Literacy Through the Web: The Chuxnabán Mixe Online Dictionary

1. Literacy Through the Web: The Chuxnabán Mixe Online Dictionary Carmen Jany California State University, San Bernardino cjany@csusb.edu

2. This project • Trilingual (Spanish/English/Mixe) multimedia online dictionary • Chuxnabán Mixe: Mexican indigenous language spoken in one village in Oaxaca • Chuxnabán Mixe: Mainly spoken endangered language

3. This talk • Chuxnabán Mixe: Language family, Speakers, Materials, Orthography, Linguistic features • Web-based language documentation & maintenance • Chuxnabán Mixe Online Dictionary

4. Mixe Languages • Mixe territory: 290 communities in Oaxaca, 19 municipalities • Each community with a different variety • Classification of Mixe varieties still unclear due to limited sources of documentation • Mixe-Zoque language family • Mixe varieties differ mostly in their vowel systems • Very few published grammars and dictionaries of the Mixe languages

5. Mixe Territory & Languages

6. San Juan Bosco Chuxnabán, Summer 2006

7. San Juan Bosco Chuxnabán, Summer 2006

8. Chuxnabán Mixe • Previously undocumented • Spoken by 900 people in one village • No established orthography • Endangered Language: • Education/Literacy in Spanish • No literacy/educational materials • No language documentation • Migration to cities & the US • Language ideology: Spanish/English represent progress/economic growth

9. Orthography development • Determine phonemes • Check for other orthographies (grammars, government) • Use literacy background in Spanish • Test with speakers • Challenges • Vowel system • Using keyboard symbols • Phonemic vs. phonetic writing (i.e. voiced stops allophonic only)

10. 7 Vowel phonemes: /a, æ, e, i, o, u, / • i ~ : tsip ‘war’ tsïp ‘plant name’ • a ~ u: kam ‘field’ kum ‘sweet fruit’ • æ ~ u: tsäk ‘dull’ tsuk ‘mouse’ • o ~ u ~ : joon ‘bird’ juun ‘hard’ jïïn ‘fire’

11. Plain vs. Aspirated • a/aa/(a)ah: pak ‘pigeon’ taak ‘mother’ paajk ‘bone’ taajk ‘police’ • ï/ïï/(ï)ïh: mïk ‘strong’ mïït ‘they went’ xïïjk ‘bean’ mïïjt ‘year’

12. Vowel length (all short and long) • o ~ oo: mox ‘stomach’ moox ‘knot’ • a ~ aa: kam ‘field’ kaan ‘salt’ • e ~ ee: kepy ‘tree’ keepy ‘bream’ (fish) • Phonation contrasts • Modal vowels (short and long): V, VV • Aspirated vowels (short and long): Vh, VVh • Glottalized vowels (short, interrupted): V,VV

13. Plain vs. glottalized • a/a: täp ‘you have’ kä’p ‘scorpion’ • u/ u: tsuk ‘mouse’ ju’k ‘owl’ • ï/ï: mïk ‘strong’ mï’t ‘mother-in-law/father-in-law’

14. Plain vs. Interrupted • ii/ii: kiix ‘woman’ pi’ix ‘tail’ • uu/ uu: puuy‘seat’ pu’uy ‘table’ • ï/ïï: tsïp ‘plant name’ tsï’ïp ‘plant when getting cut’

15. Consonants: 15 phonemes • p, t, k, m, n, x, ts, ch, j can be palatalized

16. Can internet technology help with literacy development & with the maintenance of Chuxnabán Mixe?

17. Web-based Language Documentation & Maintenance • Recent explosion of web-based technology reaching all parts of the world • Implications for language documentation and maintenance • Materials can easily be made available more widely for language learning and research

18. Implications for language documentation & maintenance con’t • Online materials can help promote literacy development for the mostly oral languages • Online materials assist the formation of a new type of literacy: Digital fluency (=>refers to the ways people become comfortable using technology) • Inexpensive & immediately accessible

19. Trilingual online dictionary: Goals • (1) Describe the lexicon and grammar of Chuxnabán Mixe • (2) Create literacy materials in order to facilitate language maintenance • Three main components • a) Illustration & explanation of established orthography • b) Description of phonetics & phonology to facilitate pronunciation • c) Searchable trilingual dictionary database for searches in Mixe, Spanish, and English

20. Illustration/explanation of orthography • Needed since users are literate in Spanish and/or English, but not in Mixe • Certain sounds represented in a unique way not found in Spanish or English, given the complex vowel system • Main orthography page • All letters of the alphabet; each letter opens a link to another page with: • a) Set of words where letter occurs in initial, medial, and final position if applicable • b) Set of sound files linked to sample words • c) Additional explanations of how and why letter has been chosen to represent the sound

21. Online Dictionary: Entry page & orthography page http://flan.csusb.edu/~cjany/Mixe/

22. Description of phonetics & phonology • Links to two tables with phonemes: vowels and consonants • Tables following International Phonetic Alphabet Chart (IPA symbols) • Notes & explanations where practical orthography differs • Each symbol linked to new page with sample words and sound files • Allophones, variations of a sound, included • Tool may be less valuable for speakers, but important feature for researchers and linguists (& teachers for pronunciation)

23. Online Dictionary: Sounds page http://flan.csusb.edu/~cjany/Mixe/phonemes/sounds.htm

24. Searchable Trilingual Dictionary • Users search in English, Spanish, or in Chuxnabán Mixe for a dictionary entry • Target word appears with corresponding two translations and is accompanied by a phonetic transcription • Each entry is also linked to an audio file and a picture (for culture-specific items) • Database can be searched by semantic category (plants, animals, food, etc) (for teachers and linguists examining word structures)

25. Online Dictionary Database http://flan.csusb.edu/~cjany/Mixe/dictionary.htm

26. Why Spanish & English? • Spanish is the second language in the Mixe community and the official dominant language • English is the most accessible language to researchers worldwide and the first or second language of Mixes living in the United States

27. Target audiences • Mixe community in Oaxaca • Mixes living elsewhere • Linguists working on Mixe • Other researchers

28. Possible additions • Description of other parts of the grammar(morphology and syntax) • Sound files from multiple speakers for each word • Examples with entire sentences where the target words are used • Page with narratives, their transcriptions and sound files, as well as explanations, if needed (video files of performance) • Learning modules, games for pedagogical purposes

29. Conclusions • While web-based technology is becoming widespread, indigenous languages are disappearing • Language maintenance efforts can benefit from more active use of web-based resources • Web‑based language materials give a voice to linguistically peripheral groups • Project promotes two types of literacy: • (1) Traditional literacy linked to reading and writing • (2) Digital fluency which is needed to prosper in the digital age

30. Conclusions (con’t) • Useful tool for speakers, teachers, and researchers • Multimedia facilitates the fast and easy acquisition of information • Project aids literacy development as well as digital fluency

31. Bibliography • Campbell, Lyle, Terrence Kaufman, Thomas C. Smith-Stark. 1986. Meso-America as Linguistic Area. Language, Vol. 62, No. 3. 530-570. • Crawford, John Chapman. 1963. Totontepec Mixe Phonotagmemics. Summer Institute of Linguistics, No. 8. University of Oklahoma. • De La Grasserie, Raoul. 1898 (reprint 1968). Langue Zoque et Langue Mixe: Grammaire, Dictionnaire. Biliothèque Linguistique Américaine, Tome XXII. Paris. (Reprint: Kraus. Nendeln, Liechtenstein). • De Quintana, Fray Augustin. 1733 (printed 1890). Confesionario en Lengua Mixe. Alençon.

32. Bibliography • Hoogshagen Noordsy, Searle And Hilda Halloran Hoogshagen. 1997. Diccionario Mixe de Coatlán Oaxaca. Summer Institute of Linguistics. 2nd edition (1st edition 1993). Mexico. • INEA (Instituto Nacional para la Educación del los Adultos). 1994. Ayuk Ja’jy Y’ayuujk. Libro del Adulto, Población Mixe (Parte Baja), Oaxaca. • INEA (Instituto Nacional para la Educación del los Adultos). 1997. Ayuk Ja’jy Y’ayuujk. Libro del Adulto, Población Mixe (Parte Alta), Oaxaca. • Ladefoged, Peter And Ian Maddieson. 1996. The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Blackwell, MA.

33. Bibliography • Schoenhals, Alvin and Louise C. 1982. Vocabulario Mixe de Totontepec. SIL. 2nd edition. Hidalgo, Mexico. • Suslak, Dan. 2003. The Story of ö: Orthography and Cultural Politics in the Mixe Highlands. Pragmatics 13:4. 551-563. • Thomas, Kimberly D. And Alan Shaterian. 1990. Vowel length and Pitch in Yavapai. Papers from the 1990 Hokan-Penutian Languages Workshop. Margaret Langdon ed. Carbondale, IL. 144-53. • Van Haitsma J. D.and Willard Van Haitsma. 1976. A Hierarchical Sketch of Mixe as spoken in San José El Paraíso. Summer Institute of Linguistics44. Mexico.

34. Thank you! ¡Gracias!