Despite its multilingual heritage, the USA has a history of linguistic intolerance. Arizona, in the country's desert Southwest, is decidedly anti-bilingual although it has significant non-English-speaking groups, especially Spanish-speaking Mexicans/Mexican-Americans and indigenous groups such as the Navajo, Hopi and Yaqui tribes, among many…

Comanche's mutation system, at first glance a relatively simple one, poses the following problems of analysis for both: (1) the variation in phonological substance manifested by the mutating segments themselves; and (2) the larger contextual pattern within which this mutation takes place. Comanche appears to exhibit a slightly skewed but typical…

The structure of the noun phrase (NP) in Alsea, an extinct language of the Oregon coast, is examined with particular attention to the behavior of a clitic occurring in second position within the NP. A presentation of the basic facts includes the following: referential(s) and the deictics, possessive pronouns, third-person possessive, the ergative,…

A cursory examination of place names on a map of South Dakota does not reflect the important role that Indians have played in the state and their relation to the land framed by its borders. Only three towns with populations over 1,000 bear names that clearly come from Indian languages: Sioux Falls, Sisseton, and Yankton. The hostile relationship…

Describes the connective suffixes used in Coast Tsimshian and Southern Tsimshian. (AM)

Discusses the current endangered state of Canada's indigenous languages and the culpability of church and state in this situation. Presents legal and moral reasons why the Government of Canada should enact legislation to protect and revitalize Aboriginal languages. Offers examples of similar legislation enacted in the Northwest Territories and…

Languages reflect and reinforce cultural values, giving insights into their speakers' world view and relationships to the natural environment. Indigenous languages help us to respect local knowledge and extend our sense of community to the larger world. However, despite bilingual education in schools, all Native American languages are endangered;…

Discusses possibility of losing 90% of the existing 6,000 modern languages and importance of preserving languages and cultures. Government policies, including those of the United States, have contributed to this loss by imposing state languages to peoples and forbidding and punishing the use of native languages. Of the 207 native languages of…

Languages reflect and reinforce cultural values, giving insights into their speakers' world view and relationships to the natural environment. Indigenous languages help us to respect local knowledge and extend our sense of community to the larger world. However, despite bilingual education in schools, all Native American languages are endangered;…

Summarizes Scott Ferrin's argument in the January 1999 issue of this journal (EJ 583 598) that "English only" policies violate the language rights of Native American Students. Introduces the rebuttal by Jim Littlejohn in the following article (EA 537 750). (Contains 17 footnotes.) (MLF)

Objective evidence indicates that despite public fears and the claims of those who would make English the official language of the United States, it is not English, but minority tongues that are threatened in this country today. In the last 5 years, educators have noticed a sharp decline in native language skills among Native American children.…

Various groups of Native American peoples and other non-English speakers are required to become literate in English and are promised that literacy will solve their social, economic, and political problems. Yet, having achieved some level of English literacy, many of these people find that not much has changed. The educational system attributes…

Examines the challenge posed by the naturalist philosophy of language--the view that the meanings of symbols are fixed by the environment. Compares the naturalist philosophy with that presented in an activist Native American essay that argues for the preservation of traditional native languages. (SRT)

As a world community, Indigenous peoples are faced with many common challenges in their attempts to maintain the vitality of their respective languages and to honor the "natural order of the Creator." Ten strategies are discussed that are critical to the task of renewing and maintaining Indigenous languages. These strategies are: (1)…

Two Native people describe their respective journeys to healing, journeys that involved the rediscovery of language and culture. In Part I, "Healing the Tears of Yesterday by the Drum Today: The Oneida Language Is a Healing Medicine" (Grafton Antone), the first narrator taught the Oneida language to adult students at a community center.…