OLAC Record: Making Wichita Accessible: A Multimedia Archive of Data and Analyses

OLAC Record
oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087

Metadata

Title: FirstMeeting

First Meeting to Speak Wichita

Making Wichita Accessible: A Multimedia Archive of Data and Analyses

Contributor: David

Gary

Doris

Pearl

Shirley

Dru

Mary

Stuart

Myles

David S. Rood and Armik Mirzayan

Coverage: United States

Date: 2002-06-25

Description: Speakers of Wichita were gathered for a meal and a chance to "talk Wichita" with each other for about two hours. This session records the first meeting, in which the Linguist tries to stimulate conversation by asking a number of questions, most of which result in either long discussion in English or no responses. Only the successful questions (those which elicited some Wichita language data) and the resulting discussion are archived. There are some short monologues, and several songs with a discussion about them.

The project is to videotape the last speakers of Wichita talking in and about their language, history over the last century, and culture. Videotapes were made in the summers of 2002 and 2003 in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

This file was generated from an IMDI 1.9 file and transformed to IMDI 3.0. The substructure of Genre is replaced by two elements named "Genre" and "SubGenre". The original content of Genre substructure was: Interactional = 'conversation', Discursive = 'anecdotes, songs, discussion of word meanings', Performance = 'conversation'. These values have been added as Keys to the Content information.

Speakers were asked a number of questions about their experiences over the years; the idea was to get them thinking about events where Wichita would have been the language of choice. We begin talking about Camp Creek, an annual gathering of Wichita families for socializing and celebrating, and drift into other topics such as children's songs, religion, proper behavior, and various personal anecdotes. Most of the discussion was in English, despite repeated admonitions by the linguist to switch to Wichita. Stories which did not include any Wichita language have been excluded from the archived version of this video. Several of the contributions by Dru are excellent examples of code switching: the story is generally in English, but Wichita dialogue is reported in Wichita.

Six Wichita speakers (Stuart, Doris, Shirley, Pearl, Dru, and Myles), one non-speaker (Mary), the linguist, and the tribal President, Gary McAdams, exchange information in an open, unstructured conversation. All of these people except the linguist have lived near each other most of their lives, and shared many childhood and young adult experiences.

Rood is the linguist on the project. He has been working with Wichita since about 1967.

Gary is the President of the tribe, and has done much to foster language preservation and revival. He has learned to speak Wichita as an adult and does not participate much in these discussions.

Doris is the most fluent speaker in the group, and the most willing to speak. She was raised by grandparents and in her youth used Wichita for all communication around the home. In recent years she has been the primary resource person for the tribe's language classes.

Pearl claims to be one of the two oldest living Wichitas. She spoke the language extensively as a child and young adult, but was married to a Caddo man and did not use the language with her own children. She is not able to say much in Wichita, but her memories of local history and of traditional culture are vivid and detailed, and she often dominates the conversation with them, though only in English. She performs some songs very competently, although protesting that surgery some years ago damaged her throat.

Shirley has not spoken the language much in her adult life, though she can often recall things that her parents and grandparents said, and she understands a lot.

Dru has spoken the language all her life. She is an active participant in the Native American Church, and uses Wichita for prayers during their services. She is willing to try to say things in Wichita when no one else will. She occasionally makes grammar mistakes, such as an error in aspect choice or verb conjugation type, but these do not hinder comprehension of her intended message.

Mary is Myles's sister; she does not speak the language, and understands very little as well. She was present at Myles's invitation.

Stuart is a cultural custodian for the tribe, though he does not speak the language fluently. He knows many, many songs with Wichita words, and the meanings of those words, and he has taught Wichita word lists to his students at Riverside High School. He heads a drum group which tries to teach younger tribal members the songs; he is the leader of the Wichitas w/r/t the annual visitation with the Pawnee (the two tribes take turns hosting a summer campout, dance, and ceremony with lots of tradition behind it); and he grows a big garden with traditional Wichita varieties of corn, pumpkins and melons and prepares traditional food dishes from his harvest.

Myles was a grounds keeper and handyman at the Riverside HIgh School most of his adult life. He learned the language as a child, and still speaks it comfortably within certain limits. He knows and likes to sing many songs, though not with any of the drum groups. He has been very helpful in providing a male perspective on both some of the language and the culture.

The senior collector is a linguist at the University of Colorado who has been studying Wichita since 1967. His assistant is a graduate student in linguistics. On the videotape, Rood is frequently heard prompting for additional information. Mirzayan operated the camera and controlled the recording devices.

Several speakers shared a microphone. There is considerable noise from people shuffling things at the table or snacking, as well as some interference from people in a neighboring room.

David asks people to recall camp creek experiences.

Doris describes Camp Creek participants as spiritual people, and mentions some ghost dance songs, which Myles and Pearl sing and discuss.

Dru tells a funny story about what happened to her this morning.

