Indigenous Languages: Their Threatened Extinction Is a Global Responsibility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Cárdenas ◽  
Roxane de la Sablonnière ◽  
Donald M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Reversal Theory ◽  
Global Responsibility

Indigenous languages are at the verge of extinction. For many indigenous communities, saving their languages means protecting one of the last-standing symbols of their cultural identity, a symbol that has survived a history of colonization and that can impact their well-being. If indigenous languages are to survive, language revitalization strategies need to be adopted by indigenous communities and governments. One such strategy is language revitalization planning, where communities and governments are actively engaged in changing the way group members use language. Language revitalization plans are often derived from two theoretical stands, either language reversal theory (which adopts a language-autonomy perspective) or language vitality (which focuses on the factors that favor a linguistic group’s survival). Language revitalization strategies also involve some form of bilingual education. Bilingual education in indigenous communities allows indigenous children to learn, and hence to gain competency in, both their indigenous language and the mainstream language. Strong forms of bilingualism, as opposed to weak forms of bilingualism, have great potential for nourishing competency in indigenous languages, because they give equal value to the indigenous language and the mainstream language. Language revitalization strategies also need to consider the collective functions of language, or how groups use their language. Language can be used by groups as a vehicle for cultural knowledge, as a symbol of identity, and as a tool for communicating in formal and informal settings. Strengthening the collective function of indigenous languages is essential to their survival. In the case of indigenous people, every single step taken to revitalize their languages (language planning, bilingual education, and the collective functions of language) is an affirmation of their continuous existence in the world, upholding their distinctiveness from colonizers. This “collective existential affirmation” of indigenous people may very well be the drive needed to achieve language revival.

scholarly journals The Wisdom of and Science behind Indigenous Cultural Practices

Genealogy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Borunda ◽  
Amy Murray
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Health Domains ◽  
Mental Well Being

Conquest and colonization have systematically disrupted the processes by which Indigenous communities of the Americas transmit cultural knowledge and practices from one generation to the next. Even today, the extended arm of conquest and colonization that sustain oppression and culturicide continue to inflict trauma upon Indigenous people. Yet, current scientific research now attests to how Indigenous cultural practices promote healing and well-being within physical as well as mental health domains. This examination addresses Indigenous cultural practices related to storytelling, music, and dance. In drawing from evidence-based research, the case is made for not only restoring these practices where they have been disrupted for Indigenous people but that they have value for all people. The authors recommend reintroducing their use as a means to promote physical, spiritual, and mental well-being while recognizing that these practices originated from and exist for Indigenous people.

scholarly journals 15. Indigenous Language Resurgence and the Living Earth Community

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Mark Turin
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Cultural Revitalization

Drawing attention to the contemporary resurgence of indigenous languages, Mark Turin describes the collaborative work of linguistic and cultural revitalization in response to the destruction of indigenous communities in settler colonial nations. While recuperating the vitality of languages, this process also facilitates the recuperation of the well-being of indigenous communities as well as the lands within which those languages and communities are embedded.

scholarly journals Consequences and Remedies of Indigenous Language Loss in Canada

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Masud Khawaja
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Intergenerational Knowledge

Many Indigenous languages in Canada are facing the threat of extinction. While some languages remain in good health, others have already been lost completely. Immediate action must be taken to prevent further language loss. Throughout Canada’s unacceptable history of expunging First Nations’ ways of life, systemic methods such as residential schools attempted to eradicate Indigenous cultures and languages. These efforts were not entirely successful but Indigenous language and culture suffered greatly. For Indigenous communities, language loss impaired intergenerational knowledge transfer and compromised their personal identity. Additionally, the cumulative effects of assimilation have contributed to poor mental and physical health outcomes amongst Indigenous people. However, language reclamation has been found to improve well-being and sense of community. To this objective, this paper explores the historical context of this dilemma, the lasting effects of assimilation, and how this damage can be remediated. Additionally, we examine existing Indigenous language programs in Canada and the barriers that inhibit the programs’ widespread success. Through careful analysis, such barriers may be overcome to improve the efficacy of the programs. Institutions must quickly implement positive changes to preserve Indigenous languages as fluent populations are rapidly disappearing.

scholarly journals Decolonizing the digital landscape: the role of technology in Indigenous language revitalization

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110376
Author(s):  
Paul J Meighan
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Indigenous Language Revitalization ◽  
Digital Landscape

Due to colonization and imperialism, Indigenous languages continue to be threatened and endangered. Resources to learn Indigenous languages are often severely limited, such as a lack of trained or proficient teachers. Materials which follow external standards or Western pedagogies may not meet the needs of the local community. One common goal for Indigenous language revitalization initiatives is to promote intergenerational language transmission and use in multiple social domains, such as the home. Could the use of technology assist in Indigenous language revitalization? And what would be its role? This article, emerging from ongoing research, aims to synthesize some key takeaways on the role of digital and online technologies in Indigenous language revitalization over the past three decades since the foundation of the World Wide Web in 1989. The article highlights how Indigenous communities, content creators, scholars and visionaries have contributed to an ongoing decolonization of the digital landscape.

Towards an Understanding of Knowledge Sharing in Indigenous Communities of Practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 208-232
Author(s):  
Esabel Maisiri
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cultural Symbol ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Practice Knowledge

Knowledge sharing is broadly an act of communication, and in indigenous communities of practice, knowledge sharing can be viewed as a cultural symbol making process. This process is facilitated by indigenous language as the communication tool. The characteristics of indigenous languages that include being dynamic, constantly changing as people adjust to their life circumstances and being personal, tacit, and experiential renders it closely tied down to the person who knows the language. Thus, the most appropriate way to understand the use and exchange of such knowledge, that is, the communication phenomenon of indigenous knowledge, would be to extricate the personal experiences of individuals involved in the use and exchange of the indigenous knowledge. This can be done using van Manen's phenomenology of practice.

