Anumpa Achukma/Good News
Language Loss Can Be Reversed
2006.08
This is a newsletter dedicated to reporting the successes in revitalizing endangered languages worldwide. Share your good news with us by sending us an article about your program or current activity in revitalizing an endangered language.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who might be interested.
Restoring Prestige
During the question/answer period of a presentation at a conference, a young Cherokee man brought up the issue of young people being ashamed to speak their native tongues, the reason being that these languages were non-prestigious in the areas where they lived—in this particular case, Navajo in Arizona. This speaks to recent and on-going suppression of Native languages and cultures by non-Indians in that area, particularly through schools.
This, perhaps, is a social argument for having education via the Native language—this increases the prestige of the Native language. This use of language has been used successfully by the Hawaiians and the Maori, and to some extent even Irish, to increase the viability and longevity of their indigenous languages. While there are fewer and fewer native speakers of Irish, having twelve years of Irish insures that there are many second language speakers of Irish and consequently keeps the language alive (Dr. Alan Hudson, PC, January 14, 2007).
Other prestige uses of language include for governmental and religious purposes. There are groups in the Southwest, who conduct government business via their own languages. Young Diné (Navajo) who cannot speak their own language have little chance of being heard at a Chapter House meeting, for example. And, of course, this principle has been used successfully by Christian missionaries around the world to convert indigenous people. There are many churches where the service is conducted entirely in an indigenous language. This is still the case, for example, among many Choctaw churches. Since many elders are Christian, going to church is the place to go to learn the language.
Unfortunately, young people are no longer going to church in the same numbers as in times past. What draws young people today (for any time for that matter) is popular culture. And popular culture has an effect on the language of young people. This suggests that we need to expand our languages into all possible domains—prestigious and popular.
Success Stories
Alutiiq (Aluet) speakers of Kodiak record CD to preserve dying language
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/8594236p-8487031c.html
Alutiiq is likely spoken by fewer than 100 people in Alaska. Alutiiq Museum Director Sven Haakanson Jr., a Harvard-trained anthropologist who is also Sugpiak, estimates that between 35 and 50 original speakers live on Kodiak Island today.
A CD from the sessions will be available for sale later in the year, and museum workers say demand from visitors already exists.
In Bolivia, Speaking Up For Native Languages
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/29/AR2007012901665.html
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Andrea Mamani stood in front of her students the
other day and started the afternoon lesson by pointing to her head. The 22 students, aspiring public heath-care professionals in white labcoats, responded in ragged unison: "P'iqi."
She pointed to her arm. "Ampara," they answered.
Mamani was teaching them Aymara, an indigenous language spoken mainly in the rural highlands of Bolivia and Peru. The students in her class, most of them urbanites, had scant previous knowledge of the language. But they are pioneers in a training program that President Evo Morales --the country's first indigenous president -- hopes will become standardfor all government employees. Evo Morales wants to make Quechua and Aymara the official languages of Bolivia, instead of Spanish—an estimated 37% of the population speak an indigenous language. Universities report that enrollment in indigenous language programs is up since he took power,and the Education Ministry continues to open new centers where the languages are taught. Last year, a student at San Pablo Catholic University in Bolivia wrote his graduate thesis in Aymara -- a first for the country.
Spelling game creator aims to
revive Shuswap
The Shuswap Spelling Game is a new
creation from Sugar Cane resident Winston Alphonse to help people learn the
language.
http://www.wltribune.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=37&cat=59&id=826301&more=Wéytkp.
If you don’t understand this word — “hello” to a group of people — you may want to consider the Shuswap Spelling Game, a new
creation from Sugar Cane resident Winston Alphonse. He says Shuswap, the
original language of the Williams Lake area, is about 90 per cent lost in this
region. So he wanted to find a way to bring it back and get young people
interested.
“When I hear a
conversation (in Shuswap) between young people, then my job will be done,” he says.
