In fact, the 40-word vocabulary of this feathered duo doesn't sound like any language spoken today.

Berwick spent more than a year helping teach her parrots to speak the language of a South American tribe wiped out more than 200 years ago.

The artist, who has created several other projects to re-create things lost to history, will be one of three keynote speakers at this week's Symposium in Science and Literature at the University of Utah. Berwick, along with a paleontologist and a novelist, come together to discuss issues of loss and attempts to compensate for those losses. The theme is "Some Re-Assembly Required: Restoration and Human Production in Images, Words and Bones."

Tales of 17th century German explorer Alexander von Humboldt inspired Berwick to pursue her parrot work. In the early 1800s, von Humboldt journeyed through Venezuela and came across a small tribe.

Members of this tribe spoke one language, while some of their parrots seemed to speak a different language. Von Humboldt learned that this tribe had recently killed off a rival group, the Maypure, and took the parrots as spoils of war.

Realizing that these parrots were speaking the language of their dead masters, von Humboldt acquired one of the birds to record this vanished language and learn what the words meant.

"These parrots were the last remaining speakers of this language, the last link to this tribe," Berwick said. "I knew I had to do a piece on it."

Von Humboldt's German notes that phonetically spelled out this 40-word South American language were translated into French for publication. In the spirit of von Humboldt's work, Berwick taught two parrots a version of the language based on his French published notes that were later translated into English. The parrots at one time sat in an aviary built in a New York City museum and between chirps would blurt out Maypure words to visitors.

Katherine Coles, a U. professor of literature and co-organizer of the symposium, said Berwick's work raises interesting questions about what it means to try to recapture a piece of the past.

"What is gained?" Coles asked about the parrots who were taught Maypure. "What is lost by that?"

One thought is the effort to restore highlights the loss of this language for viewers of the work, Coles said.

The symposium's two other keynote speakers also deal with reconstructing the past.

Michael Novacek, curator of paleontology for New York's American Museum of Natural History, has spent his career searching for dinosaur and mammal fossils in places from Mexico to Yemen. Coles said that people in Novacek's line of work read the Earth to learn more about what the past was like.

Some of the books from novelist Leslie Forbes, the third keynote speaker, include passages about forensic photographers who try to reconstruct crime scenes. Other parts of her work look at plants that have gone extinct and wonder what sort of medicinal compounds have been lost to humanity, Coles said.

The spotlight speakers of each year's events are often picked before organizers settle on a theme. She said that often, some combination of speakers will come to the attention of planners during the year.

"Their work will suggest conversations they can have together," Coles said.

And sometimes, some of the speakers already happen to be connected. It turns out that Forbes is writing a play based on the work of Berwick and her Maypure-speaking parrots. This week's events will include a stage reading of the work.

Among Berwick's other work is an installation on passenger pigeons, which became extinct in the 1900s after overhunting and being harvested for food. A work that will be on display during and after the symposium will feature passenger pigeons cast in copal, a precursor to amber. The artwork will be at the Salt Lake Art Center, 20 S. West Temple, for several weeks starting Thursday.

Berwick's parrots, which have been part of past installations elsewhere, will be staying home for this trip. Berwick still speaks to the birds in Maypure - or at least as close to the original language as is possible today - carrying on the spirit of one of the hundreds of languages lost to history.

glavine@sltrib.com

Author Leslie Forbes, the first keynote speaker, has written on topics ranging from the loss of plants to art restoration.

Register for free symposium at the U.

The University of Utah Symposium in Science and Literature is Thursday to Sunday.

The symposium is free, but participants should register by Wednesday as space may be limited. Registration information is available by calling JoAnn Murray at 801-581-7236.

Keynote speeches, all held in Marriott Library's Gould Auditorium, will be:

* Novelist Leslie Forbes, 7 p.m. Thursday

* Artist Rachel Berwick, 7 p.m. Friday

* Paleontologist Michael Novacek, 10 a.m. Saturday

National Public Radio's "Science Friday" will broadcast part of its show from the U. campus. Host Ira Flatow, who will be working remotely from New York City, will interview the keynote speakers. Those interested in being part of the studio audience must be in Gould Auditorium before 12:30 p.m. You must be pre-registered to be an audience member.

For a full schedule of events, visit http://www.scienceand literature.org.