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05 August 2008
Navajo Textbook Aims to Preserve Language, Culture
New Mexico is first state to approve Native American language text
Washington -- In many countries with indigenous populations, how these groups adapt to the modern world while protecting their own cultures is an important question. It therefore was reported widely when New Mexico in July became the first U.S. state to approve a textbook that teaches a Native American language -- Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo'aah or Rediscovering the Navajo Language.
Native North American languages are spoken by about 380,000 Americans, according to the 2000 census. The Navajo Nation numbers almost 300,000 people, of whom about 178,000 speak the Navajo language, making it the most widely spoken Native American language.
Experts estimate that only one-half of the 300 or so native languages once spoken in North America still have any living speakers, and fewer than 50 still are spoken by children -- the future of any language.
The textbook is the work of Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie, a professor of Navajo at Northern Arizona University, and Peggy Speas, a professor of linguistics at the University of Massachusetts.
The project grew out of Navajo language classes taught by Parsons-Yazzie, who wanted to create “a tool that will help toward the maintenance and preservation of the Navajo language.”
“By presenting the book in full color, nicely bound, well-written, and easily managed, the textbook would place the Navajo language in the realm of other commonly taught languages; and Navajo students would see this and begin to acknowledge their language as one that is not only for the elders but for the Navajo youth as well,” said Parsons-Yazzie in an e-mail interview.
The book is colorful, beautiful, elegant and graceful so as “to instill pride within Navajo students, leading to pride in their language,” she said, and it presents both Navajo culture and language.
Moreover, she wanted her textbook to reflect her approach to teaching as communication, and the teacher’s guide helps instructors unfamiliar with this approach. “The methodology represented is one that incorporates the way the elders teach where the language surrounds activities, situations, and events. It is in these activities, situations, and events that the elders model the language for the new learner. The bonus here is that the students acquire literacy skills as well,” Parsons-Yazzie said.
“The Workbook is unique in that it requires that the student incorporate Navajo speakers and Navajo elders as their source of information and their source of knowledge,” Parson-Yazzie said.
Speas, who learned Navajo as a graduate student, said in a separate e-mail interview that her role was “to make the explanation of grammar points as simple as possible, and to help figure out what aspects of grammar we did and did not need to include.”
Speas has worked with the Navajo Language Academy, a group of Navajo and non-Navajo linguists that has conducted summer workshops for Navajo bilingual teachers for more than a decade. As a result, she has experience explaining Navajo grammar to people who are speakers of Navajo but do not have a linguistics background.
“I think that linguists who develop teaching materials often include more grammatical analysis than is necessary or helpful,” she said.
The authors faced some major challenges in creating their textbook.
“The greatest challenge for me was the weekly meetings I held with Navajo elders,” Parsons-Yazzie said. “In the meetings, I covered the material, read the Navajo text ... to ensure the vernacular was maintained and that the material would not be offensive to anyone.”
Parsons-Yazzie had to be sensitive to the fact she was “presenting material that is delegated to Navajo male elders, such as teachings about building a hogan [traditional Navajo house], making a cradle board, caring for horses and cows, hunting, etc. I grew up in a home with five brothers so I heard the teachings a lot, so I knew the information, but getting around the fact that it is a woman presenting these topics was of concern to me.”
Another challenge was how to present Navajo culture without appearing to teach traditional Navajo religion. “Many Navajo Christian parents who do not want the religious aspect taught in the classroom find it difficult to allow their children to attend the Navajo language classes,” Parsons-Yazzie said.
“I was fortunate in that my father was a pastor in the Baptist church and my mother played the piano, interpreted for the Navajo people and the missionaries, and also worked on many translations of Navajo hymns; therefore, I was aware of the ‘line’ that is drawn between culture and religious beliefs,” Parsons-Yazzie said. “Navajo elders who are Christians were consulted on all the cultural components to make sure no one would be offended.”
Speas hopes the book will be a model and inspiration for other threatened languages. The visual beauty of the book is essential. “Having young people see their language taken seriously and packaged as something valuable can have a very important impact.”
Another aspect Speas hopes will be a model is “the way that Dr. Parsons-Yazzie made the culture lessons into teachings that could apply just as well today, rather than just stories about traditions of the past. The way she describes it, Navajo culture is a set of values and relationships, not just an array of traditional clothing, dances, music and ceremonies.”
For additional information see American Indian History, Culture. Also see video on the Navajo Language Academy Summer Workshops 2007 on YouTube.
Video on Navajo Language Academy Summer Workshop (YouTube)