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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1962)
MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOHP, OREGON Translators Bring Christianity, Written (Edilor'i Nolt: Indiana publlihtr "Sam" Lambert Hulfman recanlly spani sv aral dayi in tha wildi of Mexico living with Wyclifla Translators who ara trying to learn the language of re mote tribes so they can bring Christianity to them in the Indian's previously unwritten tongue. In this dispatch, he tells how the translators work and live, and how automo' now kelps them in their' job.) B7 'SAM' LAMBERT HUFFMAN Written for UPI Three women live in a mud hut 110 miles north of Mexico City in a dusty, century plant dotted desert where they can work with an Indian tribe that lives in hidden hogans. On their roush-he-vn table are books on plionemics, the science of converting sounds into an alphabet; morphology, the study of hnw words are made; syntax, the study of sentence structure; and liter acy, how to teach people to rcfld. The women - Ethel Wallis, Nancy Lanier of Santa Bar bara, Calif., and Patricia Cow an of Waco, Tex. - are Wy cliffe Translators, a non-denominational croup of lin guists dedicated to giving un lettered peoples around the world a written language. Ethel, Nancy and Pat live In Tetzu - a town that on first glance doesn't seem to exist. Hidden Indians "1 know you can't see jl, hut the huts are camouflaged by these huge ce..tury plants," Nancy explained. "Within half a mile of us there are over 300 Indians. The entire tribe of over 80.000 lives within a hundred miles of us." Until the three women ar rived, the Indians could not write or read their own lan guage. Now they are taking the first step toward learn ing. Kitty Pride, whose dark eyes sparkled might have been an ordinary Englifh housewife. Kitty is English, but her concern at the mo ment was not housewifery. Sitting across from her at the Wycliffe translation cen ter in Mexico City was a young Chinanlec Indian wear ing a bright blue shirt.' Beside the Indian stood Kit ty's husband, Leslie, a thin, scholarly lookin,; young man. "Tell him, lez-ly," Kitty said, "to illustrate the tonal ending? on the word 'cuno'." Meaning Change Leslie turned and quickly repeated her instructions to the Indian, who, understand ing, repeated the word five times. "It will no doubt surprise you." Kitty said, "to know that Pedro has expressed five different ideas. Now listen again, carefully, as he speaks." All five prounciatlons of the word "cuno" still rounded the same. "What did he say?" I asked. "The first time, snake, the second time, load, the third lime, thief, and the fourth time, mirror. The fifth time was 'he will cry'." Pedro repeated the word. "Now watch his endings, In almost a whisper he gives the last syllable of 'cuno' a mu-si-ral ending. We have discover ed that his language has sort of a five tone scale for this very purpose," Kitty said. Rules Emerge "How one word has come to mean all these widely di verse tilings we do not know," till!1! Z CORNER 3 MEMBER BY l!!Bwewiaaflv(S'v- "S-5" J rill jIf 1! t ."t is; mi n Si ALT sv . ' : r . u V) s i i . f v e 8 , NEAR PLANE Lacondon Indians from primitive Mexican tribe stand next to a plane at Lake Naja airstrip. Plane is one used by Wycliffe Translators, who visit she added, "but rules lor use of these various tonal endings are slowly emerging." Dr. Bob Longacre of Akron, Ohio, director of Wycliffe's language center, said that in Mexico alone there are more than 100 languages that have no alphabet, cannot be writ ten or read. In the world, he added, there are perhaps 5.000 different languages with fewer than 1,200 of these having been rec'ueed to writ ing. Because of the job remain ing to ' done, he said, Wy cliffe Translators seek ways to hurry their work. Use of Computers "For instance. Bill Mary field, who is with us here, is using electronic computers to develop language formulae. I really think that our hopes lie in finding the basic language from which all these languag es emanate," Longacre said. He said he believed the un written languages of Mexico might all spring from a com mon root called Otomancu ean, just as 'he so-called Ro mance languages stemmed from Latin, By 1964. Long acre said, he hoped the root to all unwritten Central American languages might be found. Another timrravcr now used is bringing translators to Mexico City when they have collected enough dat; for sub stantial attacks on breaking down the spoken language. In the translation center, Long acre said, they ha j the facil ities and more time. "Once we have begun to an