For Immediate Release

 

Classroom Project Rescues Disappearing Language

 

Kham Aid Foundation starts testing a new primer to teach Minyak to children. Two years ago the language did not even have a written form.

 

LOS ANGELES  — April 25, 2009 — Thanks to a grant from the Genographic Legacy Fund, the Minyak language, once in danger of extinction, is now getting a new lease on life. A newly-drafted language primer is now being tested in four rural districts of Kangding (Tib: Dartsendo) county on the southeastern Tibetan plateau.  A total of 123 children – youngsters whose parents grew up speaking the language but who are under increasing pressure to discard it – are now learning Minyak in school.  And the primer is attracting interest from adults, too.

The Minyak language primer is being tested at the central primary schools in Gongashan, Pengbuxi, Pusarong, and Shade townships.  Six teachers, all Minyak natives, have been trained to use the material.  The students are in grades 5 and 6, and range in age from 10 to 14.  

 The Minyak language is often described as a dialect of Tibetan but experts say it is so different that it should be regarded as a language in its own right.  Minyak was once spoken by fifty thousand people spread across four counties, but the inexorable forces of modernization have meant that Tibetan and Chinese have supplanted the local language. Now, the number of Minyak speakers has dwindled to less than ten thousand – and these are found almost exclusively in remote rural areas.

The project is being undertaken in partnership with a Sichuan nonprofit, the Minyak Culture and Environment Service Group, a small but determined group of local scholars bent on saving their culture.  But they didn’t have the financial resources to undertake such an ambitious project on their own.  That’s where Kham Aid Foundation came in, securing a grant from National Geographic’s Genographic Legacy Fund to fund the project.

Starting in March 2008, the team began by traveling from village to village compiling Minyak words and phrases.  They developed a system for writing Minyak using the Tibetan alphabet, a challenging task because Minyak contains phonemes that are not found in Tibetan.  Much work and discussion was required to reconcile the differences in dialects and arrive at a version of the language that is readily understandable to people throughout the region. The team also recorded songs and videotaped dances, seeking to understand how Tibetan language has influenced the local culture and to identify those traditions that are pure Minyak.

The Minyak material can be introduced into government schools thanks to a new law in China promoting development of local curricula. “It is hard to get Tibetan children excited about school when they are spending hours and hours studying dead Chinese poets,” said Pamela Logan, Kham Aid’s president and founder.  “We hope that the Minyak primer will make children more engaged in learning and increase their academic performance overall.”

Only twenty copies of the primer have been printed, first because it is expected that changes will be made based on the results of classroom testing, and second because funds are tight. But already the book is sparking a demand among townspeople and teachers alike for the leftover copies after testing is complete.  Kham Aid Foundation is now seeking funds so that the book, when finalized, can be printed in quantity.