When they are not teaching classes at the U, Lyle Campbell and Mauricio Mixco are trying to rescue American Indian languages from extinction.
The Center for American Indian Languages in the College of Humanities focuses on saving and revitalizing original American Indian methods of speaking.
Professor Mixco explained at an open house Friday night that vanishing languages are especially alarming because when a language disappears, the whole culture surrounding it is lost as well.
"A native community's sense of loss is not just in the language but in the culture reflected in the language," he said. "We want to create grammars and dictionaries, but more importantly we want a collection of oral tradition-folklore, stories and knowledge."
"Most of the wisdom in the world is encoded in languages," said Campbell, the director of CAIL.
"When a language becomes extinct, we lose an immeasurable amount of information that would be valuable for the world."
As an example, Campbell said nearly 75 percent of the plant-based pharmaceuticals originated through cures known by American Indians. Most of the time, this type of knowledge disappears when a language is lost.
"Our particular focus is those languages that may not be around in a couple of decades," Campbell said. "These are extremely threatened languages; there are only a tiny number of speakers for each one."
Because of this, CAIL has a sense of urgency and realizes it may be fighting a battle that cannot be won.
"Many languages nearly died, and nobody cared for a long time," Campbell said. "Now there are movements to teach and learn languages."
Wilson Silva, a graduate student studying theoretical linguistics, volunteers much of his time with the center working on indigenous Amazonian languages, particularly the language of Tievna.
Silva looks for vowel and consonant patterns by using recorders and acoustical analyzers. He uses tone and amplitude to analyze the language, eventually compiling dictionaries and grammar books.
"I am planning on going to these communities next summer," Silva said. "I hope to give feedback on what I am doing and to give training in linguistics."
CAIL functions through research grants from the university, the National Science Foundation and much volunteer effort, Campbell said.
The staff at CAIL is currently working on 11 American Indian languages, but hopes to expand.
"There are no other centers like us that are dedicated (to expanding) globally," Campbell said.
Zeb Pischnotte, a graduate student in linguistics, transferred from the University of Alaska to become a part of CAIL. He thinks the center could someday grow to encompass all South American languages.
"There is far more that we can do. We are encouraging a new generation to take over what we are doing," Campbell said.
"We also encourage other people to get involved, especially Native Americans, because they have a stake in what we are doing."
j.layton@chronicle.utah.edu
