LINGUIST List 4.831

Wed 13 Oct 1993

Sum: Native American Linguistics/Oral Tradition

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1. Alan Munn, Sum: Native American Linguistics/Oral Tradition

A few weeks ago I posted a query for a student who was interested in
graduate programs in Native American languages/linguistics/oral
tradition. Thanks to all who responded: Dan Everett, Mark Picone,
Taylor Roberts, Tony Woodbury, Victor Golla, Andy Barss, Alice
Davison, Anne Gilman, Bob Howren, Frances Ingemann, Dawn Bates, J. D.
Nichols, Craig Kopris, David Rood and Louanna Furbee.

A summary of what I received is found below. I have included as much
information as was supplied to me by the various people, excluding the
more editorial comments. As a result, some places are well described
and others are merely mentioned by name with no details whatsoever.

If your department is not mentioned, and you feel it should be, or you
are mentioned with no details, and would like to provide them (many of
the suggestions I received weren't submitted by the actual
departments), I would be willing to post an updated summary *once*
based on replies received by 1 November 1993.

Alan Munn <amunnmonad.missouri.edu>
Dept. of English, U. Missouri, Columbia MO 65211

SUMMARY OF PROGRAMS IN NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE/LINGUISTICS/ORAL TRADITION
 (actually these may not all have actual programs)

University of Pittsburgh

Program in Native American Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics
 -graduate specialization in this area and the concentration appears on the
diploma (either PhD or MA).
 -one of only two departments in the country that offer courses
 -specialists in all three Americas (North, Meso, and South).

Terry Kaufman - Prof of Anthropology & Linguistics PhD UC Berkeley
Specializations: Mesoamerican linguistics and anthropology, especially
Mayan and Aztecan Linguistics (but does much more and has published
on a number of different languages and cultures, especially in the areas
of morphology, syntax, phonology, and ethnobiology and
ethnosemantics.
Sarah G. Thomason - specialist in Salishan languages, phonetics, and
historical linguistics.
Daniel Everett - specialization in lowland Amazonia, with articles or
research on more than 24 different languages of this region.
David Brumble - Department of English - has published and edited volumes
on Native American literature.

Contact: Dan Everett (deverpogo.isp.pitt.edu)
 ====
University of Oregon

Colette Craig, Scott DeLancey, Talmy Givon, Doris Payne, Noel Rude.

Contact: cgcraigoregon.uoregon.edu

 ====
Arizona, Tucson. Depts. of Ling. and Anthro. The Ling. dept has two
theoretical linguists with strong Americanist backgrounds, Sue Steele (Uto-
Aztecan) and Diana Archangeli (Yokuts), also Dick Demers is a sometime
Americanist. The dept is strong in generative syntax and phonology. And
one person there, Ofelia Zepeda, is both a grammarian and a specialist on
oral literature (she is an editor of _Sun Tracks_ and is prob the best- known
poet in her native Lg., Tohono O'odham, at least among nonnatives).
Additionally, the anthro dept. has Jane Hill and Willem de Reuse.
There are several programs which permit/focus on studies in Native
American studies.

Contact: Dept. Linguistics, Douglass 200 east, University of Arizona,
Tucson AZ 85721. Studies are possible directly through that program;
through the department of linguistics; and also through the joint
Linguistics-Anthropology program, which is hosted between the two
departments. On the latter, contact Jane Hill at the above address, at the
Department of Anthropology

 ===
University of Alaska Native Language Center Mike Krauss, Jim Kari
and others -- including native Americans they've trained in
linguistics -- work with both Indian (i.e., Athabaskan) languages and
Eskimo.

 ===

U Kansas, Dept. of Ling. Variety of Americanists, no names given

Three people who specialize in Native American Languages as well as
one who does work on a Mayan language. Their areas of special
interest are Siouan, Yuman and Athabascan, although they have directed
research by students interested in a number of other languages.

An advantage for Missouri residents is that doctoral students in
Linguistics pay in-state fees.

English Department does have on its staff Lucy Tapahansoe, a Native
American writer. And, of course, our Anthropology Department has people
who work with Native American groups.

Contact:
 Linguistics Department
 University of Kansas
 Lawrence, KS 66045

 ====
U Texas, Austin, Dept. of Ling. or Dept of Anthro.

Oral literature of Native America (Sherzer, Urban, others in Anthro,
Woodbury in Linguistics); also, we have a close-knit linguistic
anthro/socioling group between the depts., although students are always in
one dept or the other, never both.

