In July, about 20 7- and 8-year-olds will gather at a summer camp in the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, in Northern California. They will sing songs, put on puppet shows and play games.
And there will be one special rule: No English. That’s because this five-day summer camp is held almost entirely in Hupa, the native language of the roughly 4,000-member Hoopa Valley Tribe that mostly lives in that part of the state.
For decades, native speakers of Hupa, also known as na:tinixwe mixine:whe, have dwindled.Only about 20 people are fluent enough today to teach the language and pass it on, tribe members estimate. The camp is a bet that immersion at a young age can help change that. “That’s always the goal,” said Sara Chase, a member of the tribe who organized the camp with the Hoopa Tribal Education Association. “How do you create new speakers?”
As the number of languages spoken globally is in steep decline, it’s a goal shared by an increasing number of indigenous communities seeking to maintain a core part of their culture, inextricably tied to their history and way of life. “We are facing a really interesting chapter of human history where people are going against the tide to keep their language alive or bring back languages that are dormant,” said Gabriela Pérez Báez, a professor of linguistics at the University of Oregon.
--Source: Bloomberg
7月，大约20个7至8岁的孩子将聚集在北加利福尼亚州胡帕谷印第安人居留地的一个夏令营。他们将唱歌、演木偶剧、做游戏。
而且将会有一条特殊营规：不讲英语。这是因为这个为期5天的夏令营活动几乎完全在胡帕举行，而约4000名讲部落语言的部落成员，大多居住在该州那一区域。
胡帕语也被称为“Na:tinixwe:-Mixine”，几十年来，说本族语言的胡帕人数量越来越少。据部落成员估计，如今只有大约20人能流利使用、教授并传播这门语言。这次夏令营是一个大胆尝试，希望年轻人可以通过沉浸式学习掌握这门语言，改变当今现状。“如何培养新的语言使用者？这一直是我们的目标。”部落成员、与胡帕部落教育协会一同组织这个夏令营的Sara Chase说。
随着全球语言数量急剧减少，越来越多的土著社区目标都是希望保持其文化的核心部分，而这一部分与他们的历史和生活方式密不可分。俄勒冈大学语言学教授Pérez Báez说：“如今我们翻倒人类历史上的有趣一页，人们正逆流而上保持他们语言的生命力和活力，并试图唤醒那些沉睡中的语言。”
--文章来源：Bloomberg
《彭博商业周刊》
indigenous
adj. 本土的；土著的；
puppet show
n. 木偶剧
tribe
n. 部落；族；宗族；
fluent
adj. 流畅的，流利的；液态的；
immersion
n. 沉浸；陷入；专心
core
n. 核心；要点；果心；
inextricably
adv. 逃不掉地；解不开地；
dormant
adj. 休眠的；静止的；睡眠状态的；
We are facing a really interesting chapter of human history where people are going against the tide to keep their language alive or bring back languages that are dormant.
解析：
1. where引导的定语从句“where people are going against the tide to keep their language alive or bring back languages that are dormant”，修饰chapter；
2.or连接的并列结构，并列部分为“keep their language alive”与“bring back languages that are dormant”；
3.“bring back languages that are dormant”中又包含that引导的定语从句修饰language。
That’s because this five-day summer camp is held almost entirely in Hupa, the native language of the roughly 4,000-member Hoopa Valley Tribe that mostly lives in that part of the state.
解析：
1.后半句“the native language of the roughly 4,000-member Hoopa Valley Tribe that mostly lives in that part of the state. ”整个是Hupa的同位语从句；
2.同位语从句中包含一个定语从句“that part of the state”修饰4000人左右的胡帕谷部落。
Hupa，北美西北太平洋沿岸印第安人，居住在美国加利福尼亚州特里尼蒂(Trinity)河下游，操阿萨巴斯卡(Athabasca)语系的胡帕语，在文化上与尤罗克人 (Yurok)相似。胡帕人的村庄位于河岸，并由3种建筑物组成︰(1)家庭住房，由妇女居住或贮藏财物；(2)汗房，为半地下房屋，男人居住并进行汗浴；(3)月经期住室，专为妇女而建，结构较小。经济生活以猎麋鹿或捕鲑鱼或采集橡实为生。善於编筐，常将根、茎、叶的一部分编织於备好的嫩枝条上。财富用齿贝计算，齿贝大概是与尤罗克人贸易交换得来的；也以啄木鸟头顶皮计算财富。各村首领是最富有的人；其权力随其财产传於其子，但不论什麼人只要获得更多的财富，就可以取得首领的荣誉和权力。对个人的侮辱、伤害或杀害，通常以赔偿赎罪金(blood money)求得解决。宗教活动以朗诵巫术咒语为主。每年举行3次舞蹈以庆祝社区兴旺及春、秋节日。
■ 托福提分月计划课程（直播班）
■ SAT写作考前佛脚班（直播班）
■ 托福写作/SAT写作批改服务
*更多TOEFL丨SAT丨AP实用的提分秘籍和有趣好玩的视频课程，关注微信公众号"SATPEDIA"。
网友评论