Ironbound Films, “the premiere documentary and new media
company”, creates video for theaters, television, museums, and the web (http://www.thelinguists.com/). The
Linguists is a film they produced which had its world premiere in 2008 at
the Sundance Film Festival, has been aired on PBS, and is shown world-wide in
academia from Stockholm to Queens, NY. One
theme the film explores is culture and how the loss of culture can result in
the loss of language.
The film follows two linguists, David Harrison and Gregory Anderson,
who document their travels in search of endangered languages such as Chulym and
the “secret” language of the Kallawaya tribe.
Both are dying languages of Russia because the number of native speakers
is dwindling. Kallawaya, for example,
passed on from adult males to teenage males only was never documented yet they
were able to pass on the healing wonders of medicinal herbs. Thousands of plants in Bolivia have never
been documented but this culture knows them and knows the names. As for Chulym, the story is a bit longer.
According to Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of
Siberia, the genetic affiliation of Chulym is “an independent Turkic language
of a mixed type, with dominating Uighur and Kypchak elements” with the language
contacts of Russian and Khakas languages.
There are two dialects of Chulym, lower and middle, and it is distinguished
for instance, by the vowel system. The lower
Chulym dialect has eight short and seven long vowel phonemes, middle Chulym has
six. Palatal vocalic harmony and labial
harmony are the two types along with fourteen consonant phonemes (http://lingsib.iea.ras.ru/en/languages/chulym.shtml).
Harrison and Anderson suggest that the Chulym language is
dangerously close to being extinct due to the number of native speakers as well
as the reputation Chulym has had over the years for being less than respectable
language compared to Russian. As a result,
Chulym has been shunned, actively suppressed, and discouraged. Speakers are shamed into not communicating
using Chulym, and the culture is not preserved for future generations. In fact, young people are attending boarding
schools in the United States, India, and Siberia where Chulym is neither used
nor taught and is completely ignored as a language of their Russian
heritage. Also, native Siberian children
are sent to boarding schools to avoid speaking the language. Boarding schools do not have native languages
and students were punished for speaking their own language. India’s tribal boarding schools for instance,
educate students in English and students learn their identity as a tribal
person. Unfortunately, Sora, an Indian
language requires permission from the State government to get access onto
tribal land. Once children give up their
native language it is mostly irreversible.
In The Linguists,
Harrison and Anderson, in search of a native speaker of Chulym, hire a cab
driver that hide the fact that he speaks Chulym because Russian society has
shamed him into embarrassment for knowing a language that is considered a “gutter
language” which is actually very respectable, pride-worthy, and necessary to
the culture. The linguistic duo are
unaware they have in their midst a native Chulym speaker until after they
interview two people who were unhelpful
and a third was almost completely deaf due to old age. The cab driver discloses to Harrison and
Anderson about how he independently decided to record Chulym using Russian
characters years ago but ultimately destroyed his own efforts because the one time he showed
his work to someone, that person was “offended by it”. Sadly, people perceive more economic advantage
if they stop using their native language.
There are seven thousand languages currently in the
world. Endangered languages are places
in need and has areas where there is a history of colonization where new folks impose
their will, culture and, languages. Both
Harrison and Anderson agree that when it comes to preserving and learning about
language, “you have to breathe it in and dance with people. It’s no fun to just interview people”. Culture and language is important. In order to listen, you must participate in
the culture. The Linguists is a film
that I recommend highly and would suggest that it should be shown not just in
upper levels of academia but in high schools and elementary schools as
well. The film is easily understandable
and can encourage youth and adults to be more aware of their own native
language(s) and to know there is a responsibility to keep their language alive
without shame and discouragement.
