Lost+and+Vanishing+Languages


 * __Lost and Vanishing Languages of Native Americans __**

Over time spoken and written languages change from one form into another. Slight changes are common as new ideas and concepts are imagined or invented. New words must be created to describe these events, creations, and ideas. The disappearance of a language is caused when the people who use that language either become extinct or are absorbed into another culture that is already using its own language. When one culture absorbs another words are often incorporated into the dominant language. These incorporated words become part of the language and their origins are forgotten. In the American English language there are many words that were originally Native American words. Many of these words are used in spoken American English without any thought as to their origin and meaning. A few examples of commonly used words include; hickory, muskrat, potato, raccoon, and the list could continue. The important fact to acknowledge is that most people never know the history of their language. Native Americans focus on their history as part of their cultural identity. Through the use of storytelling Native Americans pass on their history and the knowledge learned through their lives. There is a lot of importance to use their own native language when stories are passed on. The importance of the language is due to the strong cultural connection between the language and the story. Many times the only way to express thoughts and feelings a culture has is through its own language. Using another language such as English causes some of the meanings to be altered or slightly changed. The changes cause stories to lose their context and then the stories lose their importance. Without significant meaning the stories are not passed on and thus are lost to history. This can become a vicious cycle; when culture is lost or not observed then it slowly dies out. Once culture begins vanishing the language often begins to vanish as well. According to the Indigenous Language Institute it is believed that there were 300 indigenous languages spoken in the United States when European settlers arrived. Of those languages only 175 remain. There are estimates that 20 or less will be in use by 2050. Currently there are efforts to revive and revitalize native languages. Revival is resurrecting a language that is no longer used, has no existing native speakers, and often referred to as dead. Revitalization is rescuing a language that’s use is becoming obsolete, has no new native speakers, and is referred to as dying. Languages can shift very rapidly from a dying language to a dead language if there are not any young people in the community learning to speak the language. Maintaining a language and preventing it from dying requires community members and speakers to choose to converse in that language for their communication needs. One important factor for maintaining a language is within school systems. Schools on reservations that teach in native languages increase the importance of the language. These schools also teach the actual mechanics and dynamics of the language. Reservations that do not have their own school systems are at a high risk of losing their language. Once a language is gone it is nearly impossible to completely revive it. Most languages that have become extinct have very little recorded information. This lack of information to use as a reference requires that the language must be adapted or changed. In cases where the language has been recorded in writings or recordings it is still very difficult to revive it. The difficulty lies in the fact that a language has many speakers that all contribute their own voice and thus pronunciations of various words are changed slightly. A goal of reviving a language is to be able to speak and understand the language. In one way a person could think of reviving a language as being able to speak to someone from the past. The person from the past would likely think the speaker has an accent or maybe is speaking a slightly different dialect. The important thing to revival enthusiasts is to be able to potentially be understood by someone from the past.

References

 __1.)__ []           <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article is about how a tribe of Native Americans is trying to revive their language which has been dead for over 200 years. The tribe is trying to rekindle some of their culture that has been lost. Their goal is to bring their language back and teach it to the youth in their tribe. Another goal is to unite the tribe and preserve the culture that remains.__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__2.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed how native people who communicate in their own language perform better in a school environment than those that do have a connection to their native language. Tied in with the language use is the cultural connection that is associated with the use of the native language.__     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__3.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed a lot of words that are used in the English language on a regular basis that have Native American origins. The words are listed with their tribe of origin listed beside. The words also have listed what tribes they originated from.__     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__4.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">     <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">     <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed the people of the Americas, past and present. It gave a lot of history about who existed and who is still in existence. The article talked about the people of North America as a group. This group was then broken down into groups that had similarities or were of common decent.__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__5.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed the restoration possibilities and requirements to bring back a dead language. It also discussed how people are currently trying to revive and revitalize languages. One case example was even mentioned, the Navajo. The article said that Navajo was in decline prior to the use of Code Talkers in WWII. After their language was emphasized they felt cultural value for their language. This increased sense of pride in their language has led to more households teaching their children the native tongue.__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__6.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __In this article the history of the English language was discussed. In the article it mentioned how through history many languages have come and gone. Also mentioned in the article are examples of how individual language association builds community pride and has lead to higher education within that group of people. The case in point was in Brittany, a portion of France that was required to speak French for many years. The native tongue was outlawed. When France repealed the French only law many people started to use their own language again. This has led to lower crime levels as well as lower levels of alcohol consumption.__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__7.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This website was pretty basic; it listed words in English that were of Native American origins. Also listed were the tribe and the pronunciation in their language.__      <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__8.)__  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed words that have been transferred into the English language from Native Americans. The original pronunciations are listed beside the words listed in English. One important part of this article was in the opening paragraph that stated “borrowed” words. This term is well used in this article because the words are still part of the original language but are borrowed to be used in the English language as well.__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__9.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discusses how involvement in a community that possesses a cultural identity leads to less involvement with crime, drugs, and alcohol. Also mentioned was the increased level of spirituality Native Americans have when they use their native tongue.__      <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__10.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">       __ <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> This article talks a lot about what else is lost when a language dies. This article is written with heavy emphasis on the loss of veterans. The article compares the loss of memories from older people to the loss of culture of Native Americans. It does not belittle Native Americans, but also shows that they have lost a great deal of their culture. Mentioned in the article is a group of people who are trying to capture the DNA of a language so as to preserve it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__11.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This website listed several interesting tidbits of information about Native American culture. This website has several links to other websites that contain relative information about culture. This site was written from the Native American perspective and states the tribes that are represented.__     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">__12.)__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[]    <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">        <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> __This article discussed the top 15 most famous Native Americans in history. The descriptions discussed who the people where and what they were famous for. Also listed were some of their view points and opinions. These view points and opinions are critical in determining how a culture wants to be identified.__