The Tahltan language is endangered and at a critical juncture because there are now fewer than 30 fluent speakers. The Tahltan Nation is working to change this by creating many different opportunities for language learning, focusing on programming, documentation, and professional development and training. One way that our language is being revitalized is through immersion programs for young children. Using ‘Tahltan Voiceability’ as the overarching methodology, this study reports on the language nest model as an immersion method of Indigenous language revitalization in Tahltan communities in northern British Columbia. Parents, language mentors, and administrators shared their perspectives and experiences regarding the way in which K’asba’e T’oh (the Dease Lake Language Nest) began in Tātl’ah (Dease Lake), how things are progressing, and what motivated and continues to motivate people to be involved. Through an analysis of these conversations, I share esdahūhedech (their tellings) and report on emerging themes. With this immersion setting in place, there is hope that this program will create speakers, inspire others to learn our language, and be part of increasing the proficiency of language learners, thereby moving our language out of the endangered status. This study is part of a growing body of research in Canada studying language nests to promote the intergenerational transmission of Indigenous languages. / Graduate

This study investigates key components for effective Indigenous adult language learning and resulting health and wellness benefits following a Dene research paradigm with Grounded Theory applications. Eight colleagues in the Master’s of Indigenous Language Revitalization (MILR) program at the University of Victoria participated in open ended discussions on their experiences in learning their Indigenous languages as adults. These Indigenous adults reclaiming their ancestral languages report experiencing benefits related to health and overall well-being. Physical fitness and healthy weight loss, emotional healing and a greater sense of identity all surfaced for my colleagues while working towards or achieving fluency in their languages. The main methods of successful language learning used were the Master-Apprentice Program, Total Physical Response and Accelerated Second Language Acquisition. Tips for learning the languages are included. / Graduate / 2021-04-13

The Linguistics field has encountered many incisive critiques of its fieldwork and documentation practices regarding Indigenous languages in recent years, yet, for this most part, this important scholarly work seems to have made little impact on the way that Linguistics students are being taught and trained. Many Linguistics students, especially those who are non-Indigenous, leave Linguistics programs lacking both necessary preparation and support in collaborative, revitalization-oriented language research with Indigenous communities. This thesis takes up the question of what constitutes ethical language work with Indigenous speech communities, and argues finally that curricula must provide instruction and training in preparing students to undertake collaborative research practices not only by providing such instruction within dedicated fieldwork courses, but also by making alterations to the full scope of Linguistics curricula and program designs. The thesis also incorporates an examination of the ideologies that underpin the Linguistics field and that hinder its ability to orient itself aright towards Indigenous language revitalization. The centrepiece of the thesis comprises interviews with four scholars, all of whom work in or adjacent to the Linguistics field, who offer knowledge and practical insights into the causes and perpetuation of the complex problems at the heart of these programs as they pertain to Indigenous language revitalization. On the basis of the thesis’s findings, practical proposals for decolonizing Linguistics programs are discussed. / Graduate

This work catalogues the verbal agreement paradigm of Kanyen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. The cataloguing includes the complete intransitive, transitive, and reflexive paradigms, and description of all argumental contrasts to which the verbal agreement is sensitive. It also describes in detail the contexts where feature sensitivity is blunted, and the patterns of syncretism in the verbal agreement. Based off of this descriptive work, this work evaluates the accuracy with which previous analyses treat verbal agreement in Kanyen'keha. Finding room for improvement in these analyses, this work proposes a new analysis of Kanyen'keha, which claims all verbal agreement in transitive contexts to be realized from one agreement probe, which enters into Multiple Agree with subjects and objects. This style of analysis allows for many aspects of the agreement to be accounted for, including person hierarchy effects, distribution of portmanteau morphology, and complex dependency between the multiple morphemes which comprise the agreement / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This thesis describes the verbal agreement of Kayen'keha in greater detail than has previously been done. This thesis also evaluates the claims of previous work done on verbal agreement of Kanyen'keha, describing where such work accurately accounts for the agreement and where it does not. Finally, this thesis proposes a novel analysis of Kanyen'keha verbal agreement.

