Question on assessing technology for endangered language communities

[Jimrem at AOL.COM]

>>Technology simply is a tool that one can either choose to use  or not. To 
say that technology can revitalize language is like saying that a  hammer 
can build a house.
 
 
I would agree, to a point.  While  a hammer cannot build a house it 
certainly is a necessary tool.  It  all depends on what use the person or people 
who want to learn their language  make use of available tools.  If you just 
want to learn how to count  to ten and say "I love you" you will not become 
fluent, but if the language is  available in written and audio form and you 
devote yourself to learning you can  achieve a degree of fluency.
 
Perhaps one of the best examples of both reviving a language  and 
dedication is the work being done by Daryl Baldwin of the Miami  Tribe.  He became 
interested in his ancestral language,  Miami, over ten years ago.  He soon 
discovered there were no longer  any fluent speakers of the language, and no 
recordings had been made,  but it had been meticulously documented by 
linguists over the years.  Of course linguists use an abundance of  technical 
terminology, and Daryl found it necessary to take college courses in  linguistics 
so he could master this language in order to learn  Miami.
 
Once he began to  learn Miami, he took the next step  and began using the 
language with his four children.  Originally it was a part of a home  
schooling project where nothing but  Miami was used for an hour or two  every day, 
but it now serves as the common way to speak within the family.  The older 
children pass the language on  to the younger ones and prefer this language 
to English when they are among  themselves.  Daryl's wife, who is  not Miami, 
is also learning the  language to support the family effort. 
Several years ago I had occasion to visit  Daryl while working on an 
interactive  Delaware language CD.  The oldest  Baldwin son was interested in the 
project and I was  impressed with his pronunciation of  Delaware although he 
had never  before heard it, and also his comments on the similarity of  
Delaware and  Miami words.   Another linguist who has visited  the Baldwin 
family was struck by hearing the youngest  daughter speaking Miami, a language  
that has been without speakers for more than thirty years. 
Jim Rementer 
Lenape Language  Project 

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