Ngäbere Collection of Harriet Manelis Klein

Colección del Ngäbere de Harriet Manelis Klein

Object Details

Collection LanguageNgäbere
Language PIDailla:119535
Title [Indigenous]
Language of Indigenous Title
TitleNgäbere Collection of Harriet Manelis Klein
Country(ies)Panama
Collector(s)Klein, Harriet E. Manelis
Depositor(s)Klein, Harriet E. Manelis
Project/Collector Website
Description [Indigenous]
Language of Indigenous Description
DescriptionThis collection contains materials created or collected during Harriet E. Manelis Klein's research on Ngäbere, a Chibchan language of Panamá, in the 1980s. Klein was invited to Panamá to assist in a local effort of Catholic priests to improve their knowledge of their parishioners'' language. Klein made three research trips to the region: one in summer of 1982, another in the fall of 1982, and a third trip in 1984.

Ngäbere is the name for the language of the Ngäbe people in their own language. This language is also widely known by the exonym Guaymí, which appears throughout Klein's materials.

Many of Klein's principal language consultants are identified only by first name in the collection materials. Any additional information which could be used to identify these individuals would be appreciated. Klein's consultants spoken at least two distinct varieties of Ngäbere: the Bocas del Toro and Chiquirí dialects, abbreviated BT and CH in written materials.

The materials in this collection include over 37 hours of audio cassette recordings made during Klein's first and second trips and six notebooks created during all three trips. There are also collections of file slips and printouts of portions of a digital lexicon and text corpus. The original digital database has not been found. Also included is a Catholic mass ordinary in Ngäbere (likely not produced by Klein) and a grammar sketch that was one of the products of Klein's research on Ngäbere.
References