Indigenous communities around the world are losing their languages at accelerating rates to the effects of the climate crisis and global capitalism. To preserve samples of these languages facing endangerment and extinction, samples of language use (e.g., audio-video recordings, photographs, textual transcriptions, translations, and analyses) are created and stored in language archives: repositories intended to provide long-term preservation of and access to language materials. In recent years, archives of all kinds are considering their origins and audiences. With the emergence of the community paradigm of archiving framework, the roles of archivists, communities, and institutions are under re-examination. Language archives too are reflecting this trend, as it becomes more common for speakers of Indigenous languages (also known as language communities) to document and archive their own languages and histories. As the landscape of language archiving expands, we now see increased emphasis on the re-use of archival material, particularly to support language revitalization—efforts to increase and maintain the use of the language. There are calls for language documentation (and, by extension, language archiving) to prioritize revitalization efforts. This dissertation is a case study of one language archive collection: the Boro Language Resource in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive. The Boro Language Resource was created by Boro community members who are both experienced in linguistics and pedagogy and active in language revitalization efforts including research, educational, and cultural initiatives. This case study explores how the collection was designed, and how the material will be used in future language revitalization activities. Because this collection exemplifies the view of language documentation and archiving as revitalization-driven practices, the findings of this case study stand to inform future community archiving efforts aiming to support language revitalization.

Through a review of literature and a qualitative inquiry of Cree language practitioners and knowledge keepers, this study explores traditional concepts related to Cree worldview specifically through the lens of nîhiyawîwin, the Cree language. Avoiding standard dictionary approaches to translations, it provides inside views and perspectives to provide broader translations of key terms related to Cree values and principles, Cree philosophy, Cree cosmology, Cree spirituality, and Cree ceremonialism. It argues the importance of providing connotative, denotative, implied meanings and etymology of key terms to broaden the understanding of nîhiyaw tâpisinowin and the need for an encyclopaedic approach to understanding these key terms. It explores the interrelatedness of nîhiyawîwin with nîhiyaw tâpisinowin and the need to recognize them both as part of a Cree holistic paradigm. / Graduate / 0290 / 0515 / artnapoleon@yahoo.ca

This dissertation is grounded in stories of how Chickasaw people have restructured and dedicated their lives to ensuring the continuance of Chikashshanompa', their Indigenous heritage language. Building on an earlier study of what motivates Chickasaw people-across generations-to engage in language reclamation, these pages explore how: 1) Chickasaw young adult professionals who have established careers with the Chickasaw Nation Department of Language have made language reclamation their life's pursuit; 2) Chickasaw citizens-at-large, who reside outside of the Chickasaw Nation, engage in language reclamation, and 3) the study of Chikashshanompa' in school has impacted Chickasaw high school and university students' conceptualizations of their personal and social identities. Together, the perspectives of these groups of language learners comprise a case study of Chickasaw people's resilient and tireless efforts to ensure that Chikashshanompa' ilanompohóli bí­yyi'ka'chi¹ [we will always speak the Chickasaw language]. As a Chickasaw person and language learner myself, I worked from culturally-grounded research methodology which embraced my cultural identity and personal relationships with other Chickasaws involved in language reclamation. One key feature of this methodology was my reconstruction of in-depth, phenomenological interviews as participant profiles-or stories-as a means to present and analyze data. Individually, these stories tell of the nuanced and diverse experiences of Chickasaw language learners representing distinct generational categories and demographics. Collectively, they reflect three key themes enabling the vitality and efficacy of Chickasaw language reclamation: 1) a raised critical Chickasaw consciousness, 2) the conception of Chikashshanompa' as cultural practice, and 3) the (re)valuing of language learners.

Unangam Tunuu has been recorded since the early days of contact in the mid 1700s; it is the sole representative of the 'Aleut' branch in the Eskimo-Aleut language family, and though it shares certain features with Yupik, Inuktitut and other Eskimo languages, it is distinct and employs a host of unique strategies to convey meaning. In this paper I will give an overview of the language, Unangam Tunuu, and background of the Indigenous people who speak it. I will also give a brief overview of the grammatical category of mood, discuss how mood is traditionally understood to function in European languages, and how it is represented in Unangam Tunuu. I will argue that the category of mood in Unangam Tunuu and the markers which have been glossed as such show many irregularities from what has been traditionally considered mood, and argue that this category needs to be critically re-examined. I will also suggest elicitation plans to assist in testing for mood-marking, specifically the indicative, as well as subjunctive-like or irrealis inflections.