Orientador: Angel Humberto Corbera Mori / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T23:03:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ferreira_RogerioVicente_D.pdf: 1518284 bytes, checksum: 737836af4e35dd725ffe71275b49b723 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Esta tese tem por objetivo apresentar uma descrição morfossintática da língua matis (família lingüística Pano), falada por 262 pessoas que habitam no médio Ituí - noroeste amazônico. o trabalho é composto de doze capítulos. No capítulo 1, apresentamos a situação do povo matis e fazemos considerações sobre algumas diferenças entre as línguas Matis e Matsés - por muito tempo classificadas como uma única língua. Nos capítulos dois a doze, descrevemos aspectos fonológicos e morfossintáticos da língua matis. Por se tratar de uma língua que não apresenta qualquer descrição morfossintática prévia realizada por outros pesquisadores, procuramos descrever sua morfologia de maneira mais abrangente possível, procurando explicar, assim, a função de cada morfema dentro de cada classe gramatical. Abordamos, ainda, aspectos gerais da sintaxe. Enfim, o estudo da língua matis é o resultado de uma pesquisa que objetiva descrevê-Ia em seus aspectos fonológicos, morfológicos e sintáticos. O trabalho colabora para o melhor conhecimento dessa língua, tanto para a família Pano quanto para as pesquisas lingüísticas em línguas indígenas brasileiras / Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to present a morphosyntactic description of the Matis language (Panoan linguistic fami/y), spoken by 262 persons that live in the medium Ituí - northwest of Amazonian area. The work has twelve chapters. In the chapter one, we present the Matis people situation and make considerations about some differences between Matis and Matses languages, that were classified as the same language for many time. In the chapter two to twelve, we describe the phonological and morphosyntactic aspects of the Matis language. As any other researchers have not described this language, we described its morphology in a most expanded way, explaining, thereby, the function of each morpheme into each grammatical class. In addition, we comment general aspects of the syntax. Final/y, the study of the Matis language is the result of a research that has as objectives to describe the phonological, morphological, and syntactic aspects of this language. The work contributes to the knowledge of this language, also to the whole Pano family languages, and to the researches of Brazilian indigenous languages / Doutorado / Linguas Indigenas / Doutor em Linguística

The thesis, Indigenous language programming and citizen participation in Ugandan broadcasting: an exploratory study constitutes an analysis of the significance of policy on indigenous language programming in Uganda's broadcast media. The thesis is conceived broadly within a critical studies' framework. It emphasizes the role of the broadcast media in the public sphere, as well as policy on linguistic diversity in making the public sphere more accessible to the majority of Ugandans. Fundamental assumptions of the thesis are the following: * The imperatives of the market are in tension with the need to preserve a significant amount of indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda's broadcast media for purposes of diversity; * This tension can be discerned in the political-economic environment within which the broadcast media in Uganda have evolved and operate as well as in public debate on indigenous language programming in the broadcast media; * The current state of the media's structure, operation and regulation have their roots in Uganda's political history; and * Policy on the indigenous languages has a bearing on Ugandans' capacity to participate meaningfully in the democratic process via the broadcast media. The thesis documents key social, political and economic factors surrounding policy on indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda using interviews, an analysis of Uganda's political history as well as key legal documents related to diversity and participation. It documents public debate on the significance of language policy for the participation of Ugandans in the democratic process through the broadcast media and examines how changes in the structure and operation of Uganda's broadcast media, especially since the liberalisation of the airwaves in the early 1990s, are perceived by Ugandans to have affected their participation in the democratic process through the media. Finally the thesis makes recommendations for future communication policy with regards to the role of language in enhancing diversity and participation. / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The study sought to explore possibilities of using indigenous African languages of Zimbabwe as official media of instruction in the education system. The aim was to find out the extent to which indigenous African languages could be used as languages of instruction in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the education system. The other objective of the study was to examine the attitudes of Zimbabweans towards the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction in schools. A total of 1000 participants took part in this study, which included 200 teachers, 300 parents/guardians and 500 learners. Questionnaires and interviews were the main techniques used to collect data and the processing of the collected data was both qualitative and quantitative. Information collected from the questionnaires was mainly presented in tables and information from interviews was presented qualitatively in words. The study revealed that Zimbabwe inherited from colonial Rhodesia a language policy that marginalizes the use of indigenous African languages in the education system. English continues to be the prestige-laden language enjoying high status while indigenous languages enjoy relatively low status. Study findings clearly show that the majority of the participants prefer English to be the medium of instruction in both secondary and tertiary education because it is a language that gives power and prestige. The study concludes that Zimbabwe can never regain its dignity and cultural identity unless the education system is African oriented. The continued use of English as medium of instruction means that no scientific ideas can be formulated using African languages in the present schooling system leading to perpetual scientific bankruptcy. The study finally recommends the need for a linguistic revolution and calls for a change in the country’s language policy so as to avoid the exclusion of the majority from public and national developmental discourse. / African Languages / D.Litt et Phil. (African Languages)

