#Language Revitalization

[linguist-breakaribecca]

“Grandma’s House is not like a drop-off daycare or an immersion school where only the children learn. Through a grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, parents get paid to learn alongside and speak with their children in Ojibwe five hours a day, four days a week.

…

‘Learning Ojibwe in college and pursuing learning the language and teaching the language, I hadn't really thought about babies speaking it as their first language,’ Erdrich said.

‘It seemed like this impossible thing because of how much work it would be, how hard it would be to have a whole community and other babies to be speaking Ojibwe, but it's happening! And it's amazing because it's the peer language here so the kids are speaking Ojibwe to each other,’ she said.

…Grandma’s House is not like other college language programs. Learning a Native language in an academic setting is beneficial for language revitalization, but academic learning does not usually include learning the traditions, heritage or spirit within a Native community.

…

Although it’s common to refer to a language no longer commonly spoken as a ‘dead language,’ some people in the language revitalization movement instead refer to them as ‘asleep.’ The idea is that sleeping languages can be awakened through family and community efforts.

Waking up Native languages can also bring intergenerational healing.”

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Decades after being punished in a residential school for speaking his own language, Sol Mamakwa will hold the powerful to account at Ontario's legislature in the very same language past governments tried to bury. On Tuesday, Mamakwa, the only First Nation legislator at Queen's Park, will rise in the legislative chamber — with his mother, sister, brothers, friends and elders watching from the gallery — and ask a question in Anishininiimowin, known in English as Oji-Cree. For the first time in its history, the Ontario legislature will allow, interpret and transcribe a language other than English and French. It will also be a birthday gift to his mom, Kezia Mamakwa, who turns 79 that day, and a nod to his late father, Jerry Mamakwa. "Language is nationhood, language is identity, language is where history comes from and language is me and my people," Sol Mamakwa, a 53-year-old NDP legislator, said in an interview. "It's important because there's so many of us who are losing our languages. I think it's a step toward reconciliation and a step toward reviving our languages."

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[reasonsforhope]

Interior Department Announces New Guidance to Honor and Elevate Hawaiian Language

"In commemoration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, or Hawaiian Language Month, and in recognition of its unique relationship with the Native Hawaiian Community, the Department of the Interior today announced new guidance on the use of the Hawaiian language.  

A comprehensive new Departmental Manual chapter underscores the Department’s commitment to further integrating Indigenous Knowledge and cultural practices into conservation stewardship.  

“Prioritizing the preservation of the Hawaiian language and culture and elevating Indigenous Knowledge is central to the Biden-Harris administration's work to meet the unique needs of the Native Hawaiian Community,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “As we deploy historic resources to Hawaiʻi from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Interior Department is committed to ensuring our internal policies and communications use accurate language and data."  

Department bureaus and offices that engage in communication with the Native Hawaiian Community or produce documentation addressing places, resources, actions or interests in Hawaiʻi will use the new guidance on ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) for various identifications and references, including flora and fauna, cultural sites, geographic place names, and government units within the state.  The guidance recognizes the evolving nature of ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi and acknowledges the absence of a single authoritative source. While the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert 2003) is designated as the baseline standard for non-geographic words and place names, Department bureaus and offices are encouraged to consult other standard works, as well as the Board on Geographic Names database.  

Developed collaboratively and informed by ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi practitioners, instructors and advocates, the new guidance emerged from virtual consultation sessions and public comment in 2023 with the Native Hawaiian Community. 

The new guidance aligns with the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to strengthening relationships with the Native Hawaiian Community through efforts such as the Kapapahuliau Climate Resilience Program and Hawaiian Forest Bird Keystone Initiative. During her trip to Hawaiʻi in June, Secretary Haaland emphasized recognizing and including Indigenous Knowledge, promoting co-stewardship, protecting sacred sites, and recommitting to meaningful and robust consultation with the Native Hawaiian Community."

-via US Department of the Interior press release, February 1, 2024

--

Note: I'm an editor so I have no idea whether this comes off like as big a deal as it potentially is. But it is potentially going to establish and massively accelerate the adoption of correctly written Native Hawaiian language, as determined by Native Hawaiians.

Basically US government communications, documentations, and "style guides" (sets of rules to follow about how to write/format/publish something, etc.) can be incredibly influential, especially for topics where there isn't much other official guidance. This rule means that all government documents that mention Hawai'i, places in Hawai'i, Hawaiian plants and animals, etc. will have to be written the way Native Hawaiians say it should be written, and the correct way of writing Hawaiian conveys a lot more information about how the words are pronounced, too, which could spread correct pronunciations more widely.

