Chikashshanompa' Ilanompohóli Bíyyi'ka'chi [We Will Always Speak the Chickasaw Language]: Considering the Vitality and Efficacy of Chickasaw Language Reclamation
Issue Date
2016Keywords
IndigenousLanguage Ideologies
Language Reclamation
Language Revitalization
Native American
Language, Reading & Culture
Chickasaw
Advisor
Nicholas, Sheilah E.Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
This dissertation is grounded in stories of how Chickasaw people have restructured and dedicated their lives to ensuring the continuance of Chikashshanompa', their Indigenous heritage language. Building on an earlier study of what motivates Chickasaw people-across generations-to engage in language reclamation, these pages explore how: 1) Chickasaw young adult professionals who have established careers with the Chickasaw Nation Department of Language have made language reclamation their life's pursuit; 2) Chickasaw citizens-at-large, who reside outside of the Chickasaw Nation, engage in language reclamation, and 3) the study of Chikashshanompa' in school has impacted Chickasaw high school and university students' conceptualizations of their personal and social identities. Together, the perspectives of these groups of language learners comprise a case study of Chickasaw people's resilient and tireless efforts to ensure that Chikashshanompa' ilanompohóli bíyyi'ka'chi¹ [we will always speak the Chickasaw language]. As a Chickasaw person and language learner myself, I worked from culturally-grounded research methodology which embraced my cultural identity and personal relationships with other Chickasaws involved in language reclamation. One key feature of this methodology was my reconstruction of in-depth, phenomenological interviews as participant profiles-or stories-as a means to present and analyze data. Individually, these stories tell of the nuanced and diverse experiences of Chickasaw language learners representing distinct generational categories and demographics. Collectively, they reflect three key themes enabling the vitality and efficacy of Chickasaw language reclamation: 1) a raised critical Chickasaw consciousness, 2) the conception of Chikashshanompa' as cultural practice, and 3) the (re)valuing of language learners.Type
textElectronic Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegeLanguage, Reading & Culture
Degree Grantor
University of ArizonaCollections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF NOVEL BILINGUAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION BY FOUR MINORITY-LANGUAGE PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (NONSENSE WORDS).(The University of Arizona., 1985)
-
Acquisition versus long-term retention of Japanese words and syntax by children and adults: Implications for the critical period hypothesis in second language learning.(The University of Arizona., 1993)The critical period hypothesis for second language learning, which states that young children learn additional languages better than adults, lacks unambiguous empirical support as well as a coherent theoretical model. An experimental study was conducted which analyzed child-adult differences in difficulty of acquisition and long-term retention for rules of syntax and words in Japanese, a language unfamiliar to the subjects. The results of this study found no advantage for children over adults either in acquisition or long-term memory. However, relative to the difficulty of acquisition, the children had lower forgetting rates for words than for rules when both materials were learned completely. In the lexical study, the children's performance at retention was closer to the adults' than at acquisition, whereas in the syntax study, the opposite was the case. These results confirm the existence of developmental differences in the forgetting rates of different materials. Such results imply that, if there is an advantage for learning language at an early age, it might be localized in lexical retention.
-
Contextualizing Technology: Designing Indigenous Language CALL Programs(The University of Arizona., 2018)An astounding number of global Indigenous communities work ceaselessly to reclaim and revitalize their languages after many years of suppression by colonization and dominant societies. Each community and individual learner brings myriad unique needs and desires to heritage language learning, including the need for community and cultural engagement in addition to fluency. With an increase in using technology for language learning, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs could be useful resources for Indigenous language learners if first adapted to support Indigenous languages. While CALL allows immense customization of programs to satisfying learner needs and linguistic diversity, BLOOM is the first and only organization to develop an Indigenous language CALL program (i.e., a program built solely for Indigenous languages and to meet the needs of Indigenous communities). Investigating BLOOM, this research analyzes a case study of the developmental process of BLOOM’s first course, including curriculum development, design decisions, engineering challenges, and the experience of partnering with the Cherokee Nation to develop a Cherokee language course. This research asserts that developers must collaborate directly with the Indigenous community during every step of the building process when developing Indigenous language CALL programs, and provides a 10-step Community-Collaborative Building Model to guide the process. The model reveals the importance of building curriculum tailored to the distinct needs of the Indigenous community, working actively and intentionally to build trust with the community, and constantly using the program to empower Indigenous communities via language learning. Overall, when producing Indigenous language CALL programs, CALL developers must adapt to meet the needs of the community, the learners, and those needs in context.
