Jump to content

Frances Johnson

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ahulandiy (talk | contribs) at 17:32, 15 September 2023. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people named Frances Johnson, see Frances Johnson (disambiguation).

Frances Johnson (died 1934)[1] was the last living fluent speaker of the Takelma language of Oregon, United States. While living on the Siletz Reservation, during the summer of 1906 she worked for six weeks as language consultant with linguist Edward Sapir to document the language.[2] Her native name is transcribed by Sapir as Gwísgwashãn[3] (phonemically /Kʷìskʷasá:n/, possibly derived from /kʷìskʷas/ "chipmunk").[4]

Sapir reports that in 1906, “the number of individuals that can be said to have anything like a fluent speaking knowledge of [Takelma] is quite inconsiderable, barely more than a handful in fact.”[5] He describes Johnson as “an elderly full-blood Takelma woman”, born in a village called Dak‘ts!asiñ /Takʰts’asin/ or Daldani`k‘ /Taltaníkʰ/, located near Jump Off Joe Creek (Dīp!ōlts!i´lda /Ti:p’o:lts’ìlta/) in Oregon. Her mother came from a village on the upper course of Cow creek.[6] Sapir comments that he found her "an exceptionally intelligent and good-humored informant".[7]

The cooperation between Johnson and Sapir produced the two central publications on the Takelma language, a collection of texts with English translations and wordlist (Sapir 1909, 263 pp.) and a grammatical description (Sapir 1912, 296 pp.). These two sources contain a rich amount of data, and as a result Takelma can be considered a well-documented language.

See also

References

  1. ^ Achen (2008).
  2. ^ Sapir (1912: 8).
  3. ^ Sapir (1909: 5).
  4. ^ Sapir (1907: 270).
  5. ^ Sapir (1909: 5).
  6. ^ Sapir (1912: 8).
  7. ^ Sapir (1912: 8).

Cited works

  • Achen, Paris (Jan 11, 2008). "Pair breathe life into dead language". Mail Tribune. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  • Sapir, Edward (1907). "Notes on the Takelma Indians of Southwestern Oregon". American Anthropologist. 9 (2): 251–275.
  • Sapir, Edward (1909). Takelma Texts. Anthropological Publications of the University Museum. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
  • Sapir, Edward (1912). The Takelma Language of Southwestern Oregon. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frances_Johnson&oldid=1175529053"