tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371905152098916134.post3659896263609822369..comments2023-06-13T06:54:40.765-08:00Comments on Alaska Native Languges Map: BMEEC Conference and Questionsgaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09147821098173632934noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371905152098916134.post-16246504714635470992008-02-13T13:11:00.000-09:002008-02-13T13:11:00.000-09:00With respect to Middle Tanana: The last Salcha sp...With respect to Middle Tanana: The last Salcha speaker was actually Eva Moffit, with whom I worked from 1991-1993, when she died. Eva was Bessie Barnabas' daughter. <BR/> There are several other inventory features besides the presence of retroflexes in Lower that distinguish Lower from Middle Tanana, and a number of lexical ones as well. <BR/> My understanding of the original map design was that the question of where to draw the line, or whether to draw a solid or a dashed line, depended as much on social determinations as it did on linguistic evidence. Time has passed, and social situations have changed more than the language data, especially for the languages that are no longer spoken. If we want to devise a new way to figure out how different two forms of Athabascan are from one another, based on linguistic evidence alone, I think it could be very interesting. However, perhaps we don't need to do that for this map. <BR/> As to the relationship between writing systems and language status on the map: For the most part, publications by ANLC have used an orthography for Minto-Nenana that works quite nicely for Salcha, Chena and Goodpaster as well. So ANLC has been consistent in maintaining Lower-Middle as a unit in this respect. STSiri G. Tuttlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17602575359971149678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371905152098916134.post-58613733722403325762008-02-12T19:05:00.000-09:002008-02-12T19:05:00.000-09:00The Koyukon boundary is discussed extensively by M...The Koyukon boundary is discussed extensively by Michael Krauss' in the introduction to the <B>Koyukon Athabaskan Dictionary</B>. That article also provides a nice introduction to general issues of language mapping and how to distinguish between languages and dialects.garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09147821098173632934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371905152098916134.post-53065082589426804782008-02-12T19:03:00.000-09:002008-02-12T19:03:00.000-09:00The decision to distinguish Middle Tanana (i.e., t...The decision to distinguish Middle Tanana (i.e., the language of the Salcha-Goodpaster band of Athabascans) basically boils down to a question of how to distinguish languages versus dialects. In choosing to include Salcha-Goodpaster as a dialect of (Lower) Tanana, as opposed to a separate language, Krauss was motivated in part by a desire to promote language survival. By including them as one language, only one writing system would be needed, and teaching materials developed for Minto and Nenana could be used in Salcha as well. I discuss this a bit more <A HREF="http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/anlmap.html#other" REL="nofollow">here</A>.garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09147821098173632934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7371905152098916134.post-41944441594384581252008-02-12T18:57:00.000-09:002008-02-12T18:57:00.000-09:00Osgood's map appeared in 1936 in a monograph entit...Osgood's map appeared in 1936 in a monograph entitled <I>The Distribution of the Northern Athapaskan Indians</I>, published by Yale University.garyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09147821098173632934noreply@blogger.com