Mohawk language program launched

[Richard Smith]

Kweh Wayne,

Thanks for sharing...it gets a little stuffy academic here at times.
Maybe linguists worry to much about using correct words!
Well, I think you are right.
Our native languages are not just words equivalent to words of dominant
languages. There is a whole system of thinking that's learned only as the
language is heard and comprehended during daily existence.

Technology, as you hinted can preserve the bones of a language
but its our mind that must change in order to approach any fluency.
Computer programs will never have the capacity to replace the inherent
expertise founded on  thousands of years of indigenous thought patterns.
A machine won't ever substitute that and shouldn't be programmed to try.

However, sadly some of us are stuck with no surviving speakers,
No elder to sit with on the porch to ask questions
We are stuck depending upon  "PHD expert-linguists"
who are sometimes like ultra-qualified surgeons,
who might be able to help us find a correct pronominal prefix
but won't be able to sip lemonade on the porch with us
or explain why grandfather avoided certain places, why we do certain
ceremonies or why we say things the way we do.

If fluency ever does return to my own Wyandot people
(and i'm hoping some of my students will ignite that fire!)
it will be a somewhat "different language" in that many "reasons"
for things are lost.We can learn speeches,addresses, and prayers,songs,
but we will never think as our ancestors once did.
 Once the last speaker of a language dies
there is a break forever in a certain cord that binds us to our past

I mentioned before I recently spoke to the last Quapaw speaker/elder
and was amazed how little is done by the tribe to rebuild, strengthen
and revitalize that frayed strand before its too late.
I hope more and more grants will be made available to sponsor
summer camps and youth immersion programs but it does seem many
are excited about promoting the latest techno-gadgets....

Richard
Wyandotte Oklahoma



On 8/11/07 12:08 PM, "Wayne Leman" <wayneleman at VFEMAIL.NET> wrote:

> I wish this Mohawk program, and others like it, the best success. But after
> many years of observation, I have concluded that the "traditional"
> (traditional according to federal schools "whiteman" education) teaching of
> indigenous language colors and numbers does preserve a language
> conversationally. Nor do computers, as much as I value the use of computers
> for preserving language *data*, or providing some supplemental assistance
> for children with indigenous language reinforcement.
> 
> It seems to me that the *only* way indigenous languages can be preserved as
> living languages for communication between individuals, that is, as a medium
> for conversation and other kinds of communication, is for social groups,
> such as family and clan units, to begin using the indigenous language again.
> Children need to be immersed in a rich environment where they are exposed to
> language the way any baby or toddler learns language, by listening to it as
> it is spoken and imitating it. Federal monies can help if they go toward
> helping social units actually speak the language to children extensively.
> 
> I'm sorry if this comes across negatively. It pains me deeply to see our
> indigeous languages dying. My father's indigenous language died in front of
> eyes when I was a child. He married an Anglo lady, not a Native American, so
> English was spoken in our home, but I heard him speak his language
> extensively to his mother and siblings. And just from that I learning quite
> a bit of the language.
> 
> Children will learn languages if they are exposed to them by their primary
> caregivers, OR if they are taken out of their homes and put in boarding
> schools where they are forced to speak a certain language. And we all know
> the terrible things the boarding school language thing did to our Native
> American and First Nations people.
> 
> I suggest that our First Nations people need to return to truly traditional
> ways of language teaching, which take place in the home. It can be
> supplemented in schools, but it is difficult for children to learn a
> language to be able to communicate in it in school, unless it is total
> immersion, such as in a boarding school environment. Perhaps it would work
> today if we had truly total immersion schools where the First Nation
> language is the only language used in school by everyone, even if parents
> and grandchildren speak English or French to the children when they return
> home.
> 
> We cannot depend on state, provincial, or federal governments to help us
> preserve our languages. We have to do it for ourselves. If we need outside
> money to help us do it ourselves, that's fine. But the actual teaching has
> to be done by primary caregivers and it must be rich language, including
> commands, questions, and everything else that we do with language. all done
> *naturally*, as part of language as life is lived each day.
> 
> Painfully,
> Wayne
> -----
> Wayne Leman
> Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "phil cash cash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 11:36 AM
> Subject: [ILAT] Mohawk language program launched (fwd)
> 
> 
>> Mohawk language program launched
>> 
>> Elisabeth Johns  /  Standard-Freeholder
>> Local News - Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 08:00
>> http://www.standard-freeholder.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=648
>> 925&catname=Local%20News&classif=
>> 
>> A program to preserve the Mohawk language was launched Friday as a way to
>> keep the traditional native form of communication in tact.
>> 
>> The project, called, Let's Speak Mohawk Again, was lauded as a unique way
>> to
>> preserve Mohawk history and encourage current generations to speak their
>> mother tongue.
>> 
>> The Kanien'keha (Mohawk) Language Centre was opened thanks to two grants,
>> a
>> $100,000 grant from the Akwesasne Community Fund and $75,000 grant from
>> the
>> Ontario Trillium Foundation.
>> 
>> The money is going towards purchasing new computers and new software
>> technology which will help to teach the language to children within the
>> Akwesasne Mohawk School Board and adults at the learning centre. It will
>> also help to fund the staff and translators who will implement the
>> software.
>> 
>> "Our language is the very key to our survival," said Karen Mitchell,
>> executive director of the Akwesasne Economic Development Agency. "It is
>> what makes us who we are today."
>> 
>> Akwesasne Grand Chief Tim Thompson agreed, adding that the language has
>> been
>> lost over many generations.
>> 
>> He even admitted many of his own family members aren't fluent in Mohawk.
>> 
>> A demonstration of the technology showed beginner students could learn
>> simple words, like colours and the names of different animals by listening
>> to an audio recording.
>> 
>> They then can see the how the word is pronounced and attempt to recite the
>> word on their own. Their recitation is recorded and they can see whether
>> or
>> not they pronounced the word correctly, Mitchell explained, adding that it
>> will be available for the Akwesasne school board this fall.
>> 
>> Classes are also available through the Mohawk Language Learning Centre.
>> 
>> The classes are $200 for six months. People can call 613-932-2923 for more
>> information.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
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>> 
>>