indigenous language survival

[Richard Zane Smith]

kweh (kia ora) Peter,
so good the language is alive with your family
If the Maori fail to revitalize...there is probably little hope for any of
us.
Because  *mana*  is strong and evident in Aotearoa.
That "mana" is directly related to "whakapapa" as i understand it.
and how does one translate such concepts?
*mana*  like essence , or powerful unseen reality?
*whakapapa* is an ancestrial kind of rootedness ?
We have words in our Wyandot language for similar concepts...but it seems to
always
translate out as "law/story/way"
*whakapapa* can't be "obtained" by a Pahkia student taking a night course in
Maori language.
Culture is imbedded in language and language is inseparable from culture.
THIS is what i mean when i express concern about a newer kind of notion
"I'll just take a language class"    it might teach something but its not
enough for survival.

I was just forwarded a copy of "the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Tribunal Inquiry"
Pat Hohepa,
by my good friend Manos Nathan, one who carved and supervised the carving of
many of the
beautiful carved posts at the bay of Waitangi. It was an excellent report
and raised good points
about *interpretation* of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Pat Hohepa stated:
"When a word is translated ,are you trying to fit it into the cultural
context of the others language
or are you shifting what it means in yours?" p.22.58

giving the example of  *mua*  - in front -- in Maori representing  "the
past"
                                 *muri * - behind -  representing    "the
future"

try to wrap an anglophone brain around that one!

Makes me think about a lot of our nation to nation indigenous treaties.
how much was signed with little clarity and a perceived insignificant
gesture or scratch?
but once a chiefs x mark was put on paper
it became irrevocable within the foreign mindset and LAW.

I only hope for our Native American languages the same successes as the
Maori.
Anyone who has seen the Haka performed can feel the *mana and Ihi  in
Aotearoa.*
*
*
*kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui  *

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandote Oklahoma




On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 3:13 PM, Peter J Keegan <pjkeeganwh at xtra.co.nz>wrote:

>  Thanks Richard for you comments
>
> Maori doesn't face immediate extinction as the Waitangi Tribunal report
> seems to imply.
> We should always be careful when reading these types of reports and think
> carefully about
> who wrote them and what their real aims might be.
>
> The same Tribunal make important recommendations back in 1986, then led to
> a Maori Language Act, Maori Language Commission and many other indirect
> benefits.
>
> There is real concern though, about the decreasing numbers of students
> entering
> kohanga reo and other forms of Maori-medium education, and that too many
> in the Maori community just don't care enough about the language to
> actually
> make the effort to learn it.
>
> The report does little to highlight the many gains that have made in Maori
> language
> revitalization and I am sure that Maori is not too much different from many
> other
> language revitalization programmes in that the way forward is never easy,
> often one step forward and two steps back.
>
> I'll keep speaking Maori to my daughter, wife, whanau (family) members
> and friends that speak the language and encourage others to start learning.
>
> Peter J Keegan (Auckland, New Zealand/Aotearoa)
>
> (Waikato-Maniapoto/Ngati Porou  (-tribes I belong to))
>
>
> On 22/10/2010 5:39 a.m., Richard Zane Smith wrote:
>
> Kweh all,
> just some thoughts....
> I know linguists can't hep but be linguists, as artists can't help but be
> artists.
> but when i read about the threat of EVEN the Maori language extinction,
> it really got me thinking.
> Many are busy creating indigenous words for NON-indigenous* thought
> paradigms*.
> At an immersion school in Aotearoa I visited, students science classes were
> being taught
>  with a myriad of NEW designed Maori words to describe atoms,particles
> etc...
> in other words "things" that many of our indigenous cultures never *broke
> down*
> in a traditional context other than perhaps stories about "how things are
> all connected"
>
>  Might this forced and continual translation of noun based colonized terms
> into indigenous terms
> be actually turning our languages into "*codes*" to basicly think *the
> same thoughts*
> but to represent them as indigenous characters and sounds?
> Are we paradigm shifting basic-thought pattern of OUR languages when we do
> this?
>
>  Ok, now we will all have gadgets to text message in
> Cherokee,Swahili,Chinese, English,Mohawk
> but what if the whole IDEA of text messaging isn't weighed "culturally" and
> every NEW gadget is now "NDignized" just like we have Nammy Awards instead
> of Grammy Awards, Native RAP version of Ghetto RAP, An NDN version of every
> WHITE thing the dominant (even parasitical) culture comes up with. What are
> we doing? Are we thinking about what we are doing?
> Aren't we the people who are supposed to lead the way to LIFE
> sustainability?
> The dominant system of conquest is still marching, and its cancerous to our
> planet.
>
>  We KNOW in our minds that a language survives/thrives only in *context*of its own healthy culture.But unless children grow up imbedded in Wyandot
> culture(life/ways),
> going to school and learning to speak Wyandot does not a Wyandot make.
> They are only speaking Wyandot code .* the new code talkers?*
> If this is true, dying languages are only PART or symptomatic of a bigger
> problem.
> Our minds are changing, our children's minds are changing, and if we want
> them to be strong in their languages they are going to need *a whole lot
> more* than Wyandot language classes.
> or free gadgets to do Wyandot texting.
>
>  The reason the languages are dying is because there is a *replacement *of
> thinking.
> Its EASIER ,maybe even more appropriate? to use English when students are
> dissecting
> a frog because its the nature of that kind of thinking to dissect things
> and solve problems by taking things apart.  Is that OUR way?
> When we Wyandotized the process of dissecting a frog, we lose Wyandot
> paradigm.
> If you dissect a frog and learn science that can cure cancer thats
> wonderful,
> Kids should learn that ALSO.
>  but I'm just wondering the benefit of mixing.blending thinking paradigms.
>
>  Traditionalist always tell me - ceremony has to stay OUT of politics
> for that very reason...the various "thinkings" don't mix well.
>
>  I  heard just at ONLA from a Cherokee language teacher in Talequah
> that a modern childs attention span is now *9 seconds .*
> *why? **Its the average time it takes to send a text message.*
> what are we doing folks? Are we simply getting on board this Titantic
> because OUR language needs to be on the ship??
> Maybe we need to strengthen our cultural roots/languages/arts/communities
> and be VERY selective/careful about introducing all these new shiny toys?
> Shall we talk about the addiction of* "the new"* ?
> uuuh ...some other time...
>
>  just some thoughts, i don't know the answers
> I'm someone who still plays in the mud ....for a living!
>
>  Richard Zane Smith
> Wyandotte Oklahoma
>
>
>
>
>
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