The game is comprised of a board
with crossword-like spaces. There is a bag of Shuswap letters complete with
accents. The object of the game is to form words across the squares.
If you are interested in the
Shuswap Spelling game contact Winston Alphonse at ShuswapSpellingGame@yahoo.ca.
Immersion unlocks language for
Cree students
Cree immersion is a bright idea
that was introduced in Saskatoon two years ago with a group of 13 kindergarten
kids at Confederation Park School. Coupled with the Grade 1 class added last
September, there are now 23 students enrolled in the program. The numbers will
multiply again in the fall when a Grade 2 class joins the lineup. For all but
two of the students, Cree is a new language. Growing up in the city, immersed
in urban life, most of them speak only English.
Rabbitskin (the teacher) dreams of
a day when there is not just a class, but a whole
school in the city dedicated to
the teaching of everything Cree. She
envisions students from K to 12
learning the language and drumming up
the history and maintaining the
Cree traditions."We teach songs, rhymes, prayers. And humour. There's a
lot of humour in Cree."
Classes in Cree are offered at
three high schools in Saskatoon. Dogniez says this program goes beyond that.
More than learning the language, this is about preserving a culture.
Ph.D. program helps to preserve
Hawaiian language
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414452
The Hawaiian language and
culture's ongoing revitalization is evident in the more than 1,000 children,
ages 3 to 18, who are currently receiving their education in the Hawaiian
language within the 10 schools located on Oahu and in the University of
Hawaii-Hilo's doctor of philosophy degree in Hawaiian and indigenous language -
the country's first doctorate of its kind, according to the school. ]
Five students are enrolled in the
new program, which was established this fall for a doctor of philosophy degree
in Hawaiian and indigenous language and culture revitalization.
''We're not an ivory tower Ph.D.
We're a community service Ph.D.,'' said UH-Hilo Hawaiian professor Pila Wilson.
There are 15,000 people who can
speak Hawaiian reasonably well, but only about 100 remaining elders who grew up
speaking it, Wilson said. The goal is to make English the language of business
and work, and Hawaiian the language of the home for Hawaiian families, Wilson
said. ''The Hawaiian language is not going to live if you are below average
when you speak,'' he said.
Strengthening Hawaiian has the broad value of strengthening Hawaiian families and strengthening the economy, because Hawaiian culture is a major reason when tourists come here, he said.
American Indians Urge Oklahoma
State Lawmakers to Oppose 'English Only'
Measure
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251092,00.html
American Indian leaders, citing a
desire to preserve their native languages, urged state lawmakers Thursday to
defeat "English only" legislation that would declare English
Oklahoma's official language. In a letter to lawmakers, Cherokee Nation
Principal Chief Chad Smith said the measure, approved on Wednesday by the House
General Government and Transportation Committee, "is really just an ugly
symbol of intolerance."
"Our great state has been
blessed with more than 35 Indian nations, each of which has a unique
culture," Smith said. "Part of that culture comes from the richness
of native languages, which have been spoken here for centuries before Oklahoma
became a state."
In a separate statement, George
Tiger, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and chairman of the United
Indian Nations of Oklahoma, said tribal governments support school language
preservation programs that could be harmed by the measure.
Meanwhile, the bill's author, Rep.
George Faught, R-Muskogee, said he is working with other lawmakers, including
members of the Legislature's Native American Caucus, to resolve concerns.
"We're exploring that right now," Faught said. "I've obviously
walked into a hornet's nest. I didn't realize this was going to be this heated.
Lawmakers of Indian heritage said they will work to defeat the measure.
