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Re: Help with US SW langs + new lang

From:Dirk Elzinga <dirk_elzinga@...>
Date:Thursday, March 14, 2002, 22:16
At 11:55 AM -0800 03/14/02, Frank George Valoczy wrote:
>If Northern California is like that, then I think the nations there would >probably be directly assimilated into Modzhi (or, perhaps, the nearest >large native group), similar to BC. > >Can you recommend sources for names of flora and fauna in Ute and >Shoshoni? Also, a map which would illustrate where what languages >are/were?
For the map, look in the Smithsonian Institution's _Handbook of North American Indians_, vol 11. Lists of flora and fauna are a bit more difficult to come across. There were two articles written in the beginning of the 20th century which give Gosiute plant and animal names, but the transcription is lousy (the author was a biologist, not a linguist). Crum and Dayley's _Western Shoshoni Grammar_ or _Western Shoshoni Texts_ have large glossaries with pretty good coverage (the _Texts_ is probably better for your purposes). Unfortunately, the Utes have been a little more closed-mouthed; there is precious little linguistic information on Northern Ute. Southern Ute has a dictionary published by the tribe; if your local university libarary has a copy, it's pretty good. If it doesn't, there's not much chance of getting one anymore -- they aren't responding to requests for the dictionary or the grammar (at least not to mine). Sapir's 1930 study of Southern Paiute includes a dictionary as well which could be useful for the redrocks area of southern Utah/northern Arizona. In the reprint by Mouton de Gruyter there is also a Northern Ute Ethnography bound in the same volume (it's in MdG's collected works of E.S., vol X). Further afield, you might want to look at Kay Fowler's article in IJAL, vol 49.3. It's on Uto-Aztecan ethnobotany, but she has some short region-specific lists that might be useful.
>Lastly: What was the largest that Tohono O'odham ever was?
In area or population? I don't know about area, but they are currently as large in population as they have ever been -- about 25,000 strong in Southern Arizona and adjacent Sonora. I'm guessing that they never did get further north than Phoenix or further east than Tucson, but I'm only guessing. I have no idea about their western or southern boundaries.
>Cheers, Ferko
-- Dirk Elzinga Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu Man deth swa he byth thonne he mot swa he wile. 'A man does as he is when he can do what he wants.' - Old English Proverb

Replies

GrayWizard <dbell@...>An interesting link that I heppened across
Bob Greenwade <bob.greenwade@...>An interesting link that I heppened across
Frank George Valoczy <valoczy@...>