NATIONAL: National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005 (fwd)

[Susan Penfield]

All,
The term 'heritage language' seems to be most often used this way here too
-- more to apply to languages of immigrants rather than to Indigenous
languages. I'd like to hear from those on the list who were organizers of
the Heritage Language Conference awhile back -- were there any discussions
about the name going on there?

Also, one positive sense that comes out of 'heritage' for me is the notion
of something with deep roots and very treasured. --- I actually had not
thought about it limiting things to the past, but rather in terms of
protecting their value in the present and for the future
....Now I'm rethinking a bit...
Best,
Susan


On 2/2/06, Anggarrgoon <anggarrgoon at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Heritage language is also used in Australia, but it usually refers to
> immigrant minority languages such as Greek, Italian, Lao and Arabic,
> rather than to Indigenous languages.
>
> Mia Kalish 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.
> >
>
> Yes, but 'nation' is also a term with connotations, and in Aboriginal
> Australia there is a lot of tension between an 'Aboriginal' identity and
> a clan or group identity, particularly for younger people who may have
> multiple identities. 'First nations languages' in an Australian context
> would underplay an 'Aboriginal' identity. As I understand it, 'First
> Nations' languages in Canada is tied to a particular federation, and
> does not include all the Indigenous languages of Canada.
>
> >
> > 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 thought we were talking about Australia, and I don't have a problem
> with the phrase that Kemp used about Aboriginal languages being part of
> our heritage. I took it as meaning that they are part of the ingredients
> in the 'cultural melting pot' that contributed to what Australian
> society is today. That is true, and it's all too often forgotten.
>
> Claire
>



--
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836
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