A língua geral amazônica (LGA), língua de base tupi, chamada em meados do século XIX de nheengatu (nheenga língua + katu bom, boa), foi mais falada que o português em toda a Amazônia até o término do século XIX. Após uma série de fatores que levaram ao seu enfraquecimento, hoje se concentra na região do Alto Rio Negro, onde é língua oficial do município de São Gabriel da Cachoeira AM. Por ser uma língua historicamente veiculada pela oralidade e pela ainda tímida elaboração de materiais para seu estudo e divulgação, iniciativas relacionadas à tradução ao nheengatu mostram-se como estratégias interessantes a favor da revitalização dessa língua e da contribuição para a consolidação de um registro escrito na mesma. Insere-se nesse contexto a tradução do livro Le Petit Prince, de Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, do francês ao nheengatu. O registro escrito adotado em minha proposta de tradução foi estabelecido com base nos textos em e sobre o nheengatu produzidos entre a segunda metade do século XIX e a primeira do século XX e no confronto desse período com a língua em seu estado atual. Além de aumentar o número de materiais escritos na língua, utilizados principalmente no ambiente escolar amazônico, a tradução proposta nesta dissertação vem acompanhada de uma seção em que apresento comentários a respeito das escolhas tradutológicas adotadas por mim, que se relacionam a aspectos linguísticos e culturais envolvidos no processo tradutório. Com o propósito de contribuir não apenas para o fortalecimento do nheengatu, as discussões sobre questões teóricas e modalidades de tradução também podem se somar às contribuições no campo dos Estudos da Tradução. / The Amazon general language (AGL), a language based on Tupi, known as Nheengatu in the mid XIX century (nheenga language + katu good), was more broadly used than Portuguese in the Amazon area until the end of the XIX century. After a series of factors that led to its weakening, the language now is concentrated in the Alto Rio Negro area, where it is established as the official language of the São Gabriel da Cachoeira town, in the state of Amazonas. Since it is a language that has been historically used orally and the development of materials to study and disclose it is still stagnant, measures related to the translation into Nheengatu have proved to be interesting strategies favoring the revitalization of the language and the contribution for a consolidation of a written register in it. In this context we find the translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupérys book, Le Petit Prince, from French to Nheengatu. The written register adopted in my translation proposal was established based on texts in Nheengatu, and about the language, produced between the second half of the XIX century and the first half of the XX century and the confrontation in this period with the language in its current state. Besides increasing the quantity of material written in the language, used mainly in the Amazon school environment, the translation put forth in this dissertation comes with a section in which I present comments concerning of the translation choices I adopted, which relate to linguistic and cultural aspects involved in the translation process. Aiming at contributing not only to strengthen the Nheengatu language, the discussions on theoretical matters and translation modalities may also add to the contributions to the Translation Studies field.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the entwined roles of schooling, family support and investment, and community contact in Heritage Language Learning (HLL), Heritage Language Maintenance (HLM) and identity formation among two groups of North American Latvians. One is made up of 49 teenagers at Gaŗezers language camp in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The other comprises 25 parents, other adult Latvian speakers and camp staff members. I explore differences and similarities among them by age, gender and self-stated national identity and language proficiency. Primary data consist of some 70 questionnaires completed by youths and adults and six 30- to 90-minute interviews conducted and transcribed by me. Six more were conducted via e-mail. Based on aggregate analysis of multiple-choice and short-answer questions, supplemented by participants’ individual responses to longer-form survey questions and to my questions during interviews, findings demonstrate a connection between self-stated national identity (Latvian, Latvian-American or Latvian-Canadian, or American or Latvian) and self-assessment of Latvian language proficiency among the youths. Among the adults, men were more likely to identify simply as Latvian than were women, and adults of both genders who identified as Latvian averaged slightly lower in self-assessment of proficiency, even though most of them grew up speaking Latvian at home. Additionally, my research shows a community proud of its HLM accomplishments alongside those of displaced peoples from other nations—a community now at home in North America, although 60 years ago members were determined to return to Latvia. Keywords: L2, Latvian heritage language revitalization, third space, lingua franca, language immersion, heritage language maintenance.

