An Isinay Word Hunter's Story (Prelude)

ONCE IN A while the dictionary maker's heart in me skips a few beats to accommodate certain moments of joy that come, like rain in the afternoon when temperatures almost reach boiling point, just when I thought I was running low on chances to pour out my innards as a word collector.

Such an occasion came again last April 22 when I served as resource speaker in the three-day Seminar-Workshop on Revitalizing Indigenous Languages: Using Indigenous Languages as Medium of Instruction. Sponsored as part of the extension services of UP Baguio's College of Arts and communication, the seminar was held at Saint Mary's University in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

The seminar was attended by some 320 public school teachers from all over Nueva Vizcaya. Unfortunately, when I asked for a show of hands from among the participants who among them came from the Isinay towns of Aritao, Bambang, and Dupax, I only saw maseserot an mamaestra from Bambang and one from Kayapa but no one from Aritao and Dupax.

Naturally, I wondered out loud why. When I texted my sister later, she said probably the Department of Education's memo enjoining the teachers to attend the seminar may not have reached the concerned public school authorities in Dupax.

Anyway, in case my fellow Isinays would wish to know what I shared as first of the four speakers, I'm going to post in Isinay Bird the handout I prepared which was part of the seminar kit distributed to the participants.

The title of my paper was LET THE ISINAY FOREST SING AGAIN: AN ISINAY WORD HUNTER'S SUTSUR.

The handout was a 12-page single-spaced material. During the seminar proper, however, I presented a condensed and photo-flavored PowerPoint version. As in the case of a novel being different from the movie version, I thought I should share the former and insert some of the photos I used in the PowerPoint version.

Here's the photo I used for the title page of the latter:

A typical scene in upstream Dupax del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya. I shot this photo from the mountain road above the irrigation dam at Dalihan, Brgy. Palobotan. The river comes from the merging of Navetangan River on the left and the Carolotan River flowing from the blue mountains in the far background. The wooded hills are part of Birayan and Lohban.

By the way, sutsur is the Isinay word for "story".

 

(NEXT: PART 1 OF THE PAPER "LET THE ISINAY FOREST SING AGAIN")