Mohawk language program launched (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

I agree.  Immersion is important but constrained in some ways.  Not  
only has there been radical changes in the ability to speak ones  
heritage language(s) (fluency > language shift) but there has also  
been a radical shift in the forms of social interaction speakers have  
naturally engaged in.

These changes have certainly impacted the way we talk to one  
another.  So in some way or another we have lost some or all of our  
traditional or cultural oriented "ways of speaking" and have gained  
others or simply adapted to newer forms.  One could fairly predict  
that those forms that do survive are to be found in more traditional  
contexts or in isolated speech communities.  This is certainly the  
case for my own community.  But this is not to claim that there  
exists a more purer or more natural form of talk rather I simply  
trying to point out that there are forms of speaking that are linked  
to a cultures perception of itself.  Having the ability to engage in  
these forms of talk is just as valuable as learning the language itself.

So herein lies part of the problem.  Most communities adopt immersion  
as a principle but sometimes the actual practice may be antithetical  
to educational or institutional standards.  That is, they are  
informal in orientation and less rigid, less componential.  This is  
because the community style of learning is attempting to "immerse"  
itself in some aspect of the culture in addition to immersion in the  
language.

An added factor in all of this is the "old school" language  
description and documentation tend to be grammar-centric and  
linguists have generated a mill of grammars and dictionaries all the  
while missing some of the more interesting and challenging cultural  
aspects of language and talk.  Communities certainly value these  
grammars and dictionaries greatly as I do myself.  We could not get  
along without them.  However, I see some of this changing, at least  
for my own orientation as a linguist.  I and others are greatly  
interested in our community's and others "ways of speaking" AND the  
grammar which produces it.  I think endangered language communities  
are just as interested if not keenly more so.

Just a few more thoughts today.

Phil Cash Cash (Cayuse/Nez Perce)
Phd Candidate in the Joint Program in Anthropology and Linguistics
University of Arizona

On Aug 11, 2007, at 12:08 PM, Wayne Leman wrote:

> I wish this Mohawk program, and others like it, the best success.  
> But after many years of observation, I have concluded that the  
> "traditional" (traditional according to federal schools "whiteman"  
> education) teaching of indigenous language colors and numbers does  
> preserve a language conversationally. Nor do computers, as much as  
> I value the use of computers for preserving language *data*, or  
> providing some supplemental assistance for children with indigenous  
> language reinforcement.
>
> It seems to me that the *only* way indigenous languages can be  
> preserved as living languages for communication between  
> individuals, that is, as a medium for conversation and other kinds  
> of communication, is for social groups, such as family and clan  
> units, to begin using the indigenous language again. Children need  
> to be immersed in a rich environment where they are exposed to  
> language the way any baby or toddler learns language, by listening  
> to it as it is spoken and imitating it. Federal monies can help if  
> they go toward helping social units actually speak the language to  
> children extensively.
>
> I'm sorry if this comes across negatively. It pains me deeply to  
> see our indigeous languages dying. My father's indigenous language  
> died in front of eyes when I was a child. He married an Anglo lady,  
> not a Native American, so English was spoken in our home, but I  
> heard him speak his language extensively to his mother and  
> siblings. And just from that I learning quite a bit of the language.
>
> Children will learn languages if they are exposed to them by their  
> primary caregivers, OR if they are taken out of their homes and put  
> in boarding schools where they are forced to speak a certain  
> language. And we all know the terrible things the boarding school  
> language thing did to our Native American and First Nations people.
>
> I suggest that our First Nations people need to return to truly  
> traditional ways of language teaching, which take place in the  
> home. It can be supplemented in schools, but it is difficult for  
> children to learn a language to be able to communicate in it in  
> school, unless it is total immersion, such as in a boarding school  
> environment. Perhaps it would work today if we had truly total  
> immersion schools where the First Nation language is the only  
> language used in school by everyone, even if parents and  
> grandchildren speak English or French to the children when they  
> return home.
>
> We cannot depend on state, provincial, or federal governments to  
> help us preserve our languages. We have to do it for ourselves. If  
> we need outside money to help us do it ourselves, that's fine. But  
> the actual teaching has to be done by primary caregivers and it  
> must be rich language, including commands, questions, and  
> everything else that we do with language. all done *naturally*, as  
> part of language as life is lived each day.
>
> Painfully,
> Wayne
> -----
> Wayne Leman
> Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "phil cash cash"  
> <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 11:36 AM
> Subject: [ILAT] Mohawk language program launched (fwd)
>
>
>> Mohawk language program launched
>>
>> Elisabeth Johns  /  Standard-Freeholder
>> Local News - Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 08:00
>> http://www.standard-freeholder.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp? 
>> contentid=648925&catname=Local%20News&classif=
>>
>> A program to preserve the Mohawk language was launched Friday as a  
>> way to
>> keep the traditional native form of communication in tact.
>>
>> The project, called, Let's Speak Mohawk Again, was lauded as a  
>> unique way to
>> preserve Mohawk history and encourage current generations to speak  
>> their
>> mother tongue.
>>
>> The Kanien'keha (Mohawk) Language Centre was opened thanks to two  
>> grants, a
>> $100,000 grant from the Akwesasne Community Fund and $75,000 grant  
>> from the
>> Ontario Trillium Foundation.
>>
>> The money is going towards purchasing new computers and new software
>> technology which will help to teach the language to children  
>> within the
>> Akwesasne Mohawk School Board and adults at the learning centre.  
>> It will
>> also help to fund the staff and translators who will implement the
>> software.
>>
>> "Our language is the very key to our survival," said Karen Mitchell,
>> executive director of the Akwesasne Economic Development Agency.  
>> "It is
>> what makes us who we are today."
>>
>> Akwesasne Grand Chief Tim Thompson agreed, adding that the  
>> language has been
>> lost over many generations.
>>
>> He even admitted many of his own family members aren't fluent in  
>> Mohawk.
>>
>> A demonstration of the technology showed beginner students could  
>> learn
>> simple words, like colours and the names of different animals by  
>> listening
>> to an audio recording.
>>
>> They then can see the how the word is pronounced and attempt to  
>> recite the
>> word on their own. Their recitation is recorded and they can see  
>> whether or
>> not they pronounced the word correctly, Mitchell explained, adding  
>> that it
>> will be available for the Akwesasne school board this fall.
>>
>> Classes are also available through the Mohawk Language Learning  
>> Centre.
>>
>> The classes are $200 for six months. People can call 613-932-2923  
>> for more
>> information.
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.13/946 - Release Date:  
>> 8/10/2007 3:50 PM
>>