![]() "It's not just about teaching phrases or learning vocabulary. "In a way, that's the key thing that is difficult in revitalization," Holton says. So these 20-something parents, new parents, were then in the evening taking Hawaiian classes. "At the same time, every family that enrolled their kids in these schools - and this is still true today - had to enroll in Hawaiian classes. There were just getting kids - 1, 2, 3, 4 years old - in a place where all they heard was Hawaiian," Holton says. "If you look at Hawaii over the last 20 years, people started here with pre-K, getting kids in an environment where they can just be around speakers. Parker promotes - though it's often unavailable or impractical to many - total immersion, where all classes are taught in the native language and speaking it at home becomes commonplace. "Especially hope that with wider recognition of the value of languages. But I believe optimism is still the best approach for the future," Parker says. There's never going to be a quick fix for this. The average time in school spent on languages was just over five hours a week. And in its last report, the FPCC notes that, of the First Nations communities polled, only 9 percent were enrolled in language programs. Parker had to turn away young people from a seminar at an aboriginal youth conference in March. Parker preaches the importance of recording elders speaking the language of their youth - on audio and video often available online - and pushes local communities to teach the languages in school, considering kids rarely hear their native language at home. In small First Nations communities across British Columbia, language programs are critical to saving dozens of languages. "Communities continue to invest the few dollars that are available in really working on developing language programs, recording and documenting fluent speakers before they pass away, and building up and creating language resources and building up better language programs to be able to teach the language effectively in schools and outside of school, too, to adults and others." "I believe there is still reason for optimism," says Aliana Parker, the language programs manager for British Columbia's First Peoples' Cultural Council (FPCC). Thirteen are spoken by fewer than 50 people each.įortunately, groups across the globe are busy trying to catalog, preserve and even revitalize these dying languages. As a result, only 34 First Nations languages in British Columbia still exist. It was forbidden to speak another language. In British Columbia, for example, governments forced native peoples to go to government schools and learn English or French. Throughout history, societies have physically imposed their culture on others. In time, young people learn that language instead of their native tongue. The bigger culture's language gets adopted. It's happened for centuries, ever since trade began and different societies and cultures - with their different languages - collided. The reasons languages evaporate are varied, but near the top of the list is globalization. Some experts estimate that, in the next 100 years, 90 percent of languages will face extinction. That loss stands to accelerate, too, if nothing is done. 213-215."When we look through the rate at which languages change," says Gary Holton, a linguist at the University of Hawaii, "we feel fairly confident that more languages have disappeared than exist today." International Journal of American Linguistics Vol. Comanche Linguistic Acculturation: A Critique. Dallas, Texas: The Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington. Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics No. Robinson, Lila Wistrand & James Armagost. In Texas Archaeology and Ethnohistory series. International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. London/Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Norman, OK: Summer Institute of Linguistics of the University of Oklahoma.Ĭharney, Jean Ormsbee. Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics and related fields. Selected Language InformationĬanonge, Elliott D. More distantly related languages include Kawaiisu, Ute, Mono (Monachi, Monache) and Northern Paiute (Paviotso). Closely related languages include Shoshone (Shoshoni) and Panamint (Koso). The Comanche language is a member of the Central Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. ![]() By the 1900s, their language had undergone substantial changes resulting in the distinct Comanche language. ![]() At the beginning of the 18 th century, Shoshone bands moved onto the southern Plains from Wyoming. ![]()
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