9409129 This project is undertaken in conjunction with the linguistic and cultural preservation effort of two Native American tribes -- the Smith River Rancheria of Northern California (Tolowa), and the Siletz of Western Oregon (Tututni). The language of these two kin tribes is on the verge of extinction. We will provide the first systematic description of the Tolowa-Tututni language, including dictionary, reference grammar and story collection. As part of the project, we will provide graduate linguistics training to one tribal member from the Smith River Rancheria (Tolowa). This training will enable him to serve both reservations in their language and culture preservation and education programs. A reliable lexical and grammatical description of Tolowa will be very useful to comparative Athabaskan linguists and ethnographers. It will also be useful for our general understanding of the balance between natural/internal linguistic change ('drift') and contact induced change.
