Russ Hugo

Russ Hugo's presentation about indigenous language attrition and preservation served as a really interesting look into some of the most endangered living languages in the country (probably the world, too?); he was such a passionate lecturer, and I found his self-named "rants" to include some of the most informative and critical material provided. The impression I was left with after learning more about the topic was that Native American language preservation in the northwest is a giant catch-22. Namely, I feel like any action (or lack of action) that will occur in Native American language preservation will lead to either 1) language death, or 2) language/cultural disruption. Since so many of the Native American languages are oral languages and passed down through storytelling, it is hard to create a record of the language's use, and provide it as a resource to others. Additionally, membership is an extremely important factor in the use/dissemination of many of these languages, and if native speakers do not want the language shared as public domain, then there is no way in which outsiders can or should intervene with the language. If a majority DOES want the language shared, then even Russ Hugo said "compromises" would have to be necessary in the process of building curricula for the full-on teaching and use of these languages. These changes could negatively affect the original meanings and intentions behind pieces of the language. However, if a Native American tribe is divided regarding whether the language should be shared or kept private, this seems to introduce the most worrisome problem of all. Attempts to either keep the language private, or collaborate to build learning programs for the language, will be hindered by the disagreeing group. And something that was even more astounding to me was the cryptic, competitive, and non-collaborative nature of indigenous language studies by professors that Russ Hugo mentioned; if a language's use is down to 15 speakers, and the native speakers would like to revive the language, they need to have most productive and collaborative team of people willing to share/build resources as possible.