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    • 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 – 13

    • Item identifier: 2018-03.001
    • Date: Aug 1965
    • Contributors: Christine George (consultant); Veronica Johnson (consultant); Lawrence Joseph (consultant, translator); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Languages: Atorai (aox); Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.001_A begins with Veronica Johnson telling a story in Wapishana about how she heard of a murder; at 3'12" it continues with Christine George providing Atorai vocabulary with the assistance of Wapishana-speaking translator Lawrence Joseph. The vocabulary was "first given" on August 4, 1965, and appears to correspond to unknown notebook pages abbreviated "4/8-1-14." File 2018-03.001_B begins with Christine George providing Atorai vocabulary in the same format, here the date of recording indicated as August 12, 1965. At 26'30" G.K. Noble begins checking Wapishana vocabulary with Lawrence Joseph; Noble attempts to pronounce several tokens himself and Joseph provides additional explanation for some terms. The first Atorai segment appears to correspond to to unknown notebook pages abbreviated "5/8-14," with the final segment corresponding to "25/6-2&3."
    • Availability: Online access
    • Extent: 1 reel
    • Catalog history: Reel 1 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Story and lexical elicitation], 2018-03.001, 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/X2QZ2906.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.002
    • Date: Jun 1965 to Aug 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.002_A begins with G.K. Noble conducting sentence elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph, originally written down on June 26, 1965, e.g., "How do you say [X]?" At 14'02" Noble begins checking Wapishana lexical data published in William Farabee's (1918) publication, covering the range of the alphabet summarized as "balata" (a sort of latex) to "bruise." Possible correspondences to unknown notebooks are summarized as "26/6 1-4: 23/7." There are explanations of variation, that Farabee was at times incorrect, etc. File 2018-03.002_B continues with Noble's checking of Farabee's data, as recorded on July 24, 1965, beginning with "bruise." At 5'16" Noble carries out elicitation on "Wapishana nouns which change in the possessed form from that in the unpossessed form." He indicates that "words come largely from the notes taken on the 23rd of July." The latter includes possessive forms like "owner of [X]." Possible correspondences to notebooks are summarized as "continues to call on 24/7; possessive forms 23/7 to 25/7; notes of 17/8."
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 2 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Sentence, lexical, and paradigm elicitation], 2018-03.002, 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/X2M61J8S.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.003
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant, translator); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.003_A file begins with G.K. Noble working with Lawrence Joseph targeting lexical items with "exotic phones," as he describes them in metadata written on the original reel boxes. Retroflex phones are especially targeted, and Noble asks for Joseph's judgments as to the similarity between phones in different lexical items. They later transition into basic sentence elicitation. Possible correspondence with unknown recordings are summarized as "28/6-1 > 28/6-2." File 2018-03.003_B begins with the same configuration as the beginning of 2018-03.003_B. At 5'35" Noble inquires about terms for constellations. At 7'15" Joseph gives procedural text in Wapishana describing "Wapishana working together" (per metadata written on the reel box), with possible correspondence to unknown notes summarized as "29/0-1 > 30/6-2." At 10'15" Noble records "school girls" (see above) asking them for translations of basic phrases; one of them is Lawrence Joseph's cousin, name heard as Alem (possible notebook correspondences being "30/6-2>3"). At 14'58" Joseph speaks with a girl ("30/6-6"). In what follows, there are three breaks in the recording at 17'05", 18'33", and 19'51". According to metadata written on the reel box, this should correspond to four staged texts, "as in a store," "on hunting," "on Doris et al.," "on going to his field." (The possible notebook correspondences to these four segments are, respectively, "30/6-8," "2/7:2-4," "2/7-5," "3/7:1-4.") At 21'29" the date of recording is indicated as "Saturday afternoon, July 3rd," and sentence elicitation follows ("3/7-5").
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 3 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical and sentence elicitation, cultural description, conversations, staged texts], 2018-03.003, 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/X2GF0SHM.
    • 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.
    • 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: 2018-03.006
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.006_A begins with Lawrence Joseph reading notes on lexical elicitation taken on July 14, 1965, with an English term followed by a Wapishana one; there is occasional additional explanation of terms. At 20'45" English music plays in the background, with G.K. Noble's voice coming through at times. File 2018-03.006_B begins with Noble indicating that it is a continuation of "our session of July 14," and he goes on to carry out lexical elicitation of Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 6 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation, party], 2018-03.006, 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/X23777PD.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.007
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant, translator); James Park (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.007_A begins with a man, possibly James Park, whose name is written on the box containing the original reel, speaking in Wapishana to a crowd, followed by other unknown male voices; at 29'21" G.K. Noble speaks to a child, asking, for example, "What's your name?" File 2018-03.007_B begins similarly, with an unknown male speaker, in story-like fashion, with others present. At 09'53" Lawrence Joseph carries out lexical elicitation with English and Wapishana terms on an unkown language (perhaps Cariban). At 18'55" Noble carries out lexical elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph, based on notes from July 23 and 24, 1965. The notes are based on William Farabee's (1918) publication.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 7 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Monologic texts, conversations, lexical elicitation], 2018-03.007, 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/X2ZG6R7K.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.008
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.008_A begins with Lawrence Joseph checking the Wapishana lexical data in William Farabee's (1918) publication, covering the range of the alphabet summarized as "c-fox." He reads the English and then provides the Wapishana form, indicating whether Farabee was correct. File 2018-03.008_B continues with the same configuration and alphabet range "fox-l."
