Tijuana, November 22.- As part of the monthly conference “Iraís Piñón”, whose objective is to disseminate research and activities on topics of anthropology, migration and indigenous peoples, the Tijuana Cultural Center (Cecut) will offer this month the topic Tipeey Aa Karkwarith – We speak Kumiay. Why and how to make a Kumiay dictionary by Matt Prjaw?
It will be next Thursday, November 24th at 6:00 pm in the Federico Campbell Room, when Dr. Carlos Ivanhoe Gil Burgoin, accompanied by Beatriz Carrillo Espinoza and Rosa María Silva Vega, both Kumiay speakers from San José de la Zorra, will present the difficulties and solutions that are proposed when doing lexicography (practice of building dictionaries) of an endangered language and the role that native speakers and researchers play in its elaboration.
The project presented by the speakers aims to contribute to halting the disappearance of the Kumiay language by recording the native vocabulary and grammar, the cultural practices associated with its use, creating materials for dissemination and teaching, and raising awareness of its existence throughout society.
Carlos Ivanhoe Gil Burgoin holds a PhD in linguistics from El Colegio de México and is currently the coordinator of the Research and Applied Studies Program in Indigenous Languages at the Faculty of Languages, Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), Tijuana campus. He has conducted research and published on the languages of the Kumiay, Ódami (Northern Tepehuan), and Cochimí communities.
Beatriz Carrillo Espinoza, a native of San José de la Zorra and a native speaker, is an artisan in Kumiay weaving techniques and a teacher in her community's schools. She has contributed to the development of a book on ethnobotany detailing the life cycle and processing of the reed. Using techniques learned from her elders, she creates foods from local species such as acorn atole and quiote flower.
