Subject: qs : serrano and hualapai

i ' m cross-posting this to linguist and endangered-languages - l , so apologies if anyone gets two of these . * * * * * question 1 : serrano language ( in san bernardino , california , united states ) i have been searching without luck for anything regarding the serrano people and especially the serrano language . i ' ve been able to find out that there remains * one * speaker of serrano left , but have had no luck so far in contacting her . you know how that goes : a knows b , who knows c , whose aunt ( d ) is the last speaker . ( these are reliable people , so i feel confident that d speaks serrano ; d 's sister , who also spoke serrano , died recently . ) i live about a mile from the san manuel indian reservation . the people there are serrano , but most just know they are " indian , " they do n't know what " tribe . " at the tribal offices , the woman i spoke to was unaware that there had ever been a serrano language . the information i have so far comes from anthropology / archaeology people and linguists working at the morongo indian reservation ( cahuilla , in banning , california , united states ) . i ' m afraid that serrano will be history within the next couple of years . does anyone know where i might find information on the serrano language or the people who once spoke it ? * * * * * question 2 : hypothetical situation d , above , is the last remaining speaker of serrano . her serrano would be an idiolect , her personal serrano language . suppose i was able to capture all of her knowledge of the language before she dies and write a descriptive grammar which was then used by others to learn serrano , and the language survived . ( would n't it be nice if things worked that way ! ) would the original idiolect then be classified as a language ? dialect ? still an idiolect ? if serrano would still be an idiolect , since my understanding of the language would most likely be slightly different than d 's , would this be * my * ideolect , or * her * idiolect ? * * * * * question 3 : hualapai language ( in peach springs , arizona , united states ) soon , i will be moving to peach springs , arizona , to the hualapai indian reservation . i will be living there for about three months . the hualapai language is still widely used in peach springs ( still a small group of people though ) , and i am going to be doing a very intensive , crash course in hualapai ( two hours per day , every day , with two native speakers , as well as basic communication with other people outside my " learning " time ) . by the end of my stay , i hope to be able to communicate with others , but i ' m pretty sure i won't completely master the language in that short amount of time . my " official job " is setting up and fixing the computer network for the school there , but i will also be developing some computer applications in hualapai ( as opposed to an english language interface like we are used to seeing ) . i will also be working with the two native speakers to produce a few books written in hualapai . in addition to these books , i am going to try to translate some public-domain children 's classics , for example _ the wonderful wizard of oz _ , to help me with learning the language , as well as providing great stories for the kids there . i also plan on writing a journal of my learning of the hualapai language ( adult l2 acquisition study ) . i am a self-taught , amateur linguist - - i . e . , i read a lot and pester people with questions . the only formal education i have is a 10 - week course in ( english ) language acquisition by children . my question is , is there any interest outside the hualapai reservation for the software , books , or journal ? the books will be printed and we will need to know how many copies to print ( i . e . , just for use at the school , or extras for other people , too ) . a new edition of the hualapai grammar has been finished ( the old edition is 8 - 1 / 2 x 11 , 575 pages ; i have n't seen the new one yet ) , but not gone to the printers yet , and a dictionary is in the making . the software and journal can be duplicated as needed , but the books can be printed with title vii funds ( government money ) if they are for use at the school only , but we will have to make other funding arrangements if the books are to be sold to people outside the school . is anyone interested ? * * * * * fyi i developed a font for typing in hualapai . it is * not * intended to be a general-purpose , one-size - fits-all font , it is intended to allow rapid typing in hualapai . the font is a times typeface . currently , i have truetype and postsrcipt versions for ibm-pc compatible computers , and in the near future , macintosh versions of truetype and postscript fonts will be available . the sil ( summer institute of linguistics ) and a couple of sites in germany have offered me space on their ftp computers for the font . any other ftp sites would be appreciated . when i get the fonts uploaded , i ' ll post addresses to the lists . the font is " postcard-ware , " i . e . , it is free , but you have to send us a postcard from your hometown . : - ) * * * * * as is usual , i will post summaries of answers to my questions to the list if there is sufficient interest . thanks for wading through this long-winded message . chuck coker cjcoker @ csupomona . edu ccoker @ igc . apc . org
