| Dr. Benjamin Bruch Returns Triumphant from His Half-Long Quest to Explain Changes to Celtic Languages in the Hallowed Halls of the Barker Center at Harvard University
Dear readers of the What's New,
This Tuesday, PBA’s Dr. Benjamin Bruch returned from a week away to Harvard University as the keynote speaker for the 43rd Annual Harvard Celtic Colloquium presenting “The Rise and Fall of the New Quantity System in Welsh and Cornish.” Dr. Ben’s talk will be published later in the Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. | | 
| Let me just reiterate. Dr. Benjamin Bruch, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Celtic languages and literature and a humanities teacher at Pacific Buddhist Academy, presented the keynote at Harvard University. Here’s a link with PBA’s name to prove it: 43rd Annual Harvard Celtic Colloquium “The talk had to do with how the Welsh and Cornish languages changed from the time of King Arthur,” Dr. Ben explained to me, “to modern day. In the sixth century, the Anglo Saxons split Wales and Cornwall apart, so the languages separated from each other.” What had been a unitary language with many dialects that linguists formerly referred to as Brythonic, became over the following thousand years of isolation from one another the Brittonic languages Breton, Cornish, and Welsh. | | “The quantity system in my talk’s title refers to the length of vowels in a language and the rules for determining it,” said Dr. Ben. “Many languages have long and short vowels, but Cornish and Welsh had short, half-long, and long vowels. Though they were isolated geographically, North Welsh and Cornish eventually stopped having half-long vowels in the 1600s.” | | 
| | Dr. Ben is modest about his expertise. “I always worry people won’t be interested when I explain the subject of my papers,” he said, “but the attendees at the colloquium seemed to enjoy the talk and it was well attended. We don’t give participants handouts anymore – everyone had their cellphones out snapping pics of my slides. I think that means they liked it.” For myself, I was a poor linguistics student, but linguistics had a profound influence on my life. As an undergraduate student at the University of Oregon, it was linguist Colette Grinevald that sent me to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua to do ethnographic work with the Rama Indians, for whose indigenous language Dr. Grinevald published the first grammar. As the Endangered Languages Project estimates – the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is a co-sponsor of the ELP – over 40% of the world’s approximately 7,000 languages are at risk of disappearing. As many people in our communities observed Indigenous People’s Day this Monday, I have long been concerned about the implications of this worldwide language endangerment. The fact that a teacher at Pacific Buddhist Academy has played a part in helping one of those languages, Cornish, revive itself, as it were, from the dead, makes me profoundly proud to be a colleague. In language we imagine ourselves, we express ourselves, and we bind ourselves to one another. I love my language, from the fun I have trying to pronounce Chaucer’s middle English to the idioms of Gen Z a group of students persuaded me to use for a recent Instagram reel. “The Celtic languages changed over their 1,000+ years of isolation, but in many ways their tales are stories of survival,” said Dr. Ben. “Not unlike the Hawaiian language here, Cornish is making a comeback.” We thank Dr. Ben for everything he brings to our community.
| Warmly,
Josh
Head of School | Admissions Open House 
| Building Connections for a Stronger School Community at the Parent/Teacher Mixer On September 26, the Dragon Parents 'Ohana Parent/Teacher Mixer kicked off the school year with a fantastic turnout, bringing together 26 families for a night of community building. It was the first mixer of its kind, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start! The purpose of the mixer was to provide an informal opportunity for parents and teachers to get to know each other and build relationships in a relaxed setting. Dining over charcuterie refreshments, families had the chance to engage with the faculty, learn more about the school’s goals for the year, and share ideas on how we can all contribute to the success of our students. “This was my first parent/teacher mixer, and though it was daunting at first to ‘speed meet’ a bunch of my students’ parents, it offered a great opportunity to learn more about the support system that my students have on the home front," said humanities teacher Ms. Verena. "A bingo game also sparked some fun conversations that helped build a stronger sense of community between the parents and teachers and I am definitely looking forward to the next mixer." We’re thrilled by the enthusiasm shown by everyone who attended. “The strength of the community is what makes PBA special,” said admissions director Blanche Yarnell. “It was great to see many of our families attend and be excited about getting to know the teachers and other parents. I am excited to see the participation for the future mixers.” For now, we invite you to enjoy some photos from the September mixer. Thank you to all the families who attended and made this night special. Your involvement is key to fostering a strong school community, and we can’t wait to see more of you at our upcoming events. 
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Lighting Our Way
November 15, 2024
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7:30AM - 5:00PM
Teacher In-Service Day
September 13, 2024 - Office Hours - 9:00AM - 3:00PM | | |
