Research Articles

Re-building language habitats: Connecting language planning and land planning for sustainable futures

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Abstract

This paper draws on my experiences working with two Canadian First Nations, the Loon River Cree First Nation, located in north-central Alberta, and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, located in northwestern British Columbia. In both communities I volunteered on language projects while simultaneously researching native language planning and policy. Of interest to this paper is the fact that each of the language projects were being developed out of the lands and resources departments in the communities, and not, as one might expect, out of the education or cultural heritage departments. To me, this indicated that part of the communities’ language ideologies was that their languages had developed in a particular landscape and that language planning and land planning needed to be closely linked in order to be successful (see Schreyer 2009). In fact, one of the ways in which both indigenous languages and lands can be sustainably managed is through the inter-weaving of language planning and land planning. As well, community archives, no matter what their original and intended purpose, are an excellent source for language material for use in language revitalization and maintenance projects.

Keywords: Loon River Cree First Nation, Taku River Tlingit First Nation, British Columbia, indigenous languages, language planning, land planning, language revitalization, archives, sustainability

How to Cite:

Schreyer, C., (2011) “Re-building language habitats: Connecting language planning and land planning for sustainable futures”, Language Documentation and Description 9, 35-57. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd204