Bringing a Language Back to Life

Reviving a language that's no longer spoken? It's possible - one child is even being raised with it as her first language!

According to literature from the project, “Recognizing that the colonists preferred” written documents, the native people of Cape Cod “became the first American Indians in the English-speaking New World to develop and use an alphabetic writing system…to record personal letters, wills, deeds, and land transfers amongst each other and between communities.”

Ironically, the very method that the settlers used against the natives has become a tool for the reclamation. Court documents use written Wampanoag language, and those records allow scholars of the language to deduce rules of grammar and vocabulary.

Sounds like a fascinating project on a lot of levels.

Language Politics in Australia

In Australia's Northern Territory,

Almost three-quarters of the 1300 Aboriginal children who enter Northern Territory schools each year are from families where languages other than English are spoken in the home.

The Northern Territory Government recently revised its law on English-only instruction during the first four hours of the school day, allowing for flexibility in deciding what language young children are taught in.

Under the draft policy, bilingual schools would be able to continue teaching in Indigenous languages during the first four hours of each day. English will now be regarded as an additional language rather than the primary language is some schools.

There has been a considerable amount of debate on this issue; some articles to get you started are Early language support for Indigenous school learning success and English off pedestal in remote language schooling.