Language Revitalization, Cultural Stabilization, and Eskaleut Languages

Language revitalization is part of cultural revitalization. A street in St. Paul, Pribilof Islands, Alaska. Photo: Anna Berge

Languages play a crucial role in both social and cultural development. They are intimately linked to people’s own sense of identity, to their lands, and to their environments. In line with the United Nations’ 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, The Arctic Institute’s Indigenous Languages in the Arctic celebrates the linguistic and cultural diversity of Indigenous languages across the North. In a series of articles, commentaries, and op-eds, the contributing authors seek to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities facing Indigenous languages and to highlight the immense value of linguistic diversity across the Circumpolar North.

The Arctic Institute Indigenous Languages Series 2019

• From the United Nations to the Arctic: Celebrating Indigenous Languages
• Language Revitalization, Cultural Stabilization, and Eskaleut Languages
• Learning the Unexpected

The Arctic is at the forefront of potentially catastrophic climate change, affecting the survival of most forms of life. In comparison, discussions of language loss in the Arctic may seem trivial, and language researchers sometimes struggle to justify their research in such a context, particularly with respect to documentation and revitalization efforts. However, language loss is a reflection of cultural destabilization of communities in the Arctic, and thus a symptom of the broader problems of environmental change, sustainability, and adaptability. Is language revitalization, therefore, part of the solution? In the following article, I offer a perspective on this question, with special reference to the Eskaleut languages. The Eskaleut languages include Unangam Tunuu (formerly known as Aleut), spoken along the Aleutian Islands, Bering Island, and the Pribilof Islands; the Yupik languages, spoken in the Russian Far East, St. Lawrence Island, and Southwest Alaska; and the Inuit language group, spoken in northern Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland.

Language Contact, Change, and Decline

Like all languages, the Eskaleut languages have a history. They have experienced evolution, whether through contact and change or through internal developments, and they are subject to decline. Under normal circumstances, these stages would be seen as ordinary in the history of languages. The current circumstances, however, are not normal, and the majority of Arctic Indigenous languages, including the Eskaleut languages with which I work, are severely endangered. Eskaleut language endangerment coincides with Arctic environmental and cultural endangerment of the 20^th century, especially during a period of intensified cultural contact with colonial powers and increasing interference in language use. Unangam Tunuu, for example, became endangered as a result of a policy of enforced education in English starting in the early 20th century. This was exacerbated by forced relocation during World War II and further intensified after the war. By the 1970s, most children were no longer learning their heritage language. In the Nunavut territory of Canada, forced sedentarization and schooling in English in the 1960s and 1970s led many children and young adults to prefer the use of English over Inuktitut within 20 years, which has resulted in its gradual decline since then.

Contact in and of itself is not a problem. It was once thought that Eskaleut languages developed in relative isolation from neighboring languages¹⁾Bergsland K (1986) Comparative Eskimo-Aleut Phonology and Lexicon. Journal de la Société Finno-ougrienne 80:63-137; Fortescue, M, Jacobson, S, and Kaplan, L (2010) Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates, 2^nd ed. Fairbanks: ANLC; Krauss, M (1990) Typology and Change in Alaskan Languages. Language Typology 1987: Systematic Balance in Language, Papers from the Linguistic Typology Symposium, Berkeley, 1-3 December 1987. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 67:147-159, ed. by Winfred P. Lehmann. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. but recent studies suggest several periods of prehistoric cultural contact, especially in Southwestern Alaska along the Pacific Coast,²⁾Berge, A (2017) Subsistence Terminology in Unangam Tunuu (Aleut). Language Dispersal Beyond Farming, ed. by Martine Robbeets and Sander Savelyev. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 47-73; Berge, A (2018) Re-evaluating the Linguistic Reconstruction of Proto-Eskimo-Aleut. Journal of Historical Linguistics 8(2):231-273. with evidence of language contact, change, and even replacement in some areas. Contact, change, and adaptation are natural features of language history. This extends to the colonial era: several Eskaleut languages, including Atkan Unangax̂ (Unangam Tunuu), Central Alaskan Yup’ik (Yupik), Baffin Island Inuktitut (Inuit), and West Greenlandic Kalaallisut (Inuit), were relatively stable despite the loss of political autonomy and fundamental changes to the respective cultures. This stability lasted well into the 20^th century. West Greenlandic Kalaallisut, after a brief decline between the 1950s and 1970s, recovered and is currently not considered endangered. Its recovery can be attributed to a number of factors, many of which were also true of other regions, including scholarization in the language, widespread literacy, and a history of local political control. Crucially, however, its period of endangerment (brought on by policy changes in colonial rule in 1953) was brief, and with Home Rule in 1979, Kalaallisut was reestablished and strengthened. It has continued to change and adapt, and is currently the language of education, political discourse, and media in the region. Stable language change has involved normal and healthy processes of lexical neologisms (the creation of new words in a language),³⁾Berge, A and Kaplan, L (2005) Contact Induced Lexical Development in Eskimo Languages. Études/Inuit/Studies 29(1-2):285-305. grammatical changes as a result of changing dependencies on literacy and technology,⁴⁾Jacobsen, B (2010) Greenland Chat, Language Encounters in Cyberspace, 2006-07. Culture and Social Research in Greenland, selected essays 1992-2010. Nuuk: Ilisimatusarfik/Forlaget Atuagkat, 115-131. and other forms of adaptation to changing circumstances and experiences. All else being equal, the Eskaleut languages are perfectly capable of adapting to the modern world, and West Greenlandic Kalaallisut is a prime example thereof.

