Our catch phrase is on its way.
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
As “G” and I continue to work frantically to develop the first 10 Gaënö’ (known as “Jingles” in English and as “Les Sonorettes”* in French), we are running into deep spiritual, practical, and emotional issues. For one thing, since I am not Seneca I refrain from touching on the spiritual importance of preserving the Seneca language. Even so, spiritual aspects of the Seneca culture are definitely “in the air” as “G” and I work – and I must cultivate as much sensitivity as I can in dealing with them. The Seneca people are not Europeans and – as such – have some ways of thinking that I do not yet understand very well. What complicates the picture is that the Seneca are living inside North America, where European culture has long been dominant. Thus, I must decide how deeply I can go into the phonology of Seneca in order to obtain a set of Seneca Jingles that are adequate for fulfilling the immediate needs of the Seneca community and are, at the same time, within the realm of feasibility. This would be similar to deciding whether it is best to perform a heart transplant on an aged patient or to – less intrusively – perform a surgical procedure to increase the dwindling functional capacity of kerm aged heart. The main thing that I must do now is to get the Senea people – with all possible haste – interested in practicing their custom made Jingles.
As for the emotional issues, they pop up because both “G” and I are human beings – and both of us care about the future of the Seneca civilization. We both became emotional as I explained that as a non-Seneca I felt the need to refrain from pushing any agendas without first checking with “G”. She truly felt my sincerity, but her emotions were there – and I feel the need to go more gently and sensitively into our project than I gave gone so far…
By the way, from this month onward I will be sending out 3 of my monthly blogs in a bilingual package of English and French – and today is the first.
* The term I use for the French language “Jingles” is “Les Sonorettes”, a word that I have coined – and which, translated into English, can be expressed using the phrase “the French language Jingles”.
For everyone’s information, I received formal training in applied linguistics at Michigan State University in the United States, earning an M.A. degree in 1977. During the 36 years since then, I have worked extensively designing and constructing sound systems (on an individual basis) for thousands of clients, helping them to achieve their target language or target dialect phonological goals.
Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.