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Native American Language Crisis
According to Native American community language practitioners, linguists, and other experts in the field, the international crisis of culture loss affects the United States and the Americas and islands as much as any region globally. Of the estimated original 20,000,000 Native American inhabitants of the North American continent at the onset of European colonial invasion, some 2,000,000 remain. Of the all the original tribal groups and 300 languages, some 588 tribal groups and 175 living languages remain. Of these languages, many are spoken by very few, mostly elders or adults. Of the 175 listed, 125 are spoken by middle aged or older adults, and of those, 55 are spoken by only 1 to 6 people. Only 20 of all of the remaining languages are spoken widely by children. In addition to this, by the year 2000, 55 of these languages will disappear forever. In another fifty years, 100 more will vanish. Without change or significant commitment and support, only 20 of all of these languages, of the 300 original, or 175 existing, will survive the next 60 years. The loss is noticed most among the young, the children who, even though they may hear the language at home, are increasingly drawn into the modern age of television, videos and main-stream English media. According to veteran Native American Linguist Ofelia Zepeda, it takes one year for one person dedicated to reviving a language working from within the commu-nity to start to see a change. A number of Native American languages are now taught in universities, and at the community level in a variety of approaches, including classes, mentor - apprentice approaches, salvage interviews with elders, and various interactive formats including CD-ROM, audio-visual classroom and computer approaches, and a growing number of organizations, data bases, and groups dedicated to language support and teaching. Internationally, active efforts have been made by the Maori of New Zealand, among the Hawaiian islands, and elsewhere. Renewed determination, new technology, and awareness within and without the Native American community promises hope. For Indigenous peoples, most languages were oral, without written forms. So loss of the language means loss of all the accumulated knowledge of culture, spiritual practice, medicinal knowledge, custom, and history; a unique world view, and expression of a whole people. Such loss means loss of diversity, and it is an irreplaceable loss. Complexity of cultural practice, tribal and familial relations, unique and intangible human resources and expressions are all contained within the spoken languages, songs, stories and traditions. Without the window of language, parents cannot speak to children, children cannot learn from their families, and among many peoples, women and elders who held certain knowledge for all, fall silent, and cannot guide and teach. This can change, and with help, what is left, can be saved. Cultural integrity and intellectual property rights are issues currently being considered by Indigenous peoples in all parts of the world, including the Native American, Alaskan Native, and Hawai'ian and other island Native populations. Present indications are that support of language revival in the family and home, assisted by practical and proven language teaching programs using intuitive, visual and multidisciplinary approaches promises the most success. Appropriate application of technology balanced by real community needs and resources, and assistance from the academic and scholarly fields are essential. Cooperative efforts on a national and international level are important to effective reversal of the indigenous language endangerment crisis.
Sources and References: The figures on the numbers of tribes currently are U. S. Government figures as quotedby U. S. Representative Bill Richardson in a recent letter to IPOLA. The resources referred to on current native American education of languages are drawn from associations and language efforts in the United States (1997): SSILA, AILDI, and recognized experts in the field; Professor Ken Hale (MIT); Professor Ofelia Zepeda, AILDI, and University of Arizona; Professor Akira Yamamoto, Linguistic Society of America and University of Kansas; and Professor Michael Krauss, University of Alaska and Alaska Native Languages Center; Professor Victor Golla, SSILA, Humboldt State University; Professor William Wilson, University of Hawai'i, Hilo; Professor Leanne Hinton, University of California, Berkeley, and many others. Organizations active in language stabilization and recovery are: Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA), the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). International resources are the Clearinghouse for World Endangered Languages at the University of Tokyo, Japan, established at the instigation of UNESCO, and the Foundation for Endangered Languages in the United Kingdom established in 1995. Other data banks and collections of resources on languages exist, but they are limited by doctrinal affiliation or source of funding to the point that they are of limited use for Native Americans committed to their own cultural revitalization.
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