bajalera
Super Nomad
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Location: Santa Maria CA
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Indian Languages
Padre Johann Jakob Baegert's account of life at Mission San Luis Gonzaga--first published in German in 1772--has been translated into both English and
Spanish, and is a prime source of information on the Jesuit period. Some of his comments on the vocabulary of Guaycurian-speakers, however, seem a bit
dicey.
On page 96 of his Observations, Baegert lists "shame" among the words the Guaycuras lacked. On page 83, however, he had written, "I always wondered
how the little word ie, which is 'to be ashamed,' happened to become part of their language, for among themselves none would ever blush because of any
vice they indulge in."
Which makes it reasonable to wonder how many other items on Baegert's list of 94 "missing" words didn't belong on it.
I find it difficult to believe that nomads living on intimate terms with the weather--with nothing but simple shelters to protect themselves from the
elements--would fail to devise words for cold, heat and rain. And it doesn't take much of an imagination to see how Baegert might have been unaware of
the true extent of the Guaycura vocabulary.
Say, for instance, that you're a Spanish-speaker, and I have only a few words in this language but want to know the word for "cold." So how can I
communicate this to you?
An approach sometimes used by tourists in Mexico is to repeat "cold" three or four times, LOUDLY and s-l-o-w-l-y, which would probably leave you
standing there looking puzzled. But if I didn't want to admit that I don't know enough Spanish to ask a simple question, I might be convinced that
your silence means Spanish has no word for "cold."
Many of Baegert's missing words involve concepts much more nebulous than cold, heat and rain. (In fact, it's a good thing there are bilingual
dictionaries, because my Spanish wouldn't be up to asking Mexicans how they say reason, grace, feeling, virtue, profound, etc.)
By 1751, when Baegert arrived on the peninsula, Jesuits had been working among Guaycuras for some three decades, and it can be assumed he inherited a
vocabulary that was adequate enough for preaching the Gospel. His failure to discover equivalents for basic physical properties, however, may indicate
that he wasn't comfortable enough in Guaycurian to carry on casual conversations.
In general, languages consist of the terms people need in carrying out their day-to-day lives. Jesuits focused on discovering words useful in
religious activities. They recorded four names for an important element in the lives of peninsular Indians--pitahayas--but felt no need to collect
terms relating to the ripening, collection and preparation of this fruit.
Missionaries, after all, had no reason to ask the detailed questions a modern-day anthropologist or geographer would consider important.
Another book-writing peninsular Jesuit, Miguel del Barco, wrote that the Cochimi language spoken at Mission San Javier also was deficient in words,
but added that it had "an abundance of words for indicating the same thing, or explaining it more briefly or properly." The examples del Barco
gives--au ("I stood up from a sitting position") and ahuayip ("I stood up after lying down")--indicate that Cochimi, like other languages, had its
niceties.
Anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber, who studied Native American languages for many years, concluded from his research that anyone "who professes to
declare on the strength of his observations that a native language consists of only a few hundred terms displays chiefly his own ignorance." In
Baegert's case, the ignorance was that of his time rather than a personal failing.
Accounts of earlier centuries--even those written by observers who thought the people they described were utterly despicable--can provide invaluable
information for researchers who study the past. Most of these scientists have been schooled in the importance of being objective, so they read such
accounts with a mental filter that strains out estraneous negatives.
A journal written in the 1600s, for example, may say, "These degenerate and brutal savages, in their wretched ignorance, do not recognize that cold
baths can cause disease, maintaining that bathing in cold water can cure illness."
If what you get out of this is that these people were crude and misguided and stupid, you're unfortunately afflicted with the E. coli bias-virus and
have flunked the objectivity test. If what you see is that the people believed cold baths could cure illness, give yourself an A in Bias Filtration
101.
bajalera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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academicanarchist
Senior Nomad
Posts: 978
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Objectivity??????
The Franciscans in California were just as bad in terms of denigrating the native peoples. I find it interesting, though, to think of who starved in
California in 1769-1770, and who ate well.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Mood: Just dancing through life
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Bajalera,
Found this post to be quite on time for me. I basically agree with you that most of the Padres had their own agenda and prejudices.--What I found
absolutely amazing is that you decided to write this on the same day that a mailman delivered by copy of "Observations"--I was hoping to have the Good
German open my eyes but apparently that will not be the case. Your post makes an excellent springboard to the new book
Thanks
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
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Location: Santa Maria CA
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Bernie
That's no coincidence--I just happen to have this direct pipeline to the Almighty and His activities.
I certainly didn't mean to undermine anyone's faith in Baegert. I'm writing a book about peninsular Indians, and his gossipy little day-to-day details
just don't seem to be included in the accounts of other missionaries (including those published only in Spanish). Baegert is one of my favorite
sources.
But his Observations needs to be read carefully, because he often starts a paragraph with a negative comment--and then refutes what he's just said. He
isn't as gung-ho about religion as some of the others, and his rants about Protestants and Jansenists are easy to skip.
His opinions need to be taken with a grain or two of salt, of course, but so does anything else written in the 1700s. I think you've made a good buy,
and hope you enjoy it!
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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academicanarchist
Senior Nomad
Posts: 978
Registered: 9-7-2003
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Your Project
I would like to hear more about your project Lera.
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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It's not really a project, Robert . . .
. . . it's just a book: Brown Skins/Black Robes: Baja California Indians and Jesuit Missionaries.
The initial inspiration for this was the sloppy printing job done on a book on BC ethnology that reprinted several of Bill's reports, in which my maps
and illustrations really looked sh*tty. And then I read a book in Spanish that credited a couple of Mexican archaeologists (whose work, incidentally,
I respect) with having delineated the Las Palmas Culture.
So I decided to publish the collected papers of WCM in a single volume. But then I discovered the Nomad board, which is visited by all these
interesting people who love the peninsula and care about its past, but seldom get around to reading scholarly journals--for good reason, since these
are usually pretty dull. (Don't take this personally!)
My present plan is to merge my own views, based on notes I've been compiling since the late 1960s, with Bill's publications, which I'm editing
lightly. (My editorial experience includes the Washington Archaeologist, The Florida Anthropologist, the college textbook division of Psychology Today
magazine and numerous Environmental Impact Reports, so I think I can be trusted to make his reports more readable without altering the info.)
So there you are . . .
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Hurry Lera !
Can't wait to see it.
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academicanarchist
Senior Nomad
Posts: 978
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Your Project
Sounds like a really good project. Give me a call if you need any assistance.
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