A Continued Culture, A Living Language: Navajo (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

A Continued Culture, A Living Language: Navajo

In a linguistics laboratory, Marsheena John of the Coyote-Pass Clan
studies the science of language. Using books as microscopes and her
culture as a lab coat, John delves into the language passed onto her by
her grandfather. The language: Navajo. The laboratory: the University of
New Mexico’s Department of Linguistics.

[Photo: Marsheena John]

Members of the Navajo Language Program Committee recently voted to give
John the Robert Young Scholarship, which supports students who are
engaged in the study of Native American linguistics. Fostering the
Navajo language and furthering education are values, John said, imbued
to her by her grandfather.

“Growing up in the midst of bilingual educators I always thought I was
going to be a bilingual teacher but I had my own interests, which were
in the health science field,” John said. “Becoming a speech and
language pathologist could enable me to make use of both my language
and my interest in health sciences.”

Recently adapted into a minor, UNM’s 36-year-old Navajo Language Program
offers opportunities to students from small communities within the
Navajo Nation, such as John’s hometown Tsaile, Ariz. The program
accommodates students aspiring to obtain one of the many degrees
offered at UNM according to Nancy Montoya, Department Administrator,
Department of Linguistics. It also allows students from two-year
institutions, such as Dine College and San Juan College, to continue
onto a four-year degree at UNM, she said.

“While enrollment by members of Native American groups is on the rise,
it is still quite low,” Montoya said. “Many of these students have
access, at best, only to junior college-level institutions in their
areas. Hopefully, programs like this will help attract more of these
students who would like to further their educations.”

In August, John and several other Navajo students spoke to the Indian
Affairs Committee of the State Legislature about the importance of the
Navajo Language Program and its future expansion. This coincided with
the Department of Linguistics’ proposal to the State Legislature
seeking support to expand the program. The proposal is one of the top
2007 State Legislative Priorities.

“This will serve the Navajo community and ensure that Navajo remains a
vital language, actively learned by members of that community,” Montoya
said.

The scholarship achieved by John was in honor of past UNM Professor Dr.
Robert W. Young, a key figure in the support and promotion of
sustaining the Navajo language, Montoya said. He is the co-author of a
dictionary of the Navajo language – a thick, blue book that John
remembers flipping through during her youth.

Posted by scarr at December 18, 2006 04:55 PM