Research Articles

The role of elder speakers in language revitalisation

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Abstract

Elder speakers are generally seen as resources for language revitalisation and reclamation (LR). However, it is less common to consider how elder speakers themselves can benefit from the LR process, and the language needs of elder speakers are rarely prioritised in the design of LR efforts. I argue that the role of elder speakers in LR is much greater and more complicated than that of ‘resources’ to the process, and that the needs of elder speakers as beneficiaries of LR must be considered. Drawing on my experience with a community-based language documentation project, I show that barriers to elder speaker participation may follow from an assumption that LR is ‘for’ current language learners and future generations only. I demonstrate that inclusion of elder speakers’ needs in the development of LR methods, priorities, and goals has the potential to improve outcomes community-wide. Integrating elder speakers’ language needs and desires into the structure of a community-led language documentation project helped to address elders’ concerns, and yielded more diverse and higher-quality documentation and pedagogical materials than had been originally envisioned.

Keywords: language revitalisation, language reclamation, elder speakers, language documentation

How to Cite:

Rouvier, R., (2017) “The role of elder speakers in language revitalisation”, Language Documentation and Description 14, 88-110. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd149