Language Use in the Indigenous Southern Plateau

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a broad cultural description and analysis of Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Sahaptin language use. Investigative priority is given to the behavioral correlates of fluent and semi-fluent speaker choices and the discursive consciousness that informs them. The findings show how language use is organized and embodied as ‘ways of speaking’ in traditional cultures of the Indigenous Southern Plateau region both as a responsive system to societal change and as a semiotic behavioral resource for cultural continuity. The motivation for this study arises from my belonging to the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Sahaptin speech communities where this research was conducted as well as from the growing global awareness concerning the endangered status of Indigenous languages in the Indigenous Southern Plateau and elsewhere throughout the world. It is hoped that the findings and language data contained in this language documentation research can inform and contribute to positive outcomes centering in the revitalization of culture and language in the Indigenous Southern Plateau.