Research Articles

Commentary: Beyond endangerment in Indigenous language reclamation

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Abstract

In 1999, Native Hawaiian language scholar-activist Sam No'eau Warner, writing about kuleana – the ‘right, responsibility, and authority of Indigenous peoples to speak and make decisions for themselves’ – pointed out that language issues are ‘always people issues’ (Warner 1999:89). It is not sufficient, Warner stressed, to fight to save a disembodied ‘thing’ called language. Rather, language revitalisation and reclamation are about people working together to (re)build community, (re)connect generations, and shape preferred community futures. All this is work, Warner envisioned, ‘that would lead to true equality, authenticity in the empowerment of a people ... and social justice for all’ (Warner 1999:89).

With this as an overarching framework, in the remainder of this commentary I explore three qualities that stand out in these deliberately political acts: relationality, well-being, and self-determination. I focus on these qualities because they provide mutually reciprocal lenses into the complexity of ‘an active practice of supporting and pursuing language reclamation’ (De Korne & Leonard 2017:7)– its complications, commitments, and, as aptly described by Hermes and Engman (2017:62), inevitable ‘messiness’.

Keywords: Indigenous languages, language reclamation, language revitalisation, social justice, relationality, well-being, self-determination

How to Cite:

McCarty, T., (2018) “Commentary: Beyond endangerment in Indigenous language reclamation”, Language Documentation and Description 14, 176-184. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd152