Moore, Patrick James, 2003, Point of view in Kaska historical narratives: Indiana University.
Summary
This dissertation is a three-part study of the linguistic and cultural features of historical accounts in Kaska, an Athabaskan language spoken in the southern Yukon and northern British Columbia, Canada. The first part of this study is an analysis of the specific linguistic and cultural characteristics of the narratives. Part 2 is a grammar of Kaska that focuses on the sound system, lexical categories, and morphological structure. In part 3, the narratives are presented in Kaska and Tlingit with English translations, together with information about the narrators. In part 1, point of view in Kaska is analyzed from two different perspectives, one focusing on the language of the narratives, and the other focusing on cultural and ethnohistorical [...]
Summary
This dissertation is a three-part study of the linguistic and cultural features of historical accounts in Kaska, an Athabaskan language spoken in the southern Yukon and northern British Columbia, Canada. The first part of this study is an analysis of the specific linguistic and cultural characteristics of the narratives. Part 2 is a grammar of Kaska that focuses on the sound system, lexical categories, and morphological structure. In part 3, the narratives are presented in Kaska and Tlingit with English translations, together with information about the narrators. In part 1, point of view in Kaska is analyzed from two different perspectives, one focusing on the language of the narratives, and the other focusing on cultural and ethnohistorical issues relating to worldview, ethnicity, gender, and historical consciousness. The specific linguistic characteristics analyzed in this part include features that are used to position characters and events in spatial, social, and temporal contexts. Kaska audiences use their knowledge of deictic directional terms, personal referents, and temporal expressions (including the system of mode and aspect) to determine the meaning of an account. Kaska narrators and their audiences also make use of two distinct narrative genres to depict historical events, which differ both in the way they depict Kaskas and outsiders, and in the way they depict space and time. Chapters 6 to 10 analyze the perspective that Kaska narrators assume on events, in relation to factors such as worldview, gender, and cultural identity. Interactions with other groups figure prominently in Kaska narratives, particularly relations with Euro-Canadians, who have assumed a dominant political and economic role in this region. The contrasting values and practices of Kaskas and Euro-Canadians are epitomized in Kaska accounts of their interactions with the dominant group. Kaska narratives are found to present an interpretation of events based on Kaska values and beliefs that contrasts with Euro-Canadian narratives of exploration and development. This dissertation applies contemporary approaches to linguistic and ethnohistorical analysis to the study of Kaska narratives, and is in the long tradition of research with American Indian languages and narratives.