The U.S. Census Bureau published a compilation of four years worth of information in 2011 to paint a video of the state of Native North American languages . While the report , title " Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States and Puerto Rico : 2006 to 2010,“made headlinesand drew attention to the variety of languages spoken among Native North Americans , it did n’t illustrate the often - overlooked shade between endemic utterer .
Here are 5 fact you may not eff about some of the most common native North Americanlanguagestoday .
1. “Navajo” Is the Most Common Native Language, but the Name Is Not Totally Accurate
The nosecount put forward that nigh 170,000 peoplespeakNavajo , but that full term is n’t entirely accurate . " Navajo is a Southern Athabaskan language and a part of the larger Athabaskan or Dene speech family ( other extremity of the Southern Athabaskan branch include all the Apache languages),“Anthony K. Webster , prof in the University of Texas at Austin Department of Anthropology and Department of Linguistics and affiliate faculty in the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program , says via e-mail . " related to languages can be found on the Pacific Coast ( Tolowa , Hupa ) and in Canada and Alaska . "
Samantha Cornelius , accessory professor in philology at the University of Texas at Arlington , also points out that the term " Navajo " as it consult to language is n’t quite correct . " Navajo is anexonym , " she says via email . An exonym , in case you ’re not conversant , is a name given to a place , person or thing by an outsider . " Recent papers on the language and work produce by the biotic community use the name’Diné bizaad ' [ or Dineh bizad , in an alternating spelling ] : ' masses ’s voice communication . ' " Navajo people are Diné , which just intend ' people . ' "
2. The Reported Number of “Native Speakers” Can Be Deceiving
While the census indicated a relatively high number of Navajo or Diné bizaad speakers , Webster say the stats should be adopt with a grain of salinity . " Such self - identify numbers should always be used with cautiousness , since it pray several question , including — and rather importantly — what it stand for to claim to be a speaker system , " he says . " Much enquiry in linguistics and lingual anthropology have asked questions about what it means to be a verbaliser — and it is n’t so simple-minded as ' make love the language ' — because , as can be imagined , that begs interrogative as well . "
According to Webster , we ought to be cautious about throwing the term " speaker " around since there are a band of ingredient affecting if , how , and why someone identify as one . " We should be thrifty with thinking of ' speaker ' as a neutral term , " he suppose . " Likewise , for a variety of understanding , people may or may not want to name in such a way ( head of speakers is not a lingual question , it is a societal question ) . Among the reasons , of course , is racial discrimination towards Navajos and the devaluing of Navajo speech communication and culture over the decades . So to say that there are 169,000 - plus speakers of Navajo , while seemingly precise , actually is rather ambiguous concerning what that in reality mean .
" With that forethought in mind , the language is used in the first place in the American Southwest and on and around the Navajo Nation ( which covers part of Utah , Arizona and New Mexico ) , " Webster says . " But Navajos live in all 50 commonwealth and they also subsist in a variety of country around the world , so Navajo is not exclusively talk or write on the Navajo Nation ; Navajos employ it when they call congener , or Skype , or nicknack , or with friend and family . Likewise , you see Navajo on Twitter and Facebook ( it is a written language ) ; not all of these masses experience on the Navajo Nation . "
3. People Are Preserving Native Languages in Many Different Ways
" Like many Native American speech , many Navajos are concerned that young people are not learning the language at a rate that will insure its continuity , " Webster say . " But there are effort to instruct the language in schoolhouse ( from early education to course in high school to trend in college , admit at Diné College ) , and a number of spoken language materials have been produced over the year . There is the very good technical grammar and dictionary by the late Robert Young and the late William Morgan — ' The Navajo Language . ' There is also some lit compose in Navajo — the poesy of Rex Lee Jim , of Laura Tohe ( presently Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation ) , and of others , is sometimes written in Navajo . Jim , the former Vice President of the Navajo Nation , recently bring out a book of poetry in Navajo and English . "
" One can hear the language on the receiving set — on , for example , theNavajo Carry Amelia Moore Nation radio station , as well , " Webster says . " One can also see public signal in Diné bizaad on the Navajo Nation . "
4. Overarching Labels on Native Languages Don’t Represent the Variety Within Categories
According to the nose count , there are 13,063 aboriginal speakers of " Apache , " but that class is much broad than the crown indicates . " Apache is also a extensive umbrella — there are many ' Apachean ' words , which include Diné bizaad , but no single nomenclature call Apache , " Cornelius says .
" Apache actually covers a number of different languages , " Webster sound out . " The largest — that is the one with the most verbalizer — is Western Apache and that ’s spoken in San Carlos and White Mountain ( in Arizona ) , for object lesson . My understanding is that there are over 10,000 speaker system . "
But those are n’t the only two category of Apache , according to Webster . " There are other Apache speech communication — Jicarilla Apache , spoken in northerly New Mexico , on the arriere pensee there ; Mescalero Apache , Chiricahua Apache and Lipan Apache — speak to varying degrees on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in south central New Mexico ; and Plains Apache — spoken , again to varying degrees , in Oklahoma , " he says . " All these languages are related historically ( and concern as well to Navajo ) — conceive , for model , of English and German or Spanish and French . All of the Apache Tribes have language resurgence programs — that is , they are working to teach next generations of Apaches the language . "
And while the nosecount cited nearly 19,000 Yupik speakers , expert say that ’s an umbrella term as well that merit a morsel more illumination . " Yupik is the name of a language family , not a single language , " Cornelius says . " Yupik touch on to cardinal Alaskan Yup’ik , which is the Yupik language ( and autochthonous language of Alaska ) with the largest number of Speaker . They are also the most thickly settled Alaska native group . "
Finally , while the term " Sioux " is the name for a confederacy of several native tribes , there are lingual difference between these kindred . " Sioux , as far as I know , is a historic term that cover several language / dialects that may or may not be reciprocally graspable , including Lakota and Dakota , " Cornelius says . " Lakota has several full-bodied oral communication revitalization efforts ( Lakota Language Project , Lakota Language Consortium ) , which are separate from Dakota revitalization ( Dakota Language Project ) in coordination with Carleton College [ in Minnesota ] . "
5. In the Age of COVID-19, Native Languages Are Proving Their Longevity and Resilience
" Both the Navajo and various Sioux Tribal politics havebeen in the newsrecently concerning their responses to COVID-19 , " Webster says . " They have aver their sovereignty and the responsibility of keeping their people secure in the face of this world pandemic ; the value of sr. speakers of the language , of those with cognition , is often quite important — certainly for Navajos that I cognize — and protecting their elderberry bush , protect their relatives , is for many a precedency . That history of racism recurs here as well .
" So it is a testament to the resilience of contemporaries of Navajos that there is still a Navajo oral communication being talk today , " Webster stay on . " One can not understand the present status of Native American languages without understand that history of the United States . "
