Language Endangerment and Revitalization in Native North America

FAIN: FA-53427-07

Barbra Allyn Meek
Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382)

Language endangerment is not just a repercussion of colonial assimilationist tactics, but a byproduct of contemporary language socialization practices. To that end, my project provides an intricate analysis of the practices, discourses, and contexts involved in transforming an endangered sociolinguistic landscape, including the undertaking of language revitalization. I also show how disjunctures emerge and affect such transformations, especially in relation to acquisition and socialization, processes integral to the maintenance and survival of any language. I illustrate this approach with my own research findings regarding Kaska (Athabascan) language revitalization in the Yukon Territory of Canada and with other documented cases.