Poetry in Indigenous Languages
annie g. ross
First Nations Studies
School for the Contemporary Arts
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, British Columbia
V5A 1S6
Telephone: 604-291-3575 Facsimile: 604-291-5666=
Halito, George Ann
thank you so much for writing.
i and the project would be honored
to be mentioned in your newsletter.
we do have a deadline of march 15.
do you think that is enough time?
i hope so.
we could extend to the end of march if necessary.
we hope to keep poems to 100 words
or less.
however, if someone is writing in
their heritage language, those powerful
indigenous words, they could
translate into english the 100 words, but take
as many words as they like for the
original form.
thank you so much
annie
Mayan languages enjoy renaissance
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=236772007
A bilingual education drive in the
mostly Mayan country is reviving 21 languages pushed aside since the Spanish
conquest, some of which were close to extinction. Students at a school in the
mountain village of Popabaj two hours west of the capital simultaneously learn
numbers and vocabulary in Spanish and the Kaqchikel Mayan language.
Each of Guatemala's Mayan
languages is being standardised with dictionaries and school grammar books. The
Internet has made it easier to create and distribute them. "There has been
a significant growth of young people speaking Mayan languages," said Maya
lawyer Amilcar Pop. "This is a historic moment."
Youth want to boost language
skills
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660194357,00.html
When asked if they spoke their
indigenous language, only about a third of the students attending an American
Indian youth conference raised their hands. When asked if they wanted to learn
to speak it, nearly everyone else raised their hands. Shirlee Silversmith,
Indian education specialist in the Utah State Office of Education, told youths
at the Salt Palace Convention Center Friday they could make a difference by
encouraging Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, to make funding for
"indigenous heritage languages" a priority. "Many languages are
becoming extinct," Silversmith said, urging students to support a proposal
to add $275,000 each year in ongoing funding to the Office of Education budget
to develop curriculum for each of Utah's five principal indigenous languages
and dialects: Navajo (Dine), Ute (Nooahpahgut), Paiute (Numic), and Goshute and
Shoshone (Shoshoni). The proposal didn't make it onto a final priority list
legislators are looking at.
The San Juan District offers
Navajo language courses in its K-12 curriculum and has a media center that is
producing curricula materials. If the earmarked funding is restored, it would
fund such efforts statewide. "This is having an impact on students
academically," Turk said, pointing to an analysis that showed for English
proficient Navajo students, learning the Navajo language narrowed achievement
gaps with non-Indian peers. In language arts, the achievement difference
between white and Navajo students narrowed from 22 percent to 15 percent; in
math it went from 35 percent to 23 percent; and in science from 45 percent to
10 percent.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
Dear
Friends of Indigenous Languages:
The web
site for the 14th annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium is now up
and running at http://linguistlist.org/sils/
with a call for papers and information on the conference site.
Descendants
of the Joseph Band are laboring to preserve the Nez Perce language
Agnes
Davis, 82, is the daughter of the last recognized chief of the Joseph Band of
the Nez Perce tribe. She and a few others from her tribe are spending countless
hours working to preserve a dialect of Nez Perce. (Colin Mulvany The
Spokesman-Review )
There
are other native speakers of Nez Perce, particularly on the Nez Perce
Reservation in central Idaho and on the Umatilla Reservation in eastern Oregon.
But Davis and Andrews think and speak a dialect of the language as it evolved
in Oregon's Wallowa Valley, a place for which the elders of the Joseph Band
still yearn."We carry that grief still today," Redstar said.
"Our ties are to the land and the people interred in the land."
Davis'
father, Willie "Red Star" Andrews, was raised by Joseph and his two
wives in Nespelem after his own mother died at Fort Spokane, where the Joseph
Band wintered in 1885. As a little girl, Davis sat by the side of the woman she
called "grandma," one of Joseph's wives who was then old and blind. I
would sit by her bed and she would cry for Wallowa," Davis recalled.
"I was 8 or 9 and I didn't understand. (Nespelem) was my home.
Today,
it is estimated that more than 400 descendants of the Joseph Band live on the
Colville Reservation. Many of them, including Davis and Redstar, keep the
traditional ways alive in the Walahsat Longhouse, a mile north of Nespelem, on
land donated by Redstar's mother.
