Hiaki Grammar: Documentation, Analysis and Teaching

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Hiaki (also known as "Yaqui" and "Yoeme") is an endangered Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Southern Arizona and in Sonora Mexico. The Arizona dialect of Hiaki is moribund; its 70-80 native speakers are all fifty years of age or older, and it is not being learned as a first language. Consequently, it is very close to extinction in the United States. The present project will provide essential documentation of this severely endangered language. Working with fluent native speakers of the language and with the tribal Language Development program, this project will (a) provide the first in-depth description and analysis of three unusual grammatical processes, (b) produce a draft of a teaching grammar of Hiaki, (c) create a website to provide access to a database of glossed and translated Hiaki for tribal members and tribe-approved academics, and (d) provide linguistic training for two graduate students, one of whom is a tribal member with a deep commitment to his heritage language.In addition to the goal of discovering more about Hiaki grammar, a major emphasis of this project is to create grammatical descriptions of the language that are useful and accessible to Hiaki language teachers and learners. The teaching grammar of Hiaki will include texts and exercises relevant to Hiaki culture, Hiaki myths and stories and historical events, and content will be ordered so that the progression of information is correlated with the yearly cycle of the complex Hiaki cultural calendar. The online database of Hiaki text and translations will feature password-protected access. In collaboration with the tribe, we will negotiate clearly defined and appropriate levels of access for Hiaki language learners and academics. Finally, the project provides support and training for a Hiaki graduate student enrolled in the Native American Linguistics Masters (NAMA) program at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. The student's ultimate goal is the revitalization of Hiaki in Arizona, and he has dedicated the last few years of his life to getting the training necessary to be a leader in that effort.