1 12 1 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/da7813addbb1cf8f40e01436d061717f.pdf 2634457c63e718c34bb5dc555b5d52cd PDF Text Text _ _ _ _ _ __,'-"- l,_,__,"---'- T E R M I N A T I 0 N S E_, F 0 E A N 0 T E RRI T0 RY The Survival and Revival of Native American Languages The disappearance of Indigenous languages. although a deeply disturbing and ever accelerating trend, has received little national or international attention. Under enormous stress from a variety of sources. the Native people of this continent appear unable to halt the rapid erosion that is washing away a central strand of human identity. Not only are languages disappearing. but with them unique world-views and philosophies. The negative consequences of this loss of cultural. spiritval. and intellectual diversity will become more apparent as the spiritual and intellectual barrenness of the modern world more fully reveals itself. By Alexander Ewen and Jeffrey Wollock The Problem T he study or Native languages, anthropological linguistics. was developed under lhe ass\.tmption that Indigenous languages were doomed. hs main task has been to record languages (or posterity. This is imponant. but it is not enough. Toda)' there is glowing resolve to put a brake on this process: the Indigenous culmres and their traditions are too import~nt. For their survival, the languages must also continue. As a stuffed and mount· ed specimen can give little sense or the live animal it once was, so dry texts and even t~pcs are no substitute for living languages. These are not museum pieces. they are themselves living libraries, windows on worlds that can· not be replaced. The loss or language diver.;ity is a global trend. It has been estimated that, at current rates, the 5,500 currently living langu.,ges will be reduced in a century or two to just n few hundred.! American Indian languages have been especially hard hit. Indeed, o£ the worlds languages that are considered nearly extinct, over one quarter are Indigenous languages in the United States. At the time of Columbus, at least 300 lndigen.o us languages were being spoken in what is now the United Vol. 10 No.1 States.2 Today there are only 148 and, of those. one third have fewer than 100 fluent speakers and are consi.dered near exlinction. More ominous. 32 native languages have 10 or fewer speakers and are in critical danger or becoming extincl within the next few years) The percentage of Native-language It is estimated that 80% of all Canadian and United States Indian languages are in a similar process or d)1ng out." Few national governments are doing anything effective to reverse these patterns. For example, the United States has a strong commitment to bilingual education, yet the manner in which it is speakers in the various communities taught is almost useless in preventi-ng varies enonllOUSl)< While over 350,000 Native people, or one in six. speak their language, almost three-founhs or these come from fewer thar\ a dozen Native nations or groups o£ nations. and more than a third of the Indigenous-language languages from disappearing. There are many Indian communities that have successfully resisted the glob· al trend. Some, such as the Hualapai and the Utes. have long had vigorous and effective language progmms. Recent speakers in this country are Navajo. While Indigenous languages are threatened in other countries in the Americas. nowhere is the problem as critical as in the United States. More languages are on the verge or ext.inction in this CO\IIllf)' than in the rest of the Americas COJnbined, and California More languages are on the verge of extinction in this country than in the rest of the Americas combined. and California alone has more threatened languages