alyze and set down our find ings, we simply can't afford WOUDS that COMFORT Jl HA Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and alight unto my path. . PSALM 119:103 PERL FUHERAL HOME SIXTH AND OAKDALE Spacious Parking Lot U f r-ro'plv rf pond to nil mill, thy or nifht. INVITATION the interruptions that occur In village livin. ," he said. "So it is our plan to bring transla tors and their informants in here three months at a time once each year." Daily life with a tribe per haps less than a decade away from savagery does cut into the translators' main work. The translators set up hospi tals, schools and churches MacLaren School Escapees Caught Albany - WPP - Two teen age members of the MacLaren School for Boys Drum and Bugle Corps dashed away from their group during the Rose Festival Parade in Port land Saturday in an escape bid that was stopped on the U.S. 09 freeway near here. State police wounded one of the boys from Coquille, in the shoulder after a high speed auto chase. He was in good condition in Sacred Heart hospital in Eugene. The other boy, from Eagle Point, was returned to the school. Police said the boys took a car in Portland and headed south on the U.S. 09 freeway. State police picked up the car at the Halsey interchange and chased it at "high speed." Two other police cars joined the chase and when they blew their sirens to pull the boys over, their car veered across the median strip and contin ued south in the northbound lane. A police car followed, and police fired a shot through the rear window of the fleeing car, hitting the Co quille youth. The shooting occurred near the Coburg Interchange. HORSE DAMAGES CAR Livingston, N.J. -- (1IPD - Wil liam Raab was leading his horse to water Saturday when the bay mare bolted and jumped onto the hood of a passing car. Neither horse nor passengers were injured, but the car was damaged and Raab was charged with letting an animal run at large. Money From LOANS TO S1S00 CRATER FINANCE t S 135 FINE CVSR 664-1273 g tribes, learn languages, and bring Christian ity to them In Indians' previously unwritten tongue. (UPI) whenever possible. Often they are called on to give technical help or serve a: an arbitor in an inter-tribe dispute. It is not an easy life, but one which the translators say is most rewarding. And. there is no other way to study un written languages. Airplanes and radio com munications now make trans lators' jobs easier. For exam ple, a trip that takes four days by foot and canoe through the rain forests takes but 20 min utes by plane. In Mexico City, I talked with Paul Carlson whose tribe, the Tarahumaras, lives only 500 miles south of the U.S. border yet is so cut off that only a few adventurers and loggers have ever seen them. Paul, who attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Har vard and worked for a while on the U.S. Atlas long-range rocket, told me he was eager to get back to his tribe despite the day-to-day hardships. He explained: "All the money in the world couldn't buy the Joy I find in working with the Tar ahumaras. There are 100,000 of them spread like icing on a cake over mountains 10,000 feet high and canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon. They cover an area 100 miles in diameter and are eagerly waiting for us to teach them to read and write In their own language." Degrees Conferred On Medford Couple Eugene - Mr. and Mrs. Don ald Walkcn of Medford each received bachelor of science degrees from the University of Oregon in commencement exercises recently. Mrs. Walken is the daugh ter of Mrs. Esther Newcomb, Talent. The 19B2 class was the larg est group to receive degrees in the university's 86-year-old history. Degrees were con ferred on 2.031 candidates, in cluding 1,677 from the Eu gene campus and 264 at the university medical school in Portland. Crater Finance Is Like MONEY FROM HOME! HOME OWNED i OPERATED An Unlovable Instrument Professor Describes the Human Nose As a 'Wonderful Piece of Machinery' By DICK WEST Washington-HTIi-In this day and age, you rarely run across anyone who has any thing good to say about the human nose. By and large, we have come to regard the nose as an unpleasant connotation, ly large. Furthermore, the word 'smell" has for most of us an unplesant connotation. ! This is what makes Dr. James W. Johnston, associate i professor of physiology at the j Georgetown University School of Medicine, such an unusual man. For the past several years. Dr. Johnston has been mak ing a study of the human sense of smell, and he is pro nose all the way. Any disparagement of the olfactory organ is to Dr. John ston deplorable, for he is convinced