Apache

• Frustration over the years at being unable to dig out anything but the most fragmentary resources on learning Apache recently motivated Alan Wilson to write Apache, a basic course in Jicarilla Apache, published in October, 1996 by Jeffrey Norton Publishers/Audio-Forum. The writing was done in consultation with Rita V. Martine and other native speakers. The book is built around simple dialogs that are useful in providing a viable foundation for chatting in Jicarilla Apache (Abaachii) about typical everyday topics. The dialogs are followed by vocabulary and explanations which provide enough structural information to fulfill the demands of a basic textbook, and which also contain running comparisons of Jicarilla, Mescalero, Western Apache and Navajo. More information is available from Jeffrey Norton Publisher/Audio-Forum, 96 Broad Street, Guilford, CT, 06437 (1-800-243-1234) or from Alan Wilson directly (e-mail: kawilson@cia-g.com).
  
• Jürgen Pinnow, Die Sprache der Chiricahua-Apachen, mit Seitenblicken auf das Mescalero: Ein Überblick. Helmut Buske Verlag, 1988. 84 pp. DM 19.80 (paper). --- This is, as P. points out in his introduction, the first comprehensive reference grammar of an American Indian language to appear in German in this century. P.'s treatment is traditional (in the Athabaskanist sense, i.e. the Sapir-Hoijer model) and relies heavily on Harry Hoijer's work, but it is considerably more thorough than anything that has previously been published on Chiricahua. A 10-page Introduction provides a quick survey of Na-Dene and Athabaskan comparative linguistics. Phonetics, phonemics, and morphophonemics occupy 15 pages; an analyzed text 12 pages; and the remainder of this compact little book is given over to morphology, mostly verbal morphology discussed in terms of prefix position classes. There are short appendices with information on kin terms and "warpath language", and an exhaustive bibliography. --- Order from: Buske Verlag Hamburg, Friedrichsgaber Weg 138, Postfach 1249, D-2000 Norderstedt, W. Germany. [Dec. 1988]

• A Mescalero Apache Dictionary can be obtained from the Tribal Museum for a cost of about $20. Order from: Mescalero Apache Cultural Center Museum, P. O. Box 176, Mescalero, NM 88340 (tel: 505/671-4494). [August 1996]