Course Overview: This course will examine the language and literature of the Puget Sound Salish, or Lushootseed, people. Lushootseed is nearly extinct, with only about six fluent native speakers remaining. Can the language be maintained? Should it be? For whom? How can that be done? In order to answer these questions and others, we will explore the oral tradition and the different kinds of written translations of the Lushootseed literature that are available, as well as learn something about the structure and sounds of Lushootseed. We will consider how the materials available both on the language and the literature are being used to teach the language and if there are others ways in which this might be done. We will also look at other Native Language teaching and revitalization programs and some of the typical obstacles these programs face and the reasons behind these obstacles. In the process of learning about and analyzing the Lushootseed literature and the language we will also be exploring much about the culture of these people and the effects of a dying language on the people and their culture.

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Texts:
1) Lushootseed Texts: An Introduction to Puget Salish Narrative Aesthetics. Edited by Crisca Bierwert. University of Nebraska Press, 1996. (also on reserve)

2) Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound, Translated and edited by Vi Hilbert. University of Washington Press, 1985. (also on reserve)

3) Optional class manual from the bookstore. (Many of the books from which the manual articles come from are on reserve. I’ll try to put copies of the noncopyrighted articles on reserve as well. Bottom line, you don’t need to buy this.)

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Books and articles on reserve in the library (for English 439/Linguistics 402 and English 514):
Bierwert, Crisca, ed. Lushootseed Texts: An Introduction to Puget Salish Narrative Aesthetics.University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
Dundes, Alan, ed. Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Eels, Myron. The Indians of Puget Sound: The Notebooks of Myron Eels. Edited by George B. Castile. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1985.
Hilbert, Vi, ed. Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1985.
Jacobs, Melville. The Content and Style of an Oral Literature: Clackamas Chinook Myths and Tales. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1959.
Jenness, Diamond. The Faith of a Coast Salish Indian. Anthropology in British Columbia Memoir, no. 3. Victoria: British Columbia Provincial Museum. 1955.
Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Translated by Laurence Scott, Publications of the American Folklore Society, Bibliographic and Special Series, vol. 9. Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics, Publication 10. Rev. ed., Austin: University of Texas Press. 1968.
Propp, Vladimir. Theory and History of Folklore, edited by Anatoly Liberman, translated by Adriana Y. Martin et al., 101-115; 116-123. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8.
Sampson, Chief Martin J. Indians of Skagit County. Skagit County Historical Series, 1. Mount Vernon, Washington: Skagit County Historical Society. 1972.
Suttles, Wayne. Coash Salish Essays. Vancouver: Talonbooks; Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1987.
Swann, Brian and Arnold Krupat, ed., Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1987.

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Assignments and Evaluation:
This is a five-credit class, which, according to the university, means that there should roughly be two hours of work outside of class for every hour in class. So, estimate about five hours in class and 10 outside of class. In addition to the reading outside of class, assignments will include:

• periodic homework assignments (10%)
• one critical essay (25%)
• one language analysis paper (25%)
• research and presentation on language teaching and revitalization program (15%)
• final paper (25%)

Course Schedule

Week One (January 10 and 12): Overview of Puget Sound Salish
Where is this language spoken? Who speaks it? What language family does it belong to? Background on history and culture.

Reading (on reserve):  1) Collins, pages 3-20;
                                        2) Haeberlin and Gunther, pages 7-14
                                        3) Eels, skim

Week Two (January 17 and 19): The Translation Dilemma: Haboo
Discussion of the various styles of translation and the challenges of translating oral literature.
Discussion of sy« y« hub, or Changer stories, represented in Haboo, and the themes, characters, and characters’ significance in Lushootseed people’s history.

Reading: 1) Haboo: pages ix-xxiii, 2) Haboo stories: (a) Basket Ogress, pages 18-22 and 150-151, (b) All Year Round, pages 23-32 and 111-115, (c) Mink and Changer, pages 57-59

Week Three (January 22, 24, and 26): The Translation Dilemma: Lushootseed Texts
Discussion of the translation style used in Lushootseed Texts and other examples, the intended audience for such translations, and the benefits and drawbacks of these stylistic translations.

Reading: 1) Lushootseed Texts, pages 1-62, 2) Lushootseed Texts stories: (a) Martha Lamont’s Changer Story, pages 63-102, (b) The All-Year-Around Story, pages 174-229

Week Four (January 29 and 31, February 2): Learning about the language
Learning about the Lushootseed language and its importance in understanding the stories.

Reading: manual pages 254-312 (also on reserve)
Critical essay 1 due January 31.

