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fwd<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Gunalchéesh, háw'aa, doykshn, dogidinh, qag^aasakung, quyana, thank you, Terry, for raising this issue on this forum. <br><br>Probably each of us can remember an occasion when a listener sneered at our wrong word choice or pronunciation; that felt bad. How about having your hand smacked with a ruler for speaking the only language you know; how about having your mouth washed out with soap for talking with your friends in your language; how about being stuffed in the coal bin on your 7th birthday in your white shirt on your first day of school for using your language; how about being banned from the high school dance for joking with your friends on the playground in your language; how about having your teachers berate your parents in class for their language; how about being whipped for talking in your language; how about as an adult not being able to enter a dormitory bathroom alone because of what happened to you as a youth in your boarding school: how about having your food denied because you speak in your language; how about seeing your mother hung, dying for speaking her language? How bad would that feel?<br> <br>My current understanding of parents not teaching their children their ancestral languages is that they did so for the children's protection, protection from the physical/emotional/psychological abuse the parents received for using their language. I write "physical/emotional/psychological" without breaks because abuse in one area has repercussions in the others, evidence of their unity.<br><br>Neurolinguists identify brain locations devoted to specific language functions and find evidence that brain circuitry separates one language from another. To drastically oversimplify, imagine the neural superhighway leading to (or from) the mental circuitry of one's ancestral language being blocked by emotionally induced chemicals and physical atrophy. Can this account for speakers and understanders being physically/emotionally/psychologically unable to talk?<br> <br>I agree with Bill Poser that education (an intellectual gain of facts) about language acquisition, bilingualism, and the intricacy, beauty, full expressability, and critical world views embodied in indigenous languages can be helpful in encouraging people to talk. But FIRST, and then continuously with other activities, can Language Healing take place? Safe talking circles and sweats with trusted leaders may help speakers and fluent understanders talk for the first time about their personally damaging experiences and come to terms with the pains of fear, anger, guilt and grief so that more can go forward with their languages. <br> <br>While I have been told that many communities "down south" (outside Alaska) are engaged in language healing, I know specifically of only one such group who have done so, facilitated by Victor and Joyce Underwood, Saanich, from Saanichton near Victoria, BC, Canada. <br> <br>Does anyone else have Language Healing experience?<br><br>Gil dodo iy,<br>Alice Taff<br><font face="courier" size="-1"><br></font><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 8:09 PM, Terry J. Klokeid <<a href="mailto:klokeid@victoria.tc.ca">klokeid@victoria.tc.ca</a>> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div style=""><span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The most significant problem we face in our language recovery program has nothing to do with technology, it is this. </span></span><div> <span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Our Elder Speakers had their language literally beaten out of them by the vile, criminal school system imposed by the British and later governments. They have started to speak again, but find it hard to do so. They speak their language to the linguist, but cannot speak freely to the Nation's own children, and young parents in the community. I can supply many anecdotes if you wish.</span></span><div> How do we deal with this? </div><div>How can we help our Elders to overcome the criminal way they were treated, to speak without shame, and pass the Language on to the next generations?</div><div><br></div><br></div></div> </blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Alice Taff, PhD<br>Research Assistant Professor<br>Alaska Native Languages<br>University of Alaska Southeast<br><a href="mailto:alicetaff@gmail.com">alicetaff@gmail.com</a><br> 1-907-957-2208</div></body></html>