Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada
Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Today indigenous communities throughout North America are grappling with the dual issues of language loss and revitalization. While many communities are making efforts to restore their traditional languages through educational programs, for some communities these efforts are not enough or have come too late to stem the tide of language death, which occurs when no fluent speakers remain and the language is no longer used in regular communication. The Maliseet language, as spoken in the Tobique First Nation of New Brunswick, Canada, is one such endangered language that will either survive through revitalization or die off.

Defying Maliseet Language Death is an ethnographic study by Bernard C. Perley, a member of this First Nation, that examines the continuing role of the Maliseet language in Maliseet identity processes. Perley examines what is being done to keep the Maliseet language alive, who is actively involved in these efforts, and how these two factors are promoting the survival of the Maliseet language. He also explores questions of identity, asking the important question: "If Maliseet is no longer spoken, are we still Maliseet?" This timely volume presents a unique perspective on the place of language within culture by considering the dual issues of language survival and indigenous identity.

Bernard C. Perley is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
1100176475
Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada
Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Today indigenous communities throughout North America are grappling with the dual issues of language loss and revitalization. While many communities are making efforts to restore their traditional languages through educational programs, for some communities these efforts are not enough or have come too late to stem the tide of language death, which occurs when no fluent speakers remain and the language is no longer used in regular communication. The Maliseet language, as spoken in the Tobique First Nation of New Brunswick, Canada, is one such endangered language that will either survive through revitalization or die off.

Defying Maliseet Language Death is an ethnographic study by Bernard C. Perley, a member of this First Nation, that examines the continuing role of the Maliseet language in Maliseet identity processes. Perley examines what is being done to keep the Maliseet language alive, who is actively involved in these efforts, and how these two factors are promoting the survival of the Maliseet language. He also explores questions of identity, asking the important question: "If Maliseet is no longer spoken, are we still Maliseet?" This timely volume presents a unique perspective on the place of language within culture by considering the dual issues of language survival and indigenous identity.

Bernard C. Perley is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada

Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada

by Bernard C Perley
Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada
Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada

Defying Maliseet Language Death: Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity in Eastern Canada

by Bernard C Perley

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Overview

Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Today indigenous communities throughout North America are grappling with the dual issues of language loss and revitalization. While many communities are making efforts to restore their traditional languages through educational programs, for some communities these efforts are not enough or have come too late to stem the tide of language death, which occurs when no fluent speakers remain and the language is no longer used in regular communication. The Maliseet language, as spoken in the Tobique First Nation of New Brunswick, Canada, is one such endangered language that will either survive through revitalization or die off.

Defying Maliseet Language Death is an ethnographic study by Bernard C. Perley, a member of this First Nation, that examines the continuing role of the Maliseet language in Maliseet identity processes. Perley examines what is being done to keep the Maliseet language alive, who is actively involved in these efforts, and how these two factors are promoting the survival of the Maliseet language. He also explores questions of identity, asking the important question: "If Maliseet is no longer spoken, are we still Maliseet?" This timely volume presents a unique perspective on the place of language within culture by considering the dual issues of language survival and indigenous identity.

Bernard C. Perley is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780803238107
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Publication date: 11/01/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 373 KB

About the Author


Bernard C. Perley is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Notes on Terminology and Orthography xiii

1 The Specter of Language Death 1

2 "Tipping" toward Maliseet Language Death 31

3 Programming Language Maintenance 63

4 From Spoken Maliseet to Text 85

5 Elementary Language Curriculum and Practice 101

6 Death by Suicide 121

7 Language and Being in Maliseet Worlds 149

8 Emergent Vitalities of Language, Culture, and Identity 184

Notes 201

References 213

Index 225

Map: Tobique First Nation and the Maliseet homeland 13

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