Dru describes a "Wichita Boogeyman" at Camp Creek.

Dru describes the way people were rewarded for praying for children, and the discussion continues into the proper use of the "lulu" -- the loud, warbling trills that (usually) women make at the end of war dance songs.

Doris recalls the Wichita word for 'lulu' and others confirm it.

Dru tells the story of the burying of a medicine bundle and its acceptance by its deceased owner with a "lulu".

Myles describes a funny incident when a traditional offer of payment for a favor was rejected.

Shirley describes some social interaction among teenage girls and the "Wichita cuss word" is introduced.

Pearl and Mary discuss a time when Mary lulu-ed, and Pearl introduces the epithet k'�ta:ks 'coyote'. This leads to a discussion of a few animal names.

Dru sings a song that contains words she doesn't know; some of the others speculate on their meaning.

With prompting, Myles sings a song about baby turtle doves, and one about a buzzard. The latter, being about baldheadedness, is an occasion for generalized teasing of Gary.

Dru describes an attempt by her aunt to avoid speaking Wichita which ultimately fails. It is an excellent anecdote about why the language is lost. There is considerable rattling of tinfoil in the background, however, as others prepare to leave and take some of the leftovers from the meal with them.

Shirley recalls an incident when Doris was speaking Wichita with her grandmother in the grocery store, and Doris recalls something about the grocer being able to speak a little Wichita.

David invites everyone back for another meeting, and admonishes them to practice in the meantime.

Format: video/mp4

video/x-mpeg1

video/x-mpeg2

audio/x-wav

DV

Identifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087

Identifier (URI): http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser?openpath=MPI84087%23

Publisher: David S. Rood

University of Colorado; Volkswagen Foundation

Subject: Wichita language

English language

Subject (ISO639): wic

eng

Type: video

audio

OLAC Info

Archive: The Language Archive's IMDI portal

Description: http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for OLAC format

GetRecord: Pre-generated XML file

OAI Info

OaiIdentifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087

DateStamp: 2011-09-08

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for simple DC format

Search Info
Citation: David; Gary; Doris; Pearl; Shirley; Dru; Mary; Stuart; Myles; David S. Rood and Armik Mirzayan. 2002-06-25. David S. Rood.
Terms: area_Americas area_Europe country_GB country_US iso639_eng iso639_wic

Inferred Metadata
Country: United Kingdom United States
Area: Americas Europe

http://www.language-archives.org/item.php/oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087
Up-to-date as of: Thu Oct 13 13:48:34 EDT 2011