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 8 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation], 2018-03.008, 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/X2TQ60JP.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.009
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Language: Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.009_A begins with Lawrence Joseph checking the Wapishana lexical data in William Farabee's (1918) publication, covering the range of the alphabet beginning with <m>. He reads the English and then provides the Wapishana form, indicating whether Farabee was correct. File 2018-03.008_B continues with the same configuration, but is interrupted by a rainstorm beginning at 08'02" and continuing until 23'58". This alphabet range appears to correspond to unknown notes that end on July 25, 1965.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 9 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation], 2018-03.009, 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/X2PZ57TZ.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.010
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Christine George (consultant); Lawrence Joseph (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Languages: Atorai (aox); Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.010_A begins with Lawrence Joseph checking the Wapishana lexical data in William Farabee's (1918) publication, covering the range of the alphabet summarized as "stout-wash." He reads the English and then provides the Wapishana form, indicating whether Farabee was correct. File 2018-03.008_B continues with the same configuration and alphabet range "wash-z." (This alphabet range appears to correspond to unknown notes that end on July 27, 1965.) At 17'05" Lawrence Joseph carries out lexical elicitation on Atorai with Christine George, providing English and then Wapishana terms.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 10 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation], 2018-03.010, 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/X2K64H2H.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.011
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Christine George (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Lawrence Joseph (translator); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Languages: Atorai (aox); Macushi (mbc); Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.011_A begins with lexical elicitation on Atorai, spoken by Christine George, and based on Wapishana translation by Lawrence Joseph; at 32'02" a child sings in English. File 2018-03.011_B continuation of Atorai lexical elicitation as configured in 2018-03.011_A, then at 15'48" continues with Atorai words spoken by Felix Xavier. At 18'45" a man (seemingly Felix Xavier) speaks in what is probably Wapishana, and others around him understand. At 24'30" Lawrence Joseph speaks in English, providing Wapishana translation for lexical elicitation with an unknown speaker of Macushi (an unrelated Cariban language), based on a publication by the German ethnographer Theodor Koch-Grünberg. At 32'10" Christine George speaks briefly in an undetermined language.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 11 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation, song, conversations], 2018-03.011, 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/X2FF3RBS.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.012
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Christine Xavier (consultant); Felix Xavier (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Lawrence Joseph (translator); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Languages: Atorai (aox); Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.012_A begins with comparative Wapishana-Atorai vocabulary with Felix Xavier and an unknown woman (probably his wife) speaking Atorai and Lawrence Joseph speaking Wapishana. At 17'07" there is a monologic text given by an unknown male speaker, who indicates that he is the youngest son of the Tushau. At 18'15" Christine Xavier speaks in Wapishana, with Lawrence Joseph and at least one other man speaking in Wapishana in the background. At 19'00" Noble reads out a list of Atorai words collected on August 4 and 5, with English translation, asking Felix Xavier to repeat them; the same unknown woman is in the background. File 2018-03.012_B continues with the same configuration as the end of 2018-03.012_A.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Catalog history: Reel 12 sides A & B
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation, monologic text], 2018-03.012, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25071.
    • Item identifier: 2018-03.013
    • Date: 1965
    • Contributors: Christine George (consultant); Veronica Johnson (consultant); Felix Xavier (consultant); Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Jr. (researcher); Lawrence Joseph (translator); Manjari Ohala (donor)
    • Languages: Atorai (aox); Wapishana (wap)
    • Place: Rupununi River, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
    • Description: File 2018-03.13_A begins with G.K. Noble checking previously collected Atorai lexical data with Felix Xavier. At 03'51" Christine George gives a text in what seems to be Atorai, given the pace of her speaking. At 06'02" Noble conducts lexical elicitation on Wapishana with Lawrence Joseph, reading aloud English terms that were reviewed first on August 4 & 5, 1965. File 2018-03.013_B continues with the same configuration as the end of 2018-03.013_A. At 07'09" Lawrence Joseph reviews Wapishana vocabulary with Veronica Johnson, reading aloud an English term, then giving the Wapishana, with her repeating the Wapishana term. Noble seems to be targeting possible differences in pronunciation between the two speakers. From 30'00" to the end (near) minimal pairs seem to be targeted.
    • Availability: Online access
    • Collection: Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana
    • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
    • Suggested citation: [Lexical elicitation, monologic text], 2018-03.013, in "Linguistic Materials on Indigenous Languages of Guyana", California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25073.