From news.cs.tut.fi!butler.cc.tut.fi!news.eunet.fi!dkuug!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail Wed Aug 11 20:38:05 EET DST 1993 Article: 21872 of rec.radio.shortwave Path: news.cs.tut.fi!butler.cc.tut.fi!news.eunet.fi!dkuug!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail From: MOORE@tmu1.mcrest.edu ("Don Moore" ) Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave Subject: NAm Indian Langs on SW Date: 9 Aug 1993 11:45:14 -0500 Organization: Teikyo Marycrest University Lines: 76 Sender: daemon@cs.utexas.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu There are several Roman Catholic and Evangelical Protestant stations that broadcast in Guatemalan Indian languages from Guatemala. The * stations are Protestant, other R.C. La Voz de Atitlan 2390 kHz Tzutuhil *Radio Maya de Barillas 2360/3325 kHz Kanjobel and others Radio Chortis 3380 kHz Chorits Radio Mam 4825 kHz Mam Radio Tezultlan 3370/4835 kHz Kekchi *Radio Kekchi 4845 kHz Kekchi La Voz de Nahuala 3360 kHz Quiche, some Cakchiquel *Radio Buenas Nuevas 4800 kHz Mam In fact, these stations mostly broadcast in Indian languages - although they have adopted enough Spanish words that you may think you are hearing Spanish if you don't know much Spanish or if you don't listen closely (or if reception is very spotty). The one exception is Radio Chortis which only uses Chortis a two or three hours a week, otherwise using Spanish. Chortis is a dying language and only spoken by about 20,000 elderly Indians in eastern Guatemala, near Chiquimula. All the languages are Mayan except for Chortis which is a completely different family. These stations are low-powered tropical band outlets. Because Guatemala is closer to North America than, say, Peru, they are more easily heard than a lot of tropical band stations. However, it may be tough going with a DX-390 and a whip. I would say a set up akin to a Sony ICF-2010 and a small outdoor aerial would be the minimum for getting consistently listenable signals. The best time to hear these stations is in the morning. Sign-ons vary from 1000-1200 (Radio Mam is 1300). Generally speaking, in North America these stations aren't too hard from their sign-on until your local sunrise OR their local sunrise - whichever comes first (probably theirs if you're on the west coast). They can also be heard in the evenings from around sunset (your or theirs - whichever comes LAST) to signoff, which varies from 0200-0400 mostly. (Radio Mam goes off at 2400.) Winter is the best time to hear these as there are more hours of darkness (do some reading on tropical band propagation to understand this, if you're not familiar with it). I've traveled extensively in Guatemala & have written some commercial magazine articles and academic papers on Guatemalan broadcasting and Indian languages. Drop me an e-mail messaage if you would like e-mail copies. (Be patient - I won't be doing much e-mail for the next two weeks.) There is one station in Mexico that uses Nahuatl somewhat, Radio Huayacoctla on 2390. This is the same frequency as LV de Atitlan, so one does have to be careful to correctly ID the station. Atitlan was mostly heard last winter. Anyway, both stations are difficult catches unless you have *good* equipment, as is anything in 120 meters. As far as language guides go, check a good academic library. Ohio University, where I got my M.A. several years ago, had some grammars & studies of Latin American Indian languages. Probably any a big university library where there is a good Linguistics department. I would suspect that Berkeley and Stanford would be good sites in central California. I don't know what's in Northern California. As to word processors, to my knowledge all Central American & Mexican Indian languages can be written using standard Roman script as used in Spanish, with the addition of a few diacritic marks. For example, in Guatemalan Indian languages the ' represents a glottal stop, e.g. K'ekchi. I can't explain this in text, but it's a sort of deep-throated vowel sound. If you don't know it's there you won't hear it because your ears are accustomed to listening for that sound. Anyway, no special word processor should be needed. Don Moore MOORE@tmu1.mcrest.edu NASWA "Latin Destinations" editor