Indigenous Language Communities Research Articles

Variationist sociolinguistic methods with Indigenous language communities

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Collaborative Ryukyuan Language Documentation and Reclamation

Traditional “endangered” approaches in linguistics tend to impose Western epistemologies of languages on marginalized Indigenous language communities such as the Ryukyus. Instead, by using a collaborative approach, we ask for a change of approach from research on the Ryukyus to research with/for the Ryukyus. This article is a reflective study of collaboration in particular cases. We aim to address the issues of relationality between communities and researchers—how can communities initiate work with like-minded linguists to suit their own needs? Thus, we respond to this question to open a conversation on why insider/outsider collaboration is essential. Using our experiences of carrying out our research in different parts of the Ryukyus reflectively, we aim to provide a practical guide for collaboration that is necessary for both the good of communities and the field of linguistics. Through continuous cooperation and collaboration, we can engage in active decolonization of the field of linguistics and language documentation. We suggest that decolonization cannot be achieved without collaborative and ethical research practices based on Indigenous epistemologies. We conclude the paper with ideas of research approaches based on Ryukyuan Indigenous epistemologies, which require a transformation from individual approaches to community-based-relational approaches.

What about broader impacts for child language acquisition research? A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)

Kidd and Garcia cogently articulate scientific problems related to intellectual merit that are associated with the lack of language diversity in L1 acquisition research. However, science must also consider stakes related to the broader impacts of research. Focusing on Indigenous language communities in North America, I discuss ways that the lack of language coverage causes linguistic science to fall short in making broader impacts in areas such as speech-language pathology and language revitalization programs.

INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES OF NEPAL: A STUDY OF PREVENTION BARRIERS AND PRESERVATION STRATEGIES

Purpose of the study: In Nepal, indigenous languages are in danger of disappearing and if the situation does not improve, the dying trend will continue to increase in the future. Thus, this paper aims to explore barriers to indigenous language activities and strategies for revitalizing these dying languages of Nepal.&#x0D; Methodology: To address this objective, the study adopted the qualitative research method, using the data collected from the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and secondary sources such as the existing literature through print and online sources. The results were presented thematically and discussed for qualitative analysis.&#x0D; Main findings: The overall results of the study indicated that an inclusive language policy should be adopted by the government to accommodate indigenous languages of Nepal, indigenous language communities should be encouraged by the government to insist on speaking their languages, and language communities are also required to collaborate with the government to address the issues related to improving the preservation and promotion of indigenous languages of Nepal.&#x0D; Applications of this study: The outcome of this particular research can be a beneficial act for engaging indigenous communities of Nepal in language revival and protecting threatened languages from extinction. It is the responsibility of the researchers that are expected by each of various indigenous language communities in particular and the Nepali society at large.&#x0D; Novelty/Originality of this Study: Indigenous languages are often considered by many as 'heritage languages' and are used to describe languages that are often in the endangered list. No studies are found on the use of indigenous languages and language revival efforts in the study area such as barriers that prevented indigenous language groups from participating in language activities and ways that can preserve and promote such dying languages in the study area.

Languages in Danger: How Can Linguistic Diversity Be Preserved and Promoted in Nepal?

This paper focuses on the decline and death of indigenous languages with special reference to sampled languages used by indigenous communities in Kaski district, arguing that the indigenous language communities should be supported by the government for giving official status to their native languages, focused on formulation and implementation of education policies, and encouraged to insist on speaking their native languages. Together, the indigenous language communities need to collaborate with the government to curb all the issues related to preserving and promoting linguistic diversity in Nepal. Based on the findings and discussion of the study, the following recommendations have been made to preserve and promote linguistic diversity in Nepal: 1) The findings of the study concluded that documentation is one of the most important ways to preserve and promote indigenous languages; 2) The findings of this study concluded that both formal and informal languages classes can be effective to cover all types of age group indigenous language speakers; 3) It is recommended that language teachers should be provided with appropriate trainings to be good indigenous language teachers; 4) It is recommended that indigenous language groups should put pressure on the government for policy development and political advocacy for the preservation of indigenous languages; 5) The study suggested that indigenous language groups should be given language awareness programs occasionally in order to motivate them to use their native languages and then to preserve the linguistic diversity in Nepal; and 6) The study suggested that indigenous language communities need to get help of language researchers to address the issues related to indigenous language revitalization strategies.

