The moral fabric of linguicide: un-weaving trauma narratives and dependency relationships in Indigenous language reclamation

Abstract

In Therapeutic Nations, Dian Million highlights the complicated role that neoliberal arenas like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and international dialogues concerning human rights play in the marginalization of Indigenous communities. Neoliberal arenas are empowered by sociopolitical imaginaries, or a metaphorical moral fabric of a given community, that consist in discursive content and affective, felt knowledge. According to Million, the sociopolitical imaginaries that give weight and context to negative stereotypes about Indigenous peoples are the same sociopolitical imaginaries that empower neoliberal arenas. In a sense, the proposed solutions are 'cut from the same cloth' as the causes of settler colonial violence. Million does not directly apply her argument to Indigenous language reclamation, but Million's conceptions of sociopolitical imaginaries and paradoxically imposed neoliberal arenas are useful for framing a discussion of the potential harms in some Indigenous language reclamation projects, specifically, revitalization programming described by UNESCO and those pursued by U.S. research universities. I aim to show that some of these proposed solutions to Indigenous language loss are cut from the very same cloth, justified by the same sociopolitical imaginaries, as attempted linguicide itself.

The Role of AI in Supporting Indigenous Languages

“…Furthermore, the correlation between language revitalization and the well-being of Indigenous communities, as explored by Meissner (2018) and Whalen et al (2022), finds resonance in our findings. The narratives of our participants underscore the interconnectedness of language, culture, and community resilience, suggesting that language revitalization efforts contribute significantly to the holistic health of indigenous communities (Meissner, 2018;Whalen et al, 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, the correlation between language revitalization and the well-being of Indigenous communities, as explored by Meissner (2018) and Whalen et al (2022), finds resonance in our findings. The narratives of our participants underscore the interconnectedness of language, culture, and community resilience, suggesting that language revitalization efforts contribute significantly to the holistic health of indigenous communities (Meissner, 2018;Whalen et al, 2022). This perspective is supported by Henne-Ochoa (2022) and Misaki (2022), who delve into the socio-political dimensions of language revitalization, addressing the enduring impacts of colonialism and the central role of language in shaping identity (Henne-Ochoa, 2022; Misaki, 2022).…”

Proceedings of the First Workshop on Cross-Cultural Considerations in NLP (C3NLP)

“…The issues of trust and access have been an ongoing theme in the literature on endangered language documentation (Burnette and Sanders, 2014;Meissner, 2018), and a variety of best practices have been developed to promote successful collaborations between documentary linguists and communities (Penfield et al, 2008;Thieberger, 2012;Austin, 2014;Austin and Sallabank, 2018). As such, we will focus our recommendations on the pairings involving computational linguists.…”

Strengthening Relationships Between Indigenous Communities, Documentary Linguists, and Computational Linguists in the Era of NLP-Assisted Language Revitalization

“…The issues of trust and access have been an ongoing theme in the literature on endangered language documentation (Burnette and Sanders, 2014;Meissner, 2018), and a variety of best practices have been developed to promote successful collaborations between documentary linguists and communities (Penfield et al, 2008;Thieberger, 2012;Austin, 2014;Austin and Sallabank, 2018). As such, we will focus our recommendations on the pairings involving computational linguists.…”