In this episode, Daniel Arbino talks to Susan Kung and Ryan Sullivant—managers, archivists, and curators of the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America at the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin. How did this archive originate and what are its goals? Listen to native Indigenous speakers tell stories and share the languages of their communities. Escuchar en español.

Languages in Order of Presentation

To view, transmit, or download the multimedia archives linked below, you will need to create a free AILLA account here: https://ailla.utexas.org/user/register

Sleeping Languages

Cacaopera audio from the Mesoamerican Languages Collection of Lyle Campbell 

Lyle Campbell elicits vocabulary from Pascual Cortés, a “semi-speaker” of Cacaopera in El Salvador in 1973. Presuming Cortés is one of the “two men [who] knew more than a few words” mentioned in Campbell (1975), then Cortés learned the Cacaopera he knew from a grandparent who spoke the language fluently. Audio quality is poor, with abrupt changes in tape speed every time Campbell started and stopped the recording. 

Collection: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla%3A124470  

Resource: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla%3A126888  

Audio: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:147168  

Yámana audio from the Chilean Languages Collection of Oscar Aguilera and José Tonko 

Sisters Cristina Calderón and Úrsula Calderón provide short elicited sentences in Yámana (Yagán) to help with Óscar Aguilera’s study of their language’s grammar. The phrases that are heard are Kyat lampiá (‘the cat is black’), Kyat paf lampiá (‘the cat isn’t black), Yašála lampiá (‘the dog is black’), and Yašála paf lampiá (‘the dog isn’t black). 

Collection: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:124482 

Resource: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:129417 

Audio: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:166958, https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:166960, https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:166986, https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:166988 

Note that the majority of the Yámana-language materials are restricted. Two public resources are: 

Words and Phrases https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:129416 

Sentences https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:129417 (also listed above). 

Cristina Calderón obituaries: 

El adiós a Cristina Calderón, pobladora yagán de Tierra del Fuego. Página 12. https://www.pagina12.com.ar/415851-el-adios-a-cristina-calderon-pobladora-yagan-de-tierra-del-f 

Cristina Calderón, champion of the Yaghan people and the last native speaker of their language – obituary. Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/02/22/cristina-calderon-champion-yaghan-people-last-native-speaker/ 

Cholon audio from the Cholon Language Collection of Luis Miguel Rojas Berscia 

Greetings in the Cholón language, spoken by Martha Pérez Valderrama, using some written records. 

Collection: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:283752  

Resource: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:283774  

Audio: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:283775 

Whistled Languages 

Chinantec Whistling from the Sochiápam Chinantec Whistled Speech Collection of Mark Sicoli 

A man whistles to another about plans to work on the coffee patch. He then repeats what he said in Spanish and Chinantec.  

Collection: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:242622  

Resource: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:242868  

Audio: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla:242872 

A portion of the Sochiápam Chinantec whistled speech recorded in this collection appears in