The objective of this project is to produce a dictionary of the Jicarilla Apache language. Jicarilla, an Eastern Apachean language, is spoken on the Jicarilla Apache reservation in northern New Mexico. Approximately 21% of the population is fluent in the language. Other Eastern Apache languages, Lipan and Plains Apache, are nearly extinct. To date, no large-scale dictionary or grammar has been produced for any of the Eastern Apachean languages.
The dictionary will consist of a single database, but different programming features will allow it to be printed out in many different formats. We intend to produce versions in two formats for this project period: 1) a linguist's version, in which 4,000 - 5,000 words (verb bases, nouns, adverbs, and particles) will be organized by root into approximately 1,000 entries in its Jicarilla-English section, and 2) a native speaker/learner's version organized by semantic field. Data will come both from direct elicitation and from recorded texts and conversation. The database will be available for creating dictionaries in other formats, e.g. a native-speaker version organized alphabetically by word-initial segment, a CD ROM version.
Participants on the project have been working as a team on language revitalization projects in the community, including a daycare immersion program. This project will complement the ongoing language work and will take advantage of an already-established team of Jicarilla Apache elder/educators and academic linguists who have been working together successfully for several years. The project also will bring an expert in Jicarilla morphosyntax for consultation on the grammatical analyses presented in the dictionaries and in the grammatical introductions.
This project represents a rare opportunity to make language documentation efforts a major part of an already existing language revitalization program. It will make invaluable data available for comparative and historical linguistic research on the Athabaskan language family as well as providing information for the study of polysynthetic languages in general. It combines this benefit for academic scholars with a program designed to empower a Native American community in their desire to revitalize their endangered language.
