This collection documents the research Robert E. Johnson conducted for his dissertation on the Coeur d'Alene language, as well as his fieldwork on the Makah language. Johnson's papers consist of field notes, audio recordings, index cards, and transcripts concerning both languages. The Coeur d'Alene recordings are of Lawrence Nicodemus. The Makah recordings were done with several of the last remaining speakers of that language, most of whom were over eighty years old when the recordings were made.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into two series: 1) Coeur d'Alene Language, 1969 and 2) Makah Language, 1971.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert E. Johnson, an anthropological linguist, received a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington State University. As a doctoral student he conducted field research on the Coeur d'Alene language on the tribe's reservation in Idaho (1969 and 1970). In 1971, he did fieldwork on the Makah language in Washington state.
Johnson began teaching at Gallaudet University's Department of Linguistics in 1981. While there, he engaged in research on the phonetic, phonological, and morphological structures of signed languages. He studied the structures of American Sign Language, Argentine Sign Language, and the sign language of a Yucatec Maya community. He also worked with Scott Liddell on a phonetic notation system for signed languages and co-authored with Liddell and Carol Erting "Unlocking the Curriculum: Principles of Achieving Access in Deaf Education." In addition, he provided consulting services as an expert witness on Miranda rights for deaf suspects.
Johnson retired from Gallaudet University in December of 2011.
Sources Consulted
Johnson, Robert. n.d. Robert Johnson, PhD. Accessed April 10, 2013. http://www.gallaudet.edu/faculty-staff/linguistics/johnson_robert_e.html
Johnson, Robert. n.d. Robert Johnson, PhD. Accessed April 10, 2013. http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/robert-johnson2/
Related Materials:
The Human Studies Film Archives holds Robert E. Johnson's Mayan sign language video tapes and related notebooks.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Robert E. Johnson upon his retirement from Gallaudet University in 2011.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Robert E. Johnson papers on the Coeur d'Alene and Makah languages, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Digitization and preparation of most of this material for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund and by National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.