Abstract:
Through aggressive legislative and educational policies Indigenous languages
globally have been shifted to the language of the dominant society. Globalization has
brought previously geo-politically and/or geo-linguistically isolated people and language
. groups into close proximity that necessitated interaction and at times intense power
struggles. There are currently approximately 6,000 spoken languages in the world, more
than half are either endangered, dying or disappearing altogether. Canadian statistics
reveal an overall 3 % decline in the intergenerational transmission of language. Of the
original 60 Indigenous languages spoken in Canada, 8 are extinct, 13 are nearly extinct,
and 23 are critical. The remaining languages have a slim chance of survival. Within the
next 100 years only 4 Indigenous languages will remain. The Hodenosaunee languages
of Southern Ontario are not incl~ded among the list of languages that will survive the
next 100 years. There are, without a doubt, complex challenges in the maintenance of
Indigenous languages within a dominant-culture influenced environment. Given the
increasing awareness of the social impact of linguistic integrity and preservation of
languages on Indigenous people as a whole, this study considers how language is
currently being used; the social, economic, and political implications of language
shifting; the need to shift our social consciousness in order to understand the urgency in
privileging our Hodenosaunee languages; as well as ways in which we might achieve
those goals as individuals, as families, and as a community.
