Report to the elders (A discourse on semantic relativity)

Abstract

Doht'aa le'aa kkaa hen zaadletl'ee ne? My dear uncles, I expect you will be surprised by the postmark on this letter — if you have gotten it at all, that is. The captain of the ship on which I am working my way towards Northwestern Australia has promised that he will post it for me when he goes ashore tomorrow in Pago Pago to negotiate supplies for the next leg of the journey. But he drinks too much when he is in port and can sometimes be forgetful. Anyway, if you are, as I hope, reading this, I apologize for the long delay since you last heard from me. Let my mother know that I am well and that I have not given up my studies at Stanford. I still hope to complete my MA. I have not forgotten the generosity you have shown me in nominating me for a special community scholarship — nor the great responsibility it bears with it. I am not running away from that responsibility, you must believe me. But I can not in all conscience complete my training as a ‘linguist’ — and thus repay your generosity — until I understand within myself what it is exactly I am expected to bring back to you. I cannot simply hand in a Masters thesis which is a mixture of half-truths and speculations. Please forgive me too that I am writing to you in English and not in our native Koyukon (which I so miss hearing spoken around me). This is not out of disrespect or laziness because I know you all understand English. On the contrary, I am writing of things here that are truly alien to what we are used to communicating about, and it would distort our tongue to force it to express them. This is then the report that you asked me to send you at the conclusion of my first year of graduate work. I do not need more money, I just beg for a little more patience.