Nevertheless, the second half of the 20th century has severely destabilized Eskaleut languages. Despite varying colonial experiences, and with the notable exception of West Greenlandic, all these languages are in decline, with some facing imminent death, despite several decades of awareness of this problem⁵⁾Krauss, M (1990) Typology and Change in Alaskan Languages. Language Typology 1987: Systematic Balance in Language, Papers from the Linguistic Typology Symposium, Berkeley, 1-3 December 1987. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 67:147-159, ed. by Winfred P. Lehmann. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. and revitalization programs. Although languages are adaptable to changing circumstances, few languages are sustainable when faced with multiple simultaneous threats, such as declining speaker populations; lack of institutional support and infrastructure, resources, opportunities for language use and acquisition; and overwhelming rapid and system-wide changes in culture and technology. For example, even in Eastern Canada, where the Inuit language is commonly spoken both in public and private spheres, the Inuit population is increasing, but the number of new speakers is increasing at a much slower rate.⁶⁾Barry, T (2010) Indicator #22: Linguistic Diversity. Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010:99-102. https://caff.is/work/projects/arctic-biodiversity-assessment/. Accessed 6 February 2019 Furthermore, the lack of an accepted standard has hampered efforts to publish materials for decades, since the practice has been to publish materials in each of the Inuit dialects, despite limited resources. Thus, an otherwise potentially sustainable and stable situation has reached crisis proportions.

Language Revitalization and Contexts of Use

Stabilizing a system out of balance is considerably harder than maintaining one in equilibrium. There have been many attempts to stabilize and revitalize the various Eskaleut languages since the 1970s, with little success. In Alaska, for example, bilingual curricula were developed for children who were fluent in their respective Indigenous languages in the 1970s, but the share of fluent speakers has steadily declined. It takes more than exposure to language and formal language classes to bring it back to daily use, especially as there are fewer contexts in which it may be used. Furthermore, the rapid pace of language shift to the dominant language in most Eskaleut communities (English in most cases, Russian in the case of Bering Island Aleut, Siberian Yupik, and Naukan), has sometimes resulted in the Indigenous languages being specifically associated with traditional culture, at the same time that communities have shifted from a reliance on largely traditional subsistence and cultural activities to a lifestyle based on those of the dominant culture. Language revitalization, therefore, has often resulted in a focus on traditional vocabulary and traditional modes of speech, effectively destabilizing the languages and further limiting the scope of use.⁷⁾This point has been made numerous times in the literature; for a summary thereof, cf. Wagner, I (2017) New Technologies, Same Ideologies: Learning from Language Revitalization Online. Language Documentation and Conservation 11:133-156.https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4edd7ab5-dc34-45a6-b5eb-690264c530e8/content. Accessed 6 February, 2019.

In fact, the majority of revitalization attempts have been unsuccessful, if the goal is the reestablishment of the language as the medium of communication.⁸⁾Berge, A (2010) Revitalisation et Documentation de la Langue Chez les Aléoutes en Alaska. Les Documents de Recherches Yawenda. Québec: Université Laval. Revitalization frequently results in changing the language and the contexts of its use,⁹⁾Golla, V (2001) What Does It Mean for a Language to Survive? Some Thoughts on the (Not-So-Simple) Future of Small Languages. Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim: Lectures on Endangered Languages from Kyoto Conference 2000 2:171-178, ed. by Osamu Sakiyama and Endo Fubito, Kyoto : ELPR. therefore, focusing on the traditional forms of the language alone will not sustain it in the future.

