Losing languages....

[Susan Penfield]

http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=51&cat=48&id=1017101&more=0

Losing languages defies description

By Mitch Wright
Assistant Editor

Jun 30 2007

Language is one of the most important ways a culture asserts itself.

Whether it's Scottish, South African, English or Eritrean, language is often
the first and perhaps most important entry point to understanding a
particular culture.

In many ways, we define ourselves through our use of language – imagine if
the Inuit had only the word snow, instead of 150-ish variations.

Or look at our own uniquely Canadian take on English.

As a country, we've taken ownership of certain words and phrases used
nowhere else in the world, or at least, not with the same meaning.

Tell a Brit your toaster's had the biscuit and he'll likely look at you like
you're looney. By the same token, a Canuck trying to understand a Cockney
Londoner's linguistics will be wearing a similarly puzzled expression.

Even within Canada, our use of the same language differs greatly. The
English of Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and Labrador is most definitely not
the same English of Vancouver Island.

The French of Quebec is hardly recognizable compared to the French of
France.

The way each culture develops its language – even if it's technically the
same language – is a reflection of who we are and from whence we've come.

That's why it's so important we do everything we can to protect those
languages.

Dictionaries are one way that occurs for major languages, but what of others
that are at risk of disappearing?

How to preserve the African or South American bush dialects? Or closer to
home, the oral tradition First Nations languages?

Some of these languages are on the brink of extinction, with only a few
elders holding the last links to the past. It's certain we've already lost
some.

Hul'qumi'num was once spoken by thousands of First Nations people, including
the Snuneymuxw and Nanoose bands, as well as nearby Chemainus, Halalt,
Penelakut, Lyackson and Cowichan First Nations.

Today it's estimated that perhaps two-dozen people learned to speak the
dialect as their first language.

The story of Hul'qumi'num's decline is the same for languages and cultures
around the world – another culture tried to assimilate it.

For First Nations, one of the biggest blows was residential schools.

Children were pulled from their homes and families and one of the many
unspeakable indignities forced upon them (including horrendous abuse that
did immediate emotional and physical damage) was being forbidden to speak
their native tongue.

The long-term effect has been the steady decline of the language. Without
everyday use, the words withered.

At least we're starting to see some recognition that preserving languages is
significant.

The province recently announced it's dedicating $1.2 million to help 30
aboriginal communities protect and preserve their native tongues.

That will help, but more is needed – more money, more effort, more
commitment.

First Nations elders and leaders have recognized the risks.

Cowichan Tribes and the Snuneymuxw First Nation are creating dictionaries
and other resources (see www.snuneymuxw.ca/hulqdictionary.htm) to keep the
words from being silenced.

Those few people who speak the language are using it, sharing it, allowing
their people to hear it in an attempt to re-establish its links.

Given the importance of language and communication in understanding culture,
it's a mystery why society and governments don't treat the loss of a
language similar to that of a species.

Worldwide, protected and at-risk species get special consideration and
funding. Loss of a species – be it plant or animal – is deemed a devastating
blow to our world (although it continues unabated, at a rate of one per
hour, by some estimates).

Why not the same concern for languages?

There aren't words to describe the cultural impact of losing even a single
language.

-- 
____________________________________________________________
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Associate Director, Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language
and Literacy (CERCLL)
Department of English (Primary)
American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI)
Second Language Acquisition & Teaching Ph.D. Program (SLAT)
Department of Language,Reading and Culture
Department of Linguistics
The Southwest Center (Research)
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836


"Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought,
an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities."

                                                          Wade Davis...(on a
Starbucks cup...)
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