Language Preservation


Written by Maggie Hayden


Source: https://studybreaks.com/thoughts/native-american-laguage/



“Losing a language is a major setback for everyone, because along with the language, you will also lose all of the poems, the stories, the songs. And those things are of immense importance to all of us as human beings.” —Anthony Aristar

 

Every single person on Earth has a language that is an important part of their culture. It is their means of communication through every aspect. Once that language is gone or dies out, a part of the culture it once thrives in becomes lost too. Loss of language is something many Native groups deal with and have dealt with for hundreds of years.

There are around 7,000 languages still being used today, but 50-90% of those languages are expected to be extinct by the 22nd century. In the Native American culture, there used to be around 300 languages spoken among different tribes, with 155 being spoken today and 50 of those are spoken by less than 10 speakers each. It is estimated that only 20 languages will still be spoken at most by Native American tribes in the 2050s without restoration. It is saddening to know that a takeover from Europe a few hundred years ago has caused nearly half of the natural languages spoken by Natives to be destroyed and forgotten and because of their attitudes towards the Native people the generations after, have begun to not appreciate the language and culture.

One reason Native American languages are on the verge of extinction is the Europeans deciding Indian people’s lives were uncivilized and thus teaching Indian children ways of the “dominant” society as a means to “civilize” the children. Another reason is because in school, Native American children were punished cruelly for speaking their native language, thus making the children think there is something wrong with their culture’s language.

There are many ways to help preserve a language and keep it alive. Teaching children to not be ashamed of who they are and what culture they are a part of is a big step. Offering education in their tribe’s native language as well as education classes on their culture could promote a big increase in language appreciation. Teaching children their tribe’s native language would also help preserve texts and oral traditions and stories.

 

“The most important thing to me is to teach the children, so that our culture never dies.”—Blackhawk SanCarlos, Mohawk and Apache

 

Something interesting I found was the Native American Languages Act that was passed in 1990. It states that the status of Native American’s culture and language is unique and that it is part of the United States’ responsibility to act and make sure these things are surviving. I found this very confusing. First, the Europeans take the Native American’s land and force them to assimilate to the English language and the European culture, and now, after Americans have already taken the land and culture of these Natives do they want to say “sorry” for all of that? I understand that happened hundreds of years ago and the act was signed 30 years ago, but Native Americans have never been appreciated in the way they deserve. I am glad, though that the US is somewhat trying to mend the relationship with the Native Americans, but has too much harm already been done?

Language preservation is important in order to keep the connection between a modern Native, their Native ancestors, and the future Natives to come. Without language, culture is gone. Stories both in text and by word of mouth are gone. Chants are gone. Dances are gone. Diversity is gone. Identities are gone.

 
 

Sources

http://www.se.edu/nas/files/2017/10/AAA-NAS-2015-Proceedings-Gantt.pdf

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/native-american-languages-in-the-us/#

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/native-american-languages-act-twenty-years-later-has-it-made-difference

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saving Sacred Lands

Image
Written by: Samantha Riley     A Chaco Kiva.     Chaco Culture National Historical Park is located in San Juan County and McKinley County, New Mexico. The park is known for having one of the densest concentrations of Pueblo Native Americans in the American Southwest. The location historically was a major center of Pueblo culture and was used for trade, and political and ceremonial activities. The Pueblo people built a number of structures in the hub. Many of the stone structures still stand today, and many ancient artifacts of the Pueblo people remain.   The park and its outskirts, with their historical and cultural significance, are sacred sites to many Native Americans in the Southwest. The significance of the land is hard to communicate to non-Native parties, because theirs stories of the land are sacred knowledge and are not to be shared with people outside of the tribal communities. Now, the sacred sites near Chaco Canyon are in danger...
Read more
Author: Jocelyn P. In the months after the announcement of the family separation policy introduced by the Trump administration, outrage and demands for immediately stopping this process were all over the news. And inevitably so, comparisons were made to past traumatic actions the US government has taken against outsider communities. Namely that of Native Americans. Indeed, family separation was too common to native communities during the late 1800s and early 1900s. With the Browning Ruling declaring that Native American parents were technically children themselves they could not determine where their children went to school (Peterson). This ruling left native families with no rights to keep their children. They had no say in when, where or how their children were educated, so the US government took it upon themselves to strip these children from their families and place them into boarding schools in order to “re-educate” them. The common phrase being “kill the Indiana, save the...
Read more

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and the effects of pollution

Image
Author: Samantha Riley    The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe put settlement money into the Akwesasne Freedom School. Bottom, in back, Kanerahtens, Amberdawn LaFrance, Emma Shenandoah, and Amalli Nalli; in front, Tekanonhtakhen, Iehahserenhawe, Kahnawakeniate, Ranerahtentha and Rowenrenkehteh. Photo credits to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. The Saint Regis Mohawk Reservation can be found along the United State’s and Canada’s border, ranging twenty-five square miles in a region known as the Akwesasne. Within this environment can be found more than 3,000 acres of wetlands across islands and rivers, including the Saint Lawrence, Saint Regis, Raquette, Grasse, and Salmon Rivers. As one could imagine, these rivers are invaluable to the 13,000 Saint Regis Mohawks, or the Kanienkehake People of the Flint. The tribe has occupied their land since at least 1600 A.D., according to archaeological findings. Unfortunately, the effects of pollution are endangering the environment...
Read more