TED-Ed, a spinoff of the wildly popular and informative TED brand, has a website with original videos on a variety of different topics along with lessons planned around those videos. Yesterday they published a great little talk called “How Languages Evolve”:
Alex Gendler very neatly and cleverly sums up a lot of the complexities of historical and comparative linguistics. She even touches briefly upon the reasons why something like a Swadesh list just doesn’t work for determining language relationship, which I alluded to in my last post.
The lesson web page for this talk includes a guided discussion and a quick little multiple-choice quiz (you know how I love pop quizzes!)
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Recently I overheard a couple of guys wondering aloud how Welsh and English could be so different from each other. “It’s such a small chunk of land and they live right next to each other! How did Welsh end up being so weird?” Obviously I was primarily offended that he said Welsh was “weird” (his friend had earlier described it as “gargling,” ugh), but it took quite a bit of self-restraint to not butt in and tell them how languages are (and are not) related to each other. I hope one of those young men come across this video some day 🙂
Copyright Allison Taylor-Adams. See About for details.
Recently I came across an interview conducted by the website How to become a professor with Professor Kai von Fintel of MIT. The interview is called “How to Become a Linguistics Professor,” but I found it to be even much more than just instructions on getting a faculty position. Professor von Fintel offers really sound, specific, and practical advice on how to be a scientist (of language, and in general), how to be a good researcher, how to publish, and how to stay current in your particular field. I love what he says about the kinds of questions good scientists should ask, and about the nature of inquiry and discovery.
It really is worth twenty minutes of your time! Watch the interview, and check out the original page which has some further thoughts and helpful links.
Copyright Allison Taylor-Adams. See About for details.
The fact that this Monday inspiration did not appear until Tuesday should give you an idea of the Monday I was having. First day of classes, and everything that could have gone wrong technology-wise did go wrong.
Everything finally seems to be working now, and this morning I found a video that my professor had posted for our first Pscyholinguistics class. I had heard of the “Wug test” before, but never knew anything about its creator, a psycholinguist by the name of Jean Berko Gleason.
My goodness, if I study hard, do I get to be friends with this lady?? Talk about inspirational!
Isn’t it amazing the difference a person makes? Much in the same way that Neil DeGrasse Tyson makes me, a very non-hard-science-y person, fascinated with astronomy, Professor Gleason is getting me fired up for a subject I never really thought too much about. She needs her own TV show. She could be the Bill Nye the Science Guy of psycholinguistics.
A video appeared on youtube this week that displays the raw power of language, dance, and collective ritual, and though it commemorates a sad event, I thought it would be a good way to end the week.
Last week three soldiers from New Zealand were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. When their bodies were returned home, their comrades greeted their hearse with a huge haka. If you’ve ever heard of the haka, it’s probably from watching the traditional dance performed by the All Blacks before each rugby match. But as the video description explains, “Haka is used by Māori (indigenous people of New Zealand) for a myriad of reasons; to challenge or express defiance or contempt, to demonstrate approval or appreciation, to encourage or to discourage, to acknowledge feats and achievements, to welcome, to farewell, as an expression of pride, happiness or sorrow. There is almost no inappropriate occasion for haka; it is an outward display of inner thoughts and emotions.”
Each unit within the New Zealand army has its own special haka that they perform together. Though it is a Māori tradition, and is performed entirely in the Māori language, every soldier, indigenous or not, participates. It is a very interesting (and, as far as I know, very rare) example of a modern nation collectively and demonstratively identifying with its indigenous heritage. As one youtube commenter said, “Not many countries show such respect to the indigenous people and adopt some of the culture into the mainstream.”
And it is a powerful way for these Kiwis to observe this tragic occasion. I think it’s safe to say that all of our hearts go out to them.
Filmmaker Brian McDermott is currently putting the finishing touches on a documentary called Lost Words.
