Edward W. Moser (1924–1976) was an American
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and expert in the
Seri language
Seri ( sei, cmiique iitom, link=no) is an indigenous language spoken by between 716La situación sociolingüística de la lengua seri en 2006. and 900 Seri people in Punta Chueca and El Desemboque, two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico. ...
and culture working with the
Summer institute of Linguistics
SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to ex ...
.
Life and career
He was born in 1924 in
Joliet,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. Son of a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
minister, he lived in various communities in Illinois,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
and
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he served as an ensign in the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
in the Pacific theater. In 1946 he married
Mary Beck (better known later as Becky) and in 1948 completed his B.A. degree in history at
Wheaton College (Illinois). Becky and Edward studied descriptive linguistics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics program at the University of Oklahoma. In 1951 they went to live in the
Mexican state
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
of
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
to live with the
Seri people
The Seri or ''Comcaac'' are an indigenous group of the Mexican state of Sonora. The majority reside on the Seri communal property ( es, ejido), in the towns of Punta Chueca ( sei, Socaaix) and El Desemboque ( sei, Haxöl Iihom, link=no) on the ...
and learn the
Seri language
Seri ( sei, cmiique iitom, link=no) is an indigenous language spoken by between 716La situación sociolingüística de la lengua seri en 2006. and 900 Seri people in Punta Chueca and El Desemboque, two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico. ...
under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
They built a small three room
adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
house in the Seri fishing camp called
Haxöl Iihom; the camp eventually became known in Spanish as
El Desemboque
El Desemboque (Seri: ) is a town located 376 km from Hermosillo on the shore of Gulf of California in the Mexican state of Sonora; coordinates N 29° 30' 13", W 112° 23' 43". It is part of the Municipality of Pitiquito, and is one of two maj ...
. This house served as their residence during the next twenty-five years. Two more small rooms and a small office were added ten years after the birth of their daughter Cathy. The home was frequently visited by scientists studying in the area.
The Mosers worked with others to help fight an early
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
epidemic by distributing
gamma globulin, provided emergency medical help and transportation to the hospital (90 miles away by dirt road to the Sonora state capital,
Hermosillo
Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo Municipality, Her ...
) in the years before a government clinic was set up in Haxöl Iihom, helped provide water to the village, and helped the people in numerous other ways. During these years the Seri population began to rebound, increasing from about 215 in 1951 to more than 800 by 2005.
Contributions to the study of Seri language and culture
Edward and Becky learned the Seri language and did the first scientific analysis of its
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
,
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
and
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
. A major collaborator with them on their work at that time was Roberto Herrera Marcos, a Seri man who also resided in Haxöl Iihom. Their earliest publications were Seri reading primers that were published by SIL in cooperation with the
Secretaría de Educación Pública
The Mexican Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of ...
after developing the first alphabet for the language under the guidelines of that Mexican ministry. Later work produced books of traditional Seri stories.
During their years of residence, the Mosers collected extensive lexical and cultural information, much of which would be published later in various books and articles. Recorded legends and history were published in the Seri language, and some appear in later collections in English and Spanish. A Seri-Spanish vocabulary book was published in 1961, an
ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...
(with botanist Richard S. Felger) in 1985 (which has been hailed as a modern classic), and a major dictionary in 2005, thirty years after Edward's death, but based largely on work that he and Roberto Herrera Marcos (a.k.a. Roberto Herrera Thomson) had done. What is known today about Seri history and culture, including the so-called “band” structure of this group, is the result of work that the Mosers and Herrera did. Even work that does not bear either of their names as authors, such as the article in the journal ''Science'' about hibernating sea turtles, the book about the San Esteban people,
[Bowen, Thomas. 2000. ''Unknown island: Seri Indians, Europeans, and San Esteban Island in the Gulf of California''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.] and the 2005 dictionary, as well as most work on the Seri language and culture during the past half century is part of their legacy.
The Mosers and Herrera also worked on a translation of the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
which was also completed in 1982, a few years after Edward's death.
