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Sterling Martin was in grad school, studying C. elegans worms, when COVID19 hit and suddenly he found himself in lexicography, as part of a team creating a Navajo-English dictionary of science terms.
Content note: this episode contains fleeting references to medical conditions including cancer and COVID, but not any descriptions or experiences thereof. It’s an upbeat episode about a great project combining science and lexicography.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:
Browse the dictionary at EnableNavajo.org.
And you can donate to help the project add more educational materials at NavajoBiology.square.site. Donors receive a special sticker.
As well as the word of the day, they also offer a starter kit for learning Navajo.
The dictionary conference at which Sterling and I met was the Dictionary Society of North America conference 2023 - and anyone can join the Dictionary Society! The journal happens to be edited by alumsionist Lynne Murphy.
Otherlusionists: we discuss the inexpressiveness of medical eponyms (plus other problems with them as terminology) in Name That Disease, and there’s some common ground with the opacity of technobabble as discussed in Technobabble. There are also several episodes about coining new terminology and revitalising languages in the Survival series.
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YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
veridical, adjective: truth-telling: coinciding with fact: (of a dream or vision) corresponding exactly with what has happened or with what happens later: seemingly true to fact.
CREDITS:
Sterling Martin is a biologist and cofounder of Project ENABLE, which created science words in Navajo and compiled them into a Navajo-English scientific lexicon. Browse the words and find out more about the Project ENABLE team at EnableNavajo.org and donate to keep the project going at navajobiology.square.site.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social and instagram.com/allusionistshow
