01 June 2009
Endangered Languages
By Akira Y. Yamamoto
Born in Japan, Akira Y. Yamamoto has devoted his long career to promoting endangered indigenous languages and cultures. Currently professor emeritus of anthropology and linguistics at the University of Kansas, he chaired the Linguistic Society of America’s Committee on Endangered Languages and Their Preservation and co-chaired the UNESCO’s Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages. A prolific writer, he has written books on the Hualapai and Kickapoo languages and on Haiku.
A Chamicuro grandmother, Natalia Sangama, in 1999 spoke these words:
I dream in Chamicuro,
but I cannot tell my dreams
to anyone,
because there is no one else
who speaks Chamicuro.
It’s lonely being the last one.
The Chamicuro (or Chamekolo) is a language in Lagunas, Peru. UNESCO’s atlas of endangered languages reports that it has only eight speakers and is critically endangered. According to Ethnologue 2005, there are 6,912 endangered languages. The distribution can be seen in Figure 1.
There are 347 languages that have more than a million speakers, but 95 percent of the world’s spoken languages have far fewer speakers.
Globally, Languages Are Disappearing
UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing (the Atlas hereinafter) documents 2,279 languages in the world faced with different degrees of endangerment: 538 are critically endangered, the youngest speakers are elderly, and interaction in the given language is infrequent or rare. Thus, we must assume that these 538 languages will disappear in a few years when these speakers are gone.
Languages are disappearing because people stop using their heritage language and, instead, start using another, often the language of political, economic, military, and/or religious dominance.
Major reasons for languages disappearing, besides human and natural disasters, are:
• The language of formal education is not a child’s heritage language, so that children do not fully learn it.
• Mass media, entertainment, and other cultural products are all in dominant languages.
• Dominant language receives a higher status, while the heritage language obtains a lower status.
• Urbanization, migration, and employment mobility lead to disintegration of language communities.
• Labor markets require knowledge of dominant languages to the detriment of heritage languages.
• Multilingualism is not valued, but monolingualism in the dominant language is considered sufficient and desirable.
• Dominant language is desirable for states (one nation — one language) and for individuals, fostering belief that children must choose between learning their heritage language or learning the dominant language.
External forces that affect the language community include government policies on languages. Language policies that provide insufficient protection of linguistic human rights may force the language community to abandon its heritage language. Supportive policies encourage the community to maintain and promote its language. The UNESCO document Language Vitality and Endangerment summarizes governmental attitudes and their effects, which range from policies that value diverse languages and provide legal protection of specific languages to those that promote passive, active, or forced assimilation of the dominant language.
Such external factors influence the beliefs speakers of the heritage language form about the value and role of their language. Members of a speech community are not usually neutral towards their own language, according to the UNESCO study. “They may see it as essential to their community and identity and promote it; they may use it without promoting it; they may be ashamed of it and, therefore, not promote it; or they may see it as a nuisance and actively avoid using it.”
What Nations Are Doing
Around the world, indigenous language communities face the rapid disappearance of their ancestral languages. The crisis has prompted efforts to document and revitalize languages at both the grassroots and government levels. Although it is too soon to see significant promotion and revitalization of indigenous languages, efforts to do so are increasing.
There are about 600 First Nation communities, 50 Inuit communities, and 80 Métis communities in Canada, composing about 3 percent of the total Canadian population. (“First Nations” describes indigenous Canadian tribes who are not Inuit, i.e., indigenous peoples of the Arctic, or Métis, descendants of indigenous peoples who married Europeans.) The Atlas identifies 86 endangered indigenous languages, only three of which, Cree, Inuktitut, and Anishnaabe, are expected to remain and flourish in Aboriginal communities. In 1998 the government introduced the Aboriginal Languages Initiative, which supports community-based indigenous language preservation projects. A National Aboriginal Language Day was declared in 1989. In 2008 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples for abuses in residential schools, which indigenous children were made to attend after forcible removal from their families.
In Australia, the Atlas identifies 102 endangered indigenous languages. Currently, the situation is critical as most remaining speakers are elderly, and there is little or no language transmission to younger generations. New South Wales (NSW) adopted the Aboriginal Education Policy advocating that Aboriginal languages be maintained, revived, and reclaimed. This is reinforced by the NSW Government Statement of Commitment to Aboriginal People, which states, “Language is an important component of cultural heritage and identity ... the importance of learning Aboriginal languages is recognized as a vital part of Aboriginal students’ experience.” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to Aborigines for past government injustices in 2008.
It is estimated that about 24,000 indigenous Ainu people remain in Hokkaido, the northern-most island of Japan, although there could be more if those who refuse to reveal their ethnic identity for fear of discrimination are included. There are possibly 40 fluent speakers and an increasing number of second-language learners. In 1869, after the Meiji Restoration, the forced assimilation of the Ainu began when the government established Kaitakushi (the Development Commission) to rule and develop Hokkaido. Government promotion of the Japanese language resulted in a rapid decline of the Ainu language. In June of 2008, an unprecedented resolution was adopted by the Japanese Diet, acknowledging the Ainu’s hardships, strengthening the efforts of grassroots language and culture revitalization groups.
