UNM faculty works to preserve native language (fwd)

[Phil Cash Cash]

UNM faculty works to preserve native language
http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2003/08/13/news/news9.txt

Christine P. Sims, faculty lecturer in the University of New Mexico
Department of Linguistics, recently testified before the U.S. Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs about the need for a training program
focused on Native American language revitalization in the Southwest.

Sims, chair of the non-profit Linguistic Institute for Native Americans
(LINA), testified on behalf of Acoma Pueblo in support of proposed
amendments to the Native American Languages Act of 1990 and 1992.

Originally, the proposed amendments included three sites in Alaska,
Hawaii, and Montana that would provide training in conducting language
immersion programs. Sims included in her testimony the importance of
establishing a fourth site in the Southwest where a significant number
of tribes and native languages exist.

The bill, introduced in July, would create a training center in UNM's
Native American Studies Department to work with LINA and other
university departments.

"For indigenous people across this nation, the significance of issues
related to language survival are inextricably entwined with cultural
survival," Sims testified. "For some tribes, language loss has occurred
to the degree that few or no speakers now exist."

Establishing a training center at UNM would build on current language
revitalization efforts begun in several New Mexico tribes and those in
neighboring states.