<i>Osage Grammar</i> (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Osage Grammar Mark Awakuni-Swetland Carolyn Quintero . Osage Grammar. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. 491 pp. Cloth, $75.00. It is gratifying to see the completion of the Osage Grammar compiled by Carolyn Quintero. As she states on the dustcover, "Today the Osage tribe numbers about 18, 000 , but only two elders still speak the traditional language." Like many indigenous languages worldwide, Osage is at the point of imminent silence. In the Osage case the loss is exacerbated by the dispersal of tribal members across three Oklahoma communities (Pawhuska, Grayhorse-Fair-fax, and Hominy) as well as elsewhere in the United States. As language use diminishes due to mainstream assimilation pressures, language differences—real and perceived—may have arisen between the widely dispersed speakers. The highly politicized nature of the language fuels some factionalism, which the community will need to overcome in order to achieve a pooling of efforts for a long-lasting revitalization. Osage Grammar is organized along the usual lines expected of a linguistically centered grammar. Following the introductory materials are chapters on phonology, agent and patient inflection, verb derivation, verb suffixes, nominal expressions and adjuncts, and clausal phenomena. It concludes with an appendix of Osage kinship terms and references. Orthographic representation for previously unwritten languages is commonly a contentious issue. There has been a concern among many Osage with the historic linguistic record created by Francis La Flesche's 1932 A Dictionary of the Osage Language and related publications. La Flesche saw the Osage language so thoroughly through his own Omaha language that he made statements that do not really apply to Osage. Osage speakers have routinely been bothered by the Omaha spellings. Quintero's Osage Grammar has attempted to reflect the Osage spelling. Quintero is well positioned to study and produce Osage language materials. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. She has spent many years working with Osage speakers and Osage students. Her publications of Osage materials include The First Course in Osage, a collection of over forty lesson plans, and a forthcoming Osage dictionary. Quintero founded and operates the translation company Inter Lingua, Inc., in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She collaborates regularly with other linguists working in the Siouan languages, especially with the Dhegiha languages, of which Osage is a member. [End Page 531] I have had a difficult time deciding how to approach Osage Grammar. In my own Ph.D. program I engaged in a variety of linguistic courses. However, I do not consider myself a practicing linguist. Instead, I am more interested in the social or cultural aspects of Native language use, revival, and maintenance embedded in anthropological perspectives. I work primarily with the Omaha language community, close kin to the Osage, and teach Omaha at the University of Nebraska. Therefore, my critique of Osage Grammar must come from the vernacular, common person's perspective. A productive way to begin is with the author's statement about the goals of her work. Quintero notes an interest among the adult members of the tribe in preserving the language by learning more of it themselves and by teaching it to their children, but this has been impossible as no comprehensive grammatical description was available. (2–3) In my mind this presumes two things: language acquisition happens via the existence of a comprehensive grammar, and this book is accessible to or understandable by the Osage. In my experience with the Omaha community there is a commonly held belief that the mere ownership of an Omaha dictionary will somehow make learning Omaha miraculously happen. No evidence supports this belief. The greater concern is the second presumption about the book being accessible or understandable by the Osage. I have heard anecdotal comments from the Osage community that I cannot verify but that run parallel to my own reading of Osage Grammar. I have heard that this book is being used by some Osage people in teaching and learning venues. However, the overwhelming feelings are that the book is written for a trained linguist, it is generally inaccessible to the Osage public, and it lacks a cultural context. What can be said about these observations? That Quintero is a linguist and not a cultural...