LL-L "Language survival" 2011.07.01 (05) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 01 July 2011 - Volume 05
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From: Pat Barrett pbarrett at cox.net
Subject: LL-L "Language survival" 2011.07.01 (04) [EN]

Just a few blocks south of my house is the Tohono Akimel reservation. I was
happy to hear a couple of young people at the bus station speaking the
language, obviously fluent in it. It's easier to maintain those languages
(Navaho, Hopi, Apache, Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hualapai, etc.) here in Arizona
where the tribes live on reservations and the culture is more concentrated.
That's disappearing, though and special efforts must be made if the
languages are to continue in use.

Here's info on Tohono O'odham and Tohono Akimel:

O'odham is a Uto-Aztecan language of the American Southwest. It has two
dialects, Tohono O'odham (also known as Papago) and Akimel O'odham (also
known as Pima). Speakers of one of these dialects can fairly easily
understand each other, just as speakers of American and Australian English
can. Taken together there are more than 10,000 speakers of the O'odham
language, most in Arizona
Pat Barrett pbarrett at cox.net
http://ideas.lang-learn.us/barrett.php

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language survival

Thanks, Pat.

We ought to bear in mind, though, that there is enormous variation among
these cases. Much depends on how much original cultural and linguistic
cohesion suffered through interference, such as programs to alienate
Indigenous children from their roots by taking them away from their families
and disallowing use of their native languages in the boarding schools into
which they were placed. (I believe that in parts of Canada and Australia
that ended as late as in the 1960s.)

For various reasons, some Indigenous American nations fared better than
others, though clearly the history of none of them can be described as a bed
of roses.

Talking about Uto-Aztecan languages, please consider the case of Yoeme
(a.k.a. Hiaki, Yaqui, closely related to Yoreme or Mayo), which I know a bit
about. Despite heavy-handed interference on the parts of Jesuit
missionaries, of the Spanish colonial government and eventually of the
Mexican government, cultural and linguistic loyalty have been doing
relatively well. Most Yoeme of Mexico's State of Sonora are perfectly
bilingual: Yoeme and Spanish. Most of the descendants of those Yoeme that
fled to Arizona are trilingual: Yoeme, Spanish and English. Native language
use is strong enough for Mexican-style popular and folklorist songs to be
recorded in Yoeme; and, yes, there are Mariachi bands that use Yoeme.

My introduction: http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/yoeme-info.php
My translation: http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/yoeme.php

I contend that degrees of social and cultural cohesion are what's at play in
language survival. Cohesion may arise from internal defense mechanisms, such
as pride-based consciousness. Cohesion may not always be entirely
self-chosen but may be at least in part imposed, such as in the case of the
Sinti (mostly in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria,
France, Italy, and Slovenia). Unlike many of their Roma relatives, the Sinti
are sedentary, many of them urban. Yet, a combination of ethnic pride and
outsiders' discrimination keeps them largely apart, and this favors the
maintenance of their language, although their Indo-Aryan language is very
strongly influenced by German.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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