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27-564: John Reed Swanton translated the name ⟨Bayogoula⟩ to mean " bayou people" and wrote that they lived near Bayou Goula in Iberville Parish, Louisiana . Their name has been written as ⟨Bayou Goula⟩ . The Bayogoula language is undocumented and hence also unclassified. They may have spoken a Southern Muskogean language , related to the Choctaw language and Houma language . Ethnologist James Mooney estimated that

54-658: A PhD in 1900. His mentor at Harvard was Frederic Ward Putnam , who sent him to study linguistics with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1898 and 1899, as he worked on his PhD dissertation, The Morphology of the Chinook Verb . Within months of receiving his doctorate from Harvard, Swanton began working for the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC , at which he continued for

81-422: A Knife by Adele Weder. Weder's piece was later criticized for citing only two Haida sources, claiming they could speak for the entire Haida community, and was described as an "inflammatory article ... not likely to be mistaken for exemplary journalism". The Globe and Mail published Bringhurst's response, which was later called "considerably more measured". In 2001, Jeff Leer reviewed A Story as Sharp as

108-531: A Knife saying Bringhurst has neither formal linguistic education nor significant experience with spoken Haida, and doubting Bringhurst's ability to translate from Haida. Leer's review compared Bringhurst's work unfavourably to Enrico's Skidegate Haida Myths and Histories , and referred to the Weder review as an authoritative source. Leer's publisher, the International Journal of American Linguistics , retracted

135-639: A Knife , his work on Haida symbolism, was nominated for a Governor General's Award in 2000 . Bringhurst won the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence in 2005, an award which recognizes British Columbia writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence in the province. Bringhurst has a strong interest in linguistics, translating works from classical Greek, Arabic, Navajo, and, most significantly, Haida. His interest in Haida culture stems from his friendship and close association with

162-687: A letter to the editor of Books in Canada , she called A Story as Sharp as a Knife "a gift to First Nation people across [Canada]", and a true "masterpiece in the growing genre of spoken texts". In her opinion, Bringhurst's "efforts are clearly informed with the kind of integrity that all translators might strive to emulate". Bringhurst says that "culture is not genetic" and that he pays respect to Native American languages like Haida by allowing works from those languages to be appreciated as art by as wide an audience as possible. He says he always intended his translations to be "[exercises] in literary history, not in

189-568: A new infectious disease carried by the French and other Europeans, among whom it was endemic. The remaining Bayagoula are believed to have moved to the area of the present-day Ascension Parish of Louisiana. Some likely joined nearby villages of the Houma and Acolapissa who lived in the area, whilst others likely intermarried with neighboring French, Spanish, and German colonists. John Reed Swanton John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958)

216-655: A poet and philosopher. Bringhurst was born on October 16, 1946, in Los Angeles , California , and raised in Utah , Montana , Wyoming , Alberta , and British Columbia . He studied architecture, linguistics , and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and comparative literature and philosophy at the University of Utah . He holds a BA from Indiana University (1973) and an MFA in creative writing from

243-844: A project by The College of William and Mary which includes some of the recordings by Gouge. Swanton also worked with the Caddo , and published briefly on the quipu system of the Inca . Swanton was one of the founding members of the Swedenborg Scientific Association in 1898. He was president of the American Anthropological Association in 1932. He also served as editor of the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal, American Anthropologist , in 1911 and from 1921 to 1923. Swanton

270-817: A review of the Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers trilogy (of which A Story as Sharp as a Knife is part) in Language in Society , praising the trilogy. He said it "should become a classic reference point" for Haida scholars in the future. In 2004, Bringhurst won the Edward Sapir Prize for Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers . The committee giving the award was headed by Leanne Hinton , an expert in American Indian languages, and chair of

297-716: A year with the Haida. Another major study area was of the Muskogean -speaking peoples in Texas , Louisiana , and Oklahoma . Swanton published extensively on the Creek people , Chickasaw , and Choctaw . He also documented analyses about many other less well-known groups, such as the Biloxi , Ofo , and Tunica , the last of which supplemented earlier work by Albert Samuel Gatschet . He worked with Natchez speaker Watt Sam and argued in favor of including

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324-599: Is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He has translated substantial works from Haida and Navajo and from classical Greek and Arabic . He wrote The Elements of Typographic Style , a reference book of typefaces , glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in June 2013. He lives on Quadra Island , near Campbell River, British Columbia (approximately 170 km northwest of Vancouver ) with his wife, Jan Zwicky ,

351-470: The CBC Radio program Ideas aired a two part series called "Land to Stand On." The series' first episode featured "a string of Haida claiming [...] that Bringhurst's work is 'about keeping us in our place,' written 'without asking us,'" and "replete with 'serious errors twisting it into the poetry that he wants'". In 1999, The Globe and Mail published a report on the Haida reaction to A Story as Sharp as