Framing indigenous language acquisition from within: an experience in learning and teaching the Yaeyaman language

ABSTRACTThis article examines indigenous language acquisition (ILA) with regard to the indigenous Yaeyaman language spoken in the Ryukyus in Japan. The focus is on teachers and new speakers in an endangered language community. The following two questions are examined: (1) What kinds of problems do teachers and learners encounter in language revitalisation of the Yaeyaman language? (2) What kind of teaching practices exist in the Yaeyaman language communities? Using linguistic ethnography within the framework of indigenous research methodology to examine ILA regarding the Yaeyaman language, the paper demonstrates the aspects of inhibition in ILA. I identified four components that impede language learning of new speakers in the community: (1) indigenous teachers' lack of professional self-esteem, (2) lack of awareness of traditional speakers' rich linguistic knowledge, (3) marginalised community-based language policies, and (4) a problematic relation between gender roles and language. I locate these phenomena within the larger issues of ILA theory, also drawing from existing Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories. The paper concludes with proposals for reframing ILA theory to empower the entire target language community by focusing on diversity within indigenous language communities.

DESIGNING A LINGUISTIC PROFILE OF KHORTHA: A LESS RESOURCED LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN THE STATE OF JHARKHAND, INDIA.

This paper describes the linguistic outline of Khortha language, which is spoken in the state of Jharkhand, India. Khortha is the second most spoken language after Hindi in the state of Jharkhand, with approximately 80 million speakers (As per the Govt. of India, census reports 2011). The paucity of the language resources in Khortha played a vital role in motivating us for the present work. The methodology adopted for the present study comprises linguistic field surveys (Dash &amp; Aman 2015) and reviews on the earlier literature of Khortha. The current status and demographic profile of Khortha suggest its usage as a link language among the other indigenous language communities (i.e. Munda, Bedia, Kurmali, etc.) as well. The scope (usage) of the Khortha language within the various domains (i.e. administration, education, mass media, social divisions and religion, judiciary and interpersonal communication), as discussed in the paper, gives a clear idea of its usage and linguistic identity. This paper can be a helpful resource for the researchers in order to portray the current linguistic status of the language.

Technology Training and Praxis at the American Indian Language Development Institute: Computer Applications for Indigenous Language Communities

This research examines three American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) participants who registered and completed the “Computer Applications for Indigenous Language Communities” course at the University of Arizona between summer 2003 and summer 2007, at a time when digital technology was emerging, particularly in Indigenous communities. The individual case studies document the training each student received during the course, software they were introduced to, and some of the projects they initiated and/or created at AILDI. Students also reflect on the benefits, challenges, and impact that digital technology has toward local language and cultural revitalization efforts as they each return to their respective communities. In addition, as universities are privileged spaces that afford a particular type of environment that may not mirror the technology and infrastructure in Indigenous communities, a set of recommendations are provided to guide academic institutions that offer technology training courses that serve Indigenous populations.

Oppressed no more? Indigenous language regimentation in plurinational Bolivia

AbstractIndigenous language regimentation in Bolivia is traced through historical legal documents and contemporary transformations. While state language policy is often fragmented and improvisational, non-state linguistic activist networks have taken an increasingly significant role in shaping state policy. Under the government of Evo Morales, explicit state measures to preserve and develop Indigenous languages are discussed as incipient shifts toward a more decolonizing mode of language regimentation. It remains to be seen whether the new state position will lay the groundwork for robust language revitalization at the level of Indigenous language communities.

