Indigenous Languages

Question 1

Language Diversity Index (LDI)

Answer 1

The probability that any two people selected at random have a different mother tongue
1 = most diverse
0 = least diverse

Question 2

Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS)

Answer 2

• Measures language vitality
• 13 levels
• The higher the number the more endangered a language is

Question 3

Why are Endangered Languages Important for Linguists?

Answer 3

Linguistic Theory: we want to account for patterns in all languages
Linguistic Typology: classifying languages in terms of their features
Historical languages: determining common ancestry
Sociolinguistics: understanding the role of socio-political factors in language shift

Question 4

Why are Endangered Languages Important for Non- Linguists?

Answer 4

• identity
• belonging
• healing
• health

Question 5

Indigenous Language Families in Canada

Answer 5

• 70 languages; 10 families

- Larger language families: Algonquian, Iroquoian, Eskimo-Aleut

Question 6

Indian Residential Schools

Answer 6

Removed Indigenous children from their parents and home communities. Forced them to abandon their culture and language

Question 7

Effects of Indian Residential Schools

Answer 7

• death from disease, poor conditions, and treatment
• children grew up away from their language and culture
• regarded as savages & stereotyped
• became adults without clear identity
• intergenerational psychological trauma

Question 8

The 60’s Scoop

Answer 8

Child welfare authorities began to steal Indigenous children under the guise of protecting them from the inadequate care of their families

Question 9

Canada’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

Answer 9

Aims to acknowledge and provide awareness about the residential school system

Question 10

McGill’s Symposium on the Role of the University in Supporting Indigenous Languages

Answer 10

Aims to identify how universities can engage in the work of maintaining and revitalizing Indigenous languages in Canada

Question 11

Allyship vs. Saviorhood

Answer 11

Indigenous language revitalization is an Indigenous-led process. It is not up to universities to save Indigenous languages

Question 12

Universal Function of TP

Answer 12

Anchor the event to the utterance

Question 13

Deictics

Answer 13

Bits of language that depend on the context for interpretation (ex. tense, location, person)

Question 14

INFL

Answer 14

same thing as TP

Question 15

TP in English

Answer 15

• unique (only one per sentence)
• obligatory (has to be there in finite clauses, and is absent in certain non-finite clauses
• t-to-c movement

Question 16

Halkomelem

Answer 16

Sentences are not necessarily marked for tense and are instead obligatorily marked for location. Location auxiliaries move to C to form yes/no questions

Question 17

3 dimensions along which languages can vary

Answer 17

1) Relative order of components (ex. heads with respect to complements)
2) Whether and how far things move (height of verb movement, wh-movement)
3) The function of heads like TP remains constant, but the actual content may vary

Question 18

Noun incorporation

Answer 18

Objects and complements can incorporate into the verb, while subjects cannot

Question 19

Inuktitut

Answer 19

Very long words, but they have syntax, though different from the syntax we have seen in other more familiar languages

Question 20

The minimalist program

Answer 20

an attempt to address the concern of did we put too much into our theory

Question 21

external merge

Answer 21

take two things, put them together

Question 22

internal merge

Answer 22

take two things, put them together, then remerge (move) one element