It also means that, as far as the US government is concerned, this is The Correct Way to Write the Hawaiian Language. Which, as an editor who just read the guidance document, is super important. That's because you need the 'okina (' in words) and kahakō in order to tell apart sizeable sets of different words, because Hawaiian uses so many fewer consonants, they need more of other types of different sounds.

And the US government official policy on how to write Hawaiian is exactly what editors, publishers, newspapers, and magazines are going to look at, sooner or later, because it's what style guides are looking at. Style guides are the official various sets of rules that books/publications follow; they're also incredibly detailed - the one used for almost all book publishing, for example, the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS), is over a thousand pages long.

One of the things that CMoS does is tell you the basic rules of and what specialist further sources they think you should use for writing different languages. They have a whole chapter dedicated to this. It's not that impressive on non-European languages yet, but we're due for a new edition (the 18th) of CMoS in the next oh two to four years, probably? Actually numbering wise they'd be due for one this year, except presumably they would've announced it by now if that was the case.

I'm expecting one of the biggest revisions to the 18th edition to add much more comprehensive guidance on non-Western languages. Considering how far we've come since 2017, when the last one was released, I'll be judging the shit out of them if they do otherwise. (And CMoS actually keep with the times decently enough.)

Which means, as long as there's at least a year or two for these new rules/spellings/orthographies to establish themselves before the next edition comes out, it's likely that just about every (legit) publisher will start using the new rules/spellings/orthographies.

And of course, it would expand much further from there.

[canisvesperus]

The demo is free! Check it out and consider donating!

[dougielombax]

“bUt NAeBodY sPakeS iT¡ tiS a DEaD LAnguaGe, sHUrE¡ WHiT’s tHe PoiNt? Let iT DiE.”

Okay.

Okay.

Could you perhaps tell us WHY the language you fear so greatly is threatened or dead?

No. Do go on.

Tell us.

Why is it dead? What happened to those who spoke it? Why weren't they able to pass it down the generations?

Why is this so?

Because they sure as shit didn’t just stop speaking it for the sheer hell of it!

You don’t know?

Oh dear.

No it’s not natural.

And it’s not about nativism, you daft shite!

Imagine being scared of a language!

Pathetic!

…

Many such cases.

MANY such cases!

[hanaflorbloom]

i told my coworker i was starting to learn Irish and he was like "why? at least learn a cool language like latin". O_O like...huh?

aside from the fact that all languages are cool in their own right, saying that about a language that has been historically suppressed is just wild to me.

[llyfrenfys]

I'm making my opposition to the proposal to severely reduce language provision at the University of Aberdeen known - Scottish Gaelic, an endangered Celtic langauge, is one of the languages at risk of being cut. This would do immense damage to the language revitalisation effort. @uniofaberdeen must reverse this decision and commit to protecting Gaelic and other languages in their institution.

If you feel the same way, you're encouraged to make more posts and stories about the issue to show the University of Aberdeen just how much this decision is frowned upon. Use the hashtag #saveuoalanguages in your posts to get the word out about this.

I'll be travelling tomorrow and wish I could do more right now. But together we can make it known just how unpopular this decision is.

[linguisticdiscovery]

How the Mohawk community is working to revitalize their language

[itskindofareallyniceday]

Something new for Native American Heritage Month this year:

This playlist features indigenous musicians from North, Central, and South America. It includes a variety of genres (post-classical composers, folk punk, indie pop, pow wow punk rock (yes, that's a thing!), indie rock, etc.), as well as a variety of languages (Wolastoqey, Inuktitut, Atikamekw, Cherokee, Navajo, Cree, Quechua, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut), Tłı̨chǫ, English, French, and Spanish).

[shadeslayer]

yoooo muscogee nation just launched a language website

[karekuat]

Yek tanestuk amehemet, I have good news!

I will be teaching an Indigenous language starting in the summer this year!!

More details:

What is Nawat?

Nawat (sometimes spelled Náhuat) is an Indigenous language native to the western half of Guxgatan, what is now called El Salvador.

Why teach it?

Unfortunately, due to colonization the language only now has around 50 native speakers in El Salvador. We would like to help share it with the Salvadorean diaspora and publish things like books, plays, music, and more in order to revitalize our language.

Where is it being taught?

There are many places in El Salvador that teach Nawat, however most of these places are run by the government and use colonial sources that don't accurately reflect the way Nawat is spoken in Indigenous communities.

