NATIONAL: National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005

[Mia Kalish]

Okay by me, MJ. 

 

Mia

 

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From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of MJ Hardman
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 6:55 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] NATIONAL: National Indigenous Languages Survey Report
2005

 

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 ("lesser-used, disadvantaged", 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 don't think anyone is saying that the languages of the people who were on
this continent first are "part of our national heritage". 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 "real, live American
Indians". 



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



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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 "heritage" too - not so much in
the "language x is part of our national heritage" context, but certainly in
the "x is a heritage language" context. I tend to view "heritage language"
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 - "regional or minority languages" anyone? How about
'minority', 'lesser-used', 'disadvantaged', 'threatened', 'endangered',
'indigenous', 'heritage', 'local', 'non-state'.



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 Wales.?



Be seeing you.



Daniel.




 

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