Indigenous language revitalization, promotion, and education: function of digital technology

ABSTRACTWithin the last two decades, there has been increased interest in how technology supports Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation efforts. This paper considers the effect technology has on Indigenous language learning and teaching, while conceptualizing how language educators, speakers, learners, and technology users holistically understand, skillfully apply and communicate creative and balanced technological solutions that are based on understanding of contextual factors. A total of 80 participants representing at least 47 Indigenous languages completed a survey in 2009 representing individuals, organizations, and institutions that serve one or more Indigenous language communities across the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Guatemala, Peru, Greenland, Mexico, Bolivia, French Polynesia (Marquesas Islands and Tuamotu Islands), and Russia. The data reveal the functions digital technology has in Indigenous language revitalization, which include (1) positive and supportive roles (2) concerns, constraints, and tensions, and (3) Indigenous language education. Regardless of the size of the community, opportunities for using technology in Indigenous language revitalization efforts are shaped by linguistic, cultural, social, economic, environmental, and technological factors as expressed in the technacy framework for language revitalization. Findings indicate that technology has wide and mostly positive applications in language learning and teaching, that the benefits of those applications remain consistent across communities regardless of size and geographic location, and that new and innovative uses of technology are being adopted to support language revitalization efforts. Overall, the study underscores the importance of context in making grounded decisions about technology as a component of contemporary language revitalization efforts.

Using Twitter in an Indigenous Language: An analysis of te reo Māori tweets

Language revitalization theory suggests that one way to improve the health of a language is to increase the number of domains where the language is used. Social network platforms provide a variety of domains where indigenous-language communities are able to communicate in their own languages. Although the capability exists, is social networking being used by indigenous-language communities? This paper reports on one particular social networking platform, Twitter, by using two separate methodologies. First, Twitter statistics collated from the Indigenous Tweets website are analysed. The data show that languages such as Basque, Haitian Creole, Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Frisian and Kapampangan do have a presence in the “Twittersphere”. Further analysis for te reo Māori (the Māori language) shows that tweets in te reo Māori are rising and peak when certain events occur. The second methodology involved gathering empirical data by tweeting in te reo Māori. This served two purposes: it allowed an ancillary check on the validity of the Indigenous Tweets data and it allowed the opportunity to determine if the number of indigenous-language tweets could be influenced by the actions of one tweeter.

Sociolinguistic vitality of Manx after extreme language shift: authenticity without traditional native speakers

Abstract This article draws on sociolinguistic fieldwork among speakers of one of Europe's smallest indigenous language communities, a speaker group which persists after the loss of all of its “traditional speakers” within living memory. The extreme language shift experienced by Manx has not led to loss of the language as a spoken and literary medium due to the efforts of significant numbers of language activists and enthusiasts over several generations, from before the loss of the traditional language community to the present. Their actions have resulted in significant linguistic institutionalisation and a rapidly expanding number of speakers of various abilities, some of whom form a new “speaker community”. It discusses the constructions of linguistic authenticity and alternative models for the revival speaker, showing how core groups of speakers have been bestowed with authenticity by the wider non-speaker population, for whom linguists' interest in language endangerment and language death are not primary concerns. The article shows how speakers appropriate and are accorded forms of authority and legitimacy in the absence of traditional native speakers.

Turbulence and dilemma: implications of diversity and multilingualism in Australian education

An international interest in multilingualism and multilingual education has burgeoned since the turn of the twenty-first century, accompanying apparently significant changes in the physical and virtual mobilities of people, international frameworks, and commitments and goals for socially just education. It has also accompanied major political changes including the unbundling of the Soviet Union and the forging of the European Union. Amongst the social, political and economic turmoil, the visibility of language minority communities has resurfaced as an issue in Europe and North America, while UNESCO's concerns for the Millennium Development Goals, including universal primary education, literacy, school retention and quality education, have exerted pressure on each signatory country to comply with internationally agreed obligations. Australia, recognised internationally as having introduced innovative and progressive language policy in the 1980s, followed by particularly strong language services and language maintenance programmes for migrant community languages in the early 1990s, met with administrative anomie by the mid-1990s. This has led to a trajectory that turned away from linguistic diversity and multilingualism. An attempt is made in this paper to identify the contemporary trends in multilingualism and multilingual education that may inform a repositioning and reconnection with the international debates, particularly as these have relevance to inappropriate and inadequate responses to Indigenous language communities in the country.

