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IRIN-International |
TIT |
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Nawat: v
Grammar v
Texts v
Song Who we are: v
IRIN v
TIT Join us! The Nawat language recovery
initiative: |
The Office For the Nawat Language: TIT Tajkwiluyan Ipal ne Taketzalis (the office for the Nawat
language), or TIT for short, is located in Itzalku (Izalco in Spanish),
historical capital of the Pipils of El Salvador, where TIT began functioning
in January 2004. How TIT got started The idea for TIT grew out of the Universidad
Don Bosco’s Nawat textbook project. The university is located in Soyapango,
outside the present-day Nawat region, and for purely practical reasons the
project began by operating out of the capital, San Salvador. However, from
the very start the UDB project had declared that it was necessary to involve
the Pipils centrally in the project and make them protagonists of their own
language recovery process. Thus it was a logical move to open up the
project’s own office in Itzalku. This move was anticipated by the holding of
the project’s first Nawat teacher training course in November-December 2003
in the TIT’s future premises. In January 2004 three staff members of the
newly-formed TIT set up shop in an upstairs room of the Izalco House of
Culture. TIT’s goals for 2004 The UDB project is part of a broader plan of language recovery for Nawat going beyond the
mere production of school textbooks. Consequently, TIT likewise has broader
goals, which were summed up for the medium term by the new TIT team in the
following general list of 2004 goals: §
Production
of Nawat school textbooks (UDB project). §
Assessment
of pilot schools (UDB project). §
Further
training for pilot school Nawat teachers (UDB project). §
Recruitment
of further schools into the Nawat program for 2005 (UDB project). §
Training
course for new Nawat teachers (UDB project). §
Production
of a Nawat textbook for adult learners (Tejemet
Nusan program). §
Organise
and support local adult Nawat courses in the Pipil area (Tejemet Nusan
program). §
Coordinate
and support Nawat linguistic fieldwork (Seminario
Lingüistico de Náhuat). §
Linguistic
projects (Seminario Lingüístico). §
Encourage
and support the formation of local Nawat support
committees. §
Incorporate
additional Pipil towns into existing projects, programs and activities. §
Nawat
publications. §
Public
relations. §
International
contacts. §
Develop
support and volunteer networks. §
Develop
a general Nawat website. §
Build
the basis of a Nawat library and archives. §
Offer
a university-level Nawat course. §
Report
on activities. §
Obtain
funding. §
Internal
in-service training of TIT staff. In addition, TIT plans to act as a
much-needed general-purpose Nawat language resource centre serving Nawat
speakers, students and teachers of Nawat, the Pipil communities and the interested
public in general. Who finances TIT?
The proposal to open an Izalco office of the UDB textbook project was made in the context of intentions to incorporate an additional project assistant; plans were subsequently modified to include two new assistants.When these posts had already been appointed and plans begun to open TIT, it was learnt that no funding is available for any assistants this year. It is also not known whether funds will be provided to equip the TIT office or for the project’s budgetary needs. In spite of these difficulties, work at TIT has commenced as planned and will continue for as long as alternative funding can be obtained to keep work going, thanks to the self-sacrifice, dedication and determination of the TIT staff and others involved in the Nawat movement. Thus, at the present time TIT’s resources consist of premises and infrastructure being lent by the House of Culture of Izalco, and a salary for the office’s coordinator and director of the Nawat textbook project of the Universidad Don Bosco, Alan King. The most likely way forward for providing the rest of TIT’s budget, including office equipment and salaries for its two assistants, is funding through IRIN. Meet the TIT team!
Alan King: British-born
linguist, TIT coordinator and project director:
“Before coming to El Salvador I spent
24 years working in favour of the Basque language movement, also getting to
know fairly well several other minority languages from Europe to the Pacific.
Now I am trying to put whatever I have learnt at the service of Nawat, ‘my’
first native American language, which is in a situation much worse (even)
than that of any other living language I have studied. Even so, I have found
some reason for optimism and believe that something can be done for
Nawat still. Whether something will be done is a different matter. It
depends on people, not just on the language. If Nawat dies out it will be
because of the negligence of Nawat speakers, or of the rest of the world by
not helping them, but more likely the latter.”
Carlos Cortez: A young Pipil
from Witzapan, who is still learning the language from his 99-year-old
grandmother:
“It’s important for me to be here,
not only as a Pipil but as a Salvadorean; not only as my response to the 1932
massacre but because Nawat is one of El Salvador’s native languages and, as
such, should not be the object of persecution by a Salvadorean government but
of its protection; and not only because of my love for the language of my
parents and grandparents and my wish to work for and dedicate my life to its
recovery but, furthermore, because of the respect that I owe to my ancestors.”
Cecy de Méndez, native of
Itzalku, retired schoolteacher, veteran Nawat student and instructor, coordinator
of Tejemet Nusan, one of the founders of IRIN and now
its secretary.
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© 2004 Alan
R. King, Monica Ward and IRIN.