Reversing language loss
While language loss can be devastating to a community, it need not be inevitable. Many dedicated people throughout the world have undertaken the challenge of reversing language loss in their communities. While these efforts vary in size, resources, goals, and results, they share a dedication to specific heritage languages so that they may be spoken by future generations. The Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages is dedicated to promoting language development in heritage language programs, and the Alliance website contains many resources for individuals and programs involved in these efforts.
In the United States, hundreds of programs exist to revitalize indigenous languages. Hinton (2001b) describes the many different methods that such programs use, from informal gatherings, to bilingual classes in schools, to immersion programs in schools and camps. (See also Pease-Pretty On Top, n.d. for a description of indigenous immersion programs.)
In some cases, when only one or two elderly speakers of a language survive, they team up with a learner to create their own immersion environment in what is called a Master-Apprentice program. This program exists formally through the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), which has sponsored more than 65 teams, but many teams have utilized this method informally throughout the United States (Hinton, 2001a). In other cases, no speakers of a language remain, but there is sufficient documentation for people to piece the language together until it can be spoken again. Such languages are called sleeping languages (Leonard, 2008).
Language revitalization programs face a number of common challenges, mostly related to lack of resources. For example, it is impossible to pick up a catalogue and order a textbook for Kiksht (an endangered language of the Northwestern United States), so language program developers have to design all of their own materials. Human and financial resources must also be considered. (See Grenoble & Whaley, 2006, for discussion of these issues.)
Nonetheless, there have been a number of exciting success stories throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous is Hebrew, which went from being nearly obsolete to being a national language with the rise of the state of Israel. Catalan, a language of Spain that was prohibited under the rule of the Franco regime, has gained tremendous ground since Franco’s death in 1975 (Fishman, 1991). In New Zealand, the indigenous Māori language has experienced a reawakening through te kōhanga reo (“language nests”), in which the youngest generation of children learn from remaining elderly speakers. This program has expanded to immersion language schools, bilingual classes, and classes for adults (King, 2001). Because community goals vary widely, success can be measured in a number of different ways, from being able to say a prayer in a language that has not been spoken for many years, to producing a new generation of native speakers. What these and the many other heritage language programs throughout the world show us is that language loss is not irreversible with the dedicated effort of a community of speakers and learners.
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While language loss can be devastating to a community, it need not be inevitable. Many dedicated people throughout the world have undertaken the challenge of reversing language loss in their communities. While these efforts vary in size, resources, goals, and results, they share a dedication to specific heritage languages so that they may be spoken by future generations. The Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages is dedicated to promoting language development in heritage language programs, and the Alliance website contains many resources for individuals and programs involved in these efforts.
In the United States, hundreds of programs exist to revitalize indigenous languages. Hinton (2001b) describes the many different methods that such programs use, from informal gatherings, to bilingual classes in schools, to immersion programs in schools and camps. (See also Pease-Pretty On Top, n.d. for a description of indigenous immersion programs.)
In some cases, when only one or two elderly speakers of a language survive, they team up with a learner to create their own immersion environment in what is called a Master-Apprentice program. This program exists formally through the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS), which has sponsored more than 65 teams, but many teams have utilized this method informally throughout the United States (Hinton, 2001a). In other cases, no speakers of a language remain, but there is sufficient documentation for people to piece the language together until it can be spoken again. Such languages are called sleeping languages (Leonard, 2008).
Language revitalization programs face a number of common challenges, mostly related to lack of resources. For example, it is impossible to pick up a catalogue and order a textbook for Kiksht (an endangered language of the Northwestern United States), so language program developers have to design all of their own materials. Human and financial resources must also be considered. (See Grenoble & Whaley, 2006, for discussion of these issues.)
Nonetheless, there have been a number of exciting success stories throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous is Hebrew, which went from being nearly obsolete to being a national language with the rise of the state of Israel. Catalan, a language of Spain that was prohibited under the rule of the Franco regime, has gained tremendous ground since Franco’s death in 1975 (Fishman, 1991). In New Zealand, the indigenous Māori language has experienced a reawakening through te kōhanga reo (“language nests”), in which the youngest generation of children learn from remaining elderly speakers. This program has expanded to immersion language schools, bilingual classes, and classes for adults (King, 2001). Because community goals vary widely, success can be measured in a number of different ways, from being able to say a prayer in a language that has not been spoken for many years, to producing a new generation of native speakers. What these and the many other heritage language programs throughout the world show us is that language loss is not irreversible with the dedicated effort of a community of speakers and learners.
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