ANIS, the national association of Indigenous Salvadoreans, has initiated a school called Xućigisa An Ne Náwat and employs actual native speakers who live in Indigenous communities to teach the language and culture, as well as Indigenous values and worldview. On occasion, we also offer elective classes with the subject of Indigenous queerness, traditional medicine, embroidery/weaving, and singing.

The language classes are easy for both English and Spanish speakers, but the elective classes tend to be Spanish based only.

Unlike most government run Nawat classes, Xućigisa An Ne Náwat is also a queer and trans focused community, with our queerness being an inherent part of our Indigenous culture and identity.

If you are of the Salvadorean diaspora and are interested in reconnecting with our Indigenous roots, please consider reaching out to sign up for classes with ANIS, I will also be making updates when enrollment is actively available year round. Tuition is based on what you can give and can be as low as $10 per month, all tuition is so that we can support the Indigenous teachers who currently live in poverty.

If you are not Salvadorean or just don't have an interest in taking classes, please still consider donating to help us create more resources in order to keep our language alive.

Anyone is free to send me an ask or DM about further information.

Sujsul padiux !!

EDIT:

If you are reading this, Please check the reblog on this post by me for updated info on this. I will no longer be a TA for this school!!

[tlajtollirambles]

YouTube Channels for learning Nahuatlahtolli

Classic Nahuatl

(for spanish & english speakers)

(for spanish speakers / pa' quienes hablan español)

Sierra Negra of Tehuacan

(for spanish speakers, pa' quienes hablan español)

Huasteca Veracruzana

(for spanish speakers/ pa' quienes hablan español)

Milpa Alta

(For spanish speakers / pa' quienes hablan español)

Huasteca Nahuatl

(for english speakers)

Huasteca Hidalguense

(for spanish speakers / pa' quienes hablan español)

Unknown Variant

(for spanish speakers / pa' quienes hablan español)

(for english speakers)

[eth-alisanru]

Gaulish Translation 1 :

Source : Arknights https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=137187401178598&set=pcb.137188081178530 Auteur/Author :@Lalvice_沙離dr在銭鎖双狼 https://passport.weibo.com/visitor/visitor?entry=miniblog&a=enter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fweibo.com%2Fu%2F5207773548&domain=.weibo.com&sudaref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&ua=php-sso_sdk_client-0.6.36&_rand=1675412986.2487 It's not an "litteral" translation because some words aren't simply existing in reconstructions or are attested, so I tried to fill the gaps by modifying a little bit the dialogs. ----------------------------- Ce n'est pas une traduction "littérale" car certains mots n'existent simplement pas dans les reconstructions ou attestés, alors j'ai essayé de combler le manque en modifiant un peu les dialogues Translation (French-English) : Silverash : Il y a ici un "complément de cause", alors quel mot je dois mettre Exusiai peut-tu répondre ? There is here an "adverbial phrase of "reason", so which word should I put ? Exusiai, can you answer ? Exusiai : OUI, c'est...c'est/YES, it's...it's Mostima M.Silverash a demandé quelle était ta nourriture préré Sir (Lord) Silverash asked what is your favorite food Exusiai: Oh ! (ma) nourriture préférée/Oh ! Favorite food ! J'aime les tartes au pommes ! OUI ! I like apple pies, YES ! Silverash : Sors de (cette) salle ! Get out of this room

[dougielombax]

Imagine being scared of a language.

Pathetic.

This happens all the time where I live regarding loyalists and the Irish language.

They’re TERRIFIED of the indigenous language of the country, they’ve convinced themselves that they’re indigenous and that the Irish language is apparently a satanic invention.

Neither of those are true but they’ll believe it anyway.

They’re so fragile that it’s comical.

Ashamed of nothing. Offended by everything.

I’ve seen it before in many other countries and with many other languages.

Basque, Armenian, Syriac, Adyghe, Kabardian, Hawaiian, Kurdish, etc.

It’s a language!

It’s harmless!

[hanaflorbloom]

every time i see someone say that we should erase all other languages and make english the 'universal language' I'm reminded how ignorant and culturally insensitive some people are. to not be aware of the historical and cultural significance of a language in most cultures is bizarre. in erasing a language you would thus be erasing years of important history of a culture. i hope these people educate themselves before speaking on something they know nothing about simply because it would 'make their lives easier'. not to mention its so tone-deaf to the people who are fighting for language revitalization due to the historical language suppression of their ancestors.