Edward completed a master's degree in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966. Edward and Becky spent many summers (more than twenty for Edward, more than forty for Becky) at the
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...
giving linguistics courses through the Summer Institute of Linguistics program.
Edward's interest in the well-being of the Seri people and in their rich culture and history was unflagging up until his sudden and unexpected death in 1976. At about that same time, a Mexican government-sponsored building project in Haxöl Iihom laid out the first streets, and the street in front of Mosers’ home was called Calle Eduardo Moser, a name which it still bears today.
Bibliography of Edward W. Moser
*Bowen, Thomas and Edward W. Moser. 1968. Seri pottery. ''The Kiva'' 33: 89-132.
*Bowen, Thomas and Edward W. Moser. 1970. Material and functional aspects of Seri instrumental music. ''The Kiva'' 35: 178–200.
*Bowen, Thomas and Edward W. Moser. 1970. Seri headpieces and hats. ''The Kiva'' 35: 168–77.
*Felger, Richard S., Mary B. Moser and Edward W. Moser. 1980. Seagrasses in Seri Indian culture. ''Handbook of seagrass biology: An ecosystem perspective'', pp. 260–76. New York: Garland STPM Press.
*Felger, Richard S., Mary Beck Moser, and Edward W. Moser. 1981. The desert tortoise in Seri Indian culture. ''The Desert Tortoise Council: Proceedings of the 1981 Symposium''. pp. 113–20.
*Herrera T., Roberto; Jesús Morales and Juan Topete. 1976. ''Zix anxö cóohhiit hapáh quih czáxö zix quihmáa táax mos czaxöiha (El gigante llamado comelón y otras historias)''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
osers were the unlisted editors.*Moser, Edward W. 1961. ''Number in Seri verbs''. M.A. thesis, University of Pennsylvania.
*Moser, Edward W. 1962. The two brothers who went away angry: A Seri legend. ''Tlalocan'' 4: 157–60.
*Moser, Edward W. 1963. Seri bands. ''The Kiva'' 28.3: 14–27.
pdated version in Spanish is on-line: http://www.sil.org/americas/mexico/seri/A004-BandasSeris-SEI.pdf.*Moser, Edward W. 1968. Two Seri myths. ''Tlalocan'' 5: 364–67.
*Moser, Edward W. 1996. Los seris.
nline: http://www.sil.org/mexico/seri/A003i-People-SEI.htm*Moser, Edward W. 1969. ''Cuaam coop (La tejedora de canastas)''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1955. ''Abecedario seri''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1956. ''Los números en seri''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1961. ''Vocabulario seri: seri-castellano, castellano-seri''. México, D.F.: Insituto Lingüístico de Verano.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1964. ''Hablemos español (Cocsar íitong quih cöscóoza)''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1965. Consonant-vowel balance in Seri (Hokan) syllables. ''Linguistics'' 16: 50–67.
*Moser, Edward W. and Mary B. Moser. 1976. Seri noun pluralization classes. ''Hokan Studies'', eds. Margaret Langdon and Shirley Silver. The Hague: Mouton, 285–96.
*Moser, Edward W. and Richard S. White. 1968. Seri clay figurines. ''The Kiva'' 33: 133–54.
*Moser, Edward W. 1973. Seri basketry. ''The Kiva'' 38: 105–40.
*''Primera cartilla seri''. 1963. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
total of four primers were published, first in trial editions in 1959; they were reprinted at various dates; Mosers were the unlisted editors.*Romero, Chico et al. 1975. ''Zix ctám barríil hapáh cuitzaxö, zix quihmáa táax mos czáxöiha (El hombre llamado barril y otras historias)''. México: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
osers were the unlisted editors.*''Ziix quih icaamx quih cmaa quiih quih Cristo quij itoon hant com cöoomjc ac; El nuevo testamento en seri de Sonora.'' 1982. México, D.F. Liga del Sembrador.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moser, Edward W.
1924 births
1976 deaths
Linguists from the United States
Translators of the Bible into indigenous languages of the Americas
Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni
20th-century translators
20th-century American anthropologists
20th-century linguists