<goosebumps>
The filmmaker is still seeking small donations to complete the production, so please check out the film’s website and consider supporting this very worthy project!
P.S. I also wrote about the role of boarding schools and Native American language extinction in my guest post for the Living Tongues Institute. Please check it out, and then keep your eyes peeled for this full-length documentary which will cover the topic in much more depth!
I think that when I was a little kid, I decided the National Geographic was magical. I’m not sure I’ve ever really grown out of that idea.
My grandparents subscribed to the magazine starting in the 60’s, and carefully shelved each issue in chronological order throughout their house. So maybe it’s something about the comfort of visiting them, combined with the stories of boundless adventures, that makes me so thrilled when I see that familiar yellow border. And remember the theme song to their TV shows? Surely I’m not the only kid who dreamed of growing up to become an official National Geographic explorer.
So this month’s feature on Vanishing Languages feels a little bit like an early birthday present! The National Geographic Society has always supported cutting-edge field research in areas like environmental conservation, biology, and archaeology, and with the Enduring Voices project they affirm that the linguistic landscape of the world is yet another important – and still largely uncharted – area for exploration.
Of course, just like any National Geographic article, the photographs are stunning. I’m so astonished by how perfectly this photographer managed to convey visual messages for an article that’s all about speech and text. And the sample words from the languages featured are so perfectly curated.
Might I recommend that you look through the photo gallery while listening to these pieces from a Kalmyk violinist, recorded recently by the Enduring Voices expedition team.
Maybe I really will get to be an explorer when I grow up 🙂
On this lazy (and scorching hot) Friday, I’ve been in the mood for the magical, meditative sounds of what is sometimes called “desert blues” – that strange, gorgeous, Sahara-nomads-with-electric-guitars music that was first made famous by a band called Tinariwen.
Tinariwen are Tuareg musicians, and as such sing primarily in a Berber language known as Tamasheq (or just Tuareg). Berber languages are classified as Afro-Asiatic, just like Arabic, so if you think you hear a little similarity you might just be right. It might also explain why I find these words so enchanting.
NPR recently featured Tinariwen on one of their Tiny Desk Concerts, playing a quieter acoustic set. Please enjoy these twenty minutes of polyglossic Friday hypnosis.
P.S. I featured another desert blues-y band, Toumast, in my Polyglossic Playlist. If you enjoy this music, check them out too!
On Monday night I had the pleasure of getting to see a screening of a movie called The Island President, which was followed by a Q&A with (former) President Mohamed Nasheed himself.
As the movie follows President Nasheed around the islands of the Maldives, he discusses politics, democracy, and the effects of climate change with his constituents, conversing in a native tongue peppered with English and sometimes Arabic words.
Do you know what language they speak in the Maldives? Neither did I! The people of the Maldives speak a language called Dhivehi (or just “Maldivian”), which is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka. Dhivehi is written in its own alphabet, called Thaana.
In the documentary, President Nasheed joins with a group of presidents of other small island nations who are similarly concerned about the future of their countries in the face of rising sea levels. The UN recognizes these as a distinct group known as the Small Island Developing States. I know so very little about these countries (where the heck are the Comoros?) and it’s a real shame. So in honor of the film, today’s pop quiz is about the languages of the small island nations!
To help you out a bit, here is a map of “small states” compiled by wikipedia, which you can click to enlarge in a new window. (Oh there’s the Comoros!)
