indigenous language survival

[MJ Hardman]

I have been very ill, so please forgive me if this is a resend.  Over the
summer my husband finally got his book published ­ a history, an ethnology,
lots of linguistics, and serious politics along these lines.  As one of the
presenters said (and we hope to have her words posted eventually), this is a
view from inside, in great detail.  Nearly 400 pages.  With pictures and
maps he drew.  Info currently at:
http://unmsmnoticiasfondoeditorial.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

Very difficult problems.  MJ

On 10/21/10 1:33 PM, "Heather Souter" <hsouter at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Taanshi, Richard,
> 
> I am pondering your thoughts....  I wonder about many of the same things as I
> do work on our language.  I worry that if we place such great a focus on
> technology, all we will be left with are "holograms" of elders speaking our
> languages. 
> 
> I also often think about how to show the connection between our language, our
> ways of thinking and the land to which we are related....   I wonder if is not
> to start from the most basic and local--to think about all the things that
> sustain us as peoples-starting from the most basic--food, family, community,
> art/spirituality--and make sure that our languages are central to them all. 
> It seems to me that our languages provide us with an important--perhaps the
> most important?--way to keep and recreate an internally cohesive identity in
> ways that are authentic to our cultures....  The question is how to do this
> effectively when we all now live embedded in a dominant culture with dominant
> patterns of thought and ways of interacting that are not just associated with
> one nation or region but  with global reach?
> 
> Eekoshi pitamaa.
> Heather
> 
> On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Richard Zane Smith <rzs at wildblue.net> 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
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20101023/2a05d848/attachment.htm>