Aboriginal language topic.
I had started a Cree language thread a while back, but it appears there aren't enough people to sustain it, so I wanted to start a more general indigenous languages thread.
It takes an incredibly amount of time, money and dedication to create and promote indigenous language materials, so the dearth of such materials shouldn't get us down. The ball is rolling. I wanted to share some resources with you, and just get a discussion on the topic going.
For curiosity's sake...how many indigenous people here speak their language? At what level? Working knowledge/proficient/fluent ?
Okay, first link...First Voices.
60 communities are participating using this platform. It is still in the fairly early stages of development, but there is excellent potential here. They have room for kids games, and basic vocabulary with audio right now, and the potential for much more.
Our Languages is a site out of Saskatchewan with the 9 dialects found in that province. For audio samples, click on a language on the sidebar, then click on Common Terms and Phrases.
These resources are very basic, not a lot of grammar instruction, but good audio samples which is really important. Just listening to the complexity of some of the languages (west coast languages and Dene for example) is awe inspiring. I speak Cree, which I find fairly simple, so listening to languages with tonals and glottal stops etc is really interesting.
Alright, I'm just going to open the thread up now to all indigenous language related discussions...tawaw!
Awesome, Yiwah!
I find that the following Ontario curriculum document is a great tool to help one learn Muskeg (Swampy) Cree grammar:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/ojibwe.pdf
It also contains grammar for two dialects of Ojibwe, but I don't know any Ojibwe so I don't know how good it is.
This thread is SO important, in my opinion. I hope that Natives AND non-Natives will keep it going strong. Those resources that exist should be made as widely known as possible.
After all, our Aboriginal languages are those that are truly Canadian. All others -- including our two official languages -- were imported from overseas. Yet, the Canadian government has, to a great extent, failed to take the necessary steps to ensure that they continue to exist as strong living languages. Even worse, it has often adopted policies to actively destroy Aboriginal languages and culture (residential schools being a case in point). Despite this neglect and the attempts at cultural destruction, some of these indigenous languages are still doing very well and are living languages (Inuit languages and Cree, for example). But an alarming number of them are being lost or face incredible challenges (even the aforementioned Inuit languages and Cree).
I firmly believe that -- as a reconciliation effort -- non-Native Canadians who feel bad about the genocidal policies of the past (and current ones) should endeavour to learn an Aboriginal language. It is because of policies such as residential schools imposed by **their** Government that so many Aboriginal languages have died or are dying. The more people who take the time to learn an Aboriginal language, the more likely they are to survive as living languages. I think that it is unfair for Canadians to take a "back seat" role in the preservation of Aboriginal languages and view it as a "Native responsibility", when their Government was responsible for creating the problem in the first place.
Continuing education classes in public schools and Universities with linguistics programs often offer beginners courses in local or regional indigenous languages. Most often, these courses are offered by Native speakers, and the experience of learning an indigenous language from a "survivor" who maintained his or her language and culture despite having lived the experience of residential schools is nothing short of amazing. So check out the courses offered at night school: it can be an enriching adventure. In my humble opinion, it's a revolutionary act that means so much more in terms of reconciliation than a lot of what has happened so far on this file.
Thanks again for starting this thread, Yiwah. I have other amazing resources that I have come across over the years, and will gladly share them on this forum soon.