Community-Based Language Documentation: Mohave and Beyond

FAIN: FN-50021-07

Susan D. Penfield
Arizona Board of Regents (Tucson, AZ 85721-0073)

I have worked with the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) in Arizona since 1969 and have been primarily engaged in the study of Mohave, a Yuman language with about 30 remaining speakers. My central goal in this project is to apply what I have learned in my work with Mohave to a broader range of Indigenous languages. The products of this work will be literary material in Mohave with pedagogical import for the CRIT community; a phrase book for Mohave based on recent documentation of conversational practices; languages lessons using MacAuthor, a computer-based tool developed at the University of Arizona, which will incorporate recent documentation of Mohave conversations; a brief guide for Indigenous audiences to the use of OLE (Online Language Environments), another technological tool developed at the University of Arizona which supports both language research and pedagogy; and a manual intended for an Indigenous audience on community language documentation, principles and practices. The materials will expand the understanding of Mohave in actual practice and be accessible both to the Mohave community and particularly to others interested in Yuman languages. The products will apply broadly to other Indigenous communities and to those who work with them, by defining the basic principles and practices needed for community-based language documentation projects. (Edited by staff)