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I always migrated by reindeer: Lamunkhin and Bystraja Even narratives about their traditional way of life
No full textEven is an endangered Northern Tungusic language spoken in numerous small settlements by formerly completely nomadic hunters and reindeer herders dispersed over northeastern Siberia, from the Lena-Yana watershed in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka in the east. This geographical spread has led to considerable dialectal fragmentation, with substantial differences between the peripheral dialects, not least due to differential contact influence.
This text collection contains a selection of monological narratives from two geographically distant and linguistically divergent Even dialects: Lamunkhin Even spoken in the village Sebjan-Küöl in the Kobjaj district of Central Yakutia, and Bystraja Even spoken in two villages of the Bystraja district of Central Kamchatka. Of these, the Lamunkhin dialect is still relatively viable, being spoken by some children and adolescents, while Bystraja Even is highly endangered, with no fluent speakers younger than 50 years.
The overall theme of the volume is the traditional Even way of life, namely reindeer herding and hunting and, in Kamchatka, fishing. Reindeer herding has always been a defining way of life of the Evens and other so-called Indigenous Small-numbered Peoples of the North; this is reflected in their language, culture, and identity. However, it is becoming increasingly endangered, making its documentation important for anthropologists and community members alike.
The collection comprises excerpts from 16 recordings made between 2007 and 2010 and amounting to nearly 8,000 words in total. Excerpts were chosen to be maximally informative with respect to the traditional way of life, but also to be interesting to read and to include linguistically interesting and important features of Even. In order to make the texts usable for the Even communities, a vernacular version of each text is included. This consists of the Cyrillic transcription used in the communities with a parallel Russian translation.
The preparation of the data for this text collection and further transformation into the CLDF format was supported by the DFG grant #517860213 “Open Text Collections”
Life and death on Karas: Ten Uruangnirin texts
No full textThis collection of ten texts in Uruangnirin offers insights into the language and culture of the inhabitants of the Karas Islands in eastern Indonesia. All stories relate to life and death. They range from narratives about important life events such as circumcision, engagement and burial to accounts of natural and supernatural threats to the environment of the Uruangnirin speakers.
The presentation of the texts are as follows: first, the complete text in Uruangnirin with a free translation into English; second, an interlinearized version for detailed linguistic analysis.
The texts are preceded by a brief introduction to the Uruangnirin language and its speakers, which provides readers with a linguistic and anthropological background
Life and death on Karas: Ten Uruangnirin texts
No full textThis collection of ten texts in Uruangnirin offers insights into the language and culture of the inhabitants of the Karas Islands in eastern Indonesia. All stories relate to life and death. They range from narratives about important life events such as circumcision, engagement and burial to accounts of natural and supernatural threats to the environment of the Uruangnirin speakers.
The presentation of the texts are as follows: first, the complete text in Uruangnirin with a free translation into English; second, an interlinearized version for detailed linguistic analysis.
The texts are preceded by a brief introduction to the Uruangnirin language and its speakers, which provides readers with a linguistic and anthropological background
Current insights into code-switching
No full textThis volume presents a series of studies and reviews that provide insights into grammatical variation and the development of code-switching in neurotypical speakers, as well as into language mixing practices among individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. Across seven chapters, a range of themes is explored, including: community norms and language practices, the influence of caregivers on bilingual development, attitudes and ideologies surrounding bilingualism, code-switching as a communicative resource, and the intersection of neurodiversity and bilingualism. By offering up-to-date perspectives on these topics, the volume builds on existing research into code-switching, such as work by Margaret Deuchar, and it highlights open data initiatives for advancing future research in this area
Indigenous languages of the Americas and their structures: Sounds
No full textWhat do people mean when they talk about the sound pattern of a language—what linguists call phonology? This book explores that question in a hands-on way, with a focus on applying the knowledge in language revitalization and community language work. The book introduces basic ideas and analytic strategies using examples from Indigenous languages across North and South America. Short comprehension checks invite you to test your understanding, and language explorations encourage you to apply what you’ve learned to build your own description of the sound pattern of your language. Throughout, the book takes a practical approach to phonological analysis, not a theoretical approach. The book is designed to be accessible to community members and others without formal linguistic training who are engaged in or preparing for community language work. It is also appropriate for linguistics students and researchers in the early stages of their education about phonology or needing a quick refresher or reference on basic phonological analysis.Each chapter looks at one key concept, starting with language sounds and how they are made, how words are built, and how communities vary in their use of language. Other topics include the sounds specific to a language and how they are put together into words of that language, both in terms of sequences and in terms of syllables. The culmination is an exploration of how sound sequences and word building interact so that the words follow the general sound patterns of the language. Each chapter ends with some ideas about how to incorporate the topic of the chapter in community language work. The goal with each discussion is to help you both to understand each idea and to learn how to use it to describe or analyze a the way sounds work in a language. Importantly, the book also includes suggestions on tailoring your reading to your own goals, offering pointers on which sections you might skip and which ones could be especially useful for you
The (in)transparency of meaning change and variation: A study of the indefinite cualquiera in European and Argentinian Spanish
No full textThis book investigates the development of the indefinite cualquiera in European and Argentinian Spanish, tracing their path from modal meanings like free choice and random selection to evaluative and even pejorative uses. Drawing on corpus data, variation across dialects, and formal semantic tools, the study probes how transparent these shifts are and what they reveal about the mechanisms of meaning change. The findings will interest linguists working on indefinites, variation, or the interface between form and interpretation—whether in synchrony or diachrony
Half silver, half gold: Modole folk stories and a first sketch grammar
No full textThis collection contains ten folk stories in Modole, a Papuan language of the North Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. They were first published in 1916 by Dutch missionary G.J. Ellen and appear here re-edited, translated into English and with interlinear glossings.
In addition, the book offers the first grammatical description of Modole, as well as information on the Modole people and their culture and environment
Clans, spirits, land and food: Kilmeri texts
No full textThis collection of Kilmeri texts provides insight into the language and culture of the Kilmeri people in northern Papua New Guinea. Six narrators tell stories about their clans, their land, and its food supply during the ‘golden age’ as well as today. Life in the bush is never easy, as evil spirits often hinder people's efforts to find food. Readers will be introduced to a variety of genres, including legendary deeds of Kilmeri heroes, old village life, contemporary village life, and other oral traditions. All texts are presented in a parallel text version (Kilmeri-English) and in an interlinearised version. Each text is preceded by an introduction that describes the anthropological background and context of the story
Clans, spirits, land and food: Kilmeri texts
No full textThis collection of Kilmeri texts provides insight into the language and culture of the Kilmeri people in northern Papua New Guinea. Six narrators tell stories about their clans, their land, and its food supply during the ‘golden age’ as well as today. Life in the bush is never easy, as evil spirits often hinder people's efforts to find food. Readers will be introduced to a variety of genres, including legendary deeds of Kilmeri heroes, old village life, contemporary village life, and other oral traditions. All texts are presented in a parallel text version (Kilmeri-English) and in an interlinearised version. Each text is preceded by an introduction that describes the anthropological background and context of the story
Clans, spirits, land and food: Kilmeri texts
No full textThis collection of Kilmeri texts provides insight into the language and culture of the Kilmeri people in northern Papua New Guinea. Six narrators tell stories about their clans, their land, and its food supply during the ‘golden age’ as well as today. Life in the bush is never easy, as evil spirits often hinder people's efforts to find food. Readers will be introduced to a variety of genres, including legendary deeds of Kilmeri heroes, old village life, contemporary village life, and other oral traditions. All texts are presented in a parallel text version (Kilmeri-English) and in an interlinearised version. Each text is preceded by an introduction that describes the anthropological background and context of the story