Result 1 – 1
- Collection identifier: 2018-03
- Primary contributors: Christine George (consultant); Lawrence Joseph (consultant, translator); Felix Xavier (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher)
- Additional contributors: Albert Atkinsen (consultant); Fred Atkinsen (consultant); Salvadore Atkinsen (consultant); Percy Griffith (consultant); Lorendo James (consultant); Veronica Johnson (consultant); James Park (consultant); Claris Peters (consultant); Doris Peters (consultant); Sylvia Peters (consultant); Elizabeth Winter (consultant); Eric Winter (consultant); Christine Xavier (consultant); Manjari Ohala (donor)
- Languages: Atorai (aox); Macushi (mbc); Wapishana (wap)
- Dates: 1965
- Extent: 13 reel tapes
- Historical information: In the summer of 1965, Gladwyn Kingsley Noble, Jr. (1923-1994; PhD Columbia 1962), then a professor at San Jose State University, carried out several weeks of linguistic fieldwork in the Rupununi river basin of Guyana. His empirical focus was on Wapishana and Atorai, two Arawak languages of the region. (He also carried out a single lexical elicitation session with a speaker of the Cariban language Macushi.) At the time, and as of 2018, Wapishana continues to boast several thousand speakers; Atorai, on the other hand, was already spoken only by elderly individuals who were likely born in the late 19th century. To our knowledge, the Atorai materials contained in this collection are the only known sound recordings of the language in existence. Noble's principal consultants were Lawrence Joseph (for Wapishana) and Christine George and Felix Xavier (for Atorai). A woman who seems to be Felix Xavier's wife is also often present, though she is not named.
Prof. Noble's 1965 fieldwork on Arawak languages was an outgrowth of his PhD dissertation research ("Proto-Arawakan and its Descendants") on the phylogeny of the Arawak language family. It was his only field season. In 1972, Noble applied for, but was denied, a visa to return to Guyana during his sabbatical in the spring of 1973. Around this time, he gave these 13 reel tapes to friend Prof. Vida Denk (San Jose State). Around 2006, Prof. Manjari Ohala (San Jose State), a friend of both Prof. Noble and Prof. Kenk, and wife of Berkeley linguistics professor John Ohala, facilitated the donation of the reel tapes to the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, then directed by Prof. Leanne Hinton.
Prof. Noble appears to have taken copious field notes, references to which are made throughout these recordings. In the Description fields for each item in this collection we include annotations that appear to reference those notes, when they exist. As of April 2018 the location of these field notes is not known. For each item we provide the most specific date of recording possible. A location along the middle Rupununi River was chosen for coordinates; it does not correspond necessarily to a specific place where these recordings were made. - Scope and content: Audio recordings of lexical and sentence elicitation, monologic texts, conversations, songs, and group activities
- Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- Suggested citation: Christine George, Lawrence Joseph, Felix Xavier, and Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr.. Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana, 2018-03, California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X2NC5ZCN.
Results 1 – 2
- Item identifier: 2018-03.005
- Date: 1965
- Contributors: Albert Atkinsen (consultant); Fred Atkinsen (consultant); Salvadore Atkinsen (consultant); Percy Griffith (consultant); Lorendo James (consultant); Lawrence Joseph (consultant); James Park (consultant); Claris Peters (consultant); Doris Peters (consultant); Sylvia Peters (consultant); Elizabeth Winter (consultant); Eric Winter (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
- Language: Wapishana (wap)
- Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
- Description: File 2018-03.005_A begins in a group setting, with Tushau speaking in Wapishana (with possible correspondences to unknown notebooks summarized as "12/7-1"). At 00'55" an unknown woman speaks in Wapishana. At 01'54" there is a conversation in Wapishana between Tushau and James Park, still with others present. At 03'00" Salvador Atkins speaks in Wapishana, with translation in English. At 05'15" Doris Peters and Sylvia Peters converse in Wapishana. At 06'40" Lorendo James speaks in Wapishana. At 07'20" two unknown women speak in Wapishana. At 09'30" Patronella and Cecilia converse in Wapishana. At 11'17" Fred Atkinsen and Eric Winter converse in Wapishana, and again at 13'00" in English. At 14'53" Elizabeth Winter and Claris Peters converse in Wapishana. At 16'26" Fred Atkinsen speaks in Wapishana. At 17'40" Percy Griffith sings "Oh! Susanna." At 19'22" Albert Atkinsen speaks in English. At 20'38" Tushau gives a "closing statement" (as described in handwritten metadata). At 23'40", 24'42", and 25'21" three brief monologues by women indicated as Julian, Karedad, and Manika in handwritten metadata (corresponding notebooks summarized as "15/7-1-2," 15/7-3-5," and 5/7-6-7," respectively). At 25'48" Eric Winter, Lawrence Joseph, and Lorendo James converse ("15/7-8-15"). At 28'06" Maud ("a village counselor") gives an "opening statement at cassava grating." At 30'06" there are women talking and grating cassava. At 31'26" there is a closing statement to the cassava grating. File 2018-03.005_B begins with Noble conducting lexical elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph.
- Availability: Online access
- Catalog history: Reel 5 sides A & B
- Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
- Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- Suggested citation: [Group conversations, monologic texts, cassava grating, lexical elicitation], 2018-03.005, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X26W993V.
- Item identifier: 2018-03.004
- Date: 03 Jul 1965 to 04 Jul 1965
- Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Claris Peters (consultant); Sylvia Peters (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
- Language: Wapishana (wap)
- Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
- Description: File 2018-03.004_A begins on July 3, 1965 with G.K. Noble conducting lexical and sentence elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph. At 25'53" Lawrence Joseph has a conversation with Sylvia Peters in Wapishana. Possible correspondences with unknown notebooks are summarized as "3/7=7-16." At 27'18" lexical elicitation resumes. File 2018-03.004_B begins on July 4, 1965 with Noble conducting sentence elicitation on Wapishana with Joseph (notebook correspondences summarized as "4/7-1"). At 18'34" Joseph has a conversation with a woman named Maud ("4/7-3"). At 21'16" Joseph has a conversation with a boy named Basil ("5/7-8"). At 22'22" Joseph tells "the baboon story." At 28'04" a girl Claris Peters speaks.
- Availability: Online access
- Catalog history: Reel 4 sides A & B
- Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
- Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation, conversations], 2018-03.004, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7297/X2BP01S8.