Un saludo desde Iquitos! I'm here - briefly and unexpectedly - because
of some (net positive) changes to the program of the congress of the
Máíhuna indigenous federation, which took place yesterday and today.
Our participation in the congress was short and sweet: Lev and Chris
stood up, gave an update on the project's overall work, and introduced
me and my project in Estrecho. I gave a very short speech in Máíh+ki,
repeated myself in Spanish, and then sat down. Afterward I was able to
meet some speakers from the community of Tótóya, which is near
Estrecho, and talk to them about the possibility of working with me in
September and later. My Máíh+ki has improved to the point where I can
converse if everyone involved speaks relatively slowly and clearly, so
I was able to give those speakers some concrete evidence that I really
want to learn their language -- as I said several times, "jana ák+j+ki
j+kamáyi íko ñáméyí, máíj+ki j+kayi íko óíyí" ("now I don't want to
speak Spanish, I want to speak Máíh+ki").
Now, we're in the city for two days to take care of some logistical
matters, and then it's back to Nueva Vida for the speakers' workshop
and the second half of the field season. During that time I'll be
wrapping up the work that I've been doing on Western dialect texts
over the last month, tutoring writing and so on in the workshop, and -
most exciting! - working with a Northern dialect speaker who will be
at our field site starting tomorrow through at least August 6. I'll be
back to internet access again on August 16, and ciao (or, chíbayi)
until then!
No comments:
Post a Comment