Quinault Language Revitalization: Bridging Linguistic Theory to Community Classrooms

Abstract

The Quinault language must be revitalized. The question addressed in this dissertation is, "What are the best possible strategies for the Quinault community and its language to achieve language revitalization?" This dissertation provides the strategies that will lay the foundation for Quinault language revitalization. These strategies include utilizing documentary linguistics to analyze previous documentation, selecting Revitalization methods best suited for a community without L1 speakers, ensuring Revitalization documentation meets the community's goals, and planning the first lessons to initiate fluency in the Quinault community. This research is important because the Quinault Indian Nation has prioritized the revitalization of the Quinault language. Based upon previous documentation of Quinault, fluency in its language has proven difficult without a linguistic analysis of its structure. This research will allow the Quinault community to recognize linguistic structures inherent to Quinault. Finally, new language learners and teachers will benefit from the historical and qualitative reviews, the recommendations for language revitalization and the linguistic findings within this dissertation.