On Endangered Languages: Language Documentation and the Anspayaxw Project

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Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
Introduction by Karen Duffek

Presentation by John Wynne and Tyler Peterson: The Anspayaxw Project

Chair: Tyler Peterson
Panelists: Patricia Shaw, Barbara Harris, Louise Wilson, Cynthia Jensen-Fisk, Loretta Todd, Larry Grant, John Wynne.

In recent decades there has been a flurry of language documentation, maintenance, and revitalization initiatives. In this session we engage in the ongoing discussion of the ways these initiatives can be developed and directed. Using the Anspayaxw project as a starting point, this entails touching on issues surrounding language community involvement, the linguist-speaker research relationship, community-led language activities, and the sustainability of long-term projects. We will also extend this discussion by asking: What are the ethical and creative boundaries of what we might call a 'traditional' language documentation and/or maintenance project?

About the Participants:

Karen Duffek is the Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts and Pacific Northwest at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Among her recent exhibitions are Peter Morin's Museum (co-developed with Peter Morin, Satellite Gallery, 2011) and Border Zones: New Art across Cultures (MOA, 2010), which featured the work of 12 international artists, including Anspayaxw by John Wynne.

Larry Grant is a Musqueam elder, and the current Elder-In-Residence for the First Nations House of Learning. Born and raised in Musqueam traditional territory by a traditional henqeminem speaking Musqueam family, Larry worked for 4 decades as a tradesman before enrolling in the First Nations Languages Program. His time in the program revived his memory of the embedded value that the henqeminem language has to self-identity, kinship, culture, territory, and history prior to European contact. Larry is presently assisting in the revitalization of henqeminem and co-teaching the introductory henqeminem course.

Barbara Harris is a Gitksan elder from Kispiox, BC. Over the past decade she has dedicated considerable time and effort to Gitksan language maintenance and revitalization. She also works closely with linguists at the UBC department of linguistics, and has made substantial contributions to deepening our understanding of the finer points of the Gitksan language. She is one of 6 Gitxsan speakers featured in John Wynne's Anspyaxw installation.

Cynthia Jensen-Fisk Cindyhl wa'y ii Laax Lo'ophl wa'm Gitx'san'y. Gisk'haast wil naa t'ahl'y ii wilps Geel wil saa witxw'y ii Ansbayaxw wil saa witxw'y. My name is Cindy and Laax Lo'op is my Gitx'san name. My clan is Fireweed. I am from the house of Geel, from the village of Ansbayaxw. I started the Doreen Jensen Memorial Gitx'san Language Class in 2009 in memory of my mother. She believed that both the language and the culture of the Gitx'san were "Just sleeping". She worked her entire life to re-awaken them. It is my honour to carry on the traditions of my ancestors and follow in my mother's footsteps of paving the way to ensuring that our language and culture never dies.

Tyler Peterson is a linguist and Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona who works on Gitksan. His research interests focus on how understudied languages such as Gitksan can enrich our empirical and theoretical understanding of how meaning is embodied by language. This work is balanced with a strong interest in endangered language documentation, maintenance and revitalization.

Patricia A. Shaw is the founding Chair (1996-present) of the First Nations Languages Program at UBC. She has worked in close collaboration with several critically endangered language communities to record and analyze extant grammatical knowledge, to teach research skills and archiving methodologies, and to develop pedagogical materials for language revitalization.

Loretta Todd is a filmmaker known for powerful, visual storytelling. Her work has screened at Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival and MOMA. Her many honours and awards include a Rockefeller Fellowship to NYU. Todd created and produced Tansi! Nehiyawetan (APTN) - a children's series that teaches Cree using storytelling, music videos, games and adventures. She also conceived and developed My Cree, a free language app available in the iTunes store.

Louise Wilson Atdi anlakthl wa'ay, Anspayaxw wil sa'witx'wi. Wilps Luushl wil xsilag'y, Lax Gibuu dihl Galdo'oo. My name is Antdi anlakt, I am from Anspayxw. I am from the House of Luus, Wolf clan from Galdo'oo.

John Wynne is an award-winning sound artist whose work includes site-specific installations, 'composed documentaries' for radio, projects with speakers of endangered languages and a body of work with heart and lung transplant recipients. He has a PhD from Goldsmiths College, University of London and is a Reader in Sound Arts at the University of the Arts London.