A gift from a Scottish cousin
This is a unique book, a gift of a Scot to the Hlingit and the Americas. The Scot has been known as cousin to the American Indian in trading post times. There’s good reason for the tradition; Scottish language unravels the real function of Hlingit word particles. Using a traditional story of the Hlingit (Tlingit) people of Alaska, the hard-to-learn words made up of many particles of grammar (suffixes, infixes and prefixes) and word roots become clear as day. It’s a revolution, and just in time for 2012 and the revitalizing of the American social economy!
All the words appear in the book’s own dictionary with Scottish Gàidhlig word histories. For the historical link, we have to go back to Neandertal times, in fact we do go back to Neandertal. It’s an unexpected twist to the human story, but so was the news last year (May 2010) that most of us actually have some Neandertal genes.
I am also one of the people who has used the name ‘Neandertal’ as a byword for stupidity and backwardness; even now the habit and temptation is there. But we should look deep into our pride and see, if not the cause of pride, at least the reality.
As a traditional Scottish druidh, I would like to extend the love of my people to the Hingit nation, and our goodwill for the safe preservation of your language, just as we Scots ourselves strive for our own language preservation.
Who appears in the story: there is the girl who becomes a woman, shape-changer bear and the bear clan, the girl’s family, her husbands who are sunbeams, her son who is also like a sunbeam (and who becomes a man), the girl her son marries, a cannibal, slaves, shape-changer canoes, and a grandmother mouse. And there are berries.
How to learn a Native American language
For the Hlingit language learner, the book offers a much easier way to learn the grammar. Observe the grammar in the story, see the breakdown of complex word parts made clear and sensible according to a native perspective. I am an outsider, but I have the wisdom to know this. Partly because I’m coming at it from a more ancient viewpoint than anyone else. That’s my mode of operation.
Enjoyment and inspiration will empower you to master this language, and gain a new pride in your country. Take the Native American people to your heart, and move forward into the new millennium! They are your people. People of differing Native American nations will find it much easier to connect with one another through this knowledge, like a kind of spirit medicine. Language improves your people skills!
You will know about the kind of language Hlingit is, tonal and agglutinative, and what that means. It’s not too hard to read once you get the basics. The language has a high tone, it’s a tonal language. The words are made up of parts, and you learn how the word particles fit together in the words. Getting the meaning and use of the word particles is much easier with the ‘Hlingit Word Encyclopedia’. That is the part of the language that is the most challenging, for both learners and teachers. So it’s really important to have this resource for making it easier.
You can also learn by listening. There is a story CD that comes free with the book, fitted into the back cover. Pronunciation is explained simply, and it’s much easier to get the pronunciation with the word histories there to help. You will get the Hlingit in two spelling formats, the linguists’ phonetic one that I prefer, and the common spelling used today. You also get word-for-word translations along with the story, so you can absorb how people think.
The book contains a story (185 sentences long) in Hlingit and English, with its own dictionary, and with a lot of background information, all in one book, 630+ pages.
The goal is to learn by being entertained, but you can also choose the goal to become the entertainer, and master the telling of the story. In this way, you become more aware and more familiar.
The reading level, who can use this book
I have made this book to suit teenage readers. The story is a coming of age story, as I see it. That means, when a person is leaving childhood and becoming an adult, the story can help prepare them for the new thinking of an adult. Of course, for adults, it just means it’s an easy reading level. But the ideas are deep and profound, and the knowledge is full of science and reason. Younger children can use the story and dictionary, but the background information may be hard for them, at least parts of it.
Coloring book
At first I thought I’d write this book for children, as a coloring book. So there are drawings to illustrate the story. Now I have prepared a spinoff coloring book for children, with the drawings enlarged. Each page has the sentences that go with the picture, so they can begin to get a little grounding in the language, and can continue on in high school or middle school to develop their knowledge with the full book. Teachers could develop their own curriculum for little kids; they could use the ‘Hlingit Word Encyclopedia’ themselves while the children use the coloring book. But as of August 2011 it’s not published yet. I ran out of funds for producing it, for the moment. The coloring book is just 32 pages, and very affordable for classes. It contains sentences to match the pictures, but not the whole story. I will try to publish it soon, you may check with the distributor.
'The Origin of Copper'
The story of copper is a story for the special geography of the Americas. It is full of culture, and it speaks to the whole world of cultures, because use of copper was a turning point in world history. Copper was essential to the alchemist because it was also a turning point in evolution, in the evolution of blood, the organic processing of oxygen for breathing, in the evolution of life on earth.
