teardrop in the turquoise sea
It turns out I'm at an interesting nexus point. I happened to be around SIUC a few years back when the Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages was moved to Ohio State, and its files downloaded off the web and transferred, by disk I believe. A few years later SIUC wanted to delete the account as inactive and we let it- little did we know that those files did not reappear on any web and are probably collecting dust somewhere- Ohio State's link for them comes up empty. We're on a search for them, and they may turn up- but-In the meantime, I've gotten a request for an old file on St. Lucian French Creole (Ed Ford and Leonie St. Juste-Jean), and, since I happen to know about the wayback machine, was able to find at least an image of the file. Turns out this link, the wayback's record of our old page, leads you to a subterranean archival record of all these files- obscure Caribbean pidgin language and other pidgin language reports, sometimes along with pictures and ethnography- projects of Linguistics students, mostly, saved by the wayback archive.
If those files never turn up (I am, as we speak, returning to many other responsibilities- as Ling-dep't webmaster, I'm really just a temp) - then this will be as close as we get. It's kind of a bureau dresser link into another world- but, I'd like to point out, the web is more and more important, not less & less. These small languages may have here their first recorded archiving- from the old times- a historical record that should not be forgotten, nor misplaced. I'm sorry to have ever been aware that they were to be erased- and to have done nothing about it at the time. Now I'm looking for someone to pick up the ball- collect them, brush the html dust off of them, put them someplace safe- in short, value them for the resource that they are. Takers?
Here's one on Tok Pisin, "The National Language of Papua New Guinea" (E. Etepa).
And another one does Mauritian Creole (B. Morrissey).
Finally, Shelta-Gammon (H. Tondini).
Labels: endangered languages, jpcl, language, linguistics, siuc
posted by tom @ 9:45 PM
1 Comments:
Hi, Tom.
When I was at SIUC, an online version of the Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages was managed by Dr. Glenn Gilbert—who was, in fact, my graduate advisor. He got me interested in pidgins and creoles, particularly Gullah/Geechee.
Concerning the fate of the JCPL files, I can only say "What a tragedy!" The tragedy is compunded because apparently the JPCL site at Ohio State is poorly maintained and also because many of the original files were (as you discovered) apparently not archived.
Your comment that "[The waybackmachine archived material is] . . . kind of a bureau dresser link into another world— but, I'd like to point out, the web is more and more important, not less & less. These small languages may have here their first recorded archiving- from the old times—a historical record that should not be forgotten, nor misplaced" is spot on.
I can understand your sorrow at becoming aware of the fate of those files transferred years ago to Ohio State; I commiserate fully because I feel exactly the same.
I'd be interested in participating in a team effort to collect the files, touch up their html, and put them somewhere safe, but I'm unable to do the whole thing. Please let me know if there are others who feel the same way.
D. Oliver
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