Language Revitalization and Cultural Health

Nevertheless, the answer is not simply to modernize the languages: the link between language and culture is critical. Language is often seen as a symbol of the health and vitality of ethnic identity, and language revitalization is understood as a necessary part of cultural revitalization. This has long been recognized in many Indigenous communities, as evidenced by the importance of language workshops in cultural programs in Alaska, for example, and in the teaching of traditional vocabulary along with the relevant cultural activities. More recently, various studies have noted correlations between the health of a language and the health of a community.¹⁰⁾Oster, R, Grier, A, Lightning, R, Mayan, M, and Toth, E (2014) Cultural Continuity, Traditional Indigenous Language, and Diabetes in Alberta First Nations: A Mixed Methods Study. International Journal for Equity in Health 2014(13):92 https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-014-0092-4. Accessed on 6 December 2016 Furthermore, broad cultural programs in schools and camps have served not only as places to educate youth in traditional practices and strengthen ethnic identity, but also, importantly, to address high rates of depression and suicide within the communities.¹¹⁾Wexler, L, Barnett, J, Trout L (2018) Making a Difference: How Northwest Alaska is Working to Reduce Youth Suicide. Northern Public Affairs 2018:29-34

Language as a cultural value is clearly expressed in many communities, and is an integral component of cultural programs.¹²⁾Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2016) Suicide Prevention in Alaska Report. Accessed 6 February 2019 In recent decades, however, language revitalization has come to be seen almost as a panacea for language, cultural, and even physical endangerment, as evidenced by a focus on language and health in conferences and workshops,¹³⁾https://www.alaska.edu/colang2016/courses/workshop15/. Accessed on 6 December 2018 publications,¹⁴⁾Whalen D, Moss M, and Baldwin D (2016) Healing Through Language: Positive Physical Health Effects of Indigenous Language Use [version 1; referees: 2 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2016(5):852 https://f1000research.com/articles/5-852/v1. Accessed on 6 December 2018 and sources of funding. Not infrequently, the link between language revitalization and health is too broadly interpreted. For example, correlations between the health of a language and the health of a community, where language is used as a measure of cultural health,¹⁵⁾Oster, R, Grier, A, Lightning, R, Mayan, M, and Toth, E (2014) Cultural Continuity, Traditional Indigenous Language, and Diabetes in Alberta First Nations: A Mixed Methods Study. International Journal for Equity in Health 2014(13):92 https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-014-0092-4. Accessed on 6 December 2016 are understood, incorrectly, as causally related, i.e. assuming that if a language is revitalized, the community will be healthier. These impressions are reinforced by imprecision in the literature (e.g. “In Australia, speaking an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language was found to reduce several health risk factors…”)¹⁶⁾Whalen D, Moss M, and Baldwin D (2016) Healing Through Language: Positive Physical Health Effects of Indigenous Language Use [version 1; referees: 2 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2016(5):852 https://f1000research.com/articles/5-852/v1. Accessed on 6 December 2018 and overly strong claims about the benefits of language revitalization (“language programs in [North American] communities hold the promise of improving the mental and physical health of those who participate in them…”.¹⁷⁾Whalen D, Moss M, and Baldwin D (2016) Healing Through Language: Positive Physical Health Effects of Indigenous Language Use [version 1; referees: 2 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2016(5):852 https://f1000research.com/articles/5-852/v1. Accessed on 6 December 2018 The act of participating in activities that enhance community bonds, including language programs, can improve the sense of personal and community well-being,¹⁸⁾https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4006526/. Accessed on 5 February 2019 and language often has a special status in many communities; but it is not the language, or the language programs themselves, that improve health.

Language health is only one of many indications of broader cultural or societal health and therefore, language revitalization on its own is not sufficient for achieving cultural well-being, let alone physical health. Additionally, language revitalization probably will not be successful without a concomitant reestablishment of equilibrium in other aspects of the society or culture.

Parting Thoughts: Repairing the System

From this perspective, language is an apt metaphor for broader issues affecting the Arctic and indeed the world today, including climate change and sustainability. Just as each language is a unique reflection of the culture in which it is spoken, the same is true for the different components of healthy and diverse ecosystems. Language health is one indicator of the health of a culture, and language revitalization is only one part of a more comprehensive and systemic response to cultural destabilization that must include not only cultural revitalization,¹⁹⁾Berge, A (2010) Revitalisation et Documentation de la Langue Chez les Aléoutes en Alaska. Les Documents de Recherches Yawenda. Québec: Université Laval. but also the definition of cultural identity and membership in a vastly different world from that in which traditional culture was experienced, as well as the establishment of political leverage, socio-economic viability and stability, and so forth,²⁰⁾Crowell, A (2012) The Native Hawaiian Model of Language Revitalization: Problems of Extension to Native America. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 218:167-193. as the experience of Greenland has shown. Focusing only on language revitalization rarely results in successful revitalization. The same is quite obviously true for the Arctic ecosystem. In both cases, success hinges on repairing the system, not the symptoms.

Anna Berge is Professor of Linguistics and a specialist on Eskaleut languages at the Alaska Native Language Center and Director of the Alaska Native Language Archive at the University of Alaska Fairbanks; she has worked with communities in Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland since 1991.