Saving Seneca

Dear Fellow Earthlings, Now that we have hand held devices, we should take advantage of the situation to supply speakers of endangered languages (such as Seneca or Irish Gaelic) with modules that they can use to make conversation with the devices. As the devices become sophisticated (accumulating data to facilitate the development of the relevant artificial intelligence), users will find it easier to eschew or at least reduce the amount of time, energy, and gray matter they use for video games, music, and news in favor of working with capsulized constituents of languages that need revitalization. For example, such useful beginning-level modules of the Seneca language as "eskOge'ai" meaning "See you again." can, as a module, link the users of mobile devices to artifcial intelligence (AI) software that will help Seneca learners develop the speech motor skills they need to pronounce "akso:d " ("grandmother") properly. The devices can be programmed so that they can coach app users by providing feedback and explanations. One such explanation would surely be that the final "d" of the word "akso:d " is rather a t/d amalgam that does not exist in such languages as English, Chinese, or Portuguese, but which is the sole tongue tip phoneme in Seneca. An English place name of the area where the Seneca nation is seeking to preserve itself is the town of Cattaraugus (kae du Ra gus in English), pronounced ga' dA ges, meaning "smelly banks" in Seneca. A module would not only coach the mobile device user on how to pronounce this place name, but would also note that the ges portion of ga' dA ges sounds like a blend of the English "e" as in "met" and "i" as in "meet" phonemes. The mix of sensory stimulation and quick, short explanations would expedite the device users' learning and maintain their interest levels. "do:ges" , a Seneca word that means "That's so." or "That's right'" will be easily internalized by a mobile device app user if it can let the user know if kerm pronunciation effort is successful. Among other things, the app would be capable of pointing out that although it might seem to the learner that the first syllable receives more stress in the word "do:ges" than it does on the second, the first syllable receives only more length, but that its level of stress is equal to that of the stress on the vowel of the second syllable. Even the Seneca way of thinking can be disseminated using modules for apps. The Seneca word Ogwei'Oweh refers to "the native people"/"all indigenous people" anywhere on Earth, irrespective of race or length of time a given people have inhabited a given area. Therefore, the longtime inhabitants of central Africa's jungles (who have inhabited the region for thousands of years) are Ogwei'Oweh-- but so also are the relatively recent arrivals (some 200 years ago) of Anglo-Saxon people to the previously uninhabited Falkland Islands referred to as Ogwei'Oweh! Finally, as the words begin to find the proper places in the developing Seneca allophonome of the modern day Seneca people (whose phonome at present has become the American English phonome) the Seneca will hopefully begin to eschew onega' (spirits or alcohol or rum or liquor) in favor of oneganos "water" as the beverage of choice -- which will contribute to the health and continuity of the Seneca nation. This would please the Seneca prophet Skanyodayo: (Handsome Lake) greatly, for he saw how the drinking of alcoholic spirits (brought to the Americas by Europeans) by his people was tearing away at the fabric of their culture. Of importance here is the link between the production and reception of the proper phonemes for the Seneca language with the semantics -- and culture of the Seneca people. Steve Walker (HadEnOshyonis) Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

コメントする

リブログする

EarthSaver

Steve Walker

Saving Seneca