This annotated bibliography was developed to support a Blackfoot language and culture program for elementary and secondary students in Alberta (Canada) schools. Resources include books, booklets, videos, and filmstrips. Materials are listed alphabetically by title within the following categories: (1) language learning resources (9 titles); (2)…

Literacy is a social concept more reflective of culture and context than of formal instruction and can be used for cultural transmission within a society or for cultural imperialism when imposed from outside. The Algonquian-speaking Micmac Indians used pictographs, petroglyphs, notched sticks, and wampum as written communication to serve early…

This document is a compilation of 20 papers from a seminar on educational policy and strategy for educating the indigenous peoples of Latin America and Mexico. There is a growing awareness among linguistics and anthropology specialists and educators of the necessity to validate education that respects the values of an indigenous culture. This…

An analysis of Amuzgo, a language within the Otomanguean family of Mexico, suggests that it is an active-static language with patterns similar but not parallel to those of Chocho. In the report, data on the characteristics of Chocho are summarized, theory and research on active-static languages is reviewed, and the data on Amuzgo are presented.…

The Naskapi language is unique in northern Quebec because of the Naskapi people's late contact with Europeans, their geographic isolation, and the high proportion of Naskapi speakers in their territory. For the last two decades, a language development strategy has been emerging in the community as outside language specialists have been invited to…

This book contains the following articles on research in the field of general linguistics and sociolinguistics: "Papago Plurals" (Jane H. Hill, Ofella Zepeda); "Typological Characteristics of the Yumanas Languages" (Mauricio J. Mixco); "Observations on Accent in Yutoaztec" (Leopoldo Valinas); "Development of…

The Peruvian national indigenous federation established a bilingual, intercultural teachers' training program to counter stereotypes of indigenous people portrayed in the authoritarian, monolingual Spanish national curriculum, and to enhance language preservation, ethnic mobilization, and cultural survival. A complementary transitional bilingual…

Highlights the history of Californian (Luiseno), the native language of Baja California, including how the language was recorded by a young Mexican student at the Vatican's missionary school, the Collegium Urbanum in Rome. Discusses the political impact of the grammatical recording and subsequent translation of the language during the mid-19th…

Six Aboriginal languages have been designated as official languages of the Northwest Territories (Canada) along with English and French. However, more than legislation is needed to support efforts to reclaim Aboriginal languages and culture. Both missionary schools and federally administered public schools (1940s-60s) disrupted the transmission of…

The theory and practice of assistance to speech communities whose native languages are threatened are examined. The discussion focuses on why most efforts to reverse language shift are unsuccessful or even harmful, diagnosing difficulties and prescribing alternatives based on a combination of ethnolinguistic, sociocultural, and econotechnical…

This report provides an update on Ontario's Aboriginal Language Standardization Project at the 2-year mark. The project was designed to ensure the revitalization of Ontario's native aboriginal languages and to meet the needs of aboriginal populations in doing so. An introductory section recounts the project's origins. Subsequent sections address…

Papers delivered at the conference on linguistics include: "On the Metrical Unity of Latinate Affixes"; "Epistemic Small Clauses and Null Subjects"; "Scrambling as Non-Operator A'-Movement: Variable vs. Null Epithet"; "Polarity, Inversion, and Focus in English"; "Phrasal Input to Derivational Morphology…

Among the indigenous peoples of British Columbia are the Kwakwaka'wakw--at least 12 tribes that speak Kwak'wala, a language of the Kwakiutlian group of the Wakashan language family. This master's thesis reports on the condition of Kwak'wala, outlines a proposal for its revitalization, and describes an attempt to implement the proposal. Chapter 1…

The Canadian federal government mandates that First Nations bands adopt provincial curricula as a requirement for assuming control of their education. This mandate perpetuates Eurocentric cognitive imperialism in Aboriginal schools and the marginalization of indigenous languages and culture. Indigenous languages, culture, and knowledge are…

Discusses cases of indigenous/immigrant languages that are in danger of disappearing because they are not being transmitted to the next generation, including languages of South America, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Wales, New Zealand, Turkey, and native languages of California. Such cases provide evidence that language policy and education serve…