Utilizing Ruiz's (1984, 1995) language orientation and language policy work, this ethnographic study compared two intercultural bilingual education (IBE) schools located in two Wichí-Weenhayek communities on both sides of the Argentinean-Bolivian border. We examined Wichí-Weenhayek and non-Indigenous teachers' profiles, teacher-student…

In this article, the author talks about "listening," "hearing," and negotiating with tribal leaders, and the possibility that, in effect, the idea that giving voice to Native American concerns necessarily implies that tribes are going to be happy enough with the opportunity to be heard and then be willing to forgo their most powerful interests…

Although Indigenous language loss and revitalization are not new topics of academic work nor new areas of community activism (e.g., King, 2001; Grenoble & Whaley, 2006), increased attention has been paid in recent years to the ways that new technology can support efforts to teach and renew endangered languages such as Ojibwe. However, much of…

This dissertation explores the diversity and unity of coordination constructions in natural language. Following the goal of bridging syntactic typology with formal semantics, it takes the typological variation in NP coordination patterns as a challenge for semantic theory. Hybrid Coordination in Russian and Comitative Coordination in…

This dissertation uses quantitative and geographic analysis techniques to examine the historical and geographical processes that have shaped California's linguistic diversity. Many questions in California historical linguistics have received diminishing attention in recent years, remaining unanswered despite their continued relevance. The studies…

The Aymara of the Andes use absolute (cardinal) frames of reference for describing the relative position of ordinary objects. However, rather than encoding them in available absolute lexemes, they do it in lexemes that are intrinsic to the body: "nayra" ("front") and "qhipa" ("back"), denoting east and west,…

"On Indian Ground: California" is the first in a series of ten books on American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian education. The focus of this text is the 110 tribes in California and the best practices available to educators of native students in K-16. This volume explores the history of California Indian education as well as…

Teaching for cultural understanding has always posed many challenges regarding exactly what should be taught and how it should be presented. For instance: should students be taught a list of facts about another culture, which may lead to stereotyping? Should there be comparison between one's own and another culture, which may involve dealing with…

Mixtecos, members of an Indigenous group from Mexico, have settled in large numbers in New York. Their children are found in bilingual classrooms (Spanish-English), but little is known about parent-school interactions. This work describes the educational ideologies that 23 Mixteco mothers shared during 5 focus group interviews distributed across 9…

This dissertation introduces Minimal Reduplication, a new theory and framework within generative grammar for analyzing reduplication in human language. I argue that reduplication is an emergent property in multiple components of the grammar. In particular, reduplication occurs independently in the phonology and syntax components, and in both cases…

This article focuses on the work of cultural and language maintenance and fortification with Indigenous youth populations. Here, the idea of work represents two strands of thought: first, research that is partnered with Indigenous youth-serving institutions and that prioritizes Indigenous youth perspectives; and second, the work of cultural and…

The Bilingual Multicultural Education Bureau (BMEB) strives to serve all students participating in BMEPs so that all students achieve the determined program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and education code, these are: (1) students become bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language; and (2) students meet all academic content…

This study dealt with the experiences of immigrants from Latin America, specifically Mexico, who speak indigenous languages. This study was guided by a theoretical framework in terms of issues such as power struggle, cultural hierarchy, and identity ambiguity, which are social realities of indigenous people who have immigrated to the United…

In this study, participants learning an endangered language variety shared their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about the often complex and diverse language-learning process. I used phenomenological interviews in order to learn more about these English or Spanish language speakers' journey with the Nahuatl language. From first encounter to…

Theories of language acquisition have highlighted the importance of adult speakers as active participants in children's language learning. However, in many communities children are reported to be directly engaged by their caregivers only rarely (Lieven, 1994). This observation raises the possibility that these children learn language from…