The Bible and Indigenous Language Translations in the Americas

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linford D. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Translational Activity ◽  
John Eliot ◽  
Sample Range

Scholarship on Native Americans and the Bible has often focused on the 1663 Indian Bible produced under the direction of John Eliot, the English missionary. This chapter expands the purview of European translational activity in the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries by focusing on a fuller sample range of translations into indigenous languages. Doing so reveals the astonishing range of Bible related translations undertaken by Catholic missionaries in the Americas. Such a study demonstrates the ways in which alphabetic literacy was only one form of communicating biblical truths, while it also highlights the important roles indigenous people played in the translation process.

Designing Indigenous Language Revitalization

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Hermes ◽  
Megan Bang ◽  
Ananda Marin
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Culturally Relevant Curriculum ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Indigenous Language Revitalization

Endangered Indigenous languages have received little attention within the American educational research community. However, within Native American communities, language revitalization is pushing education beyond former iterations of culturally relevant curriculum and has the potential to radically alter how we understand culture and language in education. Situated within this gap, Mary Hermes, Megan Bang, and Ananda Marin consider the role of education for Indigenous languages and frame specific questions of Ojibwe revitalization as a part of the wider understanding of the context of community, language, and Indigenous knowledge production. Through a retrospective analysis of an interactive multimedia materials project, the authors present ways in which design research, retooled to fit the need of communities, may inform language revitalization efforts and assist with the evolution of community-based research design. Broadly aimed at educators, the praxis described in this article draws on community collaboration, knowledge production, and the evolution of a design within Indigenous language revitalization.

scholarly journals Taking Care of the Ancestral Language

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Katjaana Sarivaara ◽  
Satu Uusiautti
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Electoral Register ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Official Status ◽  
Taking Care

Non-status Sámi are defined as a group of people who are of Sámi descent, but they do not have official Sámi status. The term ‘non-status’ means that they lack the official status of Sámi people because they do not fulfill the criteria of Sáminess, as defined by the Finnish law of the Sámi Parliament, and thus do not belong to the electoral register of the Sámi Parliament. Some of the Non-status Sámi have revitalised the Sámi language and started to use it actively; this was the target group of this study. In this study, ten Non-status Sámi’s narratives were obtained through interviews. The Sámi-speaking Non-status Sámi were divided into two types according to how they locate themselves in Sámi society: (1) conscious Non-status Sámi; and (2) integrative Non-Status Sámi. According to the findings, Sámi-speaking Non-status Sámi identities and locations within the Sámi society are diverse. The study contributes to the discussion of decolonisation a new perspective from Indigenous people who have consciously started to revitalise Indigenous language and culture. Furthermore, the study shows the multidimensional nature of Indigenous identity and sheds light on marginalities in Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Kina’muanej Knjanjiji’naq mut ntakotmnew tli’lnu’ltik (In the Foreign Language, Let us Teach our Children not to be Ashamed of Being Mi’kmaq)

in education ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-160
Author(s):  
Ashley Julian ◽  
Ida Denny
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
English Language ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
First Nation ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Full Immersion

Colonialism has assimilated and suppressed Indigenous languages across Turtle Island ( North America). A resurgence of language is needed for First Nation learners and educators and this resurgence is required if Indigenous people are going to revitalize, recover and reclaim Indigenous languages. The existing actions occurring within Indigenous communities contributing to language resurgence include immersion schools. Eskasoni First Nation opened its doors in September 2015 to a full immersion school separate from the English speaking educational centers. This move follows the introduction of Mi'kmaq immersion over ten years earlier within the English speaking school in the community. The Mi’kmaw immersion school includes the Ta’n L’nuey Etl-mawlukwatmumk Mi’kmaw Curriculum Development Centre that assists educators in translating educational curriculum from the dominant English language to Mi’kmaq. In this paper, stories are shared about the Eskasoni immersion program’s actions towards language resurgence through a desire-based lens, based on rich narratives from three Mi’kmaw immersion educators.

scholarly journals Inga Language and Culture Revitalization in Putumayo, Colombia

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Valerie Cross ◽  
Serafín M. Coronel-­Molina
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Intercultural Education ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Many ◽  
Bilingual Intercultural Education ◽  
Culture Revitalization

Increasing levels of Quechua–Spanish bilingualism and increased use of Spanish within indigenous communities and classrooms have given rise to concern about Quechua language maintenance (Hornberger, 1988, 1998, 1999; Hornberger & CoronelMolina, 2004). The present investigation is preliminary and explores the possibility of bilingual intercultural education to promote Quechua (Inga) language revitalization in the Putumayo region of Colombia. Because of the large role that schooling has played in the language shift process, Inga language revitalization efforts have focused on implementing use of the Inga language in schools. This paper offers suggestions based on research in second language acquisition (SLA), language revitalization, and bilingual intercultural education to improve recent efforts and overcome the many overt and covert challenges that exist to bilingual education implementation in Putumayo, Colombia. This article attempts to bring such forms of resistance to the surface and provide suggestions for overcoming them, in hopes of facilitating the grassroots-initiated language planning goals of culture revitalization and reversing language shift that are already in place.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document