Grassroots must protect language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

July 14, 2007

Grassroots must protect language
By JOSEPH QUESNEL
http://winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Quesnel_Joseph/2007/07/14/4338749.html

Only community consensus can truly save an endangered language.

The government cannot prevent languages from going extinct if people do not
choose to live in them.

Someone should remind aboriginal leaders attending an annual general meeting
of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) of this fact.

The AFN said they want the federal government to provide $2.6 billion over
11 years in order to bring aboriginal languages back in common use by 2027.

Looking at the statistics, this is a daunting task.

A recent study, drawing from 2001 Census data, found that of 976,300 people
who identified themselves as aboriginal, 235,000 (24%) reported they were
able to engage in a conversation in an aboriginal language. Or one could
say only one in four aboriginal Canadians speak their language.

>From a cultural perspective, this is sad. But there are signs of hope.

Although this represents a substantial decline in the number of aboriginals
who claim their language as a mother tongue, evidence shows an increasing
number of younger First Nations are learning their dialects as a second
language. Although having a language as a mother tongue is better, this
shows youth value identity.

This is the start of the solution. It will be the conscious choices of
younger First Nations to speak their language at home and in the community,
or in enrolling their own children in second-language programs, that will
protect them. The state cannot make these choices.

It would also involve band governments making more allowance for the
dominance of native languages, if people choose, in their communities. This
is the model that works in Quebec.

First Nations could also convince governments to enshrine aboriginal
languages in the Constitution as a way to protect them.

It should be acknowledged residential schools played a role in the problem,
as native students were in many cases not allowed to speak their language.

Perhaps the residential schools settlement should have included restitution
for this.

However, it must be acknowledged there are personal choices involved in this
decline. These are factors affecting language that can never be changed
through laws or more money.

For example, aboriginals are choosing to inter-marry with non-aboriginals in
greater numbers and this leads to language loss as the family uses English
or French at home. This is not something the state can prevent.

Moving to cities is also leading to the decline of native speakers, as First
Nations adopt the majority language. As most members of society conduct
themselves in one or both official languages, speaking one is the way to
get ahead. This is what happened in Britain, as Welsh and Scottish speakers
changed to English as it is the language of commerce and social exchange.

So some language loss is inevitable in the case of indigenous peoples, as it
would be wrong to deny anyone the tools to live in mainstream society.

But the long-term survival of the languages will start at the grassroots.