Conference Agenda

According to the experts, the Ckunza language of the atacmeneans or Lickan Antai of San Pedro de Atacama is an extinct language. That is the reason why it is not part of the Intercultural Biligual Educational Programme. This is the origin of the tensión between the Ministry of Education and the atacameneans. However, the community has made efforts to revive their language by means of a language policy developed by themselves. This very same efforts contend against the language shift process and support the language maintenance. In this context, this article aims at giving an account of the language policy developed by the Lickan Antai as they have implemented their own proposal to teach the language in their community. The results of this case study and literature review inform about the presence of a bottm-up language policy that looks for the Ckunza linguistic revival by means of the linguistic claim carried out by the atacameneans which, in turn, delays language shift outcomes. Finally, this presentation contributes to not only widen the knowledge about this indigenous language, but also to its introduction to the national educational curriculum.

KEYWORDS: Language policy and planning; language revitalisation; language shift; minority languages; Ckunza

References

Cooper, R. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fishman, J. (1991). Reversing Language Shift. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.

Ruíz, R. (1984). Orientations in Language Planning. NABE Journal. 8(2), pp. 15-34. DOI: 10.1080/08855072.1984.10668464

Spolsky, B. (1995). Conditions for language revitalization: A comparison of the cases of Hebrew and Maori. Current Issues in Language & Society. 2(3), pp. 177-201.

Tsunoda, T. (2006). Language Endangerment and Language Revitalization: An Introduction. Australia: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI: 10.26530/oapen_626366

How are Indigenous Maya recipes from a rural village in Mexico related to language policy and planning? According to Flores Farfán and Ramallo (2010) language revitalization should be a political project that has to have, as a starting point, an acknowledgment of the power issues embedded in the interactions between all the actors involved. Gathering recipes from women in the community to create a cookbook; developing a workshop where elders share the history of their village with children; and analyzing the symbolism in local, traditional dress embroidery. At the Maya Intercultural University of Quintana Roo (UIMQROO), in southeastern Mexico, Language and Culture undergraduate students create projects in collaboration with their communities of origin as a requirement to complete their program. Each project is developed alongside their course work, following the next steps: Proposal to the community, approval from the community, implementation of the project, and evaluation of the results. The UIMQROO is part of the Mexican network of intercultural universities which began to be created at the turn of the 21st century with the goal of promoting local development while preserving local knowledge and languages. Their programs of study and curriculum design follow regionally identified needs that aim at increasing higher education coverage for Indigenous and rural youth, while promoting a linguistically and culturally pertinent education. UIMQROO´s Language and culture students learn Yucatec Maya, the Indigenous regional language, and English. The abovementioned community projects foster a positive cultural climate that add to regional efforts to revitalize Yucatec Maya while promoting meaningful actions in the communities of the student body.

Reference:

Flores Farfan, J. A., & Ramallo, F. (2010). Introduction. In J. A. Flores Farfán & F. Ramallo (Eds.), New perspectives on endangered languages: Bridging gaps between sociolinguistics, documentation and language revitalization (pp. 1-12). Amsterdam, ME: John Benjamins. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

The preservation of Mayan languages, amidst the challenges of globalization and cultural assimilation, necessitates innovative and multifaceted strategies. This study delves into the revitalization of indigenous Mayan languages (Q’anjobal, Quiche, Kaqchikel) in Nebraska. It investigates the efficacy of Art, Culture, and Belief (ACB) methodologies in language preservation, the role of slam poetry and social media in language advocacy, and the integration of these approaches in high school curricula. The study demonstrates how combining arts, technology, and community-based education can create a dynamic, inclusive, and culturally rich educational environment. Central to this initiative is the innovative use of technology, such as ChatGPT, to foster trilingual (Mayan, Spanish, English) communication and learning. This approach not only enhances language preservation but also enriches cultural relevance and understanding, contributing significantly to the global effort to maintain linguistic diversity.

References

García, O., Johnson, S. I., Seltzer, K., & Valdés, G. (2017). The translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.

Gándara, P., & Jensen, B. (Eds.). (n.d.). The Students We Share: Preparing US and Mexican Educators for Our Transnational Future. SUNY Press.

Hamann, E. T., & Zúñiga, M. (2009). The educational response to transnational students: A case study of two Guatemalan towns. Journal of Latinos and Education, 8(3), 214-230.

Ingold, T. (2017). How the Line Became Straight: Lines and the Theory of the Good in the Western Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

During the pandemic, Indigenous communities received limited information in their own language (García et al. 2020; Paludneviciene et al. 2021), and the method of delivery did not match their practices regarding health (Pillier et al. 2020). We examine how information about COVID-19 was received by speakers of several minoritized languages in various parts of the world: Anishinaabemowin (Canada), Kiribati (Kiribati), Cuzco Quechua and Shipibo (Peru), Cañar Kichwa (Ecuador), Nuosu Yi (China), and Puerto Rican Spanish (USA) (N=220).

A crisis-readiness survey, co-created with community members in the Indigenous languages (Authors 2023), was administred in person or digitally by community researchers. The results were transcribed, translated, archived as datasets (community researchers as first authors).

We compare previously reported results from the Cuzco Quechua, Shipibo, and Iskonawa groups with other communities. Participants report various levels of knowledge of the socially-dominant language and digital options. The data reveal variability of access to information and, perhaps relatedly, to the target interpretation of the recommendations from the WorldHealthOrganization regarding the content/manner of the health-education materials. Previous research has demonstrated that some of the accuracy in understanding these materials is predicted by the proficiency in the Indigenous language; however, this study offers additional conclusions. E.g., among speakers of CañarKichwa, 100% consider themselves proficient in both languages and report access to health materials in both, similar to the Shipibo/Iskonawa (98.36%). Among Quechua speakers, 53.52% report access in both languages and 32.4% in the dominant language only; the NuosuYi sample demonsrated 60% rate of knowledge of the dominant language and 50% access to the health information in both languages. Among the PuertoRican sample, 76.6% received health information in both languages. Across this great variablity, the non-target understanding of content remains, likely connected to minoritization more broadly. We discuss the implications of these results for language maintenance/shift and cultural appropriateness in health education.