Ending the Third Extinction Crisis: A Testimony on the Effort to Keep Native American Voices from Vanishing
Open Access
- Author:
- Wigman, Andrew Michael
- Area of Honors:
- Archaeological Science
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Lee Ann Newsom, Thesis Supervisor
Timothy Michael Ryan, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Native American
linguistics
language revitalization
North America
endangered languages
language shift
language death - Abstract:
- Indigenous languages are threatened across the world, and the Native American languages of the United States are no exception. With a long history of maltreatment by the United States government, especially by residential schools, many languages have been lost and for many others intergenerational transmission was interrupted in only a number of years. Whether indigenous languages are seen as rights, the culminations of cultural history, or unique “species” that make up the greater linugodiversity of the planet, it is clear that these vanishing voices are a part of a third extinction crisis, and that the endangered languages of the United States need to be kept from disappearing. It is a race against time, but there is plenty of hope—if we would only just do it! Given the current state of the linguistic diversity of North America, it is clear that both documentation and revitalization are necessary processes. As much must be salvaged as possible, and what is gotten from that can be augmented and passed on. Languages, whether seen as gifts from the Creator, fading facets of the human experience, or means of preventing drug abuse and delinquent behavior in Native American youths, are worth the effort of revitalizing. Such efforts should be done in ways that are as authentic as possible, but worries about authenticity should not halt revitalization efforts. There are numerous ways to create vocabulary, use the languages, and teach them as authentically as possible. Both schools and communities must work together if language goals are to be realized, and this is certainly happening in such places as Sitka, AK; Oneida, NY; Minnesota; and Montana.