Anumpa Achukma/Good News
Language Loss Can Be Reversed
2006.01
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.
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Push on Through the Barriers
Mayrene Bently, a linguist teaching at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, invited me to visit with people involved in revitalizing the Cherokee language.
The drive over there took me through the mountains of northwest Arkansas and northeast Oklahoma on some back roads past pastures and forests. As I drove, I remembered that all of this had been given to the Cherokee for “eternity” as an exchange for the gold rich lands in Georgia. The Cherokee refused to leave their ancestral homes and were forced marched to their new home, costing them close to half their numbers—the old and young going first but others followed as epidemics swept through the population.
Despite being uprooted and dispossessed, the Cherokee rebuilt their nation on the new land but at a great loss of population as many immigrated to other locations outside of the new nation. The Cherokee are one good example of succeeding by pushing on through the barriers. They are applying this philosophy today with revitalizing the Cherokee language.
I met with Harry Oosahwee, student coordinator and instructor for the Cherokee Nation, and Wyman Kirk, director of the Cherokee Degree Program that trains teachers in the Cherokee language so that the present language programs can be expanded. There are an estimated 10,000 Cherokee speakers.
The Cherokee Nation offers these services.
· Employee classes - Cherokee Nation employees are required to be familiar with the Cherokee language to service Cherokee tribal members more efficiently.
· Community classes - Classes are organized in various communities so that Cherokee youth and others interested in speaking the language may have access to educational materials to better their skills in the native tongue.
· Teacher certification - Teachers of the Cherokee language who work in schools within the 14-county jurisdictional area of the Cherokee Nation are encouraged to go through teacher certification training and testing to assure their competency and sharpen their skills.
· Curriculum development - Cherokee language curriculum has been developed and is constantly being updated to provide schools within the 14-county jurisidictional area materials to teach the Cherokee language to students.
Additionally, as of August 2003, the Cherokee Nation has four immersion classrooms: two 3-year old, two 4-year old and one kindergarten classroom. The plan is to add one grade each year. The Cherokee Nation also offers free online classes in the Cherokee language. Cherokee and non-Cherokee all over the US sign up to learn the language.
While talking, Harry spoke positively about the future of the language. He believes that the Cherokee have the potential to completely revitalize the language. For one, the language still has a good base of speakers and interest is high among all ages. The Cherokee have the largest numbers of any single Native American group with countless un-enrolled descendents as well. (Originally, the Cherokee Nation spilled over what was to become 7 separate states. Because of the Removal Act of 1830 and prior population pressures from the original 13 colonies, many Cherokee immigrated westward, some as far away as northern Mexico.) During the conversation, he mused that “we just need to push on through the barriers” and make it happen.
Both Harry and Wyman have made a personal commitment to seeing this process succeed.
You can find out more about the Cherokee Language Program at this web address.
You can contact Harry at this address harry-oosahwee@cherokee.org and Wyman at this address kirkwo@nsuok.edu.
Poetry
Albuquerque’s first ever Endangered/Indigenous Language Poetry Reading, held Sunday, January 15, 2006, was a delightful success. Harlow’s on the Hill, a bar & grill located in the Nob Hill district close to the University of New Mexico, was about two-thirds full. The presentation began with an invocation in the language of the ancient Aztec Empire, Nahuatl, given by Mapitzmitl, chief of a local Aztec dance community and artist. Alan Hudson, emeritus professor of linguistics at the University of New Mexico, grew up speaking Irish and sang songs and read poetry in his native language.
Yaeto Mizako and Sanae Wright did separate presentations in Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan), a language suppressed by the Japanese who now hold that island. There were several presenters using Navajo—Colleen Gorman graced the audience with songs and poems she had written for her children, two young women came from Shiprock with their slam style, and Nora Yazzie did dual language, Navajo and English, poetry.
I read four short poems in Choctaw that I call Choctaw haiku also in a dual language format. Cindi and Les Hefner finished the program with Hawaiian hula and song. Nora and Cindi were the featured presenters.
One woman of Choctaw and Mexican ancestry came with her children and her Mexican husband just to hear some Choctaw. One member of the audience came up to me at the end with tears in her eyes—“just beautiful,” she said.
The Albuquerque Journal had done a nice article the Friday before. Steve Beckwith of the KUNM Performance New Mexico did an interview with me, which was aired the Monday before. The Weekly Alibi, a popular free publication, put this event as one of the seven must do events of the weekend. The entire presentation was taped to be aired on KUNM, public radio, at a later date.
This event was co-sponsored by Ho Anumpoli! and ABQslams, the promoter of area poetry slams. Albuquerque hosted the first-ever national poetry slam last year. All the participants of this Endangered/Indigenous Language Poetry Reading agreed that next year’s will be even bigger.
Comanche Language News
THE LANGUAGE:
Comanche people have increased efforts in recent years to insure the language
of our ancestors remains a constant part of everyday Comanche life.
Changes in the language began in the late 1800's when children were taken from
their homes and placed in boarding schools. They were discouraged from speaking
their native tongue, and disciplined harshly for doing so. This treatment was
not unique to Comanche people, but with native people throughout the newly
"discovered" America. Government policy dictated the civilization of
the First Americans, in part, by denying them their language.
The children were taught the language of their parents and grandparents was
bad. With this indoctrination, the language was not spoken in the home. English
became the language of preference.
By the mid 1900's, elders who could speak the language fluently were dying at
an alarming rate and children were not being taught the language in order to
maintain speakers within the tribe. In 2003, there are 12,000 enrolled
Comanches, yet there are fewer than 1% who speak the language fluently.
Early attempts to maintain the language have been sporadic, with language
classes and preservation efforts organized by individual tribal members, all
working independently, yet with a common goal to teach and preserve the
Comanche language.
In July of 1993, the Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee was
formed with the vision of reviving the Comanche language into a "living
language" once again. Most of our fluent speakers are elderly, and they
are not being replaced with new, younger speakers as they pass on. We want to
change that trend and provide the opportunity for Comanche people of all ages
to be able to speak, write and understand the language in order that it and our
culture might live on.
For more information about the Comanche Language go to http://www.comanchelanguage.org.
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Ho Anumpoli! is a New Mexico non-profit organization. For more information about us, go to http://www.oocities.org/hoanumpoli
For previous issues of Anumpa Achukma, go to http://www.oocities.org/hoanumpoli/anumpa.html
George Ann Gregory, Ph.D.
Choctaw/Cherokee
Fulbright Scholar