NATIONAL: National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005

[MJ Hardman]

I am teaching a course on language and violence, which, of course, includes
a lot of looking at naming.  Mia, Greg and Daniel, may I share this with my
class?

MJ

On 02/02/2006 9:46 AM, "Mia Kalish" <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US> wrote:

> We might suggest First Nations, which also has about it the recognition that
> the people speaking the language where the first to occupy a particular
> locale, and that the dominant language is one of colonization.
> 
>  
> 
> We have to be careful about minoritizing the languages in the names we choose
> for them (³lesser-used, disadvantaged², as Daniel suggested) because this
> lowers their prestige in the eyes of people, both who use the languages and
> those who control the funding for documentation and revitalization efforts.
> 
>  
> 
> I don¹t think anyone is saying that the languages of the people who were on
> this continent first are ³part of our national heritage². Part of our problem
> here has been the establishment of the belief that the First Nations now exist
> only in the Smithsonian. Reports still come in about people who are surprised
> to find out that there still are ³real, live American Indians².
> 
>  
> 
> I see the issue as one of equity. We should speak the truth, which is NOT that
> the country was discovered by Columbus who was the first person to see this
> unoccupied land, but that millions of people lived here, had for millennia,
> and that people from England, France and Spain came here, killed as many as
> they could, destroyed the buffalo which had supplied food, clothing and
> shelter, and spread disease by handing out blankets infected with smallpox.
> (The Army did this deliberately, and documents still exist that document both
> the intent and the action).
> 
>  
> 
> So the languages are American Indian Heritage Languages, not U.S. Heritage
> Languages. American Indian People are independent nations, although because of
> the treaties, they have a complex connection with the U.S. Government.
> Languages are just the tip of the iceberg of a long history of Indian Agents
> stealing food and supplies, becoming rich in the process while the Indians
> died of cold and starvation. It is a long educational history of attempts to
> eradicate American Indian language, culture and history, replacing it with
> English and European ways of thinking.
> 
>  
> 
> From what we see on this list, the story here is not very different from the
> stories in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand, in the Soviet Union, in
> short, anywhere where Indigenous people lived on land that had resources
> someone else wanted for themselves.
> 
>  
> 
> Mia
> 
>  
> 
> 
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> On Behalf Of Cunliffe D J (Comp)
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:14 AM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] NATIONAL: National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005
> (fwd)
> 
>  
> 
> Hi All,
> 
>  
> 
> Greg Dickson wrote: is it just me or does the word 'heritage' make it sound
> like these languages are something to do with the past and therefore not so
> relevant in 2006. Another sign our government is not taking them seriously and
> waiting until they just 'go away'?
> 
>  
> 
> I must admit that I have some issues with ³heritage² too ­ not so much in the
> ³language x is part of our national heritage² context, but certainly in the ³x
> is a heritage language² context. I tend to view ³heritage language² as an
> American term ­ though I stand to be corrected on that.
> 
>  
> 
> Of course this is all well and good, so long as you can think of a more
> appropriate term, which is particularly problematic when you try to come up
> with umbrella terms ­ ³regional or minority languages² anyone? How about
> Œminority¹, Œlesser-used¹, Œdisadvantaged', Œthreatened¹, Œendangered¹,
> Œindigenous¹, Œheritage¹, Œlocal', Œnon-state¹Š
> 
>  
> 
> Of course all of these have different connotations and precise definitions not
> easy ­ presumably when I am in England speaking English I am speaking an
> indigenous language, when I am speaking English in WalesŠ?
> 
>  
> 
> Be seeing you.
> 
>  
> 
> Daniel.
> 
>  
> 


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