Revitalization (language)

[Andre Cramblit]

7/17/2003 - CALIFORNIA

by: James May / Indian Country Today

Although several tribes in California have at least a few tribal members
involved in language revitalization, they often face an uphill battle.

There are many people who do not see the value in preserving languages. Dr.
Laura Hinton, a professor of linguistics at the University of California,
Berkeley says that she was so upset by a recent commentary in the New York
Times that she says ridiculed the idea of language preservation. However,
indifference to the plight of disappearing languages is not limited to
members of the east coast establishment.

Hinton says that in some cases, interested tribal members face a hard sell
with their own tribal councils, who are indifferent about the fate of their
ancestral languages and more concerned with other priorities such as
getting health care and other community funding. She had hoped with the
advent of large-scale Indian gaming that tribes would dedicate more
resources to language preservation.

However, she says that most tribes are still mired in construction debt for
their casinos and have not, at least as of yet been able to fund language
programs.

One of those dedicated tribal members is Nancy Steele, a member of the
Karuk tribe and a self-taught speaker of her ancestral language.

Steele, along with Hinton, is a founder of the Master Apprentice Program,
in which tribal members are paired with elders who help them learn to speak
the language. Steele points out that the Master Apprentice Program is
designed to provide language in an actual environment.

"The Master Apprentice program is designed to bridge the gap between an
elder speaker and a learner, it's like using a key to unlock a door," says
Steele.

Steele began learning Karuk 28 years ago, though she says that it was not
until she got involved with the Master Apprentice Program in the mid-1990s
that she could fully learn the language.

Now Steele says there is a dedicated core group, numbering about a dozen or
so individuals, who speak the language with some fluency and an additional
45 people who are semi-fluent.

Stressing the importance of putting resources behind any language
rejuvenation project, Steele points to the case of the neighboring Yurok
tribe on California's north coast. She says that the Yuroks have
approximately 10 - 20 people involved in the Master Apprentice Program at
any given time. She credits the Yuroks success with their tribal council,
who according to Steele, focus most of their education budget on
revitalizing their language.

In just a little more than the past decade, the federal government has made
some effort to preserve American Indian and other indigenous languages. The
Native American Languages Act was signed by President George H.W. Bush in
1990, and given some funding through an amendment a few years later.

Currently, there is an amendment to the Act working its way through
Congress that seeks to provide support for American Indians and other
indigenous language "survival" schools. Sen. Daniel Inoyue, D-Hawaii,
introduced the amendment, known as S. 575, last March, and is currently in
the hearing process of the Indian Affairs Committee.

However, Hinton says that this bill probably will not help many California
Indian languages, because it is designed to only support existing schools
and will probably have its biggest impact in Hawaii, where the island's
indigenous language is taught in many schools.

This is not to say that it will not affect California tribes at all. Hinton
says that existing programs, such as the one at Pechanga will benefit from
this legislation.

Steele tells a story about a recent trip she took to meet with Oklahoma
Indian tribes, where the fates of several languages are also currently on
the verge of extinction. In the last few years, for example, the Delaware
language has become extinct. She said that she met a Kickapoo man, who
could only speak Kickapoo, a language that is still tenaciously holding on
to life.

Steele asked the man through a translator why Kickapoo had survived and was
in reasonably healthy shape compared to other Oklahoma languages, where
most of them except for Cherokee and a few others are on the verge of
extinction. In paraphrase, he replied the Kickapoos burned down the
churches, and when the reformers came, they burned down the schools, and
when they tried to move the tribe, the tribe left and went to Mexico.

"He's saying that you have to be tough in order to keep your language, and
it is tough, but you work hard and it is really enjoyable."

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