Metadata
Title:		FirstMeeting
		First Meeting to Speak Wichita
		Making Wichita Accessible: A Multimedia Archive of Data and Analyses
Contributor:		David
		Gary
		Doris
		Pearl
		Shirley
		Dru
		Mary
		Stuart
		Myles
		David S. Rood and Armik Mirzayan
Coverage:		United States
Date:		2002-06-25
Description:		Speakers of Wichita were gathered for a meal and a chance to "talk Wichita" with each other for about two hours. This session records the first meeting, in which the Linguist tries to stimulate conversation by asking a number of questions, most of which result in either long discussion in English or no responses. Only the successful questions (those which elicited some Wichita language data) and the resulting discussion are archived. There are some short monologues, and several songs with a discussion about them.
		The project is to videotape the last speakers of Wichita talking in and about their language, history over the last century, and culture. Videotapes were made in the summers of 2002 and 2003 in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
		This file was generated from an IMDI 1.9 file and transformed to IMDI 3.0. The substructure of Genre is replaced by two elements named "Genre" and "SubGenre". The original content of Genre substructure was: Interactional = 'conversation', Discursive = 'anecdotes, songs, discussion of word meanings', Performance = 'conversation'. These values have been added as Keys to the Content information.
		Speakers were asked a number of questions about their experiences over the years; the idea was to get them thinking about events where Wichita would have been the language of choice. We begin talking about Camp Creek, an annual gathering of Wichita families for socializing and celebrating, and drift into other topics such as children's songs, religion, proper behavior, and various personal anecdotes. Most of the discussion was in English, despite repeated admonitions by the linguist to switch to Wichita. Stories which did not include any Wichita language have been excluded from the archived version of this video. Several of the contributions by Dru are excellent examples of code switching: the story is generally in English, but Wichita dialogue is reported in Wichita.
		Six Wichita speakers (Stuart, Doris, Shirley, Pearl, Dru, and Myles), one non-speaker (Mary), the linguist, and the tribal President, Gary McAdams, exchange information in an open, unstructured conversation. All of these people except the linguist have lived near each other most of their lives, and shared many childhood and young adult experiences.
		Rood is the linguist on the project. He has been working with Wichita since about 1967.
		Gary is the President of the tribe, and has done much to foster language preservation and revival. He has learned to speak Wichita as an adult and does not participate much in these discussions.
		Doris is the most fluent speaker in the group, and the most willing to speak. She was raised by grandparents and in her youth used Wichita for all communication around the home. In recent years she has been the primary resource person for the tribe's language classes.
		Pearl claims to be one of the two oldest living Wichitas. She spoke the language extensively as a child and young adult, but was married to a Caddo man and did not use the language with her own children. She is not able to say much in Wichita, but her memories of local history and of traditional culture are vivid and detailed, and she often dominates the conversation with them, though only in English. She performs some songs very competently, although protesting that surgery some years ago damaged her throat.
		Shirley has not spoken the language much in her adult life, though she can often recall things that her parents and grandparents said, and she understands a lot.
		Dru has spoken the language all her life. She is an active participant in the Native American Church, and uses Wichita for prayers during their services. She is willing to try to say things in Wichita when no one else will. She occasionally makes grammar mistakes, such as an error in aspect choice or verb conjugation type, but these do not hinder comprehension of her intended message.
		Mary is Myles's sister; she does not speak the language, and understands very little as well. She was present at Myles's invitation.
		Stuart is a cultural custodian for the tribe, though he does not speak the language fluently. He knows many, many songs with Wichita words, and the meanings of those words, and he has taught Wichita word lists to his students at Riverside High School. He heads a drum group which tries to teach younger tribal members the songs; he is the leader of the Wichitas w/r/t the annual visitation with the Pawnee (the two tribes take turns hosting a summer campout, dance, and ceremony with lots of tradition behind it); and he grows a big garden with traditional Wichita varieties of corn, pumpkins and melons and prepares traditional food dishes from his harvest.
		Myles was a grounds keeper and handyman at the Riverside HIgh School most of his adult life. He learned the language as a child, and still speaks it comfortably within certain limits. He knows and likes to sing many songs, though not with any of the drum groups. He has been very helpful in providing a male perspective on both some of the language and the culture.
		The senior collector is a linguist at the University of Colorado who has been studying Wichita since 1967. His assistant is a graduate student in linguistics. On the videotape, Rood is frequently heard prompting for additional information. Mirzayan operated the camera and controlled the recording devices.
		Several speakers shared a microphone. There is considerable noise from people shuffling things at the table or snacking, as well as some interference from people in a neighboring room.
		David asks people to recall camp creek experiences.
		Doris describes Camp Creek participants as spiritual people, and mentions some ghost dance songs, which Myles and Pearl sing and discuss.
		Dru tells a funny story about what happened to her this morning.
		Dru describes a "Wichita Boogeyman" at Camp Creek.
		Dru describes the way people were rewarded for praying for children, and the discussion continues into the proper use of the "lulu" -- the loud, warbling trills that (usually) women make at the end of war dance songs.
		Doris recalls the Wichita word for 'lulu' and others confirm it.
		Dru tells the story of the burying of a medicine bundle and its acceptance by its deceased owner with a "lulu".
		Myles describes a funny incident when a traditional offer of payment for a favor was rejected.
		Shirley describes some social interaction among teenage girls and the "Wichita cuss word" is introduced.
		Pearl and Mary discuss a time when Mary lulu-ed, and Pearl introduces the epithet k'�ta:ks 'coyote'. This leads to a discussion of a few animal names.
		Dru sings a song that contains words she doesn't know; some of the others speculate on their meaning.
		With prompting, Myles sings a song about baby turtle doves, and one about a buzzard. The latter, being about baldheadedness, is an occasion for generalized teasing of Gary.
		Dru describes an attempt by her aunt to avoid speaking Wichita which ultimately fails. It is an excellent anecdote about why the language is lost. There is considerable rattling of tinfoil in the background, however, as others prepare to leave and take some of the leftovers from the meal with them.
		Shirley recalls an incident when Doris was speaking Wichita with her grandmother in the grocery store, and Doris recalls something about the grocer being able to speak a little Wichita.
		David invites everyone back for another meeting, and admonishes them to practice in the meantime.
Format:		video/mp4
		video/x-mpeg1
		video/x-mpeg2
		audio/x-wav
		DV
Identifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087
Identifier (URI):		http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser?openpath=MPI84087%23
Publisher:		David S. Rood
Publisher:		University of Colorado; Volkswagen Foundation
Subject:		Wichita language
Subject:		English language
Subject (ISO639):		wic
Subject (ISO639):		eng
Type:		video
Type:		audio
OLAC Info
Archive:		The Language Archive's IMDI portal
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI84087
DateStamp:		2011-09-08
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		David; Gary; Doris; Pearl; Shirley; Dru; Mary; Stuart; Myles; David S. Rood and Armik Mirzayan. 2002-06-25. David S. Rood.
Terms:		area_Americas area_Europe country_GB country_US iso639_eng iso639_wic
Inferred Metadata
Country:		United Kingdom United States
Area:		Americas Europe