Page 7
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON-
Spilyqy Tymoo, Wjrrn Springs, Oregon November 29, 2001
Language News
The following article is reprinted from: G.
Cantoni (Ed.) (1996), Flagstaff: Center for
Excellence in Education, Northern Arizona
University
Part Two
Rationale and Needs for Stabilizing Indigenous
Languages
Jon Reyhnvr
Self-Determination
President Richard Nixon enunciated the current United States
policy of American Indian and Alaska Native self-determination
in response to the expressed desires of American Indian
and Alaska Native peoples. In a special message to Congress
on Indian affairs in 1971, he wrote:
the story of the Indian in America is some
thing more than the record of the white
man's frequent aggression, broken agree
ments, intermittent remorse and prolonged
failure. It is a record also of endurance, of
survival, of adaptation and creativity in the
face of overwhelming obstacles. It is a
record of enormous contributions to this
country to its art and culture, to its
strength and spirit, to its sense of history and
its sense of purpose.
It is long past time that the Indian policies of
the Federal government began to recognize
and build upon the capacities and insights of
the Indian people. Both as a matter of justice
and as a matter of enlightened social policy,
we must begin to act on the basis of what the
Indians themselves have long been telling
us. The time has come to break decisively
with the past and to create the conditions for
a new era in which the Indian future is
determined by Indian acts and Indian
decisions. (Nixon, p. 565)
This policy was operationalized in regard to education with
the passage of the Indian Education Act in 1972 and the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in
1975. In the face of subsequent changes in administration,
budget cuts, and doubts about the place of minorities in the
United States, this pSlicy of sel f-determination has survived
and led to American Indians and Alaska Natives reasserting
their right to control the education of their children and
maintain their languages and cultures.
Native American Languages Act
The Congress of the United States in the Native American
Languages Act of 1990 confirmed these aspirations by
recognizing that the status of the cultures and languages of
Native Americans is unique and the United States has the
responsibility to act together with Native Americans to
ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages. It
accorded special status to Native Americans in the United
States, a status that recognizes distinct cultural and political
rights, including the right to continue separate identities.
Congress found the traditional languages of Native Ameri
cans to be an integral part of their cultures and identities and
form the basic medium for the transmission, and thus sur
vival, of Native American cultures, literatures, histories,
religions, political institutions, and values. Furthermore
Congress found convincing evidence that student achieve
ment and performance, community and school pride, and
educational opportunity are clearly and directly tied to
respect for, and support of, the first language of the child.
Languages are the means of communication for the full range
of human experiences and are critical to the survival of
cultural and political integrity of any people.
Congress thus declared it is the policy of the United States to
preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of
Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native
American languages. Congress encouraged and supported the
use of Native American languages as a medium of instruction
in order to encourage and support Native American language
survival, educational opportunity, increased student success
and performance, increased student awareness and knowl
edge of their culture and history, and encouraged State and
local education programs to work with Native American
parents, educators, Indian tribes, and other Native American
governing bodies in the implementation of programs to put
this policy into effect.HREF"N2"
INAR Task Force & White House Conference
In 1990 the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force appointed by
the U.S. Secretary of Education, using former President
George Bush's six National Education Goals as a starting
point, established a set of ten educational goals to guide the
improvement of all federal, tribal, private, and public schools
that serve American Indians and Alaska Natives and their
communities. Goal 2 reads "By the year 2000 all schools will
offer Native students the opportunity to maintain and de
velop their tribal languages and will create a multicultural
environment that enhances the many cultures represented in
the school." The Task Force's co-chairs' wrote:
The Task Force believes that a well-educated
American Indian and Alaska Native citizenry
and a renewal of the language and culture
base of the American Native community will
strengthen self-determination and economic
well-being and will allow the Native com
munity to contribute to building a stronger
nation an America that can compete with
other nations and contribute to the world's
economies and cultures. (Indian Nations at
Risk Task Force, 1 991, p. iv)
They identified as one of the reasons that
Indian Nations are at risk the fact that
"schools have discouraged the use of Native
languages... with the result that the lan
guage and culture base of the American
Native arc rapidly eroding." The Task Force
found, "schools that respect and support a
student's language and culture are signifi
cantly more successful in educating those
students" (p. 16) and recommended "estab
lishing the promotion of students' tribal
language and culture as a responsibility of
the school" (p. 22).
Following up the work of the Task Force, the first-ever White
House Conference on Indian Education was held in Washing
ton, D.C. in 1992. Building on the work of state
preconferences, the White House Conference delegates
adopted 113 resolutions covering a variety of topics. Under
Topic 7, Native Languages and Culture, the Conference
called on "the President of the United States and the U.S.
Congress to strengthen and increase support for the language
and culture of American Indians and Alaskan Natives"
through a number of actions including ensuring "the
strengthening, preservation, and revival of native languages
and cultures and to permit students to learn their tribal
language as a first or second language" (Summary of Resolu
tions, 1992).
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culture. (Navajo Division of Education,
1984, p. vii)
These policies call for local control, parental involvement,
and Navajo language instruction. They state,
The Navajo language is an essential element
of the life, culture and identity of the Navajo
people. The Navajo Nation recognizes the
importance of preserving and perpetuating
that language to the survival of the Nation.
