Revitalization

Language Maintenance and Revitalization

 

Languages in danger of extinction must be nurtured much as endangered species must be given special protection. Without efforts to fight back, these language communities and humanity as a whole are set to lose a vast wealth of oral knowledge.

 

Language maintenance is a program to foster opportunities for a threatened language to be used. the key is to find ways to support the continued use of the language, for example the implementation of bilingual or language-learning programs for school-aged children, or the establishment of a community forum where the language by the adults.

 

Language Revitalization addresses the needs of an endangered speech community where language shift has already begun. Thus, language revitalization can be thought of as a process of reversing language shift or language decline. Opportunities for the language to be used need to be created, and the social attitudes that triggered the abandonment of the language need to be addressed as well. State or official support is key to ensuring long-term success of such programs. Two highly successful examples of language revitalization programs can be seen in Hawaiian and Maori. Another famous example of a successful revitalization program is demonstrated by Israeli Hebrew.

 

Grassroots language revitalization movements in communities undergoing language shift, some with local government or educational authorities support are found around the world.The Expedition Team visits these centres as a regular part of the Language Hotspot Expeditions.

 

For critically endangered languages, revitalization is crucially dependent on language documentation. Without the knowledge being recorded from its elderly last speakers, the language will never serve the community any purpose in the future. Languages are abandoned due to. The complex set of social, historical and economic reasons  that cause communities to abandon one language in favor of another may change over time, and a community that is shifting its language now, may have a better environment for the language to thrive in the future. However, a language has not been recorded, it can never be revitalized.

 

For more on the topic of revitalization see Leanne Hinton (2001) “Language Revitalization: An Overview” published in Leanne Hinton and Ken Hale (editors) The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice, pages 3-18 published by Academic Press, New York. 

This is a much newer trend than the other three. Small language groups are using technology, particularly the internet, to encourage interest in their language and culture, both within their community and throughout the world. Some examples of these efforts from Language Hotspots are:

• Northwest Pacific Plateau

  Canada: http://www.firstvoices.ca/

  Anishinaabe: http://www.anishinaabemdaa.com/index.htm

  Klamath: http://www.klamathtribes.org/

  Salish: http://salishworld.com/

  Siletz Dee-ni: http://ctsi.nsn.us/Learn_the_Language.html

• Southwest-Oklahoma

  North America: http://www.native-languages.org/vocabulary.htm

  California: http://www.aicls.org/

  Oklahoma: http://www.ahalenia.com/iws/index.html

  Cherokee: http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=culture&culture=language

  Cherokees of California: http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/

  Kansa: http://www.kawnation.com/langhome.html

  Lenape: http://www.talk-lenape.com/

• Meso-America

  Nawat: http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~mward/nawat.html

  Mixtec: http://mixtec.nativeweb.org/

• Northern South America

  Caribbean: http://www.centrelink.org/

  Guyana: http://www.sdnp.org.gy/apa/

  Carib: http://www.kacike.org/srcc/default.html

  Taino: http://www.taino-tribe.org/

  U'wa: http://www.uwacolombia.org/index.html

  Wayuu Taya: http://www.wayuutaya.org/

• Central South America

  Aymara (in Spanish): http://www.aymara.org/

  Enlhet (Lengua) (in Spanish and German): http://www.enlhet.org/indice.htm

• Southern South America

  Chile (in English, Spanish, Aymara, Rapa Nui and Mapudungun): http://www.beingindigenous.org/

  Mapuche: http://www.mapuche-nation.org/

• West Africa

  N'Ko (alphabet used for Manden languages): http://www.fakoli.net/

• Southern Africa

  Shiyeyi: http://kamanakao.tripod.com/thekamanakaoassociation/index.html

• Northern & Central Australia

  Australia: http://www.fatsil.org/index.htm

  Victoria: http://www.vaclang.org.au/

  Katherine: http://www.kathlangcentre.org.au/index.htm

  Western Australia: http://www.wangkamaya.org.au/index.htm

  Gumbaynggirr: http://www.muurrbay.org.au/

• Taiwan Northern-Philippines

  Taiwan: http://www.taiwanfirstnations.org/

• Eastern Siberia

  Alaska: http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/

• Eastern & Central India

  Santal: http://wesanthals.tripod.com/index.html