The study sought to explore possibilities of using indigenous African languages of Zimbabwe as official media of instruction in the education system. The aim was to find out the extent to which indigenous African languages could be used as languages of instruction in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of the education system. The other objective of the study was to examine the attitudes of Zimbabweans towards the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction in schools. A total of 1000 participants took part in this study, which included 200 teachers, 300 parents/guardians and 500 learners. Questionnaires and interviews were the main techniques used to collect data and the processing of the collected data was both qualitative and quantitative. Information collected from the questionnaires was mainly presented in tables and information from interviews was presented qualitatively in words. The study revealed that Zimbabwe inherited from colonial Rhodesia a language policy that marginalizes the use of indigenous African languages in the education system. English continues to be the prestige-laden language enjoying high status while indigenous languages enjoy relatively low status. Study findings clearly show that the majority of the participants prefer English to be the medium of instruction in both secondary and tertiary education because it is a language that gives power and prestige. The study concludes that Zimbabwe can never regain its dignity and cultural identity unless the education system is African oriented. The continued use of English as medium of instruction means that no scientific ideas can be formulated using African languages in the present schooling system leading to perpetual scientific bankruptcy. The study finally recommends the need for a linguistic revolution and calls for a change in the country’s language policy so as to avoid the exclusion of the majority from public and national developmental discourse. / African Languages / D.Litt et Phil. (African Languages)

O projeto NURC surge no Brasil para estabelecer amostras da norma culta falada em cinco grandes capitais brasileiras. Fundamenta-se na pragmática, a conversação entre os falantes é analisada e os resultados desta análise desvendam os elementos típicos da oralidade. Um dos elementos mais estudados tem sido os marcadores conversacionais ou discursivos. Estes são relevantes para a coesão e coerência do texto falado. A partir do estudo sobre a norma culta, averiguamos a presença dos marcadores conversacionais na língua falada no Paraguai, o guarani jopará. Trata-se de uma língua que se mistura com o espanhol. São encontradas grandes mesclas lingüísticas que se evidenciam também nos marcadores conversacionais. Este trabalho visa, portanto, apresentar alguns marcadores conversacionais presentes no corpus e estabelecer suas funções dentro do contexto interacional do ato comunicativo. Visa também apresentar os marcadores conversacionais responsáveis pelos encadeamentos entre os super-tópicos e tópicos do texto oral. / The project NURC was created in Brazil as an attempt to establish samples of educated spoken language. Relying on pragmatics, the speakers conversations are analysed and the results shows an increasing number of typical elements of oral language. One of the most frequently studied elements has been the conversational or discursive markers, essential for cohesion and coherence of spoken text. We research the conversational markers in the language spoken in Paraguai: The Guarani jopará. It is a language that is mixed with Spanish. Is possible to find a lot of linguistic mixing in the guarani jopará conversational markers too. Therefore, this study aimed at presenting some conversational markers founded in the corpus and defining their functions within the interaction context of the communicative act.

O projeto NURC surge no Brasil para estabelecer amostras da norma culta falada em cinco grandes capitais brasileiras. Fundamenta-se na pragmática, a conversação entre os falantes é analisada e os resultados desta análise desvendam os elementos típicos da oralidade. Um dos elementos mais estudados tem sido os marcadores conversacionais ou discursivos. Estes são relevantes para a coesão e coerência do texto falado. A partir do estudo sobre a norma culta, averiguamos a presença dos marcadores conversacionais na língua falada no Paraguai, o guarani jopará. Trata-se de uma língua que se mistura com o espanhol. São encontradas grandes mesclas lingüísticas que se evidenciam também nos marcadores conversacionais. Este trabalho visa, portanto, apresentar alguns marcadores conversacionais presentes no corpus e estabelecer suas funções dentro do contexto interacional do ato comunicativo. Visa também apresentar os marcadores conversacionais responsáveis pelos encadeamentos entre os super-tópicos e tópicos do texto oral. / The project NURC was created in Brazil as an attempt to establish samples of educated spoken language. Relying on pragmatics, the speakers conversations are analysed and the results shows an increasing number of typical elements of oral language. One of the most frequently studied elements has been the conversational or discursive markers, essential for cohesion and coherence of spoken text. We research the conversational markers in the language spoken in Paraguai: The Guarani jopará. It is a language that is mixed with Spanish. Is possible to find a lot of linguistic mixing in the guarani jopará conversational markers too. Therefore, this study aimed at presenting some conversational markers founded in the corpus and defining their functions within the interaction context of the communicative act.