Scope and content: The materials include file slips and audio recordings from Bruce Nevin's fieldwork on Achumawi with various consultants. File slips in the collection come from work with consultant Lela Rhoades in 1971-1974. Sound recordings include several Achumawi texts, songs, and conversations, as well as discussions on various topics in English, English versions of two Pit River stories, and citations by Bruce Nevin on various aspects of the Achumawi language.
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: Bruce E. Nevin. Bruce E. Nevin materials on the Achumawi/Pit River language, 2015-03, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X22V2D2D.
Associated materials: Sound recordings with related content are catalogued in LA 49, The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings
Collection number: LA49
Relations to this collection:2015-03 relates to this Collection
Scope and content: Linguistic field recordings: linguistic data; stories; ethnographic data; songs; additional ethnographic or ethnohistorical texts, conversation in English, reminiscences. Some English glosses and translations provided.; Digitization supported by NEH Preservation/Access Grant
Repository: Berkeley Language Center
Preferred citation: Lela Rhoades and Bruce E. Nevin. The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings, LA 49, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/collection/10089.
Collection number: 2014-21
Relations to this collection:Jacobsen replaced by this Collection; 2018-32 derives from this Collection
Catalog history: The Materials replace SCL Jacobsen, the "William H. Jacobsen Papers on Indigenous Languages of North America"
Historical information: William H. Jacobsen (1931-2014) was born on November 15, 1931 in San Diego, CA to Cmdr. William H. Jacobsen, USN ret., and Julie Froatz Jacobsen. He graduated from Point Loma High School, San Diego, in 1949, and went on to graduate from Harvard University in 1953. Jacobsen then pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley where he engaged in fieldwork on Salinan and Washo under the auspices of the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages. While at UC Berkeley, he also worked on an early machine language translation project. He received his Doctoral Degree from UC Berkeley in 1964 with a thesis entitled “A Grammar of the Washo Language”, supervised by Mary Haas, which endures as the most complete grammar of Washo published to date. He also worked as an assistant professor of anthropology (1961-1962) and linguistics (1962-1964) at the University of Washington, spending many of his summers in Neah Bay, WA, working with Makah elders to record their language. Most of Jacobsen’s academic career was spent as a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada, Reno where he taught for thirty years (1965-1994). Throughout his academic career Jacobsen was a prolific and versatile scholar, devising writing systems, creating materials for teaching tribal members Washo and Makah, and publishing many papers on linguistic topics. Jacobsen was an active contributor within the Americanist linguistic community not only through his research, which touched upon a diverse array of languages from Hokan to Wakashan and beyond, but also through steady correspondence and collaboration with colleagues and students. In addition to his work on indigenous languages of North America, Jacobsen was well-known for his extensive work on Basque, which he engaged in through his involvement in the Center for Basque Studies at UNR. Altogether, Jacobsen was familiar with all the main Romance languages and Sanskrit in addition to being a specialist in Washo, Makah, Salinan, Nez Perce, Nootkan, and Basque. He served as president of the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the Americas, received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the University of Nevada, and received the Nevada Humanities Award. Jacobsen officially retired from UNR in 1994 but continued to engage with the linguistics community as an emeritus professor. Jacobsen passed away on August 18, 2014 in Reno, NV, at age 82.
Scope and content: These materials document the linguistic work of William H. Jacobsen on various indigenous languages of North America, especially Washo, Makah, and Salinan, as well as on other languages and linguistic topics Jacobsen came into contact with throughout his academic career. The collection includes Jacobsen’s original field notebooks from work on Washo, Makah, and Salinan, as well as smaller aggregates of field notes on Diegueño, Northern Paiute, Kwak’wala, and Cowichan. In addition to original field notes, the collection includes derived research notes; many of these derived materials were organized by Jacobsen into separate folders by topic, and have been catalogued as they were found in order to reflect Jacobsen’s own organization. These research notes encompass work on Washo, Makah and other Southern Wakashan languages, Salinan, Yana and other Hokan languages, other Californian languages, and other topics related to general linguistic theory. A set of finished or near-finished manuscripts and handouts is also included, in many cases constituting completed work derived from Jacobsen’s research notes. Also included are transcriptions of texts and conversations in Washo and Makah, notes from collaborative work with Grace Dangberg on Washo texts, and materials Jacobsen developed in order to teach both Washo and Makah. Original file slips from Jacobsen’s work in organizing lexical material from Washo, Makah, Salinan, comparative Wakashan and Hokan, and Tagalog are also included. In addition to materials from Jacobsen’s original fieldwork and research, the collection includes a wealth of materials that Jacobsen obtained from other researchers. These obtained materials include an extensive collection of original Washo field notebooks originally belonging to Grace Dangberg, Gordon Marsh, Walter Dyk, Phillip Barker and William Shipley, and Brooke Mordy. In addition, the collection includes file slips and derived field notes from various sources. On Washo, these materials include Gordon Marsh’s file slips, research notes from Grace Dangberg and Walter Dyk, and photocopies of various vocabulary lists obtained from the Smithsonian Institution; on Wakashan, this includes a set of file slips from an unknown source; and on Yana, this includes a variety of research notes and a box of file slips obtained from Bruce Nevin, along with various photocopied materials on Yana obtained from museums. Other obtained materials include derived work on Washo texts by Brooke Mordy and on Yahi by T. T. Waterman, a collection of rare, unpublished, or difficult to obtain manuscripts concerning various North American indigenous languages, and published curricular materials on Washo and Makah. Various materials related to Jacobsen’s academic, scholarly, and teaching activities are catalogued as a separate series in the collection, in addition to being scattered throughout Jacobsen’s research notes. Finally, the collection includes a set of sound recordings that were discovered in Jacobsen’s possession but are not otherwise catalogued in earlier CLA collections. These recordings include recordings of Washo, Makah, Bella Coola, Ibo, Abaza, and at least one other unidentified language; some of the recordings were made by Jacobsen with various identified consultants, while others were obtained from colleagues including Brooke Mordy, Laura Fillmore, and Warren d’Azevedo, among possible others.
