American Indian
Native American Languages and COVID-19
This article explores the linguistic and cultural loss occurring in Native American communities as a result of the disproportional impact COVID-19 has had on them and their elders especially. [Published on 01-12-2021]
How “Rez Accents” Strengthen Native Identity
A cool article about identity and “reservation English” [Published on 03-06-2017]
President Obama speech
Play videoThis is a clip of President Obama talking about how everyone in America except for the Native Americans are from somewhere other than the USA, so we should all understand that we are mostly a nation of immigrants.
Tanto and Lone Ranger
Play videoThis is a clip from Lone Ranger, featuring scenes with the famous Tonto. It shows how Tonto talks versus the cowboys/other Americans. It also shows a very skewed view of how Native Americans interact and how they speak English (broken sentences and a sense of "inproper" English).
Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
A series of California maps over the years depicting the Languages spoken among various Native American tribes and what Linguistic roots these Languages have drawn from posted by as University of California Berkeley.
I 'don't code- switch' to hide my identity. I 'code-switch' to celebrate it.
This article is about an Indian American man who uses code switching to celebrate his many identities. His prides himself on being able to use the certain languages in appropriate settings. For example he says at any given time his family speaks in at least three languages- Marathi, Hindi, and English.
Berenstain Bears Reconnect Sioux To Native Language
Berenstain Bears cartoons help teach and revive the Lakota language. [Published on 09-26-2006]
Myrtle Woodcock speaks Chinook language 1952
Play videoA recording from 1952 of a woman speaking Chinook language.
Cherokee Look for Ways to Save Their Dying Language
This article depicts the perception of Cherokee as a "dying language", and how the remaining speakers are trying to bring it back to life. [Published on 02-29-2016]
Sapir-Whorf Picture
This is an image that helps explain the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The image is an example of how thoughts can be determined by the language in which you speak. This example shows Inuit being perplexed at the fact that language has so many variations for the word "no." The local area newspaper is titled "English have 10 times as many negative words," showing that certain words can have a wide variety of meaning in different cultures/languages.
Washington Redskins NBA Commercial
In this advertisement created by the National Congress of American Indians, the narrator takes the viewer through a number of "names" for Native Americans in the United States, including tribal names and other words that could be used to define the communities, before ending with an appeal that Native Americans would never describe themselves as "redskins." [Published on 06-10-2014]
Language Crisis: The American Indian Reality
Walt Wolfram's article in the Huffington Post profiling language revitalization efforts for the Cherokee language in North Carolina. [Published on 11-14-2014]
Who speaks Wukchumni?
A short documentary profiling the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni, a Native American language spoken in Central California, and her efforts to document the language through the creation of a dictionary. [Published on 08-18-2014]
When Slang Becomes a Slur
Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, who testified in the trademark trial over the name of the football team the Washington Redskins, argues that the term remains a slur and that the team name should be changed. [Published on 06-23-2014]
XKCD: National Language
An XKCD comic spoofing contemporary notions of a national language in the United States.