 Radio Script 2000 __________________ Dictionary Helps Preserve Language
STORY: For decades, Jules Jetté's seven-volume, handwritten dictionary of nearly 9,000 Koyukon Athabaskan words languished in the archives of Gonzaga University in Washington State. Then in the early 1970s, Jetté's manuscript came to the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Alaska Native Language Center. Over the next 25 years, Koyukon native Eliza Jones transcribed the beautifully written text into the first complete dictionary of the Koyukon language. JONES: "One of my first duties was to go through this whole manuscript. It's close to 1,000 pages, and it took me many, many years to do that, to go over and re-transcribe his dictionary entries. The next step was to reorganize it. A lot of people worked on it and it took many years to do." Jones and her colleagues at the native language center were able to transcribe about 95 percent of Jetté's original manuscript. Although a fluent Koyukon speaker, Jones sometimes ran into a word she didn't know. Sometimes she needed help getting the dialect just right. When these problems occurred, she asked Koyukon elders for help. JONES: "I learned so much. It was a great learning experience. I became involved with genealogy, native place names and the intricate grammar of the language. I had to study the grammar in order to organize the dictionary." About 1,000 copies of the new dictionary came off the presses recently, according to editor Tom Alton. ALTON: "It's one volume, about 1,220 pages. It has about 8,800 vocabulary items, and something like 17,500 example sentences, many of those written by Eliza, as well as descriptive comments by Eliza and Jetté. All of those are annotated, telling something of the customs and life ways of the Koyukon." Eliza Jones worked on Jetté's manuscript for more than 25 years. Throughout the project, she said she just knew it would be finished eventually. JONES: "I never thought about giving it up. I mean, there were times when I was frustrated. Because we did it as a team, with different linguists. We didn't always see eye to eye. We had fights, but I'm just so fascinated by working with the elders and with learning and I guess that's why I did it." The Koyukon language is difficult to master. There are numerous words and word variations, as well as a complex system of spelling and grammar. For example, Jones says that as with other northern native languages, there are several words for snow—each describes a specific kind of snow. The language also contains numerous verbs. JONES: "In telling stories, we have so many different verbs to be very precise about the action that's taking place in the story. When you translate it into English, it comes out flat because the English language doesn't have as intricate small meanings, so things get lost in the translation." Although a dictionary, Eliza Jones says it's much more than a collection of words. It's a treasury of knowledge and native culture that's rapidly being lost to modern western society. Jones hopes her dictionary will endure as a tribute to her culture. JONES: "What this dictionary has done is record a lot of ethnographic information that can be used by our people, our grandchildren, for all time, I hope. It talks about our worldview and Native beliefs. It can be used for so many different things." Of the roughly 35 Athabaskan languages spoken in North America, Tom Alton says eleven of them are spoken only in Interior Alaska and far Western Canada. The Alaska Native Language Center has dictionaries—either completed or in the works—for these languages as well. OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.
Audio version and related websites Thanks to the following individuals for help preparing this script: Tom Alton, Editor Eliza Jones
Arctic Science Journeys is a radio service highlighting science, culture, and the environment of the circumpolar north. Produced by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
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