Tag: guyana

(Online Course) Indigenous Conversations: Lokono, Kali’na, Garifuna, Warrau

Featured by guyaneselanguagesunit, posted in Upcoming events

Registration is now open for Indigenous Conversations, Caribbean Yard Campus’ course in four indigenous languages of the Caribbean.

In many ways the presence of the First Peoples of the region is indelibly stamped on the landscape and culture of the Caribbean. Yet this presence often remains invisible. Indigenous Conversations introduces participants to First Peoples cultures through the experience of four languages — Lokono (Arawak), Kali’na (Cariban), Garifuna and Warrau. Participants will learn basic vocabulary, engage in cultural practices, understand indigenous toponyms and pursue their own interests in this field of study.

The course is facilitated by native speakers in Guyana and Belize with the coordination of Caribbean Yard Campus’s partners the Guyanese Languages Unit, University of Guyana and the Arima First Peoples’ Community in Trinidad.

Classes are on Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. between April 10 and June 29, 2024.

Photo: Alex Oselmo (via Caribbean Yard Campus)

Cost: $1,200.00 TTD

Register

Wakapoa field trip report

by guyaneselanguagesunit, posted in Uncategorized

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Lokono Revitalization Workshop in Wakapoa. Photo by Osei Browne

By Tamirand Nnena De Lisser

On Saturday January 13, 2018, nine students of the Language and Society course (ENG3204) of the University of Guyana commenced a six-day field trip to Essequibo. The main objective of the field trip was to carry out two surveys, namely the General Language Attitudes Survey among Afro- and Indo-Guyanese in the Anna Regina and Queenstown villages, and the Revitalization Survey in the Lokono-speaking Amerindian villages of Mainstay, Capoey and Moshabo.

The students were also participants in a Lokono Revitalization Workshop in Wakapoa, where the orthography of Lokono was presented.  The field trip fostered inter-campus research collaboration as students were from both the Tain and Turkeyen campuses. Our aims included research in language planning, language revitalization and language attitudes, all which will be beneficial to not only our students, but also to the communities involved.

The field trip also allowed students the opportunity to make connections from the theoretical parts of the course to the practical aspects and the complexities of language. The trip was headed by the lecturers of the Language and Society course, Dr. Tamirand Nnena De Lisser and Mr. Alim Hosein. Also present were Prof. Ian Robertson, retired professor of linguistics and language educator at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies; and Ms. Dhanaiswary Jaganauth, lecturer at the University of Guyana. Ms. Sinnika Henry, Ms. Charlene Wilkinson and Dr. Daidrah Smith – members of the Language Revitalization team – were also involved.

Following the field trip, students objectively reflected on their experience, examining its enhancement to academic learning, personal growth and skill, and intellectual development. In general all the objectives of the trip were met and the event was deemed a successful one. We are grateful to the Learning Resources Centre for making this trip a possibility.