Framing Indigenous Languages as Secondary to Matrix Languages

Abstract

Reversing language shift has proven to be difficult for many reasons. Although much of the literature has focused on educational practices, little research has attended to the visual presentation of language used in educational texts aimed at reversing shift. In this article, we compare language materials developed for two different language situations, finding that for both situations the minority languages continue to be framed by the matrix languages such that practices meant to interrupt matrix-language dominance continue to reinforce current hierarchies.