1. What is the official language of the Comoros?
a) Arabic b) French c) Comorian d) all of the above
2. English and Gilbertese are the official languages of which island nation?
a) Samoa b) Seychelles c) Kiribati d) Bahamas
3. Creoles are spoken on which of these islands?
a) Jamaica b) Trinidad and Tobago c) Seychelles d) all of the above
4. The Cook Islands are a group of relatively autonomous islands in the far South Pacific. The residents of the Cook Islands speak English along with a unique dialect of:
a) French b) Maori c) Kriol d) Hawaiian
5. Portugese is the official language of which of these island nations?
a) Cape Verde b) Saint Lucia c) Samoa d) Tuvalu
6. Which of these is not a Polynesian language?
a) Samoan b) Tongan c) Fijian d) Palauan
7. Which island language is actually a “set of Swahili dialects” according to wikipedia?
a) Comorian b) Seychellois Creole c) Palauan d) Tuvaluan
8. Which island nation has the highest number of unique languages?
a) Cape Verde b) Papua New Guinea c) Marshall Islands d) Federated States of Micronesia
EXTRA CREDIT: True or false – Tok Pisin, the official language of Papua New Guinea, is a pidgin.
One of the 1,192 islands of the Maldives
Answers: 1. a) all of the above!; 2. c) Kiribati (the name comes from the local rendering of the English term “Gilbert Islands”); 3. d) allof theabove!; 4. b) Maori; 5. a) Cape Verde; 6. d) Palauan; 7. a) Comorian; 8. b) Papua New Guinea – with an eye-popping 830 living languages at last count. Extra credit:False. The “pisin” in the term probably did come from the word “pidgin”, as the language almost certainly started as a pidgin among the speakers of the hundreds of Papuan languages, but it has since developed into a fully-fledged creole language.
This was a tough one! I hope you learned something new – I sure did while researching for this quiz.
The Maldives, along with all of the islands featured in this quiz, belong to an organization called the Alliance of Small Island States. Please check out their website to learn more about the issues these nations face and the important work they are doing together.
Holy cow! The worst “common cold” in the history of time knocked me out for the past week. When I finally was able to drag myself from bed and turn on my computer, I had e-mails from a dozen friends and acquaintances that all said something to the effect of “Have you seen this??”
The “this” they’re referring to is a new website called the Endangered Languages Project. The project was launched by Google, and since they announced the launch last week on their blog, the story has been picked up by Time, CNN, the Economist, and countless other large and local publications. Holy smokes, that’s a lot of media attention for this issue!
You really should check out the website. Obviously the media attention is great, as so many people are simply uninformed about the crisis of language loss. But even beyond that, the website is informative, collaborative, and thorough, with plenty of room for playing and exploring (if you’re just curious) and even more room for adding and improving (if you’re an expert).
The site was developed through collaboration of members of the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity, which includes the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, whose work on Koro is featured on the front page. To see a list of members of the Alliance and the Advisory Committee you can scroll down about halfway on the site’s About page. It’s a really impressive and inspirational team they’ve put together.
If you live in Europe, obviously you don’t need to hear me talk about Eurovision. If you don’t, Eurovision is a song contest held annually with representatives from, as of last count, 42 countries. Each of the countries hold their own domestic competitions to determine who they will send to the contest, and each of the participating countries get to vote on their favorite of their competitors, which is how the winner is determined.
Despite the diversity of nations represented, I’m sorry to say that Eurovision isn’t usually the festival of linguistic diversity I would like it to be. Most entrants sing in English; this is a pop contest after all, and you’re trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. When I watched the show from my host mother’s kitchen in St. Petersburg, I specifically noted every entrant who purposefully sang in their native languages – all three of them, if memory serves. And no, Russia was not one of them.
This year, however, Russia didn’t send their usual pop starlet or dreamy dark-haired pop hunk. Instead, they sent six grandmothers from a rural village.
And they came in second! In all of Europe! No offense to the winner from Sweden, but Buranovskiye Babushki are probably my favorite thing I’ve ever seen on a Eurovision stage. From their traditional garb to the sight of an 80-year-old woman telling me it’s time to party, they take the cake. And yes I tend to root for the Russians any way, but I swear it’s not just that. Plus they’re singing in their native language of Udmurt! Plus they’re donating all of their concert profits to rebuilding their village church which was destroyed under Stalin!
If the point of Eurovision is to put your country’s best foot forward, I think Russia really nailed it this year.