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TheLinguistsFilmNotes

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Ling 115 Film: ‘The Linguists’
Instruction for film commentary assignment
The two ‘linguists’ visit several different locations where endangered languages are present:
Siberia, India, Arizona, Bolivia. Your film commentary assignment is to write 300-500 words
describing the linguists’ visit to Siberia and Arizona. Your commentary should include
information on the following:
(1) What is the endangered language situation shown in the Arizona and Siberia sections? What
languages are involved, and who speaks them?
Siberia – original people from Russia came to exploit Siberians, Russian dominating over
Siberian languages
Languages disappearing at a rate of about one every two weeks
Unique way of seeing the world can be lost when language is lost
Chulym – one of the least documented Siberian languages, no contact with community for 30
years – too long
- Language which can consist of one-word sentences compared to a series of words in
English or Chinese
- Doesn’t have a writing system
- Youngest native speaker the Linguists ran into invented his own writing system using
Russian letters
They don’t expect 52-year-old people in this community to speak the language
Most of native speakers of dying language are elderly, first guy they ran into who used Chulym
had difficulty hearing, second woman started shouting at them
Some people deny knowledge of language and turn out to speak the language
(2) What attitudes do the speakers of the endangered languages have towards these languages?
Some have shame in their language, school tells children that speaking their native language is
forbidden, punished if caught speaking language
Language is part of your identity, any breath you take without speaking your native language you
might as well be dead
Some people abandon language because it may not be useful anymore in the world, think they
will have more economic advantages if they abandon
(3) What positive ‘revitalization’ initiative is organized by the linguists in the Siberian village?
How do you think this may have helped the community there?
Found 9 speakers of Chulym, creating a children’s story book in Chulym, honoring grave stones
of people who spoke Chulym
Writing a story book gets the community working together to accomplish a goal, promotes pride
in speaking Chulym
(4) What other general impressions of the movie did you have?
India – native speakers of Sora outside of the Indian caste system
You can’t just sit in a room and interview someone about a language. You have to breathe it in.
Sora – base 12 and 20 system for counting
Bolivia – Kallawaya – less than 100 speakers
Not just learning about language, learning about food, culture, medicine, rituals, etc.
Due date: Tuesday 24th September. Please bring a hard copy of your commentary to class.
Make sure to add your name, your TA’s name and the time of your discussion section to the
commentary.
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