Tony Woodbury does Eskimo-Aleut (phon, morph., syntax, oral lit.,
historical)
Nicola Bessell, does Salish lgs. phonology
Ian Hancock has been working on a variety of Seminole spoken on the TX-
Mex border
 ===

SUNY Buffalo, Dept. of Ling.

Robert Van Valin, Jr. (chair): Lakhota
Matthew Dryer (graduate advisor): Kootenai
Karin Michelson (undergraduate advisor): Iroquoian family, esp. Oneida
Len Talmy: Atsugewi
Madeleine Mathiot: Papago
Jeri Jaeger: Zapotec
(Paul Garvin: Kootenai) (retired)

Additionally, we have
David Wilkins (on leave): Mparntwe Arrernte (Australian Aboriginal lg)
David Zubin.

Dennis Tedlock does oral literature in Anthropology

The person to contact at American Studies would be Barry White.

Linguistics Dept., 685 Baldy Hall, North Campus, University at
Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260.

 ===
University of British Columbia,
strong in phonology; hiring a syntactician this year

Faculty who are Americanists: Dale Kinkade, Pat Shaw

Contact:
 Department of Linguistics
 University of British Columbia
 369-1866 Main Mall
 Vancouver, B.C.
 CANADA V6T 1Z1
 ===
Arizona State University

English dept, has several linguists, including Karen Adams,
who has worked on Ojibwa and participates every year in our Natuive
Am summer seminar, in which Native and non-native teachers get
credit for studying issues of language preservation and related
issues. Karen ran a conference on Indian Englishes last year,
as part of the seminar.

Dawn Bates is finishing a dictionary of Lushootseed, a Salish
lang fof Washington state.

Aryeh (Leonard) Faltz (of Keenan and Faltz) is in the computer science
dept, and has developed quite an interest in Navajo.

Betsy Brandt, in anthro, has worked on Tohono O'Odham, as have other
folks in that dept.

On the lit side, we have Kay Sands, whose co-authored (auto)biography
of a Yaqui elder has lots of oral tradition stuff in it, gives
PACKED classes in Native Am oral traditions, mostly focussing on
work in Eng translation. Gretchen Bataille just published a
work on Native Am Women, and also works on oral traditions.

ASU has one of the largest Native student populations of any US
university...

 ===
Indiana University (Anthropology/Folklore/
Linguistics: Douglas Parks, Raymond DeMaillie, Richard Bauman),

 ===
University of Virginia (Dell Hymes),

 ===
University of Manitoba (Linguistics/Native Studies: H.C. Wolfart,
J.D. Nichols (especially for Algonquian languages);

 ===
University of Montana (A. Mattina)

 ===
University of Chicago (Linguistics: Amy Dahlstrom)

 ===
UC Berkeley. Has several Americanists and a focus on Native American
lgs. (Linguistics: Richard Rhodes, Leanne Hinton)

 ===
UC Santa Barbara
Jack Du Bois, Marianne Mithun, and (tho emeritus) Wally Chafe. Sandra
Thompson is also someone there who has worked on a Native American lg.
(Wappo). They are very interested in discourse, and although they don't
generally approach it as oral literature, it would be a good place to learn
about handling and working with oral materials.
 ====
UCLA (Paul Kroskrity in Anthro, Pam Munro in Linguistics)
 ====
University of Arizona we have several programs which permit/focus on
studies in Native American studies. Ofelia Zepeda is a member of the
linguistics dept. faculty (where I am) and head of the American Indian
Studies program. She isn't on email, but you can write her directly at Dept.
Linguistics, Douglass 200 east, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721.
Studies are possible directly through that program; through the
department of linguistics; and also through the joint Linguistics-
Anthropology program, which is hosted between the two departments. On
the latter, contact Jane Hill at the above address, at the Department of
Anthropology

 ====
University of Colorado

Graduate program in Linguistics that includes the possibility of
Native American languages. We have faculty with expertise in Siouan,
Algonquian, and Tanoan languages, and have had graduate students do
work in Athabaskan and Uto-Aztecan as well. The literature part is
not as easy to describe, but there is an ethnomusicologist in the
Music school who has worked at Jemez pueblo and who does a lot with
other Native American groups, and there are people in other
departments who could be interested.

 =====
University of Washington (no details given)

 ====
University of Iowa, Nora England (Mayan) in Linguistics