INLG 501. Indigenous Language Revitalization.

A survey and critique of major literature on language endangerment and language revitalization in the context of North American Indigenous languages and societies. Reviews histories of language loss, basic principles of child and adult language learning, global and local ideologies influencing language loss, scales of language endangerment, and social and political phenomena that influence the growth and decline of Indigenous language use in communities. Investigates metaphors of language ‘life’ and ‘death’, studies of language revitalization in specific communities, concepts and methods used in the organization of revitalization programs, and the evaluation of language revitalization ‘success’ and ‘failure’.