First-of-its-kind Indigenous Child Language Research Center launched
November 8, 2022 - Savannah Peat
Protecting an endangered language is just as consequential as safeguarding animals on the verge of extinction.
The Navajo language faces threats to its vitality just as imperiled animals do.
Like protecting the planet, preserving a language, and the massive culture attached to it, starts at a young age.
That’s why The University of New Mexico’s Department of Linguistics and Lobo Language Acquisition Lab, are launching the Indigenous Child Language Research Center to follow the progress of infants and children at the Saad K’idilyé Diné Language Nest.
Thanks to a $250,000 grant, this virtual center will be the first of its kind in the country. It will document Indigenous language development with a strong focus on producing Navajo speakers at the most critical period of time for acquisition–childhood.
“Children hold the future of their languages in their hands. When children are no longer speaking their Indigenous languages, those languages will cease to thrive among speakers,” Professor Melvatha Chee said.
Creating a new wave of Navajo speakers will require the Center to connect its child language researchers with teachers, families, and policymakers to learn how child language research can support and inform pedagogical approaches to reverse language loss in New Mexico.
“New Mexico should be a place where linguistic and cultural diversity flourish. But its long history of linguistic oppression often marked by severe abuse has led to extensive trauma and loss of language and culture that still has devastating ramifications for children,” she said.
The Saad K’idilyé Diné Language Nest, specializes in children under the age of three. It’s an increasingly important, but time-consuming age to focus on. Experts say it typically takes three hours to transcribe one minute of Navajo child language.
Recent research shows despite continued usage of the Navajo language by tribal elders, fewer children than ever before are learning it as a first language. That is the immense risk of the language not transferring to future generations.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
