Educational programs keeping aboriginal languages alive: StatsCan (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Educational programs keeping aboriginal languages alive: StatsCan

Last Updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 | 2:14 PM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/05/15/aboriginal-languages.html

While only one in four First Nations people can speak or understand an
aboriginal language, many have learned the language of their ancestors as a
second language, says a study released Tuesday.

The Statistics Canada study, "Aboriginal languages in Canada: Emerging
trends and perspectives on second language acquisition," said second
language learning is a positive development because it could prevent or
slow the loss of aboriginal languages across the country.

Over the last 100 years, the study says at least 10 aboriginal languages
have become extinct in Canada.

"Learning an aboriginal language as a second language cannot be considered a
substitute for learning it as a first language," the study reads.

"Nevertheless, increasing the number of second language speakers is part of
the process of language revitalization, and may go some way towards
preventing, or at least slowing, the rapid erosion and possible extinction
of endangered languages," it adds.

"Indeed, the acquisition of an aboriginal language as a second language may
be the only option available to many aboriginal communities if transmission
from parent to child is no longer viable."

The study, which drew on census data for 2001 and 1996, says 24 per cent of
the First Nations population could speak or understand an aboriginal
language in 2001,  down from the 29 per cent reported in 1996.

According to the study, the drop in the transmission of aboriginal languages
from generation to generation is partly offset by the growth in the number
of people learning an aboriginal language as a second language, a process
that appears to be on the rise.

Learned as second language

About 20 per cent of all First Nations people who could speak an aboriginal
language, or more than 47,100, had learned it as a second language,
according to the 2001 census.

And those who learned it as a second language tended to be younger than
those who learned it as a mother tongue, the study says.

It defined mother tongue as the first language learned at home in childhood
and still understood later in life.

About 45 per cent of those who spoke an aboriginal language as a second
language were less than 25 years old, compared to 38 per cent of people who
spoke it as a mother tongue.

The study, published in the May online issue of Canadian Social Trends,
found that younger generations of First Nations people living off reserve,
especially those in urban areas, are more likely to learn an aboriginal
language as a second language than as a mother tongue.

In the case of registered Indians off reserve, for example, 165 children
aged 10 to 14 are able to speak an aboriginal language for every 100
children with an aboriginal mother tongue.

"This suggests that a substantial number of children learn their traditional
language as a second language," the study says.

Endangered languages

Second language learners account for more than half of the speaking
population among some of Canada's most endangered aboriginal languages,
including Tlingit, Haida and some of the smaller Salish languages, the
study says.

There are roughly 50 aboriginal languages in Canada that belong to 11
language families.

The languages are classified into the following groups according to their
viability: near extinction; endangered; viable but small; and viable large.

Examples of endangered languages, in which survival is possible with
community interest and educational programs, include Nishga and Haida in
B.C.

A "viable but small" language is one that has more than 1,000 speakers, is
spoken in an isolated or organized communities and has relatively young
speakers. Dene is one such language.

Only three aboriginal languages in Canada — Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway —
are considered "viable large," which means they have a large enough
population base that will likely assure their long term survival.

~~
Aboriginal languages in Canada:
Emerging trends and perspectives on second language acquisition
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20070019628