Languages in the Big Apple

Loretta Kelsey is the last person on the planet who is fluent in Elem
Pomo, a dialect of the people indigenous to Clear Lake, California
that dates back to over 8,000 years ago. Because Elem Pomo was never
written, only passed on orally, it has nearly vanished; it’s Kelsey’s
goal to stop that from happening. The San Francisco Chronicle ran an
interesting piece about her quest to revive the language:

It wasn’t so long ago that dozens spoke Elem Pomo. When Kelsey was
a child in the 1950s and ’60s, her parents and many other elders in
the 250-member tribe were fluent, and her mother spoke no English.

But as the older folks died off and the younger ones forayed into the
broader society around them to make a living, many native ways were
lost. It was a disintegration that was millennia in coming.

Now, with the help of her nephew, Robert Geary, and recordings of Elem
Pomo made by UC Berkeley linguistic students from the 1940s through
the 1960s, Kelsey hopes to help ensure a future for her native tongue.
What’s interesting is the fact that she hasn’t spoken much Elem Pomo
for decades, Kelsey remembers it fluently. At 59, she’s working
methodically to record the language before she dies by writing a
dictionary and phrase handbook, and conducting language camps for her
tribe.
Let’s hope the revival succeeds!

Original article

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) recently announced the introduction of a
bipartisan bill called the Plain Language in Government Communications
Act (HR 3584) that would require federal documents such as tax
returns, federal college aid applications, and Veterans Administration
forms to be written in “easy, simple-to-understand language.”

I can’t decide if this is a good thing or if it just means we’re all
getting stupider.

In any case, here’s what Rep. Braley had to say:

“Anyone who’s done their own taxes knows the headache of trying to
understand pages and pages of confusing forms and instructions,” Rep.
Braley said. “There is no reason why the federal government can’t
write these forms and other public documents in a way we can all
understand.

“Writing government documents in plain language will increase
government accountability and will save Americans time and money.
Plain, straightforward language makes it easy for taxpayers to
understand what the federal government is doing and what services it
is offering.

“I’m proud to introduce this bill to make it easier for Americans to
work with and understand their government.”

And here are the Federal Plain Language Guidelines for writing talk
that’s simple-like:

*Use short, simple words
*Use “you” and other pronouns to speak directly to readers
*Use short sentences and paragraphs
*Avoid legal, foreign, and technical jargon
*Avoid double negatives

And just in case you’re dying to see Plain Language in action, go to
plainlanguage.gov to see before-and-after examples.
Yeehaw.

There have been a few articles lately about the popularity of Anglicisms among the Russian youth. English words are apparently finding their way into conversations, text messages, even politics in Russia more so than ever before.

Here’s an example of a young Russian girl’s text message to a friend:

“Hi, Katya. Ne poiti li nam drink coffee? Call asap! Cheers, Masha.”

If you don’t count the two names, that’s six English words to four Russian words.

Still, not that unusual — the language of text messaging and email is an art. Every country has its own methods of shortening and embellishing informal written language. When I was living in Italy, for example, the word per, or for, was written as x in SMS language — taken from the language of math. Sei, as in you are was written as the number 6, which in Italian is pronounced the same way.

Borrowing words from foreign languages also seems to be a habit of the text-messaging youth everywhere — the texts I get from friends often appear as a strange mélange of Spanish, English, and French, with an occasional moshi-moshi thrown in for good measure. And since Anglo-American culture is so visible all over the world, it’s not surprising that Russians are using the slang they’ve heard in movies for years in their text-messages and conversations. But what’s interesting about the way they use it, according to one of the articles, is the way that they’ve shaped it to fit their linguistic needs:

Russians increasingly do more than borrow English words. They bend them to their own grammar, combine them with native words, and generally twist them beyond recognition.

For example, an exciting football match could be described as “drivovy.”

The words stems from the English words “drive,” but has been turned into an adjective. Add to that a strong Russian accent and your average native English speaker would probably not guess that his language was being used at all.”

No explanation for why they’d pick “drive” to mean “exciting,” but you get the idea.

Links to a few articles: here and there.

Residents of Chicago’s Oak Forest and Oak Lawn are creeped out by two new billboards in their hoods. The bright yellow signs both display this message in Arabic:

“In a land full of opportunity (Fi Ard Amira bil furas), here’s one that may not have crossed your mind. A job with the U.S. Army.”

The sign at Cicero Avenue and 167th Street also contains an English line: “If you can read this, call Mohamed.” The other, at Harlem Avenue and 95th Street encourages readers to find Tarik.

Tim Turpin, the Army’s regional chief of advertising and public affairs, says the campaign is aimed at the estimated 30,000 Arab Americans living in the south western suburbs of Chicago.

“Predominately, we’re looking for linguists to assist us in Iraq,” Turpin said.

The government’s latest attempts to recruit speakers of Arabic isn’t new — similar billboards have popped up in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, an Florida, but it’s got some speakers of Amer’can pissed.

“For Edgar Castro, who works in the area and lives in Richton Park, the first thought that crossed his mind when he saw the sign was that he couldn’t read it.

‘It’s offensive,’ Castro said.”

Good thing this guy doesn’t live in California; all those billboards, street signs, and names of cities! in Mexican — muy offensivo.

In a remote corner of Israel, a Bedouin community is the subject of Margalit Fox’s new book, Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind (Simon & Schuster).
Fox, a linguist and New York Times journalist, was accompanied by four other linguists to investigate the peculiar story of a place where a relatively new sign language is spoken by deaf and hearing residents alike.

In Al-Sayyid, the number of deaf people is more than 40 times that of the general population — 150 out of 3,500 — and because of this prevalence, the community makes for an interesting study of both language and culture, especially due to the fact that so many hearing residents learn and speak the language of their deaf neighbors. Fox writes,
“It is quite unremarkable to be deaf here….In Al-Sayyid there is neither deaf culture nor deaf identity politics, because there is little hegemony of the hearing.”

After an anthropological ’study’ of the community, Fox gets into the beginnings of an ongoing study of the town’s sign language. She also gives us a brief history of Western sign languages, explaining why speakers of British Sign Language and American Sign Language can’t understand each other (ASL is based on French Sign Language.)

“If the linguists can isolate the formal elements that make Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language a language, they will have helped illuminate one of the most

Perhaps because their US ratings are failing so miserably, MTV has turned its attention to the Middle East; MTV Arabia, which will feature such television gems as “Pimp My Ride” and “Cribs,” was launched Monday.

Here’s what Bill Roedy, vice chairman of MTV Networks, has to say about it:

“Through MTV’s global platform that reaches nearly 2 billion people, Arabic music and culture can be exported to new audiences — giving Arabs a bigger voice and greatly enriching the diversity of our MTV creative culture. MTV Arabia is only the beginning of our ambitious plans for growth in the Middle East, and we’re excited to launch further Arabic services, including Nickelodeon next year.”

The network says it will feature a 60%-40% mix of international and Arabic music videos aimed toward a potential audience of 190 million.

And are the fine people of the Middle East just sooooooooo excited to have their own version of “Super Sweet 16?” Bhavneet Singh, managing director at MTV Networks International, says YES!

“MTV is the first global brand to launch a fully localized, Arabic-language entertainment service in the Middle East that truly represents Arab youth while being respectful of their rich and diverse culture.”

I think it speaks for itself…