378-563: The Natchez language with the Muskogean language group. Swanton wrote works including partial dictionaries, studies of linguistic relationships, collections of native stories, and studies of social organization. He worked with Earnest Gouge , a Creek who recorded a large number of traditional stories at Swanton's request. These materials were never published by Swanton. They have recently been published online as Creek Folktales by Earnest Gouge , in

405-666: The University of British Columbia (1975). In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Fraser Valley , and in 2016 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Simon Fraser University . Bringhurst taught literature, art history and history of typography at several universities and held fellowships from the Canada Council for the Arts , the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ,

432-588: The American Philosophical Society, and the Guggenheim Foundation . His 1992 publication, The Elements of Typographic Style was praised as "the finest book ever written about typography" by the type designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones . A collection of his poetry, The Beauty of the Weapons , was short-listed for a Governor General's Award in 1982 , and A Story as Sharp as

459-575: The Bayagoula, Quinipissa , and Mugulasha had a combined population of 1,500 in 1650. In 1699, the Bayagoula were one of the first tribes in Louisiana to meet French colonist Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville . They shared a village with the Mugulasha, a related tribe. The Houma that winter, and next spring in 1700, the Bayagoula attacked and destroyed the Mugulasha. In 1706, Taensa refugees who had settled with

486-531: The Bayogoula attacked them. Surviving Bayogoula settled near New Orleans and then moved to Ascension Parish . In 1715, they had an estimated 40 warriors. By 1739, they settled in between the Houma and Acolapissa . The Tunica tribe moved into the community soon thereafter. In 1706, the Tunica ambushed the Bayagoula and almost killed all of them. By 1721, the rest of the tribe had suffered many deaths from smallpox ,

513-532: The Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Bringhurst has been defended by Margaret Atwood , who says that "territorial squabbling cannot obscure the fact that Bringhurst's achievement is gigantic as well as heroic", and that far from appropriating native voices, Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers "restores to life two exceptional poets we ought to know". The CBC documentary

540-548: The duration of his career, spanning more than 40 years. Swanton first did fieldwork in the Northwest. In his early career, he worked mostly with the Tlingit and Haida . He produced two extensive compilations of Haida stories and myths, and transcribed many of them into Haida. These transcriptions have served as the basis for Robert Bringhurst 's translation of the poetry of Haida mythtellers Skaay and Ghandl . Swanton spent roughly

567-600: The influential Haida artist Bill Reid , with whom he wrote The Raven Steals the Light in 1984, among several other significant collaborations. It was this friendship that in 1987 "started Bringhurst on the philanthropic endeavour of recording the Haida canon". The result of this labour was a trilogy of works collectively titled Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers . The essays in its first volume, A Story As Sharp As A Knife, and particularly its nineteenth chapter, "The Prosody of Meaning," constitute an important contribution to

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594-629: The review and apologized to Bringhurst for publishing: some unfounded statements from another author that might be read to impugn Prof. Bringhurst's qualifications or integrity. The Journal ' s sole intention in publishing the book review was to bring an important work by a well-respected scholar to the attention of its readers. [...] it was not the Journal's intent to transmit erroneous perceptions of Prof. Bringhurst's training or scholarship. Most academic discussion and recognition of Bringhurst's work in Haida has been positive. Linguist Dell Hymes wrote

621-412: The understanding of the poetics of oral literatures. His translations from Haida have been viewed as an attempt to preserve the Haida culture, which in 1991 was considered part of a group "likely to be lost unless strong efforts are made very quickly to perpetuate them". The Haida translation has caused some controversy. Bringhurst was accused of academic exploitation and cultural appropriation. In 2001,

648-530: Was also a member of the American Folklore Society, serving as its President in 1909. Swanton married Alice M. Barnard on Dec. 16, 1903, with whom he had three children: Mary Alice Swanton, John Reed Swanton, Jr., and Henry Allen Swanton. He died in Newton, Massachusetts , on May 2, 1958, at the age of 85. With James Owen Dorsey : Robert Bringhurst Robert Bringhurst OC (born 1946)

675-558: Was an American anthropologist , folklorist , and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory . He is particularly noted for his work with indigenous peoples of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest . Born in Gardiner, Maine , after the death of his father, Walter Scott Swanton, he

702-400: Was attacked in print for relying "entirely on the fallacy, convenient to the producers, that Bringhurst had not consulted with any Haida". Bringhurst with the help of Bill Reid had spent the better part of the previous decade working with members of the Haida community. People from other indigenous Canadian communities, such as the late Cree elder Wilna Hodgson have also defended Bringhurst. In

729-511: Was raised by his mother, née Mary Olivia Worcester, his grandmother, and his great aunt. From his mother, in particular, he was imbued with a gentle disposition, a concern for human justice, and a lifelong interest in the works of Emanuel Swedenborg . He was inspired to pursue history, and, more specifically, anthropology by his reading of William H. Prescott , The Conquest of Mexico. Swanton attended local schools and then entered Harvard University , earning an AB in 1896, an AM in 1897, and

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