spontaneous acquisition

[Linda Lanz]

Hi Phil,

I've heard the same sentiment from Iñupiaq speakers. One of them, an  
Iñupiaq teacher and fluent speaker in her 50s or 60s, told me that  
she didn't speak Iñupiaq until she was 20. She said she's not worried  
about the future of Iñupiaq because she knows that one day when they  
need it, Iñupiat children (by then grown into adults) will just start  
speaking it. Of course, the situation is different, because she was  
surrounded by adults speaking Iñupiaq, whereas these kids are  
surrounded by English, but she's certain that the language will be  
there when needed.

There are also quite a few anecdotes about spontaneous acquisition in  
Australian communities. I'm out in the field at the moment, so I  
can't dig up the article names at the moment, but I recall reading  
several articles about spontaneous and/or rapid adult acquisition of  
various indigenous Australian languages. For example, elderly parents  
of non-speakers who weren't worried about their children learning  
their language because they themselves hadn't picked it up until they  
were middle-aged. In many cases, the idea that they'd teach their  
children "when they're ready for it" was strong. All of this was also  
intricately connected to issues of language ownership, especially in  
areas where it's normal for people to speak 4-5 languages and the  
"native" one might not be the first one a person learns.

Regards,
Linda L.

-------------------------
Linda Lanz
Dept. of Linguistics
Rice University
lanz at rice.edu



On Jan 26, 2008, at 9:11 AM, phil cash cash wrote:

> 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
>

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