Week Five (February 5, 7, and 9): More on the language
Listening to recorded stories, identifying storyteller’s patterns, determining ways to represent those patterns

Week Six (February 12, 14, and 16): Language Teaching and Revitalization: Elsewhere
Presentations on language teaching and revitalization programs around the world. See attached guidelines.
Linguistics/language analysis paper due February 12

Week Seven (February 21 and 23): Language Teaching and Revitalization: Locally
We will have guest visits to discuss what is happening in local language teaching and revitalization programs. The visitors will be from Patricia Shaw from the University of British Columbia (Muskegeam), Mercedes Hinkson and George Allen from Northwest Indian College (Lummi), and David Cort and Michelle Balagot from Tulalip Elementary School (Lushootseed). Exact dates will be announced.

Week Eight (February 28 and 28, March 2): Language Teaching and Revitalization: Locally
Continued discussion of the above.  If class size allows, we may visit some local sites.
Critical essay 1 revision due March 2.

Week Nine (March 5, 7, and 9): Sharing Knowledge
Discussion of the traditional separation between scholars of Native American language and literature and the native people themselves. How can the academic work be better used in Native language communities—or should it be?

Reading: on reserve
Linguistics paper revision due March 9.

Week Ten (March 12, 14, and 16): Endangered Languages
Discussion of the plight of endangered languages worldwide and what is being done to save them. We’ll also discuss whether the linguist’s attitude that languages need to be "saved" might, in fact, be a presumptuous and selfish position.

Reading: on reserve
Final paper due March 12.

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Presentations on Language Teaching and Revitalization

These presentations will explore ways in which endangered or extinct languages are being taught and revitalized elsewhere in the world, and the types of materials and resources that are being used to do this. Possibilities for language topics include:

• Navajo (an Athabaskan language spoken in Arizona and New Mexico)
• Welsh (a Celtic language spoken in Wales)
• Rama (a Chibchan language spoken in Nicaragua)
• Some of the languages of Alaska (by investigating what’s happening at the Alaska Native Language Center)
• Hebrew (a Semitic language spoken primarily in Israel) Hebrew has experienced a true (and rare) revival
• others

• who is teaching the language
• who they are teaching the language to
• what levels are being taught
• what the goals of the teaching are (to make students fluent, to train teachers, to expose children to some words, etc.)
• how programs are funded
• whether there are still native speakers of the language (and what counts as a "fluent" speaker)

Papers must be submitted on the due dates and during class. I will not accept late papers.

Critical Essay (7-12 pages)
draft due January 29, revision due February 28

• Research and discuss the challenges that the translation of oral literature pose. What are some of the ways that people have dealt with these challenges?
• Compare Lushootseed literature to the oral literature of another culture. Is it typical of oral literature? Unique?
• Compare and contrast the various genres of Lushootseed literature: sy« y« hub, legend, memoir, wondertale. What is the importance of each of these for the Lushootseed people?
• Analyze a Lushootseed Texts story using Bierwert et al’s model. Are there things you would do differently? Why and for what audience?
• Research and discuss the differences between oral and written literature, using Lushootseed as your example.

• Discuss specific ways in which knowledge about the grammar and pronunciation of Lushootseed could help you in understanding and appreciating its literature in translation.
• Lushootseed is an "inflectional" or "agglutinative" language, marking grammatical functions by affixes rather than word order. To illustrate this, take several lines from a story in Lushootseed Texts and try to analyze it linguistically. Try to break each word into its component morphemes using Hess’ example in Lushootseed Texts (pages 44-54).
• First think about English and about how its structure constrains its representation. That is, consider how word order is fairly rigid in English since it lacks inflections, for the most part; yet, certain word orders may be manipulated to create certain effects (emphasis, focus, etc.) Discuss how such issues might be similar and different when analyzing Lushootseed.
• Consider how many poets "break the rules" of English sentence structure in their poetry. Give examples of this and then consider how such issues might be similar and different for Lushootseed. What things must you consider when you analyze the structure of another language’s poetry? (You might first have to deal with the surprisingly complicated question: What is poetry and how is it distinct from prose?)
• Compare and contrast the grammar of Lushootseed to that of another language.

This is your final exam. It is due the day of the scheduled exam and you will present your paper to the class during that time (10:30-12:30). The paper will be on a topic of your choosing. It should be between 10 and 15 pages and should follow a standard style (Chicago or MLA). You should talk to me about your topic by the fifth week of the quarter. The paper could be an elaboration of one of your other papers or it could be on a new topic.

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