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Aboriginal language
DCHP-2 (Jul 2017)
Spelling variants:Aboriginal language
n. — Aboriginal, especially First Nations
a language of the First Nations, Métis or Inuit peoples of Canada.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The term aboriginal language in the Canadian context refers to any of approximately sixty individual languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Canada (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Aboriginal Languages of Canada"). These individual languages fall under eleven language families, listed on Indigenous Foundations (see reference) as follows: Algonquian, Athapaskan, Eskimo-Aleut, Haida, Iroquoian, Ktunaxa (Kutenai), Salishan, Siouan, Tlingit, Tsimshian and Wakashan. The largest family is Algonquian, which includes Cree, Ojibwe (Anishinaabemowin), and Mi'kmaq; the second-largest is Inuktitut (see also Inuit, meaning 3) (see Statistics Canada reference). Figures indicate that the term aboriginal language is used frequently in Canada as well as Australia, where the term aboriginal is also used in reference to indigenous peoples (see Chart 1).
The rapid decline of aboriginal languages is of great concern today. As a result of the devastating impact of assimilation attempts by the Canadian government throughout the country's history until very recently (see, e.g., residential school), aboriginal children were forced to abandon their mother tongues in favour of English (see Indigenous Foundations reference). The long-term effects of this trauma can be seen in the limited number of people that identify one of the aboriginal languages as their mother tongue or as a language used as their home language (see Statistics Canada reference).
British Columbia is home to the vast majority of the Canadian aboriginal languages. While successful programs teaching and documenting aboriginal languages exist, e.g. for Musqueam in Vancouver (see First Nations and Endangered Languages Program reference), the odds are presently still stacked against the survival of most of these languages (see, e.g. the 2007 quotation).
The rapid decline of aboriginal languages is of great concern today. As a result of the devastating impact of assimilation attempts by the Canadian government throughout the country's history until very recently (see, e.g., residential school), aboriginal children were forced to abandon their mother tongues in favour of English (see Indigenous Foundations reference). The long-term effects of this trauma can be seen in the limited number of people that identify one of the aboriginal languages as their mother tongue or as a language used as their home language (see Statistics Canada reference).
British Columbia is home to the vast majority of the Canadian aboriginal languages. While successful programs teaching and documenting aboriginal languages exist, e.g. for Musqueam in Vancouver (see First Nations and Endangered Languages Program reference), the odds are presently still stacked against the survival of most of these languages (see, e.g. the 2007 quotation).
See: Indian(meaning 4),residential school,Inuit,heritage language,assimilation,Aboriginal,home language,official language,First Nations language
Quotations
1875
Let only Dr. Trumbull and the other members of the Americal Philogical [sic] Association set their minds to the study of the aboriginal languages and dialects of this continent and trace their connections with those of the East and West of the ancient hemisphere -- if, indeed, this be not, as some argue, the earlier peopled of the two -- let them compare these languages with the vestiges of an antique civilization which abound amid the uproar of the modern [...].
1890
An eminent ethnologist once said that, after great trouble, he had, at least as he thought, got hold of a tradition of the flood, among the North-west Indians of America, but he could only get it bit by bit out of the old man who was the repositary of this and other such such-like lore. It cost him many blankets and other presents, and the labour of hours to write it down from the aboriginal language.
1967
The spring edition of Elphie's literary publication, the "My Ook" (Grizzly bear in the aboriginal language of the Sechelts) is now available.
1983
After surviving for thousands of years, aboriginal languages are losing ground to English and several in British Columbia are perilously close to extinction, a study by Statistics Canada says. Only a few hundred people seem to be keeping alive such B.C. Indian languages as Haida, Kutenaian, Salishan, Tlingit or Wakashan, the draft study based on responses to the 1981 census said.
1993
Like most aboriginal languages across the continent, Abenaki suffered at the hands of white teachers. Wawanolet recalls that the Sisters of the Holy Cross, who ran Odanak's only school, would punish any children they caught "speaking Indian'' at recess.
2007
"We are all losing something. We need to understand that preserving the aboriginal language is for everyone, not only for the (First Nations) communities," she said. "When you lose the language, the loss is everyone's."
2015
This is why making knowledge of the residential schools a component of the core curriculum is -- while a necessary gesture that should be implemented immediately -- not in itself enough. It is also of the essence that the teaching of some sort of course in aboriginal language be a mandatory requirement for students matriculating from high school because language is the vessel to understanding a community's culture, history, specificity and world view.
References
- Statistics Canada • "Aboriginal Languages in Canada"
- Indigenous Foundations • "Languages"
- First Nations and Endangered Languages Program • FNEL
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