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: William H. Jacobsen. William H. Jacobsen Materials on Indigenous Languages of North America, 2014-21, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X2028PGT.
Associated materials: Audio recordings associated with the Materials can be accessed online through the California Language Archive. In particular, audio recordings are located in The William H. Jacobsen, Jr. collection of Antoniaño Salinan sound recordings (LA 69), The William H. Jacobsen, Jr. collection of Washo sound recordings (LA 53), and the William H. Jacobsen, Jr. collection of Makah sound recordings (LA 52).
Description: Recording of two Achumawi stories, in English: "Mother Deer and Mother Bear" and "Pumice-Stone Man". The stories were told to Bruce Nevin's daughters while Reitha (Tiny) Amen (daughter of Lela Rhoades) was visiting the Nevins in Gloucester ca. 1993. 2015-03.007.1 Beginning of "Mother Deer and Mother Bear" is missing. After story, discussion of bear hunting. About 21:00, little ground squirrel gets a belly ache. 25:00 Dancing with the Milky Way girls. 28:55 Coyote and Q̓awílˑá. 33:16 Ground squirrel the fire builder goes to visit Pumice-stone Man (=sát wic̓íˑlúˑyí, “one who smooths obsidian with his feet”). Ends with the squirrel pushing the bear off and running toward where Pumice-stone Man was hiding; the conclusion of this segment, putting an end to the bearʼs presumption, is missing. 2015-03.007.2 Begins with Ground Squirrel going hunting with his bark arrowheads, and Pumice-stone Man giving him good ones, concludes with his return home
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: "Mother Deer and Mother Bear" and "Pumice-Stone Man", 2015-03.007, in "Bruce E. Nevin materials on the Achumawi/Pit River language", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X26H4FDV.
Item number: 2015-03.002
Date: August 7, 1973; August 12, 1973; August 18, 1973
Relations to this item:2015-03.001 references this Item
Description: Two dictated texts: "The Mouse Brothers and Sayyi" and "Pumice-Stone Man". Digital asset 2015-03.002.001 contains "The Mouse Brothers and Sayyi" in its entirety (alternate title "Mouse Brothers") and the first part of "Pumice-Stone Man" (alternate title "LR: Pumice-Stone Man (A)"), while 2015-03.002.002 contains the final portion of this second text (alternate title "Pumice-Stone Man (B-D)"), beginning at (B) 2:20. File slips derived from the texts are located in 2015-03.001.
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: "Mouse Brothers" and "Pumice-Stone Man", 2015-03.002, in "Bruce E. Nevin materials on the Achumawi/Pit River language", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X2V9861C.
Description: Story told in English then retold in Achumawi/Pit River, beginning at 17:57. Incomplete because she would fall asleep before her grandfather finished the story.
Preferred citation: A battle over a diamond, LA 49.022, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17117.
Preferred citation: A vision, LA 49.038, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17133.
Description: Story in English then retold in Achumawi/Pit River. No English glosses. Alternate title "LR: Bear Doctor cures a thief". English first, then Pit River at 9:06.
Preferred citation: A woman bear doctor cures a thief, LA 49.012, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17107.