The study of copper can teach us about mountains, monuments, respect and competition. So this particular story was chosen for the conveying of ancient language history and its meaning today for good reasons. This story was given to me in a Hlingit stories book that I received from a descendant of Pocahontas, and of another native princess, Kittemagund. It gives us a very holistic education. It can stand at the center of a whole lesson plan curriculum.
The story leads to Alaskana, knowledge of Alaska and its landscape (eg. Copper Basin, Copper River and wetlands, copper artefacts and sources for copper), also presented in the book.
Shape is a foundation subject
The background section to ‘The Origin of Copper’ has information that can help students / readers develop an awareness of shapes, in support of science, math and cultural study. Particular shapes occurring in the background information are spiral, pyramid, Maya corn kernel writing shape, mouth and throat shapes (in biology and in phonetic writing), empty square (or cube) dolmen shape, square, circle and quartered circle, rainbow arc and mountain range, polarities, turtle shape, bee shape, cuneiform shape.
Origin of the story
In 1904, this traditional story ‘The Origin of Copper’ was told by a man of the Box House, and that man’s great great nephew sent me a photo of his father. I have dedicated the ‘Hlingit Word Encyclopedia’ to the storyteller’s great nephew, the late Herman Kitka Sr. The linguist John Reed Swanton recorded the story and wrote it out lovingly. I got a photo of him from his granddaughter, and the book is also dedicated to him.
This story has kind of entered the public domain to a fairly great extent, but generally speaking the stories are subject to ownership and protection. When this story is told, the Hlingit words should be kept to the traditional telling. This is a cultural practice which preserves the poetry of the story.
Peace through language sharing
You can learn how Hlingit relates to different Native American languages. On a chart of the words for ‘water’ in many different Native American languages (of North, South and Central America), you can see how, although they are different from one another, they all hold some similarity to various Scottish Gàidhlig words for ‘water’. Scottish Gàidhlig must be very ancient, holding the key to linguistics for some language famlies.
You will see the Native American place among world languages, its possible world influence (much greater than previously understood). Broad knowledge and new research on human language families has been distilled down to simple proof. Who is modern man, really? Why do we speak different languages? History has never been more clear and orderly. We are updating our knowledge of the Old World in preparation for a new era of understanding between Old World and New.
From the Sumerian inventors to the grand Polynesian navigators, the blonde tartan-wearing Tocharians of Western China to the marauding Huns, the Roma gypsies to the mountain-dwelling Basque. The Phoenician sea traders, the Georgians of 1.7 million years’ Homo erectus heritage. The mysterious gold-loving Saka and their role in the modern world. The ‘Great Mountain’ Sumeru culture that unites Southern Asia and East Africa. The Hittites and why they are important in language science, in old and new ways.
This is new and better knowledge of human language, through a Celtic linguistic perspective coming into its own to contribute to the world. Know what gendered language is, and see its place in a new light in world history. The role of Gaul (France, Spain and also Italy) in early human development. Own your history as a human being, and see the world through fresh eyes. The time has come for a revolution in understanding!
Discover also the interesting link I have explored between Han of Alaska-Yukon and Han of Asia. What no one knew about the structure of Chinese language. Why language changes created turmoil in human history, and how we can achieve healing at last.
A new unity for us, on the way to becoming at one with the land
Through this book, a new unity of First Nations people is possible. For those who love the land and its indigenous people, a new productiveness can emerge to heal the people and the land. It also needs a reversal of GM, and a knowledge of nightshades for eco-wisdom. The languages, the people and the land unite in a shared ecology, and the ecosystem must be understood as the medicine man understands it. Science must serve honesty before greed.
This is where civil rights needs to go. Learn a Native American language. Once we discover our duty, we can act in the world with full assurance. The local native language will be best, but Hlingit also is a good start, and its resources in ‘Hlingit Word Encyclopedia’ can help open up other local language preservation.
If you’re Hlingit, it’s your language, you can save it by understanding it well. Let it heal your heart. Lighten the heart of some dear elders with the sweet sound of their spoken language.
Maya and 2012
My vision of the spiritual gifts of 52 First Nations
Coming of Age
Han connections
Pilgrims
Neandertal and the Cookie Monster
Browse at Google Books
The iodine theory of evolution
Nightshades |
