Researchers hope to preserve at-risk languages

Researchers
hope to preserve at-risk languages

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

While attention
is often given to species of birds and animals in danger
of becoming extinct, languages pending a similar fate seem
to go unnoticed.

Faculty in Rice’s
departments of linguistics and anthropology, however, are
not only cognizant of the dying languages, they’re
conducting research to preserve some of those languages
and the cultural knowledge at risk of being lost as well.

“We are
facing a very grave situation with language endangerment,”
said Matt Shibatani, the Deedee McMurtry Professor of Humanities
and chair of the Department of Linguistics. He estimates
that half of the 6,000 living languages are expected to
die within the next 100 years as dominant European languages
displace minority languages, due to the socioeconomic status
and influence that speakers of the more dominant languages
have in the global community.

“We’re
losing minority languages that might have interesting stories
to tell us,” Shibatani said.

With a $15,000
grant from Rice’s Shell Center for Sustainability,
Shibatani and colleagues Gail Coelho and Stephen Tyler are
concentrating their efforts on Betta Kurumba — the
language spoken by a community of fewer than 2,000 people
living near the Nilgiri Mountains in southern India. The
Rice team is particularly interested in the cultural knowledge
of how to manage natural resources.

Coelho, a postdoctoral
fellow in linguistics, has already compiled a vocabulary
list for this native Indian language, but she plans to return
to there in May for six months to study the culture. She
will record the natives’ narratives about their lives
and videotape their daily activities.

“We need
to document the transmission of knowledge from the old to
the young,” Coelho said. Her concern is that the government
is forcing the natives to replace some of their traditions
with modern approaches, which could result in the loss of
words and knowledge that have played a role in the people’s
development.

For example,
the Indians in this region have traditionally been self-sustaining,
living in forests and building houses out of bamboo and
grass. The government has been trying to replace these dwellings
with houses made of concrete and bricks.

When Coelho made
her first field trip to the region in 1995, all the residents
lived in bamboo houses. She’s been back three times
since then, only to discover roofs replaced with zinc sheeting
and homes made of concrete.

“Although
some see the attempt to provide concrete houses and metal
roofs as a developmental effort, this actually induces the
group to give up its previous self-reliance and become dependent
on the government for its housing needs,” she said.
“At best, the house-building knowledge of this group
must be recorded before it gets lost together with the houses
themselves. The next generation will never have to build
houses, so the historic knowledge of where to get bamboo
and grass and how to use it will not get passed down.”

Vocabulary terms
related to such tasks will go by the wayside as well since
there will no longer be a need for them. That’s why
Coelho wants to create a written record of the language
and customs.

“Every language
is, in a sense, a separate world,” said Tyler, the
Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics,
who will help interpret what the language reveals about
the Indians. “Once the language is no longer spoken
and you don’t have a proper record of it, you’ve
lost that domain of how humans have adapted to the world
and to themselves.”

Another reason
for creating a record of the language is that changes to
the land are making words obsolete. Many of the tropical
rainforests in the Nilgiri Mountains have been converted
to tea and coffee plantations.

“If the
herbs, animals and birds in an area are killed off, the
residents will no longer have a need for the words describing
the things that no longer exist,” Coelho said.

Through a longitudinal
study of these Indians over the next five years or so, the
Rice researchers hope to observe the impact modern changes
are having on the language and culture. They also hope to
contribute to native language literacy and avert the threat
of language loss by developing educational materials that
will enable Betta Kurumba children to get some of their
school education in their native language.

Shibatani, who
will spend a month in India with Coelho, said sustainable
development must incorporate cultural diversity and take
into account how people interact with their environment.

“Biodiversity
and linguistic diversity go hand in hand,” he said.
“One cannot be studied without the other because they’re
so interdependent.”