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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 178

Thematic Session (Papers belonging to this Thematic Session)

Indigenous Language Planning and Policy in Urban Settings

Authors: Warhol, Larisa; Warhol, Tamara
Submitted by: Warhol, Larisa (Arizona State University, United States of America)

Worldwide, an estimated 7000 languages are spoken today.  Krauss (1992) predicts that by 2100 over 90% of these languages may be gone.  The majority of these endangered languages are Indigenous languages. Since contact with colonizing countries, Indigenous cultures and their languages have consistently been pressured to assimilate. Even today, western cultures and technologies continue to encroach on the traditional ways and places of Indigenous communities and specific policies of oppression have all contributed to the current state of Indigenous language endangerment and language shift (Crawford, 1995). Rationales for revitalizing Indigenous endangered languages range from the maintenance of Indigenous cultures and the importance of maintaining linguistic diversity to issues of social justice (Fishman, 1991; Krauss, 1992). Internationally, Indigenous communities are engaged in revitalization efforts to preserve and maintain their unique languages largely in community-based and school-based educational settings (Hinton & Hale, 2001). Yet even as these language revitalization efforts are under way, Indigenous communities continue to face challenges as many of their members are migrating into cities and urban areas from their traditional regions and/or reservations. Often given the specific cultural and spatial knowledge that accompanies Indigenous language learning, current language revitalization efforts face the challenge of connecting to members of their communities who have embraced an urban life yet still want to learn their mother tongues. This thematic session will present international Indigenous language revitalization efforts that address the growing number of potential speakers in urban areas and how to incorporate them into these efforts. Questions that frame this thematic session include:

1) What have been the language revitalization activities of Indigenous peoples living in urban areas or cities?

2) What strategies have Indigenous communities used to reach their members in urban areas to incorporate into their language revitalization planning goals?

3) How do urban language revitalization programs differ or are similar to rural programs?

4) How do Indigenous communities maintain relevant cultural continuity in the 21^st century and an increasingly urban global community?