Learning to speak Tlingit

[James Crippen]

2008/5/5 Jordan Lachler <jordanlachler at gmail.com>:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nPCGpQ86w

Goosú wé Lingít yóo xh'atángi, wéi video tóox'? Ch'u tleix' "Lingít"
xh'axhwa.axhch khu.aa. The video is a disappointment in the end
because other than using the word "Lingít" to index "Tlingitness",
there's no Tlingit language spoken. None at all. Not even "Yéi áyá haa
yóo xh'atángi" or something like it as an introduction.

The video does make a great point, however, one that bothers me a lot.
In my personal experience talking to the various people working in
Tlingit revitalization, there's lots of effort put into learning words
for *things*, but not learning how to actually express meaning. This
is partly because of the complexity of the language (it's really hard
to learn!), partly because its grammar is still not well described
(I'm working as hard as I can!), and partly because of the existing
focus on teaching words and phrases rather than communicative ability
(TPR is not the solution!).

But I fear that this issue will fly over the heads of the people who
it's for, in that they *won't* start to think about how they're
learning to talk. Instead, they'll see this video as reinforcing that
the words and set phrases they've learned is really a sign that
they're using the language.

"I can say the names of all the berries in Tlingit." "I can say 'we
are cutting fish' in Tlingit." But can you say "I don't want to go and
pick berries right now. Instead I want to stay home and watch TV
because my feet hurt" in Tlingit? [1] Why not? What matters more to
you?

People gain lots of pride and empowerment from learning a language,
but then go on to use it only as an occasional token of identity.
People speak the language, but they don't try to speak *in* the
language. They learn lots of words and phrases and such, but don't
ever learn how to even have a basic conversation about something as
dull as what they did last week. The language becomes a mere tool,
nothing any more ornamental than a button blanket. It doesn't get used
out in a boat to ward off the cold, it doesn't get used to pad a rock
for sitting on, it doesn't get used to wipe the steam off of a window.
Instead it only gets taken out for ceremonial occasions, treated
gently and with great respect. It only gets used to say "look here I'm
Tlingit" when the people with money and power are looking, and is
otherwise shoved back in a box for the next time someone needs to show
it off.

The language isn't just some dead at.óowu passed on from elders to be
cherished as a valuable artifact. It's the very life of being, it's
the xh'aséikw of the people. Who cares if it gets used for
introductions in a political speech? Who cares if it gets used at an
immersion camp that cost tens of thousands of dollars to arrange and
only brought twenty people? What really matters is if it gets used in
the kitchen while making dinner, or at the store while buying
potatoes, or in the car while driving to work. It needs to live, not
be some dusty old mask in a box that people only take out to prove
their lineage and status.

My point is that an endangered language like Tlingit isn't just a sign
to index political and social alignment, it's a living thing that
deserves to be used, deserves to have our breath pass through it. If
we're supposed to be revitalizing a language, that means really saying
things with it rather than saying things *about* it. And if people are
going to say things with it, then they need to really learn how to
speak and not just how to read phrases from a book.

I hear the same refrain over and over from people that revitalization
costs too much, that there's just not enough support for it, or that
it takes too much time to really learn to talk. Too often people focus
on how to get money for a project, where the money should come from,
who should control the money, who should control the people who
control the money, ad nauseam. But revitalization shouldn't cost
anything at all. If the language is important enough to save then
people ought to be willing to put their own free time into keeping it
alive, and not worrying about who's going to get the government
cheese. It's not about how to look good, or to gain prestige or power
or money. Revitalization is really about learning to speak the
language because you care about it, because you love it and you love
the people who speak it, and you want to keep that alive. There's no
other reason necessary. Politics, identity, postcolonialism,
education, government, autonomy, history, none of that other crap
matters except for how to get around it so you can get on with keeping
the language spoken.

Yéi áyá axh toowú.
Jéiwsh

[1]: To be fair, here's my attempt: Axh xh'ús' yanéekw yáa yakyee. Ách
áwé, tléil axh toowáa sigóo khukkhwak'eet'. Néilx' yéi xhat natee, TV
kkhwalateen.