Keeping Native American Cultures Alive
June 5, 2015
Language Preservation Programs help connect one generation to another
Imagine being unable to tell your grandchild stories about your youth — stories about family traditions and important moments that will be gone forever without the telling. The reason? You speak Keres, one of the native languages of New Mexico, but she does not. Some of the words that you would like to tell your grandchild do not have an English equivalent, but even if they did, certainly some of the meaning would be lost.
Disappearing Languages
In the U.S. today, only about 20 Native American languages are still being spoken by children before they enter school, where once there were hundreds. As elders of each tribe pass away, fewer and fewer fluent speakers remain. In New Mexico, the shift is toward using English exclusively, especially for school-age tribal members. Among the Navajo, for example, fewer than half of the children entering kindergarten speak their native language fluently. In other communities, the percentage of language retention is even less.
American Indian Language
Preservation Fund
Loss of Culture
“From a tribal point of view, our languages are irrevocably intertwined with cultural survival,” says Chris Sims, an associate professor in the College’s Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies and a member of the Acoma Pueblo. “If a language goes, then so do most aspects of a people’s culture, including their values, belief systems, and traditional practices.” The future survival of New Mexico’s indigenous cultures depends on the continued transmission of tribal languages from one generation to another.
Critical Services Need Funding
Dr. Sims and others are working to preserve native languages in New Mexico. Through the American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center and other programs at the UNM College of Education, they are providing tribes with training and technical assistance for developing and teaching their own language programs to their community. UNM is the only institute of higher learning providing these outreach services to native tribes year-round. The College is reaching out to generous alumni and supporters to provide stable funding for this program.
To support this work, contact Mary Wolford, Sr. Director of Development, at 505-277-1088.
