This dissertation reports findings from a study documenting the use of multimedia technology among Indigenous language communities to assist language learners, speakers, instructors, and institutions learn about multimedia technologies that have contributed to Indigenous language revitalization, education, documentation, preservation, and maintenance. The overall study used an adapted technacy framework to investigate how Indigenous language advocates holistically understand, skillfully apply and communicate creative and balanced technological solutions that are based on understanding of contextual factors (Seemann & Talbot, 1995). The research presented is based on a survey of individuals who used technology for Indigenous language revitalization purposes, as well as on case studies of students of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) who enrolled in the technology course, Computer Applications for Indigenous Language Communities. The survey provided an overview of the types of technologies Indigenous communities are using for the revitalization of their language. In the study, case studies were also conducted to provide an in-depth understanding of where, when, why, and how users are implementing these technologies in their home, communities, and schools. Research questions, participants, and data collection were organized and analyzed according to three levels: multimedia technology use among Indigenous language communities, Indigenous language institutes and technology training, and AILDI student case studies.Many Indigenous communities are facing language endangerment and extinction and are looking for ways to preserve, document, revitalize and maintain their languages. One way is the integration of technology. Findings from the study suggest that the language goals of the community need to be determined prior to the incorporation of technology in these efforts. The study also found that regardless of the size of the community, opportunities for using technology in Indigenous language revitalization efforts were shaped by literacy and oral proficiency of the community, as well as linguistic and cultural, social, economic, environmental, and technological factors as expressed in the adapted technacy model. Overall, the study underscored the importance of taking context into consideration in order to make grounded choices about technology as a component of contemporary language revitalization efforts.

The purpose of this research is to seek out Indigenous perspectives on literacy in Indigenous Language Revitalization (ILR), and to explore the role of print literacy in ILR in British Columbia. The central research question of this study is: does print literacy play a role in language revitalization? Through qualitative interviews and an extensive literature review, this thesis explores community-based language revitalization initiatives in Indigenous communities, as described by Indigenous language champions and scholars. In international forums, literacy is often discussed in terms of development goals, functionalism, and economic success. However, literacy is “socially and historically situated, fluid, multiple, and power-linked” (McCarty, 2005, p. xviii), and it is inextricably linked to political, historical, and cultural contexts (Grenoble & Whaley, 2005). This study concludes that these contexts are vital to defining the role of literacy in Indigenous communities. Every community has its own historical, political, social, environmental, technological, and philosophical context for language learning, and as such, literacy plays a different role in every community. Furthermore, the role of literacy can be expected to change over time, much like languages shift over time. This research also demonstrates that literacy, situated within Indigenous-controlled education and language initiatives, can contribute to larger goals of decolonization. / Graduate

This thesis will discuss the factors that lead to language shift from Zapotec to Spanish in San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya (SJT), and the challenges faced by language revitalization efforts that have emerged in the home and migrant communities. Today hundreds of Indigenous languages are widely spoken across the Americas; however, in the last century an increasing amount of language shift to the nation-state language has taken place in many Indigenous communities. In the Zapotec community of San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya (SJT), located in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, about 40% of the town’s population currently speaks Zapotec. However, the majority of speakers within this percentage are elders and adults. This means that the transmission of the Zapotec language to children has declined while Spanish language socialization has increased and is now the norm. Due to socioeconomic factors and neoliberal reforms in Mexico, many community members have migrated to other Mexican states and the United States which has furthered removed Zapotec speakers from the home community. The data for this research is based on 28 open-ended interviews with elders, adults, youth, children, and language activists and participant observation in SJT during the summer of 2013. I argue that the public education implemented by the Post-Revolutionary Mexican state in Tlacochahuaya during the 1930s influenced a language shift to Spanish. Many of those who had a negative schooling experience during this era, which prohibited and punished the use of the Zapotec language in the classroom, choose to raise their children with Spanish. In SJT from 2009-2011 Zapotec tutoring lessons for children were offered by a retired teacher, and since March 2013 migrants residing in Los Angeles, CA have been uploading Zapotec language tutorials on YouTube. Although there is awareness of language loss, I argue that these efforts have been hindered by the absence of a healing process regarding negative schooling experiences and dismantling the language ideologies that continue to devalue the Zapotec language. This case study contributes to the literature of languages shift and revitalization by suggesting that both home and migrant communities have crucial roles in Indigenous language maintenance. / text

The Sahtúgot’ı̨nę have lived in the Sahtú Region around Great Bear Lake since time immemorial. Our Elders believe that spirituality is the foundation for our language, culture and worldview and that it is essential for our language and culture to be taught in the context of spirituality. This thesis provides a description and a definition of spirituality from the perspective of the Sahtúgot’ı̨nę, distinguishing spirituality from concepts such as worldview, culture and medicine power. In keeping with our traditional ways of preserving and transmitting knowledge to future generations, the paper relies heavily on stories passed on to us from our Elders. The paper elaborates on key concepts of Sahtúgot’ı̨nę spirituality. First, like human beings, all animals on this earth have a living spirit or bets’ı̨nę́. Other entities on this earth - plants and trees, the water and the wind - are also living beings with their own yǝ́dı́ı. Specific geographic sites with a special significance to the Sahtúgot’ı̨nę are also said to be yǝ́dı́ı. The other key concept is the existence of three dimensions of existence and their inter-relationship which is crucial to the understanding of Sahtúgot’ı̨nę spirituality. / Graduate

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

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

In Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language), Kipimoojikewin refers to our inheritance, or the things we carry with us. While Anishinaabemowin, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) pedagogy and research practices are all part of our inheritance, so too is a legacy of colonial violence and historic trauma. This paper details one journey towards the language; the struggle through a colonial terrain rife with institutional and cognitive barriers, the journey to return to Anishinaabe ways of knowing, to articulating Anishinaabe pedagogy in a contemporary urban context and the work done to fulfill the vision of the Elders. There are no “best practices” only stories that exemplify an Anishinaabe axiological framework so that the causes and effects can be better understood, taken up and improved upon. Aapajitoon kema wanitoon.

In Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language), Kipimoojikewin refers to our inheritance, or the things we carry with us. While Anishinaabemowin, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) pedagogy and research practices are all part of our inheritance, so too is a legacy of colonial violence and historic trauma. This paper details one journey towards the language; the struggle through a colonial terrain rife with institutional and cognitive barriers, the journey to return to Anishinaabe ways of knowing, to articulating Anishinaabe pedagogy in a contemporary urban context and the work done to fulfill the vision of the Elders. There are no “best practices” only stories that exemplify an Anishinaabe axiological framework so that the causes and effects can be better understood, taken up and improved upon. Aapajitoon kema wanitoon.

Hedekeyeh Hots’ih Kāhidi – “Our Ancestors Are In Us,” describes a Tahltan worldview, which is based on the connection Tahltan people have with our Ancestors, our land, and our language. From this worldview, I have articulated a Tahltan methodology, Tahltan Voiceability, which involves receiving the teachings of our Ancestors and Elders, learning and knowing these teachings, and the sharing of these teachings with our people. By giving voice to our Ancestors and Elders, as well as to all of our people, it sets the stage for research that is useful, relational, and transformative. Tahltan Voiceability speaks not only to the methodology of this study, but also the way in which the voices of my people can gain strength and healing from the revitalization of our language. Conversations with fluent speakers, language teachers, educators, administrators, and language learners informed this investigation with their ideas and experiences regarding Tahltan language revitalization. The learnings from the research are presented in such a way as to honour all voices, using different modes of written expression woven throughout the dissertation. The organization of the dissertation is based upon physical manifestations – examples of art – that have played key roles in my Tahltan journey. This investigation addressed the following questions: How can Tahltan language revitalization positively affect the lives of my people? In the past and present, what has been done to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In the future, what do my people need to do to continue to maintain, preserve, and revitalize our Tahltan language? In terms of positive effects, language revitalization can be the start of a process in which we begin to heal from the impacts of past losses by reclaiming our language, culture, and identity, thereby allowing our voices to become stronger and healthier. My people need to identify the steps and actions we need to take in the areas of health, education, social development, and Aboriginal rights and title, so that we can revitalize our language and heal at the same time. From what I learned from co-researchers, scholars who have worked with our Tahltan communities, other Indigenous community language revitalization experts, and international language revitalization scholars, I have provided suggestions to a newly formed Tahltan Language Authority dealing with the assessment of the language, community support, and language revitalization programs being used in British Columbia and other parts of the world. Finally, I speak about Tahltan identity, the process of language revitalization, and the connection between language revitalization and healing as forms of empowerment for my people. / Graduate

abstract: The dissertation focuses on one Truku (Indigenous) village in eastern Taiwan and aims to understand the processes and possibilities of bottom-up language revitalization. In 2012, the National Geographic Genographic Legacy Fund supported the village to start a community-driven language revitalization initiative. Drawing on scholarship guided by critical Indigenous research methodologies, critical sociocultural approaches to language policy and planning, and sociocultural approaches to learning, this study is an attempt to generate qualitative ethnographic research to facilitate local praxis. The major findings are four: Firstly, after decades of colonialism, villagers' lived experiences and language ideological standpoints vary significantly across generations and households, which constraints the possibility of collective endeavors. Secondly, building on previous scholars' emphasis on "ideological clarification" prior to language revitalization, I identify the dimension of embodied ideological differences, using cultural historical activity theory to illustrate how certain "mainstream" artifacts (e.g. orthography) can confine orally dominant elders' capacity to contribute. In a similar vein, by closely examining children's voices and language performances, I highlight children's theory of language as relationship-building and a theory of learning as participation in communities of participation, which stand in stark contrast to adult educators' constructs of acquisition and proficiency in traditional SLA. Finally, inspired by children and elders' voices, methodologically I argue for a relational conceptualization of agency and propose a relationship-oriented language revitalization framework. Such framework values and incorporates existing social relationships in praxis, and requires researchers and practitioners to humbly recognize the work of power in social relations and develop a trusting, reflective bond with the villagers before rushing to impose agendas. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship of language policy and planning by incorporating sociocultural learning theories designed to generate praxis-oriented analysis. By contextualizing identity and SLA processes in an Indigenous context, the study also illuminates the affective dimension of language learning and education. Overall this study offers valuable insights for scholars, educators, and practitioners interested in community-based language education. Equally important, this research represents the voices of multiple generations of Truku people, deeply committed to ensuring that future generations remain connected to their heritage language, knowledge system, and ways of being. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2014