In
April, the Nez Perce celebrate the First Roots feast at the longhouse as part
of the Walahsat religion, sometimes called the Washat, Longhouse or Seven Drum
religion.
The
longhouse is divided into two large rooms. One has tables and chairs and is
used for informal occasions. The other room is used for ceremonies, including
funerals. A large rectangular dirt floor, called the ha`wtnin' we`yes, or
sacred floor, is cut into the center of the ceremonial room to maintain the
Wallowa people's ties to Mother Earth.
"Our
language reaches into the earth and becomes part of it and ties you to the
ground," said Redstar, who often leads longhouse adherents in song and
prayer in Nez Perce. "The words tie you back to Mother Earth. It is the
language into which we were born."
Nez Perce is a Sahaptin language similar to the dialects spoken by Yakima, Cayuse, Walla Walla, Palouse and Umatilla tribes. The Cultures and Language Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is working to preserve two other native languages, Okanogan and Moses Columbia, which are Salish.
Grants and Conferences
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/glf_charter.pdf
Genographic Legacy Fund Offers
Grants to Support Indigenous Communities
Worldwide
Deadline: June 15, 2007
The Genorgraphic Legacy Fund aims
to empower indigenous and traditional peoples on a local level while helping to
raise awareness on a global level of the challenges and pressures facing these
communities. Reflecting the values and missions of the Genographic Project (
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/ ) partners -- the National
Geographic Society, IBM ( http://www.ibm.com/ ), and the Waitt Family
Foundation ( http://www.waittfoundation.org/ ) -- support from the fund will be
directed primarily toward education initiatives, cultural conservation, and
linguistic preservation and revitalization efforts.
Genographic Legacy Fund grants are
open to individuals, groups, and organizations. Applicants must provide a
record of current or prior work in support of indigenous education programs
and/or cultural or linguistic conservation efforts. Applicants should be
seeking to expand their service to indigenous
communities and have a demonstrated commitment to improving general awareness
of indigenous cultures, histories, and heritages. The majority of the people
forming the group responsible for providing project governance must be members
of the indigenous community in which the project will be implemented.
Projects are divided into two
general categories: 1) Micro -- smaller, discrete projects that typically
require lower amounts of funding; funding for these projects will be capped at
$25,000 each. 2) Macro -- larger, more complex projects undertaken in
conjunction with other entities such as NGOs, local education institutions,
government agencies, etc. Grant amounts are more flexible but will not
typically exceed $100,000 each.
Applications are accepted on a
semi-annual basis. Submissions for semi-annual review will close on June 15 and
December 15 of each year for the duration of the project.
More information on the fund and the grant application process as well as an FAQ can be found on the Genographic Legacy Fund Web site.
Sponsor:
Administration for Native Americans/ACF/DHHS
Program
Number: 12676
Title:
Native American Languages Preservation and
Maintenance
E-mail: tichappelle@acf.hhs.gov
Program
URL:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2007-ACF-ANA-NL-0016.html
SYNOPSIS:
The sponsor provides funding to assist applicants in designing projects which
will promote the survival and continuing vitality of Native American languages.
Deadline(s):
03/19/2007
Link to
full program description:
http://www.infoed.org/new_spin/spin_prog.asp?12676
Nahuatl Language and Culture Workshops
Mapitzmitl offers these workshops. You can contact him at pazehecatl@hotmail.com. You can view video footage and photographs of Kalpulli Ehecatl (Community of the Wind) at http://kalpulliehecatl2.blogspot.com.
Cherokee Language Lessons
http://nativepeople.net/moodle
http://www.cherokee.org
Send your stories to holabitubbe@gmail.com. Tell us about your language programs, plans, proposals, etc. Thanks to the ILAT Digest for sharing stories.
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For previous issues of Anumpa Achukma, go to http://www.oocities.org/hoanumpoli/anumpa.html
George Ann Gregory, Ph.D.
Choctaw/Cherokee
Fulbright Scholar