"The Linguists" is more than just two guys and their words.

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.