than any other country. alone has more threatened langttages than any other coumry. Moreover. even those languages that are not immediately threatened with ext.inction are in danger. For example, although Yakima has 3,000 spe.1ker,;, most or all o£ these are middle-aged or older. Without a comprehensive program to educate ymmg Yakimas, the language will soon suffer a massive loss of speaker.; as they begin to pass away. income from gaming and other new enterprises has made possible strong language revival progmms among the Oneidas and Menominee of Wisconsin. ln Canada, there is growing awareness or the seriousness or the issue and there have been strong commi\mcnts to lan.. guage revitalization from national Native organi.z ations such as the Assembly o£ Fir.;t Nations. 25 �SELF DETERMII'ATIOt< At<D TERR I TORY A Navajo WOill!ln elder. The N~ajo are one of the few lnd!Set!OUS cu1Mes in the United States that have retained their la119uage to thJ, day. Nc<e than one third of the Native la119uage 5Pe4kers in the US are Navajo. The Needs hard for b1llngual education on public All prchmiiUII')' fmding.> mdtcat.: schools, only to Ond tb.11 it IS tnade\Ylth N:u.ivc communiurs m tht UnHed that Nntl"e commumues tn the Umted qU3te lO stem the IO.S of speakers. Due to the L~k of re$0Un:e5 a\'allStot<> on mtenswe languas~ tc..:hms or Stntes. Canad2, and other p;trts of this reviv:tl: ond that there ore successrul hemisphere Ond the languoge rtl<nuon able to ruos.t NAdve communities, many modds of how to pro<:<<cl. M•ny ISSUe tO be OnC or thetr blg&CSI COn• or whonl RIC ~tntggling \VIlh ;\ host of Indian communities rcqutrc immtdlnte cems. The inablhty to p.15$ On the lon- other problems. l:onguage pmgr:mlS nn: n<'tl<>n. In the form of specially designed guage to the youth l' mnklng it mort us11o.tly not an <>i>lion. Most lnd1gcnous J>rogmms, if their languages ore to sur- :md more difrkult lO 1>:1<< on tradition;; people in this hemisphere have much and culture. or C\'et\ to loster the tradi- lower stundnrds of lhing than the survive. The inabtlity of the modem mmd to tional le~dersh1p necessMy to guide roundmg populntlOIIS and are often under~ouUld 1M wealth thm surrounds 11 lnd1:m communottes lnt<> the future. extremcl)r poor Many Native commu· I> every d.l)• molang 1M world n poorer The general consensus among those niues suffer pohti(';tl oppression, conpi.ICe A report ISSUed b)· the who work Wlth N;ul\.: people on theu unwd eros1on of their land bost, :md Worldwnteh lnstltute in 1992 wamed b>IX!' is that the ~ tll.ljOrit)· of Natn·e th~ demo! of their legal and cultur:ol that the consequences of C\tltun: loss communities would gladly org.mlzc or nglns • Effons to develop and provtdt an nmong tnb-•1 peoples would Include the parti<:ip;~te on lan~c reco'Cf)' prod15nppearonce of millions of plant and jects If they had the op11on. When eco- econOmiC b;ue to these Indian communmmnl spcdcs. which currcmly Hvc nomic opponuniucs prcS('nl them· nities Cllll hnve detrimental effeCls on under their protection.) One can only selves. Indian reurv(luons usually l~ng:n:\ges and, cuhurcs-.7 New economJ>Oncler the question: when the world Is begin a language rcvttahznuon pro- Ic devclopmtnt ncti,.ties such as the reduced to a single language. w11\therc gram. Many cornmum11cs, .such as the NQrth American Free Trnde Agreement be anything of value left to sayl Seneca and Ont>ndo~, h~w fought (NAFTA) c•n be expected to ha.·c a All of this indicates two th.ngs: thnt thc:rt Is> cntto1l need to be&Jn \\OOOnj: 26 �nta;.uw~ cfft-ct <>II Indian Lmgu;t.:<> on !>kX>a> "he"' •lmost 10'- or the pop- • ...., .. lncllgtlous.