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An indigenous language or autochthonous language is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples but has been reduced to the status of a minority language. This language would be from a linguistically distinct community that has been settled in the area for many generations. Indigenous languages may not be national languages, or may have fallen out of use, because of language deaths or linguicide caused by colonization, where the original language is replaced by that of the colonists.

Disappearance[link]

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Languages are disappearing because there are no longer any people left who speak those languages.^[1]

Since 1600 in North America alone, 52 Native American languages have disappeared. Globally, there may be more than 7000 languages that exist in the world today, though many of them have not been recorded because they belong to tribes in rural areas of the world or are not easily accessible. It is estimated that 6,809 "living" languages exist in the world today, but 90 per cent of them are spoken by fewer than 100,000 people. Some languages are even closer to disappearing.

"Forty six languages are known to have just one native speaker while 357 languages have fewer than 50 speakers. Rare languages are more likely to show evidence of decline than more common ones."^[2]

Of those languages, this means that roughly 6,100 languages are facing a risk of extinction.

The State of Oklahoma provides the backdrop for an example of language loss in the developed world. It boasts the highest density of indigenous languages in the United States. This includes languages originally spoken in the region, as well as those of Indian tribes from other areas that were forcibly relocated onto reservations there.^[3] The U.S. government drove the Yuchi from Tennessee to Oklahoma in the early 19th century. Until the early 20th century, most Yuchi tribe members spoke the language fluently. Then, government boarding schools severely punished American Indian students who were overheard speaking their own language. To avoid beatings and other punishments, Yuchi, and other Indian children abandoned their native languages in favor of English.

“In 2005, only five elderly members of the Yuchi tribe were fluent in the language. These remaining speakers spoke Yuchi fluently before they went to school and have maintained the language despite strong pressure to abandon it.”^[4]

This was not a problem limited to Oklahoma either. In the Northwest Pacific Plateau, there are no speakers left of the indigenous tribal languages from that area, all the way to British Columbia.

“Oregon's Siletz reservation, established in 1855, was home to the endangered language Siletz Dee-ni. The reservation held members of 27 different Indian bands speaking many languages. In order to communicate, people adopted Chinook Jargon, a pidgin or hybrid language. Between the use of Chinook Jargon and the increased presence of English, the number of speakers of indigenous languages dwindled.” ^[5]

Other tribes of Native Americans were also forced into Government schools and reservations. They were also treated badly if they did not become “civilized”. This meant they were to go to Christian churches and speak English. They were forced to give up their tribal religious beliefs and languages. Now, these Native Americans are trying to regain some of their lost heritage. They gather at “Pow-wow” to share culture, stories, remedies, dances, music, rhythms, recipes and heritage with anyone who wants to learn them.

"In January 2008, in Anchorage, Alaska, friends and relatives gathered to bid their last farewell to 89 year old Marie Smith Jones, a beloved matriarch of her community. “As they bid her farewell to her, they also bid farewell to the Eyak language as Marie was the last fluent speaker of the language. "^[6]

See also[link]

• Minority language
• Linguistic imperialism

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chakana: NGO & knowledge centre about Indians of the highlands (including language studies)
• Dutch Centre for Indigenous Peoples
• Alaska Native Language Center (ANLC)
• Indigenous Language Institute
• Aboriginal Languages of Australia
• The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)
• Electronic Metastructure for Endangered Languages Data (EMELD)
• Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI)

References[link]

• Frawley, William, and Kenneth C. Hill. (2002) Making dictionaries : preserving indigenous languages of the Americas. Berkeley : University of California Press.
• Harrison, K. David. (2007) When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge. New York and London: Oxford University Press.
• Singerman, Robert. (1996) Indigenous languages of the Americas: A bibliography of dissertations and theses. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press
• Wurm, S. A. and Ian Heyward, (Eds.) 2001. Atlas of the world's languages in danger of disappearing. Paris: UNESCO Pub.

Leanne Hinton speaking at an Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival conference, 2008

Leanne Hinton is an emerita professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. She specializes in American Indian languages, sociolinguistics, and language revitalization.^[1] She is a director of the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, and also participates in language revitalization efforts and organizations, including the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival and its biennual Breath of Life conferences, for which she is a consulting board member.^[2][3]

Published works[link]

• Hinton, Leanne (1984). Havasupai Songs: a Linguistic Perspective. City: John Benjamins Pub Co. ISBN 978-3-87808-356-6. 
• Hinton, Leanne (1984). A Dictionary of the Havasupai Language. Havasupai Tribe.  ASIN B0006YSJ6W
• Hinton, Leanne (1984). Spirit Mountain. Tucson: Sun Tracks and the University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-0817-4. 
• Hinton, Leanne (1996). Flutes of Fire. Berkeley: Heyday Books. ISBN 978-0-930588-62-5. 
• Hinton, Leanne (1998). Studies in American Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-09789-6. 
• Hinton, Leanne (2000). Ishi's Tale of Lizard (1st ed.). Heyday Books. ISBN 1-890771-32-5. 
• Hale, Kenneth (2001). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Boston: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-349354-5. 
• Hinton, Leanne (2002). How to Keep Your Language Alive. Berkeley: Heyday Books. ISBN 978-1-890771-42-3. 
• Hinton, Leanne (1994). Sound Symbolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-02677-2. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Hinton's home page

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