SUBSCRIBE

The True Tongue of the Tsimshian Tribe

Tsimshian Totem Pole
Tsimshian Totem Pole

The language of the Tsimshian tribe of the Pacific Northwest is called Sm’algyax (alternatively spelled Shm’algyack), which directly translates to, “real or true tongue.” In order to give the Tsimshian children a sense of cultural identity, Donna Roberts, one of the last fluent speakers of the tribe’s language, will embark on a three-year teaching project in Metlakatla, Alaska to spread the Tsimshian language and culture. “They realized they didn’t know their language,” Roberts told the Seattle Globalist. “They thought that just singing the words to the song as they danced was knowing the language. But just lately they realized, no, they don’t know their language,” Roberts said. “That generation is beginning to realize that they are missing that.”

Continue

The Philly Sign Language Accent

About 130 of the world’s estimated 6,500 languages are mutually unintelligible forms of sign language. Sign languages can be broken up into linguistic families and are not just simple translations of existing languages. For this reason it makes sense that, like other languages, sign languages can have regional accents, as researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are investigating in Philadelphia. Linguists Jami Fisher and Meredith Tamminga, the head researchers for this project, secured a $10,000, one-year Research Opportunity Grant from Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences to gather data on Philly ASL. “In all sign languages,” Fisher told Philly Mag, “there are regional variations. But in the deaf community, Philadelphia has always been known anecdotally as very different.” Tamminga elaborated in Penn News; “We don’t know much about it beyond the lexical level, which is the equivalent of who says ‘pop’ and who says ‘soda.’ People get really excited about it but from a linguistic point of view, it’s fairly superficial. People can learn new words and the words spread.”

Continue

Even Lost Languages Rewire Brain

Research also demonstrates brain’s plasticity and ability to adapt to new language environments

In a paper published in December’s Nature Communications, researchers from Canada’s McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute demonstrate that even brief, early exposure to a language influences how the brain processes sounds from a second language later in life. Even if the first language learned is no longer spoken.

Continue

Chinese Language Trouble with the New Zealand Census

Chinese would be the third most common language spoken in New Zealand (NZ) if the NZ Chinese Language Week Trust goes along with its plan to not consider different Chinese dialects as distinct languages. Trust co-chairman Raymond Huo, a former Labour Party spokesman for statistics, said the ranking order of English, te reo Maori, Samoan, and Hindi as the top four most spoken languages in New Zealand by Statistics NZ was, “incorrect, misleading and deeply flawed”. The distinction between various forms of the Chinese language is a complicated and often polarizing linguistic and political issue. “Treating Mandarin, Yue or other Chinese dialects as independent languages is deeply flawed,” Huo told the New Zealand Harold. “It is similar to making statistical inferences about the difference between Northern English, Oceania English and Indian English, or […] between pub talk and the King’s English. As such, English may not be the most widely spoken language if each ‘dialect’ was treated as an independent language as in the case of Mandarin and Cantonese.”

Continue

Language Conflict in Malaysian Courts

Tan Sri Adenan Satem, the Chief Minister of Sarawak, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo, is stirring up controversy by giving the English language equal status to Bahasa Malaysia as the preferred official language of the Sarawak state administration. “We are not living on the moon and I am being practical,” Adenan said of his decision. “It is not only the language of the Anglo-Saxons. It is the language of the world, not Bahasa Malaysia.” Chong Chieng Jen, a Kuching Member of Parliament of the Democratic Action Party, defended Adenan by speaking entirely in English to debate the 2016 Supply Bill. Extreme critics of this move said this was an “insult to the Federal Constitution.”

Continue

ESEA Reauthorization Does More for ELLs

The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has officially been released, an earlier draft of which was criticized for not providing critical protections for minority students and English-language learners (ELLs). The new proposal is called the Every Student Succeeds Acts (ESSA) and, if it passes both chambers of Congress in the next couple weeks, is expected to be signed by President Obama by the end of 2015. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights voiced support for the bill, saying that, “Although there are areas of the Every Student Succeeds Act that fall short, we believe this bill is stronger for the most vulnerable students than the outdated No Child Left Behind and current ESEA waivers.”

Continue

Bilingualism Boosts U.S. Labor Market

Bilinguals, who can read and write in English and their native language, drop out of high school at lower rates, enter higher status occupations, and can earn more than those from immigrant backgrounds who only speak English according to a study carried out by the Civil Rights Project at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS). “Balanced bilinguals,” those who understand, speak, read and write in both English and the language of the home: earn more – $2,000–$5,000 annually compared to their English-only peers; go to college at higher rates, which dramatically increases earnings; have more social networks.

Continue

Hawaiian Activist Refuses to Speak English in Court

ThinkstockPhotos-122458939A group of activists blocked the construction of a large telescope on a mountain that many Native Hawaiians hold sacred. Kahookahi Kanuha, one of three activists arrested, refused to speak English in court. “I’m trying to show that the language is alive,” Kanuha told NPR. “And it’s about time that Hawaiian be truly recognized, at the very least, as an equal language to English. And so one way to do that, I think, is to prove, in the courts, that I do not need to ask for an interpreter. And that’s why the case has been postponed. It is the judge who cannot communicate in my preferred language, which just so happens to be an official language of the state of Hawaii.”

Continue

Fostering Taiwan’s Indigenous Languages

The Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the Government of the Republic of China, approved a bill to foster the development of indigenous languages in Taiwan, introducing accreditation tests for aboriginal language proficiency and public signage in indigenous languages. Of Taiwan’s 42 languages and dialects, nine are considered vulnerable (Amis, Bunun, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Taroko, Tayal, Tsou, and Yami), five are critically endangered (Kanakanavu, Kavalan, Saaroa, Saisiyat and Thao), and Siraya is severely endangered.

Continue

December 2015

LangMag_Dec15p

 

DECEMBER

2016 Year Planner Conferences, workshops, observances and grant deadlines

Open Doors Report More students than ever are U.S.-bound to learn

Nail Polish and Baseball Bats Diana Kennedy suggests “googling for content” to inspire students to read

Growing Global Educators Deborah Ellis engages students in rigorous learning by harnessing their enthusiasm

Toward Biliteracy: Spanish and Californian Trajectories As demands grow for biliteracy in California, Cynthia García Dehbozorgi and Nehemias Giménez García compare the state’s initiatives to those of Spain

STEM in a Chaotic Classroom Lydia Withrow uses a CSI-themed project, creating a mock crime scene to incorporate STEM into her English curriculum

Last Writes Richard Lederer with a Dog’s ‘Night Before Christmas’

Reviews Jobshop Source and more.

1...252253254...332Page 253 of 332

Subscribe for exclusive content

Language Magazine is a monthly print and online publication that provides cutting-edge information for language learners, educators, and professionals around the world.

Subscribe

LanguageMagazine 2023

Language Magazine