Multilingual dynamics in Sámiland: Rhizomatic discourses on changing language

Multilingualism in indigenous language communities brings forth tensions and creativity related to language change. In this article, taking dynamic multilingual indigenous Sámi language practices as a focus of ethnographic and discourse analytical research, I examine rhizomatic discourses on changing language in multilingual Sámi spaces. Based on longitudinal research on multilingualism in Sámiland, I will argue that the interlinked discourses of endangerment, commodification and carnivalisation simultaneously circulate across Sámi spaces, and structure language practices and experiences. Furthermore, multilingual dynamics can lead to both contestation and creativity in language practices, and may call into question various established perceptions and definitions of language and of related concepts.

Education‐medium and African linguistic rights in the context of globalisation

In the context of globalisation, European languages, especially English, continue to be the favoured medium of official communication and are valued and promoted as the dominant languages of commerce, international communication, education and scientific knowledge. In this paper, I argue that European educational language medium policies perpetuate the hegemonic influence of western languages and their corresponding forms of knowledge. I further argue that these policies have also devalued and marginalised indigenous languages, knowledge systems and cultural identities in sub‐Saharan Africa. I explore the social justice implications of these policies for indigenous language communities in the region.

Old Jokes and New Multiculturalisms: Continuity and Change in Vernacular Discourse on the Yucatec Maya Language

ABSTRACT Much recent literature on indigenous identity politics in Latin America has emphasized the emergence of new discourses on ethnic citizenship. However, the ways in which state‐sponsored efforts to validate and revitalize the Yucatec Maya language become relevant to rural Yucatecans reflect far more continuity with older local narratives about the relationship between language use and modernity. Situating contemporary engagements with multicultural language policies within a broader history of locally meaningful language practices complicates the general model of indigenous language communities that has informed many recent studies of Latin American identity politics and reframes scholarly debates that have emphasized contrasts between emergent forms of essentialism or purism and more‐traditional means of identity formation. This, in turn, suggests new routes through which multicultural and multilingual policies can be conceptualized for heterogeneous communities of indigenous language speakers.

Studying Cultural Evolution at the Tips: Human Cross-cultural Ecology

While human genetic variation is limited due to a bottleneck on the origin of the species ∼200 kya, cultural traits can change more rapidly, and may do so in response to the variation in human habitats. Does cultural diversification simulate a natural experiment in evolution much like biodiversity so that cultural divergences and convergences can be interpreted in terms of the differences and similarities of local environments? Or is cultural diversity simply the result of human behavioral flexibility? Although the majority of cultural data comes from the tips of the hominin phylogeny, anthropologists can follow the example of evolutionary ecologists, who often compare the endpoints of phylogenies when that is all that is available. This article compares 97 contemporary indigenous language communities from around the world, and 24 of their cultural traditions, to help determine whether human cultures and their cultural traits are proportionately dispersed, as predicted by the neutral theory of biodiversity, or whether they show non-proportionalities that could be explained with evolutionary reasoning.

