Voices in the desert: contemporary approaches to language maintenance and survival of an ancient language, Tohono O'odham
- Autores: Ofelia Zepeda
- Localización: International journal of the sociology of language, ISSN 0165-2516, Nº. 132, 1998, págs. 47-58
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
In the summer of 1995, only a blink away from the 21 st Century, several members of the Tohono O'odham Nation came together for a two-week training workshopfor O'odham language teachers at the College anduniversity level Within the short two-week period Ms group began to experiment with various alternatives for turning the tide of language loss among the Tohono O'odham Community, including building on the rieh oral tradition of the people and pilot projects using the latest Computing equipment. This article considers these and other language-maintenance efforts in light of the current Status of the Tohono O'odham language of Arizona. The goals of the article are t o describe the present Status of spoken and written Tohono O'odham andprevailing attitudes heldby members of the O'odham Tribe about their language; to describe approaches being attempted to maintain the O'odham language; and to consider the current economic and political stance ofthe O'odham Nation relative to language survival Finally, the article considers the current role of the Tohono O'odham s lucrative gaming industry: will there be revenue available now for the tribe to help itself in turning the tide of language loss? Both realistic and hypothetical Solutions to O'odham language maintenance and survival are proposed.
