just launched the Facebook page ‘Nnu’gina’masultinej. There are a wealth of references to help learners improve their Mi’gmaw. Pictures from her classroom as well as grammatical explanations will be updated throughout Mi’gmaw classes. Stay tuned for more information. We invite everyone to like and follow it! ‘Nnugina’masultinej!

Computational Field Workshop at McGill

Hisako and Gina presenting about LingSync during day 1 of the work shop.

Hisako and Gina presenting about LingSync during day 1 of the work shop.

Today concluded the two day Computational Field Workshop at McGill University. Plenary speaker Alexis Palmer joined from Saarland University, Germany to talk about her work using computational tools for low-resource languages.

iLanguage Lab along with its collaborators and interns, Hisako Noguchi, Carol Little, Josh Horner, Tobin Skinner, and Louisa Bielig, presented their work in developing the Google Chrome extension and Android App, LingSync. This is particularly useful for field linguists as it store all field data in one secure, customizable, and easy-to-use app. A morning tutorial for the workshop participants was held where they were able to test this app out with data from Quechua.

Erin Olson presenting her work with the Prosody Lab's forced aligner on day 2 of the workshop.

Erin Olson explaining her work with the Prosody Lab’s aligner on day 2 of the workshop.

Robert Henderson also shared his work on using computational tools to clean and analyze texts from SIL bibles translated into Kaqchikel for his work on demonstrative pronouns.

Erin Olson presented her work on using the Prosody Lab’s aligner which aligns text to sound files in Praat. This is a useful tool as it can speed up annotating processes. Scripts for the Prosody Lab Aligner can be found here.

All slides and information from this workshop can be found on the Computational Field Workshop website.

In addition to these great tools, Elise McClay in collaboration with iLanguage Lab is developing a Learn [language] app. This app, still a prototype, will be able to be used in conjunction with LingSync to create customizable languages lessons for any language. Currently there is an example Mi’gmaq lesson on this app. More on this can be found at the Canadian Linguistics Association conference at the University of Victoria, BC. See programme here.

Computational tools, like the aforementioned, can facilitate and accelerate collection and analysis of data from the field. Used in conjunction with native speakers and other researchers such tools can lead to not only better linguistics explanations but also transparency of the research for all parties involved.