Friday, March 28, 2008

Interesting News from Sandi Dubowski. on the film Jihad for Love.

Another thing arrived in the mail - an article "My Close Application to the Language" in BC Studies on William Henry Collison (Author of In the Wake of the War Canoe - an amazing book) and Nineteenth Century Haida Linguistics, by Marcus Tomalin. It looks as if it will be very interesting reading.

I beg to enclose a specimen of the two languages Hydah and Tsimshean in which you will see the complete difference in construction, sound, &c. As I am of opinion that the Hydah's are of Chinese or Japanese origin or possibly indirect[ly?] connected with the Ainos of Japan (though from illustrations which lately appeared in the The Gleaner of those people I am led to doubt it) I would like to pursue some work bearing upon the language and customs of those Races in order to ascertain more clearly.
He goes on to present Collison's analysis of the Lord's prayer in the two languages Hydah (Haida) and Sm'algyax (Coast Tsimshian). I will blog more when this percolates to the top of my pile of books - including so many... and when my wife has finished it - for she too will want to read the details of her daughter's husband's work.

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