NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN LANGUAGES RESOURCES

Alvin Fritz
University of Washington Libraries
September 7, 2005

This is a historical file as of 2005. Not updated.


MAJOR LANGUAGE REFERENCE WORKS

  • Endangered Languages on Film & Video

  • Ethnologue Languages of the World.
    note: geographic arrangement, a catalogue of more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries; available both in print and on the web
    SuzRef P 371 E83 1992

  • Handbook of North American Indians. William C. Sturtevant, general editor. v.4-15, v.17.
    Washington: Smithsonian Institution: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S.G.P.O., [1978-2004]
    vol. 17: Languages Ives Goddard, editor), 1996.
    A major work on Native North American Languages. Lengthy, signed, scholarly articles on:
    Description of the Native Languages of North America before Boas.
    Description of the Native Languages of North America: Boas and after.
    Language and the Culture History of North America.
    Borrowing.
    Dynamics of Linguistic Contact.
    Overview of General Characteristics.
    Native Writing Systems.
    Place-Names.
    Personal Names
    Ethnography of Speaking.
    Discourse.
    Nonspeech Communication Systems
    Classification of the Native Languages of North America.
    These articles are followed by lengthy descriptive Grammatical Sketches (including phonology, morphology and syntax) of 12 native languages including Central Alaskan Yupik, an Eskimoan language; Thompson, a Salishan language; Sahaptin, a Sahptian language.
    Additionally, there is a lengthy classication of the Native Languages of North America (with a map in the back pocket of the volume), a table of the status (number of speakers) of the languages as of 1995, a bibliography of sources by language, and a general bibliography; well-indexed.
    SuzRef, UglRef, BotRef, TacRef E77 .H25 v.17

    University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Northwest US Indigenous Language Holdings (partial listing)
    note: click on the link to a viewable and downloadable .xls file


    MAJOR INDEXES TO LINGUISTICS/LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP

  • ERIC 1966+
    note: consists of two files: the Resources in Education (RIE) file of document citations and abstracts of the Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) file of journal article citations and abstracts from over 750 professional journals; excellent index for studies on teaching and learning language. Online use restricted to UW computers.

  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts: LLBA. 1973+
    note: abstracts of the world's literature in linguistics & language-related research; abstracts of books, journal articles; book review listings; enhanced bibliographic citations of dissertations. The electronic version is restricted to UW computers.
    Previously entitled Language and Language Behavior Abstracts; electronic version covers 1973+; printed version, 1967+
    SuzRef Index/Abstracts P1 L53 1967+

  • MLA International Bibliography 1921/25+
    NY: Modern Language Association of America
    note: excellent index for both literature and linguistics
    note: The electronic version (restricted to UW users) covers 1963 to the present; the earlier printed volumes (1921-1940 and 1941-1963) are in Suzzallo Reference, PB 6 M6 and Z7006 M64, respectively.


    REFERENCE WORKS ON SPECIFIC LANGUAGES

    Books on specific languages usually have the name of the language as the first word of the subject heading followed by the term 'language,' for example:

    Haida language
    or
    Tlingit language

    Specific kinds of reference works are indicated in subject headings by the kind of reference work, such as dictionaries or grammars or texts. These are called form subdivisions and are sometimes plural in form, for example:

    Salish language -- texts
    This would find collections of writings (texts) in the Salish language. or
    Choctaw language -- dictionaries
    This would find dictionaries of the Choctaw language.
    A bilingual dictionary will list both languages, one on each side of the term 'dictionaries':
    Choctaw language -- Dictionaries -- English language

    A grammar of specific language would have the subdivision 'grammar', for example,
    Nez Perce language -- Grammar
    Works on a specific aspect of a language works much the same way, a study of verbs in Navajo would have the subject heading:
    Navajo language -- Verb


    U.S. DOCUMENTS ON THE WEB

    Native American Languages Act of 1990

    Native American Languages Act. Hearing....to Amend the Native American Languages Act to Provide for the Support of Native American Language Survival Schools.


    NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN REFERENCE RESOURCES