#marie's dictionary

[jillianleedy]

This short documentary tells the story of Marie Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language and the dictionary she created in an effort to keep her language alive.

So cool!!

[lionmeetskoala-blog]

Marie’s Dictionary (2014)

In Central California, an 82 year old woman has spent the last seven years of her life pecking slowly, painstakingly away at the yellowed keyboard of her computer in order to put together a dictionary of the Wukchumni language. Ms Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni in the world, and several members of her family have committed themselves to resisting the linguicidal plague that has been sweeping indigenous communities across the world. 

You might be right that I’m naturally drawn to racial or ethnic themes (not just in documentaries, but also in life). This will probably be a pattern. But unlike the tone of seething fury that permeated Utopia (2013), this documentary about one is a truly uplifting tale of perseverance and selflessness, of strong familial bonds, of community, of hope. Ms Wilcox’s dictionary is not so much a race against time, but a collaborative effort with her daughter Jennifer and her almost-fluent grandson Donovan to teach the young ones--who are eager to learn!--their mother tongue. Donovan is helping her to record an audio version of the dictionary, as well as several folktales from the tribe, fables that are themselves fascinating for the insights they offer into the Yokuts’ animistic worldview.

There isn’t any fierce, scathing political commentary delivered in John Pilger’s measured, NatGeo-ish voice to punctuate each interview, each conversation. This is a keenly-observed documentary that sits back and just lets its characters be.   

[ga-loi-studio]

[onionapologist]

Marie's Dictionary

The last speakers of the Wukchumni language and the preservation thereof.