• Lan~ rt\1tolluuon as • com· p.u•mely ncv. clf•>rt, wnh few SU<· ._._,and m•ny f•llurco Program> arc n-qulrcd that con t.tkc onto •ccount the •f'<<lh< pohto.:.tl, <Uhuml, and <<O· n€1mK cucum,tan<t~ or N:tU\'t' .:om~ muntll<'- • hen ~~ Nathe people wllh cconorn~< 1\''<llli'Ct< often la<k the rn.tny diffcr<ru •kills needed tc> put f<>rwot<l • comprchrMovc progr.>m. M<lr<O\'t'r, cultur•l <h.tn~ IS """ so raJ>od •nd pen·~~l\t. thAt ne>> "•l~ to lml.l the mtcrc>t ,,[ >••un,t: pcoplt and c<Ju<are them nad to he de-.lopcd Tht bock of communiClhon amonll :-o;.,t>c communltlet h:as h.ndtr<d the r.... •ucc:.,.,ful m<><ltl< from ~'"Ill applocd m Othtr ""·" In,......, \\here languogc los. h•• rc"Chcd ~ cnucol lt,·d, go'·4:m"'"nt' and tn~uuuon.'\ put the emphAsis on rc~ordtng bn~· ralltcr th;on '"' rescuon~ thtm \luch mor. n-~>l'<h nc~ch to~ done M thl\ ossue to better sur<<)' nnd evol· ur11r the cum•ou •tntc of lonj~ungc retention amon11 North American lnd~.t.ns o.s well • to o«k out <uccessful ><>lull""" .. H oteet I Ooernoncl IIIH3l m '"thee global ... _ lo... ~houGh I ote of he cetcu· latoo tho numbOr of liVIng fonQuliQOI at 6,000. 2 Teetor (19761 U•VOI en OIHm<!IO Of 300 Na""" Amfonc3n ~-· It cont.oct 3 c.-. (lge4l ' ..... ,.,. 176 .... ~ .. nM!IY ··'""''·of w!IICII•9 .... .n the Uno•od s.~,·· 1n ""' - · on1y A<l•t""" dole to tl>oS number· there It no other countty w.lh mote than I 0 cni1CII1v enciM(Iera<l JM. ""'h •3 ...,.,.,.. fo, tt'ldrt 111/ttr~ndtk•,.. COftttJt.f , \fco.'l F"'t" Dl o 'lJool W ~ '-'ol4r..... JIO \\hl '>! ~r. lM~. ~"1: 10019. ~ Zl2·16S~ ,,, fcx. 2Jl. ~1J.I t- 11""110• a.c.,., •., M(•rent ree-cho<s u.M d-Hetet~l n• ct•t .. for delt'"'*"*"'Q - - • ........_ .. ••'O<"od Ot - ' f _,_ the<e 1 s - diKr_,. on the ~~gut-. The , ... of uoed on the~t on<t · ...., . _....,.. al fewer tholn · - hundred ~"""' elderly, cen be conotdorod near extonctoon. • Teeter 119761 o•t"""'" that 11411 ofel AIM•Iean lnd4n ~ WI. become ••ttonct ~ w.th .......... gene•••- or ~ (19931 cot..• Moct.-el Kreuu of tho UnM!< ..ty ol Alia... "' Footbonk1. 'For tho 187 lncl13n lnngungos 1uMvong In North Amonco OUIItdo ol M>tke Ktau" ..t•ncltee that 1•9 ol ! ' - are ~nd · Fen.. I 1993) ttateo !hot 110 of the 53 NatM> len· _ . . opokon "' Cencodo are • conaod.....,., <Jechnong or endMgored • -ker.. .,,..,.tv 5 According tO Brtocoe (1992). 'Up IO 5.000 ~ -~~ t2 ~ent of the r.ndw.. T'-Yclilfetl,_ the •est of .,._,. be<lcM.oe t'-Y M cloMf 110 .,. . . -- '" ' -·a -~t countnea duo••••t cut:~· l"he ..-port '-'<1 lll4t ~ . . .I*'P'- - · .a.o Vol 10 No.1 !l7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 1996) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Survival and Revival of Native American Languages Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jeffrey Wollock Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Spring 1996 Language A language of the resource English, Spanish English Zotero Title The Survival and Revival of Native American Languages Item Type Journal Article Author Alexander Ewen and Jeffrey Wollock Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 25-27 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter ISSN 1071-3182 Date Spring 1996 Language English Abstract Note The disappearance of Indigenous languages although a deeply disturbing and ever accelerating trend has received little national or international attention. Under enormous stress from a variety of sources the Native people of the South American continent appear unable to halt the rapid erosion that is washing away a central strand of human identity. The loss of language will create negative consequences like, loss of cultural. Attachment Title abyayala_v10_n1_p25-27.pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Disappearance of Native languages Indigenous languages Native Language Revival