spontaneous acquisition

[McMillan, Carol]

Thanks for writing that, Phil.  I've had an increasing sense that, as
more people began learning the languages, the languages' own spirit will
grow stronger and begin taking over to bring them back.  Those words
don't really explain my feeling, but what you said helps to reinforce
it.

Thanks,
Carol 

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
[mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of phil cash cash
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 10:11 AM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: [ILAT] spontaneous acquisition

Greetings ILAT,

I just wanted to share this quote found in a UK press article regarding
the last speaker of Eyak.

"I got that strong feeling right here that it's going to come back. God
will send down Eyak to start all over again."  Marie Smith Jones

As an indigenous person, it feels good when I read words like this.

Myself, I can say that I come from a strong spiritual family/community
where words have power, believing has power, and acting in the way of an
ancestral life has power.  Basically, good things can happen from living
a strong traditional life, so long as it can be imagined, modeled,
taught, or acted upon.

What I want to point out though is that there is a fairly
unknown/undocumented element in language revitalization where community
people can experience or otherwise cite instances of spontaneous
language acquisition.  Now the linguist in you is probably asking "how
is that possible?" or "language is too variable and it would be
virtually impossible to acquire the full encyclopedic vocabulary of a
language," right?

Our venerable speaker of Eyak believed in it.  I believe it...because I
have witnessed it and heard first-person accounts of spontaneous
acquisition.  To tell the truth, I am not sure how to describe it if
asked but I know it happens.

Just a thought for you all today...

Phil Cash Cash (Cayuse/Nez Perce)
UofA

~~~

In praise of ... the Eyak language
Leader
Friday January 25, 2008
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,2246576,00.html