[PLUG-TALK] On language

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 18 Nov 2018 06:58:42 -0800 (PST)
Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> dijo:

>How about educating us about American Indian languages; origins,
>differences, geographic variations? 

First, I am not an expert on American Indian languages, but if you want
details I can recommend the Native American Center at PSU. The Pacific
Northwest had more languages per population unit than any other place
in North America. Most are now extinct ('sleeping'), but several are in
use and being revitalized. One of these is Chinuk Wawa, with classes
regularly taught at PSU. 

I must also mention that Jermayne Tuckta, a Native American, will be
teaching a class on Ichishkiin at the PSU Native American Center this
winter term. If you are 65 or better you can audit the class for free.
I should warn you, however, that all the Pacific NW languages are
highly polysynthetic, so if your languages include only analytic
languages like English or Chinese, learning one of these languages may
stretch your brain uncomfortably.