Among American Indian Pueblo tribes, community-based language revitalisation initiatives have been established in response to a growing language shift towards English. This has been most prominent among school age children, prompting some tribes to extend tribal language programmes into local public schools. For centuries, the transmission of…

Data were gathered on field trips from June 1968 to March 1972, under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. (VM)

This paper analyzes the play language of Tzeltal children and their extensive use of metaphor. The ability to use figurative language early is significant for a child's ability to extend command of language and expression. (CHK)

The Cree and Cherokee syllabary systems were designed by gifted amateurs, such as Sequoyah, who received no funding or significant institutional support. Although he had influential kinsmen in his matrilineage, his project encountered active, widespread opposition from his contemporaries prior to its validation in 1821. Sequoyah found it necessary…

Recognition of the American Indian language and its contributions to the English language are presented. For example, skunk, raccoon, moose, Chicago, and moccasin are all Indian words. (FF)

Examines Kamsa ritual language and describes a model (based on accessibility, formalization, and efficacy) for specifying its semiotic constitution. (EKN)

The dictionary of the Ojibwa or Chippewa language represents the speech of the Mille Lacs Band of Minnesota and contains over 7,000 Ojibwa terms. Each entry gives information on the word stem, grammatical classification, English gloss, form variations, and references to alternate forms. An introductory section describes the entry format and use,…

Early vocabularies of a language can help indigenous communities retrieve lost or forgotten vocabulary. Currently, there are very few fluent speakers of Tuscarora. As in other native communities, efforts are underway to reverse the decline in native language usage. One advantage the Tuscaroras have is that, since 1700, numerous researchers have…

Nearly 40 years have passed since the publication of Rubin's renowned study on Paraguayan bilingualism. The present study compares the results of surveys conducted in the years 2000-2001 with data from Rubin's 1960-1961 investigation. The main objective of this study is to examine the linguistic changes that have occurred in four decades and the…

This paper presents, in a compact and usable form, the body of known material on the diverse dialectical forms of the Karankawa Indians of coastal Texas, who have been extinct since the last of their number perished in the 1850s. John Reed Swanton (1940) published 5 of the 6 main sources in a Karankawa-English vocabulary, but his works omitted the…

Before the white invasion, Native American peoples possessed an extremely rich and varied heritage with highly developed oral literatures, and constant development of new phrases, expressions, and patterns of pronunciation. Examples of Indian people's adeptness with language include: many learned to speak more than two languages fluently;…

This book provides an overview of the history, present circumstances, and future prospects of the native languages of Quebec: Abenaki, Algonquin, Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, Micmac, Mohawk, Montagnais, and Naskapi. Chapter 1, "The Situation of Aboriginal Languages in the Americas" (Jacques Maurais), discusses the linguistic demography of…

This article discusses an abnormal type of speech in the Cocopa language called animal talk, which deals with how humans refer to the communication between humans and animals and between animals themselves. The derivation of animal talk from normal speech and speech of mythical animals is discussed. (NCR)

Studies the link between the theory of the neurophysiology of color perception and Berlin and Kay's ideas on color linguistics and color perception. Two interpretations of studies of color terminology are shown, one supporting and one disproving the Whorf Thesis. (NCR)

Spanish loanwords in Arizona Tewa are compared with their counterparts in Rio Grande Tewa and Hopi and the process of linguistic acculturation and culture contact are evaluated. Implications for ethnohistorical and comparative research are discussed. (SW)