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Poll: What is lost most when an indigenous language weakens?
Uwekaji wa uzi: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
TOVUTI YA WAHUDUMU
Aug 26

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is lost most when an indigenous language weakens?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Ureno
Local time: 23:50
Mwanachama(2007)
Kiingereza hadi Kireno
+ ...
Sense of identity Aug 26

I suppose the greatest loss will be a sense of identity and belonging. AFAIK the United Nations has designated 2022 to 2032 as the UN Decade of Indigenous Languages to support global rescue projects, which aim to counter past colonial government policies that punished children for speaking their native tongues, forcing them to use dominant languages.

Maria Laura Curzi
Josephine Cassar
Peter Simon
 
Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 00:50
Mwanachama(2012)
Kiingereza hadi Kimalta/Kimaltisi
+ ...
How sad Aug 26

No matter how few people speak that indigenous language, I feel it's very sad. I kind of compare it to people who are displaced because of war for instance. They feel a sense of loss and gradually, as Maria Teresa well said, a sense of identity. It's like they belong nowhere.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Peter Simon
Michael Newton
 
Jennifer Levey
Jennifer Levey  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 19:50
Kihispania hadi Kiingereza
+ ...
A politician or a cynical tax-payer might say ... Aug 26

... that a part of what is 'lost' - and good riddance! - is the financial burden assumed by public services in relation to the provision of bi/multi-lingual official documentation, road signs, etc. in accordance with laws and regulations supposedly intended to respect and protect indigenous citizens' cultural and linguistic roots.

I hasten to add that that is not my personal opinion. On the contrary, I live in a region of Chile - La Araucanía - where signage in loca... See more
... that a part of what is 'lost' - and good riddance! - is the financial burden assumed by public services in relation to the provision of bi/multi-lingual official documentation, road signs, etc. in accordance with laws and regulations supposedly intended to respect and protect indigenous citizens' cultural and linguistic roots.

I hasten to add that that is not my personal opinion. On the contrary, I live in a region of Chile - La Araucanía - where signage in local and regional administrative offices, hospitals, courts of law etc. is bi-lingual – Spanish and Mapudungun – and as an immigrant from the UK I very much welcome these everyday reminders that the mapuche peoples were here many centuries before I (or, indeed, before the Conquisatadores) set foot on their territories.
JL ▲ Collapse


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Laura Curzi
Zea_Mays
writeaway
Peter Simon
Rosemere A da Silva
Michael Newton
 
Gregor Trebec
Gregor Trebec
Slovena
Local time: 00:50
Kiingereza hadi Slovere
+ ...
well Aug 26

Identity, culture etc.
 
Rosemere A da Silva
Rosemere A da Silva
Brazili
Local time: 19:50
Kiingereza hadi Kireno
+ ...
What else is lost when an indigenous language weakens? Aug 26

Even considering the material and immaterial supports of collective memory, our references are reduced. When a language has little documentation and few speakers, digital resources are also compromised by their absence. This creates difficulties in building a linguistic repository for future generations. Beyond preservation in the sense of “saving a language,” I think about the challenge of preserving the ability to use that language in new contexts throughout the development of a particular... See more
Even considering the material and immaterial supports of collective memory, our references are reduced. When a language has little documentation and few speakers, digital resources are also compromised by their absence. This creates difficulties in building a linguistic repository for future generations. Beyond preservation in the sense of “saving a language,” I think about the challenge of preserving the ability to use that language in new contexts throughout the development of a particular linguistic community. ▲ Collapse


Maria Laura Curzi
 


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Poll: What is lost most when an indigenous language weakens?






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