indigenous language survival

[Richard Zane Smith]

Kweh all,
just some thoughts....
I know linguists can't hep but be linguists, as artists can't help but be
artists.
but when i read about the threat of EVEN the Maori language extinction,
it really got me thinking.
Many are busy creating indigenous words for NON-indigenous* thought
paradigms*.
At an immersion school in Aotearoa I visited, students science classes were
being taught
 with a myriad of NEW designed Maori words to describe atoms,particles
etc...
in other words "things" that many of our indigenous cultures never *broke
down*
in a traditional context other than perhaps stories about "how things are
all connected"

Might this forced and continual translation of noun based colonized terms
into indigenous terms
be actually turning our languages into "*codes*" to basicly think *the same
thoughts*
but to represent them as indigenous characters and sounds?
Are we paradigm shifting basic-thought pattern of OUR languages when we do
this?

Ok, now we will all have gadgets to text message in
Cherokee,Swahili,Chinese, English,Mohawk
but what if the whole IDEA of text messaging isn't weighed "culturally" and
every NEW gadget is now "NDignized" just like we have Nammy Awards instead
of Grammy Awards, Native RAP version of Ghetto RAP, An NDN version of every
WHITE thing the dominant (even parasitical) culture comes up with. What are
we doing? Are we thinking about what we are doing?
Aren't we the people who are supposed to lead the way to LIFE
sustainability?
The dominant system of conquest is still marching, and its cancerous to our
planet.

We KNOW in our minds that a language survives/thrives only in *context* of
its own healthy culture.But unless children grow up imbedded in Wyandot
culture(life/ways),
going to school and learning to speak Wyandot does not a Wyandot make.
They are only speaking Wyandot code .* the new code talkers?*
If this is true, dying languages are only PART or symptomatic of a bigger
problem.
Our minds are changing, our children's minds are changing, and if we want
them to be strong in their languages they are going to need *a whole lot
more* than Wyandot language classes.
or free gadgets to do Wyandot texting.

The reason the languages are dying is because there is a *replacement *of
thinking.
Its EASIER ,maybe even more appropriate? to use English when students are
dissecting
a frog because its the nature of that kind of thinking to dissect things and
solve problems by taking things apart.  Is that OUR way?
When we Wyandotized the process of dissecting a frog, we lose Wyandot
paradigm.
If you dissect a frog and learn science that can cure cancer thats
wonderful,
Kids should learn that ALSO.
but I'm just wondering the benefit of mixing.blending thinking paradigms.

Traditionalist always tell me - ceremony has to stay OUT of politics
for that very reason...the various "thinkings" don't mix well.

I  heard just at ONLA from a Cherokee language teacher in Talequah
that a modern childs attention span is now *9 seconds .*
*why? **Its the average time it takes to send a text message.*
what are we doing folks? Are we simply getting on board this Titantic
because OUR language needs to be on the ship??
Maybe we need to strengthen our cultural roots/languages/arts/communities
and be VERY selective/careful about introducing all these new shiny toys?
Shall we talk about the addiction of* "the new"* ?
uuuh ...some other time...

just some thoughts, i don't know the answers
I'm someone who still plays in the mud ....for a living!

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte Oklahoma
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20101021/4a29ab2d/attachment.htm>