Creation Myths of Primitive America (review)

Reviewed by: Creation Myths of Primitive America Janferie Stone Creation Myths of Primitive America. By Jeremiah Curtin . Edited and with an introduction by Karl Kroeber . ABC-CLIO Classic Folk and Fairy Tales. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2002. xli + 297 pp. Jeremiah Curtin was the kind of nineteenth-century scholar and linguist whose personality and motives have been rendered enigmatic by the intervening century of folklore scholarship. Readers who plunge into the body of this work, the myths, without reading Kroeber's introduction may find themselves adrift in texts packed with multiple names—of places, forces, and spirits moving through action-packed sequences that recount the origins of the world according to the Yana and Wintu of central California. While Curtin worked in many indigenous-language communities, only in the notes does he present information about the general "Primitive America" of his title. He focuses on material recorded from a few culture bearers about California, where he had sought the last and least-changed frontier. A certain undifferentiated intonation in the telling of these myths may send the reader back to the introduction to unravel the conundrums of presentation and reenter the text with an expanded understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Curtin's methods and interactions with his interlocutors. Kroeber recounts Curtin's career as one emblematically American, from farm boy to Harvard scholar to entrepreneur. Curtin employed his impressive linguistic talents first to make a fortune by translating novels (such as Quo Vadis) whose Polish and Russian authors were unprotected by U.S. copyright law. His focus on translation and English publication allowed him to present both literature and oral culture to wide audiences, but unfortunately it has provided an impoverished linguistic archive for subsequent scholarship. With financial independence ensured and many friends in high places, he undertook to save the mythology of native peoples of California, whose numbers [End Page 131] were rapidly declining under the onslaught of American western expansion. His assessment of the Wintu and Yana plight led him, unlike many in the field, to use his Washington contacts to plead the cause of the remaining members of each group, even contacting President Theodore Roosevelt, but to little avail. His efforts did, however, earn the enduring trust and friendship of his interlocutors. In his collecting, Curtin might well have cast himself as an "Earthdiver," bringing the mud of primordial human thought to the surface of his "Turn of the Century" culture. His enterprise was to trace the origins of universal human spirituality. He held the conviction that the narratives he translated actually recorded early stages in the evolution of human religiosity, indeed the first completely systematic accounts of the cosmos. Paragraphs headlining each myth name the animal or plant that each spirit-being became as the world shifted radically from timeless, primordial paradise through chaos to the time of humans. Curtin was touched by the sacred nature of these accounts, and despite his strong editorial style, the ferment and energy of creation infuse the translations. Although he sought to describe a hierarchy of deities distinctly patriarchal in tone, the myths themselves contradict such an ordering. In "Olelbis and Mem Loimos" (28-38), Mem Loimos (Water) seeks out the Supreme Being, Olelbis, as her mate. When she is stolen away, he and his community are devastated, but she continues to travel on, bearing offspring to other husbands, disdaining the claims of Olelbis to being all-knowing, for he is unable to "see" her to find her. While woman's reproductive power is extolled, the female potential for destruction is also portrayed, as in the Yana myth "The Flight of Tsanunewa and Defeat of Hehku" (235-46), a tale of a devouring female spirit who eventually loses her power while gambling with life and death in a bone game. Recurring, stable grandmother figures evoke the power and wisdom of women and elders, such as the elderly woman who adopted an orphan to shield him from destruction by Hehku. This narrative may be interpreted as one instance when myth, naming the primordial, also dealt with historical vectors and mortal problems troubling the peoples as they struggled to maintain a world where the Yana and Wintu might survive...

Playing the Double Agent

How may one write an Indian story in English without replicating the violences of colonial narrative practices? Historiographers, novelists and translators often find themselves caught in the same double bind, responding to (and responsible for) two distinct audiences whose response to (and responsibility for) the other has been decidedly unequal. A similar disparity plays out between indigenous language communities within India as well, as the folktale-inspired fiction of Rajasthani writer Vijay Dan Detha shows. Detha’s narrative strategies play with these fixed divisions that trouble so many postcolonial critics, using humour to establish a more flexible, self-conscious narrative community necessarily in transition. This article suggests a more complex approach to postcolonial concerns regarding the question of agency in the project of translation, by showing how one may follow Detha’s lead in adapting storytelling techniques to a version of his work in English translation.