Description: Copy of “Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey, No. 40: An Introduction to Yana Archaeology”, by M. A. Baumhoff, dated Oct. 20, 1957, with a few notes written in it; pages 46-47, 62, 69-73, 122, 125, 133, and 250 of a document describing Yana/Yahi materials deposited in archives, possibly limited to materials kept at UC Berkeley, and encompassing work by T.T. Waterman, C.E. Kelsey, E. Sapir, and R.B. Dixon; a photocopying order form the American Philosophical Society filled out by Bruce Nevin for materials on various Californian languages; photocopies of a resource listing manuscripts relating to American Indian Tribes, Language families, and areas, with some notes; copy of Chapter XXIX of Powers and Powell (1877), “Tribes of California: Vol. 3”, entitled “The No’zi, etc”. The materials all originate from a folder labeled “Archive Notes”.
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: Archive Notes, 2014-21.004.011, in "William H. Jacobsen Materials on Indigenous Languages of North America", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/23137.
Description: Brief autobiographical text by Ruby Miles, from Stone Coal Valley (southwest of Canby, probably "Hantyu", #4 on Kniffen's map, which he considered Astaˑqíˑw̓awí territory, but she thought of it as quite apart unto itself.) Pit River; 13.22 English.
Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Preferred citation: Autobiography, 2015-03.004, in "Bruce E. Nevin materials on the Achumawi/Pit River language", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X2KS6PJG.
Preferred citation: Bear woman, deer woman, and their children, LA 49.035, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17130.
Preferred citation: Bigfoot (3 texts), LA 49.034, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17129.
Description: Story told in English then retold in Achumawi/Pit River, beginning at 19:39. Brother Ernie's near-death experience, and the remainder of his life.
Preferred citation: Brother Ernie's dream and aftermath, LA 49.051, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17146.
Description: Story told in Achumawi/Pit River then retold in English, starting at 2:51. How she nursed her father in his illness. Visitors present told people in church, who then caller her a witch and tried to expel her.
Preferred citation: Calling a witch, LA 49.056, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17151.
Preferred citation: Consultant's autobiography up to marriage, LA 49.037, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17132.
Preferred citation: Consultant's daughter's dream, LA 49.061, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17156.
Description: Story told in English then retold in Achumawi/Pit River, beginning at 10:49. Her father's story of the 1852 round-up and forced march to Round Valley.
Preferred citation: Consultant's father's drive to the reservation, LA 49.057, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17152.
Preferred citation: Conversation between consultants, LA 49.048, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17143.
Description: Story in Achumawi/Pit River. No English glosses. Alternate title "LR2: Fox and Hungry Coyote". Story that was prefaced in LA49.001. This is after the creation of the world. Fox obtains food, etc. by magical, prayerful means. Coyote attempts the same methods, with unfortunate results.
Preferred citation: Coyote and Fox after the creation of the world, LA 49.002, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17097.
Preferred citation: Coyote and bullhead fish, LA 49.036, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17131.
Preferred citation: Coyote and frog's disguise, LA 49.039, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17134.
Description: Story told in English then retold in Achumawi/Pit River, beginning at 20:32. Continuation of LA 49.057 up to the time of his decision to return to Hat Creek at about age 30.
Preferred citation: Death of consultant's father's father and Father's childhood and travels, LA 49.058, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17153.
Preferred citation: Discussion of church fellowship, LA 49.050, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17145.
Description: Discussion in English. Discussion of Deer Man, whose story and song are given in LA 49.015. Lela's son Willard wanted to be a doctor. Samson Grant's father and grandmother (related to the Bear Woman doctor) were both doctors.
Preferred citation: Discussion of consultant's family, LA 49.013, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17108.
Preferred citation: Discussion of girl's puberty rites, LA 49.047, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17142.
Description: Songs in Achumawi/Pit River. No English glosses. Discussion in English and Achumawi/Pit River. Begins with words of song on LA 49.007 (alternate title "LR: Songs"). 1:49 Words of Samson Grant's love song; 3:01 the song; 4:02 English (alternate title "LR: Songs" 10). 7:12 Her grandmother's love song; 8:18 Discussion of song about girl who froze to death under her lover (alternate title "LR: Songs" 11). 9:12 That song; 10:12 English; 11:17 Courtship song explanations (alternate title "LR: Songs" 12). 12:12 Courtship song (alternate title "LR: Songs" 13).
Preferred citation: Discussion of love songs; includes some songs, LA 49.008, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17103.
Description: English only. Begins with discussion of LA 49.042 (my re-elicitation of a de Angulo creation story ms. with Johnnie Craig). I was checking the re-elicitation with her. She contrasts her story about coming to earth from a first home on the moon. She refers to Kwan as Jesus. Discussion of character of the animals and the mythic people so named, particularly Coyote and Silver-gray Fox.
Preferred citation: Discussion of the creation of the world and creation stories, LA 49.001, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17096.
Preferred citation: Discussion of the proof that the consultant's sister-in-law is Pit River, LA 49.046, in "The Bruce E. Nevin collection of Achumawi/Pit River sound recordings", Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/17141.
We acknowledge with respect the Ohlone people on whose traditional, ancestral, and unceded land we work and whose historical relationships with that land continue to this day.