Abstract
Relatively few people under the age of 60 are fluent speakers of the various Indigenous languages of Alaska. Concurrently, climate change is severely impacting Alaska and its residents, where environments are changing far more rapidly than the majority of the planet. These factors complicate the land-language nexus and may have implications for the sustainability of Indigenous languages in Alaska and other parts of the Arctic. In this collaborative, community-centered project, we spoke with Iñupiaq and Yupik language speakers to learn how rapid environmental change affects heritage language discourse practices and how generational gaps in levels of heritage language fluency affect safety and efficacy of customary and traditional land use activities. The results show how local community choices and attitudes are reflecting and constructing dynamic ecologies of language, culture, and environment. Iñupiaq and Yupik languages provide important forms of socio-cultural resilience because they embed the past, yet are inherently dynamic. Community-driven social practices that promote increased local heritage language use can lead to new, creative language domains, new expressions of Indigenous culture, and new Indigenous stances toward a changing environment.
Highlights
In this paper, we examine the linkages between land and language for Indigenous peoples, that is, the “land-language nexus,” which considers recent language loss and accelerated climatic change
We focused our research on the following interrelated questions: How does rapid environmental change in Alaska affect Iñupiaq and Saint Lawrence Island (SLI) Yupik discourse practices; that is, how, when, where, and for what purposes is a language used? How do generational gaps in levels of Iñupiaq and SLI Yupik language fluency affect safety and efficacy of activities surrounding the harvesting, preparing, and consumption of traditional food given recent unpredictability of ice and weather conditions? The results show how local community choices and attitudes are reflecting and constructing dynamic ecologies of language, culture, and environment
Major societal changes have occurred in northern Alaska within the lifetime of today’s living Elders
Summary
We examine the linkages between land and language for Indigenous peoples, that is, the “land-language nexus,” which considers recent language loss and accelerated climatic change. To examine this topic, we interviewed 21 local community members in two northern Alaska Native ethnolinguistic groups: the Iñupiat and Saint Lawrence Island (SLI) Yupik. Our project involved collaborative community-centered fieldwork and emphasized Indigenous knowledge of local linguistic ecologies This project was developed in collaboration with local Iñupiat community members (the second and third co-authors of the paper) and the approval of Iñupiat tribal governments, including the Nome Eskimo Community and the Native Village of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow). All authors received formal Institutional Review Board training prior to the project
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
