Seventeen years ago, a variety of tribal languages were taught in schools around the country.
Mohawk is taught at a school in upstate New York, Lakota at elementary schools and a community college on the Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Kickapoo at a preschool in Oklahoma, Choctaw in Mississippi, Oneida in Wisconsin, Ute in Utah. Suzan Shown Harjo, president of the Morningstar Foundation, a Washington-based organization promoting Indian causes, says 14 radio stations offer Indian-language broadcasts -- Navajo in Arizona, Zuni in New Mexico and Lakota in South Dakota. (Ibid)
In the face of dying languages, other languages are evolving, replicating and transforming themselves. Unfortunately, many of us do not believe that the evolution of language is a good thing. We’re uncomfortable with the idea and dig our heels in at the very idea that language changes, broadens its horizons, and evolves—or dies.
We pick at accents, make fun of colloquialisms and assume that our version of the language is the proper one. In the process, we have created a nasty scenario for using language to disguise social engineering, propaganda and mind control.
An educator noted language manipulation and clichés have long been used by governments to promulgate dangerous polices. Under the cover of euphemisms, homespun colloquialisms and nuance, language has long been used as a weapon.
Orwell warns us that clichéd and pretentious language is more than a stylistic nuisance -- it also obscures the truth. Such language is potentially dangerous. It has been used by governments to manipulate public opinion in support of destructive policies. (Jeffrey H. Morgan, “The Rhetoric of Hate”)
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