that the nose is a wonderful piece of machin ery. Talked With Doctor I had a nasal type chat with the good doctor at the opening of an exhibit set up here by Schenley Industries. The exhibit is called "Scent-A-Rama," otherwise,known as the "whiffskcy test." The purpose of the demon stration is to show how aging improves the smell of whisky, and how the smell, in turn, improves the taste. Somehow I got the impression that Schenley is in the whisky business. Personally, I am inclined to think that the effect of the aging process on whisky is not as important as the effect of the whisky on the aging process of wnisKy nnnKors. But we needn't get into that. Back to Mr. Johnston. He and I fell into a disrus- Pastor Is Delegate To Church Session The Rev. Clarence Jackson, minister of Pilgrim Holiness church, Central Point, attend ed the general conference of the church in Winona Lake, Ind., as the official delegate to the conference represent ing the Pacific Northwest dis trict. The session starled June 12 and continued through Mon day. Sat your favnrila Electrical Lemma L I ffi ip 1 1 ip tn 9 ifp h srrfp I till C v.... M eu..f t! (i n P pss , a m p mm S m i i i Mi m i i i V; & U 1 , ti v. m m m m M Pi m M . r.r. y..x . K;x S ft:K i;;:! : k's , i . sion as to why smelling is less popular than the other four senses. Dr. Johnson said it I was because most people don't I smell well. 11 is wrong, however, to hold the nose responsible for this. We have only ourselves to blame. Nose More Sensitive According to Dr. Johnston. the olfactory organ actually is more sensitive than the hu-i man eye. If it seems dull and lifeless, it is because we abuse it and neglect it. We constantly exercise our sight, hearing, touch and taste, while letting our sense of smell, go to pot. Many of us MONDAY AND TUESDAY COMPLETE B10W1T0I SET FOR 4 Include! 2 metal poiti, 2 birdies, poll frjpportt, 4 rac quiti and officii! ruli in attractivg carrying cait 1 DOWNTOWN STORE f 1 iiMiiSiriu ill CalOn Jcaler. MONDAY, JUNE IS, Language to hasten its decline by using our noses as smokestacks, Under such conditions the nose brings us little pleasure We tend to regard it as mere ly a pedestal for sunglasses, except when we have a had cold. Then we criticize it for dripping so much. But when properly develop ed, the sense of smell is a thing of beauty and a joy for- ever. Mine is a bit clogged at the moment, but as soon as the sinus passages drain I intend to start a campaign to rehabil- itate the nose and restore its good name, Dr. Johnston has convinced me that smelling can he fun. . c u Don't give in. to summer heat and humidity I Convert your home to the living comfort provided by a modern air con ditioning unit. ..Sleep Better. ..Feel Better ...L:ve Better... in the cool, filtered, dry air of an air-conditioned home this summer and every summer. Appliance Mrt - Big Y Appliance Center Feldman & OIon Home Appliance Company Johnston Storct Leonard Electric Company Modern Plumbing Montgomery Ward & Co Paulsen & Gates Thrift Market Trowbridge Electric Western Auto Sears Roebuck Lodge Wins GOP Spot In Senate Contest Worcester, Mass - ll'PP George Cabot Lodge Saturday j ' ' Congressman ! tSZZ ZCU. I fnrIhi,S; state Republican convention endorsement for the U.S. Senate. Lodge, 34-ycar-old son of former United States Ambas sador Henry Cabot Lodge, polled 936 votes to 848 for the 68 year - old congressman on the first and only ballot. BOATS , MOTORS MUST GO Before We Move to the Medford Shopping Center! We ara going to open our new store with new 1963 models. We're holding our clearance now during the best boating season. 1 rvgt The DEALS that we art making GUARANTEE a complete SELLOUT right away. This is your chance to make a REAL DEAL and get tha kind of outfit that you will be proud of. P14 Evinrude Generous Trade-in Allowance Convenient Terms JOHNSTON STORES 112 South Riverside ft. 772-4131 773. .3032 773-2811 773-5395 773-3619 773-4541 773-5368 773-7301 664-2283 773-6241 772-7301 772-6255 1362 J Tribes COMPLETES COURSE Pvt. Carl A. Vanderpooi, son of Mrs. Francis Vander pooi, 827 Gilman rd.. Med- ford recen1 completed th(, flve.week 8lngle ePngine ob. aon and utility "airplane maintenance course at thn j Army Aviation school, Ft. 1 Rucker, Ala. He entered the Army last December and re ceived basic training at Ft. Ord, Calif., Vanderpooi, 1058 graduate of Crater High school, attended Southern Oregon college. Dorsett Mastcrcraft Hotpoint Wesfinghouie Feddert General Electric RCA-Whirlpool Frigidaire-Amana Carrier Wards Tru-Cold Amana Westinghouse Wiiard Kenmore cJnJilcroiilunuiltJffilialiai nflkfCtuialUQunavLDittchj-