Instruction in the Navajo language shall be
made available for all grade levels in all
schools serving the Navajo Nation. (Navajo
Division of Education, 1984, p. 9)
Anita Pfciffcr and Wayne Holm of the Navajo Nation's
Education Division declared in 1994, "that our work with the
language has not been work just on language in isolation. It
has been part of a far larger effort to restore personal and
societal wellness" (p. 35). Language wellness is a measure of
tribal societal wellness. Without access to their mother
tongue, Native children are cut off from their elders and the
traditional community and family values that are their
rightful heritage.
The Northern Ute Tribal Business Committee passed resolu
tion 84-96 in 1 984 declaring,
the Ute language is a living and vital lan
guage that has the ability to match any other
in the world for expressiveness and beauty.
Our language is capable of lexical expansion
into modern conceptual fields such as the
field of politics, economics, mathematics
and science.
Be it known that the Ute language shall be
recognized as our first language, and the
English language will be recognized as our
second language. We assert that our students
are fully capable of developing fluency in
our mother tongue and the foreign English
language and we further assert that a higher
level of Ute mastery results in higher levels
of English skills. (Northern Ute, 1985, p. 16)
The resolution also requires Ute language instruction in
preschool through twelfth grade.
The language policy passed by the Pascua Yaqui Tribal
Council holds that "Our ancient language is the foundation of
our cultural and spiritual heritage" and declares that "all
aspects of the educational process shall reflect the beauty of
our Yaqui language, culture and values" (Pascua, 1984, p. 1).
International Year for the World's Indigenous People
The concerns of American Indians and Alaska Natives are
not unique, but rather concerns of indigenous peoples
worldwide. In recognition of this fact, the United Nations has
recognized both the predicament and aspirations of indig
enous minorities by declaring 1993 the International Year for
the World's Indigenous People. The 1993 UN Draft Declara
tion of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms their right to
self-determination and "the right to practice and revitalize
their cultural traditions and customs," including their lan
guages. The current policy of Indian Self-Determination in
the United States, while not perfect, approaches the ideal of
freedom and cultural democracy envisioned in the United
Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The
renewal of traditional Native cultures in and out of school is
re-establishing a sense of community and is fighting the
materialistic, hedonistic, and individualistic forces of the
popular culture. American Indian concerns about land,
culture, and community are concerns that all Americans need
to share if we are to assure a future for our children.
The work of the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force and the
White House Conference on Indian Education shows the
results of Indian people expressing to the U.S. government
their vision of how their children should be educated while
the work of the United Nations Working Group on Indig
enous Populations shows the international scope of this
vision. They want both educational excellence and preserva
tion of their languages and cultures.
Tribal Language Policies
Non-Indian Americans need to respect and support American
Indian and Alaska Native peoples' rejection of the old
assimilationist approach to Indian education. This rejection
can be found in the educational policies of various tribes,
including Navajo, Northern Ute, and Pasqua Yaqui policies
passed in 1984. Then Tribal Chairman Peterson Zah declared
in the preface to the Navajo tribal education policies,
We believe that an excellent education can
produce achievement in the basic academic
skills and skills required by modern technol
ogy and still educate young Navajo citizens
in their language, history, government and
Conclusion , .. . , . . ..
This rationale and. needs statement in no,way completely
describes the needs and concerns of all nations and peoples'
whose languages are endangered. It is a collective work done
by representatives of several nations, educators, and others
involved in American Indian and Alaska Native education.
We apologize to you if your concerns are not voiced in this
document, but offer that this will be an ongoing process and
we would appreciate your comments and advice.
Several courses of action could greatly assist American .
Indian communities in developing the effective right to
maintain their languages. Such actions include: 1) fostering
of new, innovative, community-based approaches to
strengthen and stabilize threatened languages; 2) directing
more research efforts toward analyzing community-based
successes in resisting loss of Native American languages and
other minority languages as well; 3) fostering communica
tion and partnerships between communities and organiza
tions trying new approaches to maintaining languages; and 4)
promotion of heightened consciousness of the catastrophic
effects of language loss, both among members of language
minority populations and among members of the mainstream
population. Unfortunately, the human and financial resources
needed to stabilize or restore American Indian languages
extend beyond the resources of nearly all Indian communi
ties. Because of the federal and state governments' long-term
role in creating the present endangered status of American
Indian and Alaska Native languages, it is appropriate for
them to provide assistance in helping American Indians and
Alaska Natives to stabilize and renew their languages.
Notes:
This paper reflects the input of the Rationale and Needs
Group, which met on November 17, 1994, and consisted of
Elizabeth Brandt, Arizona State University; Damon Clarke,
Northern Arizona University; Willard Gilbert, Northern
Arizona University; Juana Jose, Office of Indian Education,
Arizona Department of Education; Alvin Kelly, Quechan
Nation, Yuma; Paul Platero, Navajo Division of Education;
Kathryn Stevens, Director, Office of Indian Education,
Arizona Department of Education. Thanks also go to Gary D.
McLean and Ed Tennant for their contributions to this
document. The text of the Native American Languages Act
can be found starting on page 69. (of the Stabilizing
Indigenious Languages book Printed by Northern Arizona
University)..."
(For the List of references please see http:
www.ncbe.gwu.edumiscpubsstabilizei-needs
rationale.htm)
Permission granted for educational purpose only by: Center
for Excellence in Education, Northern Arizona University