This thesis contributes to the literature on language revitalization, a hopeful branch of research that counters the foreboding conclusions of language shift studies. It is based on data collected in May, 1998, at Cumberland House, an Aboriginal community in northeastern Saskatchewan. Fifty-five community members participated in six focus groups organized by the following criteria: administrators, school board trustees, elders, parents, students and teachers. These research participants expressed their vision, expectations, and needs related to an Aboriginal Language Immersion Pilot Program proposed by the Northern Lights School Division. Community members envisioned an education that contributes to their children's Cree and Anglo-Canadian bicultural competence. They expected the Cree immersion program in the provincial school would develop their children's Cree and English bilingual fluency. They needed training, administrative support, materials and ongoing communication between school and community. Factors that instill a sense of optimism about this language revitalization effort, include the role and status of the school, and the strong bonds of kinship and friendship in this community context. The process and content of the research project records the development and product of a research relationship between Aboriginal people. It attests to the value of community involvement in language planning and illustrates the beneficial attributes of community-based participatory action research. Overall, the thesis informs the topic of decolonization at the personal, community, and institutional level.

This thesis contributes to the literature on language revitalization, a hopeful branch of research that counters the foreboding conclusions of language shift studies. It is based on data collected in May, 1998, at Cumberland House, an Aboriginal community in northeastern Saskatchewan. Fifty-five community members participated in six focus groups organized by the following criteria: administrators, school board trustees, elders, parents, students and teachers. These research participants expressed their vision, expectations, and needs related to an Aboriginal Language Immersion Pilot Program proposed by the Northern Lights School Division. Community members envisioned an education that contributes to their children's Cree and Anglo-Canadian bicultural competence. They expected the Cree immersion program in the provincial school would develop their children's Cree and English bilingual fluency. They needed training, administrative support, materials and ongoing communication between school and community. Factors that instill a sense of optimism about this language revitalization effort, include the role and status of the school, and the strong bonds of kinship and friendship in this community context. The process and content of the research project records the development and product of a research relationship between Aboriginal people. It attests to the value of community involvement in language planning and illustrates the beneficial attributes of community-based participatory action research. Overall, the thesis informs the topic of decolonization at the personal, community, and institutional level.

Recent census data have shown that the number of Breton speakers in Lower Brittany has continued to drop despite revitalization efforts. A problem minority languages face is struggling to maintain a place in the lives of the people who have adopted the dominant language. In this study, I assess the current problems faced by the Breton language today by examining a few select problems. First, I highlight the lack of situations in which speakers can use Breton. Even children attending immersion programs often do not live in a Breton-speaking household, nor do they have settings outside the school where they can practice the language. Secondly, I consider the ideological place of Breton in the minds of speakers. Many people feel that while Breton is important to their heritage, they do not need to actively speak it in order to associate with a Breton identity. Related to this is the opinion of many people that Breton is an outdated language with no future ahead of it, as revealed by recent research (Broudic 2009, Jones1998, Timm 2001). Finally, the creation of a new, standardized Breton known as neo-Breton adds to the problem of finding a place for the language; older speakers who use traditional Breton are marginalized, while it is the young speakers using neo- Breton. I use current census data as well as personal research conducted in Brittany in July 2010 to supplement my assessment of the current Breton situation. While progress has been slow, Breton is gaining a stronger presence in society. / text

This study focuses on the theme of technology-based Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance efforts by looking at new developments in mobile technology and how they are used within Indigenous communities for language learning and teaching. I assessed four mobile apps through the use of an evaluation rubric, online user reviews, and developer consultations. The findings from the assessments were then used to determine what essential themes are important when developing an effective and successful language application model (Appendix C), with the intention of developing a user-friendly template for use by other Indigenous communities. Three essential elements were found to be common among the four language applications assessed: (1) successful integration of interactive and digital media that provides a purposeful learning environment for the user; (2) accuracy and testing of both media and the user-interface, and; (3) successful usability and functionality of the mobile platform.