Mexico is a multicultural and multilingual country with an estimated 144 endangered indigenous languages. In 2001 indigenous peoples’ rights and communities were recognized by inclusion in the Mexican constitution. In 2003 the General Law for the Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous People was published as a decree. Grassroots indigenous organizations are working closely with academic professionals in documenting and revitalizing their languages. An indigenous literacy movement among various language communities is gaining power.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the world’s most linguistically diverse nation, with 823 living languages spoken by a population of 5.2 million (2000 PNG Census). From 1870 until the 1950s, the majority of PNG schools were established by missions. Vernacular languages were used as the language of instruction. An English-only policy was adopted in the 1950s, but reformed after PNG’s independence in 1975. From 1979 to 1995, vernacular-language preschool programs spread informally, and in 1995 government policy required inclusion of vernacular-language education in the initial years of a child’s education, with a gradual transition to the use of English as one of the languages of instruction.
Venezuela has 34 endangered indigenous languages. The current constitution, adopted in1999, declares Spanish and indigenous languages in Venezuela as official languages. Some academic professionals are intensely working with the indigenous communities toward documentation and revitalization of their languages.
Of Indigenous Languages in the United States
At the time of European contact, there were an estimated 300 indigenous languages in North America that belonged to more than 50 language families. The first major classification of Native American languages, by John Wesley Powell (1891), identified 58 language families. According to the Atlas, prior to 1950 there were 192 languages in the United States, and 53 have become extinct since then, leaving 139 languages with one or more speakers. Eleven languages are classified as “unsafe” in that most children speak the language, but the use of the language may be restricted to certain domains such as in the home. Twenty-five languages are “definitely endangered,” meaning that children no longer learn the language as their mother tongue. Thirty-two are “severely endangered,” or spoken primarily by older generations. Seventy-one languages are classified as “critically endangered,” because the youngest speakers are the elderly.
In the United States, all indigenous languages are endangered. In Alaska, where there were 21 languages with one or more speakers, the Eyak language lost its last speaker in 2008. The most linguistically diverse state is California. Of Powell’s 58 language families, 22 were in California. Californian languages have suffered most extensively, and yet they continue to represent very diverse language families. Almost half of the Native Californian Indian languages have disappeared since the 1950s, leaving 30 with one or more speakers.
U.S. Preservation Efforts
Language professionals, community leaders, and individual members of Native communities continue to raise awareness of the rapid decline of indigenous languages among their peoples, policymakers, and the general public. Ojibwe Nation Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. recently told the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation: “Our Ojibwe language is officially in a state of crisis. ... We estimate that there are as few as 300 fluent language speakers remaining within our tribe. Our official tribal enrollment number is 9,397 members” (The Bemidji Pioneer, April 6, 2009).
The last speaker of Eyak, Mary Smith, who passed away in January of 2008, made this appeal: “It’s sad to be the last speaker of your language. Please, turn back to your own and learn your language so you won’t be alone like me” (Kodiak Daily Mirror August 20, 2006).
Individuals and language communities have run programs to revitalize their heritage languages in private homes, communities, and schools since the 1970s. As there are diverse communities, there are diverse language programs. Some “revive” languages not spoken for decades, based on documented materials; some rely on one-on-one language transmission, especially when the remaining speakers are elderly; some reintroduce the language to schoolchildren and to their parents; some are heritage language medium programs; and many teach the language as an academic subject. Programs target learners of all ages.
Native American leaders, language community members, educators, and linguists met at the 1988 Native American Language Issue (NALI) Conference in Tempe, Arizona. At the conference, resolutions on Native American language rights were drafted, discussed, and approved by the conference attendees. Resolutions were sent to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. This resulted in the passage of the Native American Languages Act of 1990, which officially addresses the fundamental rights of the Native American peoples by highlighting the uniqueness of their cultures and languages and the government’s responsibility to work with Native Americans to preserve them. It recognizes that traditional languages are an integral part of Native American cultures and identities for transmitting literature, history, religion, and other values necessary for the survival of their cultural and political integrity. It acknowledges that language provides a direct and powerful means of promoting international communication by people who share languages. Since its enactment, motivated language communities have been supported legally and financially, although the amount of financial support is limited. The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) led the campaigns for documentation, revitalization, and public awareness at the professional level.
Where Are We and Where Are We Going?
In recent years, we have seen a gradual change in attitudes towards bilingualism: an appreciation for it, if not encouragement of bilingual education. The most noticeable changes are attitudes within Native American communities. Shame in using their heritage languages has shifted to pride in their languages. Younger people are actively interested in language revitalization, and more language programs are emerging.
At the institutional level, there are increasingly active efforts to promote Native language education. Organizations such as the Indigenous Language Institute assist language communities and individuals in their efforts in language documentation and revitalization through grants and technical support from government, nongovernmental, and international organizations (see Additional Resources for a list of organizations).
Each and every language is precious. With language, individuals form a group. With language, humans create a universe in which the relationship with their environment is established, nurtured, and maintained. When we lose a language, we lose a worldview, a unique identity, and a storehouse of knowledge. We lose diversity and human rights, as a Navajo elder eloquently said:.
If you don’t open your eyes,
there is no sky.
If you don’t listen,
there are no ancestors.
If you don’t breathe,
there is no air.
If you don’t walk,
there is no earth.
If you don’t speak,
there is no world.
(Paraphrased by Yamamoto from a Navajo elder’s words, PBS-TV Millennium Series Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World.)
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.
