Language Is Life Renewal Project
Helping to revitalize Indigenous languages
Of the nearly 100 indigenous languages once spoken in California, half now have no fluent speakers, 17 have only one to five, and the remaining 36 languages have only elderly speakers. Many face extinction in the next decade. To help reverse this trend, the California Council for the Humanities formed a partnership with Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, a group formed in 1992 to create and oversee native languages revitalization programs. This joint effort between the Council and the Advocates was a collaboration between academic scholars, native scholars and native communities.
Renewal Project activities
- Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program. A program that allows members of California tribes to learn their language from native speakers and to help pass it on to future generations. Breath of Life, Silent No More Native Language Restoration Workshop. A weeklong Bay Area summer workshop where California Indians whose languages are no longer spoken learned to utilize field notes and recordings in their research and revitalization efforts.
- Circle of Voices Video Archiving Workshop. Held in San Diego, summer 2000. This was the first of three workshops for California Indians on video documentation of the knowledge of the elders of their tribes.
Contact Information
The Council's Language Is Life Renewal Project brought much-needed attention to the problem of revitalization of native California languages. Though the project has ended, the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival carries on the work. For information about the group, contact Marina Drummer at 510/655-8770 or e-mail her at marina@napanet.net.