Sustaining and revitalizing traditional Indigenous ways of speaking: An ethnography-of-speaking approach

Abstract

This article makes a case for greater attention to traditional ways of speaking in Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization initiatives. It contends that traditional Indigenous communicative practices are overshadowed in many language revitalization programs by Euro-Western language ideologies and communicative norms that pervade language instruction. Through examples of speech by Lakota people, this article shows how the ethnography of speaking can usefully illuminate traditional Indigenous ways of speaking. It is posited that this “ethnography-of-speaking turn” promises to stimulate approaches to language revitalization that are more consistent with sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous cultures.