The Language Loss Of The Indigenous PDF Download

As indigenous people prepare themselves for the 21 st century, many face the problem of language loss as one of their greatest challenges. As is the case with indigenous languages and cultures around the globe, the Kumeyaay language of northern Baja California is in danger of disappearing altogether in the next few years. Almost all the speakers are elderly, and many are in poor health. There are two major questions that guided this study: (1) How do conditions in the lives of bearers of endangered indigenous languages (and other community members) affect the decline of heritage languages? What is the impact of these factors on a selected indigenous community? (2) How will language revitalization and dialogue give indigenous people back their voice and raise their social consciousness in order to overcome the oppression under which they live? How will this occur in a selected community? During a six-year process of creating trust through dialogue and interaction with a Kumeyaay family, the researcher helped facilitate the family's creation of a project to learn their heritage language. During this time, narratives were collected which show the raising of the members' consciousness vis-à-vis the historicity of their situation and their transformation from shame and separation to pride in their heritage and a reuniting of the family. Through the voice and testimonio of the participating language bearer/teacher, this study documents his life and his transformation from rejection of his heritage and language to promotion of the language and its accompanying heritage to both his family and the community at large. Through narratives of family members, it also documents the fact that the family, with the leadership and tutelage of this family patriarch, has begun to bring the language and its accompanying culture back from the brink of extinction. Looking to the future, it is hoped that, using this study as a model, others may formulate similar projects which will change the culture of loss into a culture of promise.