Outline:
Where it is spoken:
It is primarily spoken
in the United States, in the states of Arizona and California.
The Chemehuevi Indians are Native Americans of California. According to tribal
history, they were once part of the Southern Paiute tribe, which suffused
throughout southwestern Utah, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, and
southeastern California. Today, their main residency is based in the Chemehuevi
Valley area, in the multi-ethnic Colorado River Indian Reservation in
Arizona.
Information on speakers:
Prior to the discovery
of the Chemehuevi, it was recorded that there may have been 500-800 speakers of
the indigenous language of Chemehuevi (Kroeber, 1925). Today, there are fewer than
two-dozen first-language speakers of Chemehuevi (Golla, 2011). The youngest
speaker is named Johnny Hill, Jr. and is 53
years old. In his free time he tapes recording of himself practicing his
language to be utilized for future generations. However, the language is not
being taught to youth.
Whether it is part of a
larger language family or an ‘orphan’:
Chemehuevi
is part of the Numic branch of the Southern Paiute languages, thus it is part
of a larger family.
The extent to which it
is documented:
Extensive documentation
of the grammatical descriptions and the Chemehuevi lexicon has been complied
into an archive written by Margret L. Press. In addition to recordings of the
language by Johnny Hill, Jr.
The criteria of which
the language is endangered:
The website Ethnologue
has created a detailed criterion in terms of what makes a language threatened.
Under their EGIDS (Expanded Graded International Disruption Scale), they
labeled the Chemehuevi language at level 6B, which is exactly at the threatened
status. The description of this is “the language is used for face-to-face
communication within all generations but is losing users.” This can be backed
up by statistics from Berkley University. They cited that there are around 6230
ethnic Chemehuevi people. Out of those 6230 people, only 3500 can speak it as a
second language and only around a dozen speak it as their first language. This
fits the threatened criteria, as those 3500 people are likely to speak it face
to face. This can be compared to 1925, where there were over 800 people that
utilized this language as their first. Now there are only a dozen. There’s a
clear declining trend of the language and will likely soon be extinct.
Efforts to revitalize
the language:
Chemehuevi is considered
a dialect of the larger “Ute” language. As its own dialect, there are little
efforts to revitalize the language. There are a few courses, but lack the
funding to support it. On top of that, the Chemehuevi tribe cannot benefit the
speakers in the outside world, meaning that there’s no social or economic
benefit from learning the language. That being said, the efforts are miniscule
but are existent.
Prospects of survival:
Judging by the miniscule
efforts to resurrect the language and the data acquired, there’s a small chance
that this language can survive for an extended period of time.
Unique qualities of the
speakers’ culture and traditions
The Chemehuevi people
have many unique aspects to their culture. The most intriguing thing is the
annual bear dance that they perform in hopes of getting more food during the
dry season. This is unique to them due to the fact that they chant in their own
language, which, if gone, can destroy this beautiful cultural thing. Another
thing is that they have unique folklore, told in their native dialect.
Specifically, there’s one that oversees a God-son slaying a sea serpent and
saving the people from destruction. These unique things would ultimately
disappear when the language disappears, taking their culture down with it.
Script:
Tala: Welcome everybody to “Language Avenue” podcast! Today we
have a very special guest from the Chemehuevi Reservation, Johnny Hill! Johnny
Hill is the youngest speaker of the Chemehuevi dialect of the “Ute” language.
He shares his special tongue with only a two-dozen other people as their first
language! Please welcome Johnny Hill.
Johnny: I’m very pleased to be here Tala.
Tala: Johnny, your language is famous among linguistics for being
so endangered, being one of the few tribes to diminish in the 21st century. How
is your language considered endangered?
Johnny: I can only tell you from personal experience that over my
lifetime, I’ve seen many great speakers pass away and many new generations
shift to a westernized lifestyle. I think that we’re considered statistically
endangered by the Ethnologue database for having only a few native speakers
left.
Tala: That’s what I figured. Tell us Johnny, what is the
reservation like?
Johnny: Vague question Tala. Well, it’s quite lonely sometime in
California, where the reservation is. I feel as if I see my people expanding
but our culture doesn’t follow. When I speak my dialect, it feels as if I’m a
foreigner in my motherland.
Tala: That’s an interesting point, why do you feel that way?
Johnny: I’m 53 years old. When I was a child, I would hear my
mother tongue being spoken year round. People had no concern in expanding
outside of our reservation. No interest in being rich or powerful. Nowadays
it’s not the same. Family ties and relationships aren’t enough to uphold a
culture. This is why our language is diminishing. If you look at the facts, we
have around 6000 people in the tribe. Only 3500 can barely speak it. Only a
handful are fluent.
Tala: Today’s society is besieged by the crave for power. You can
only be powerful by appealing to the cultural and societal norms that your
country’s population lives in. This is a sort of cultural hegemony that sets
the rules for what’s powerful and what’s not. Unfortunately, most languages do
not fit their criteria of power and success.
Johnny: I haven’t really realized that. That’s very true. Maybe
that explains why over half of my population can’t speak our own language.
Heck, look at our own website, it’s like they know more about the western
culture than they do about ours! My youngest son can barely speak it. Sometimes
he comes up to me and asks why we weren’t born “American”. He keeps saying how
he feels left out, how he feels as if his opportunities to be successful are
diminishing. That hurts to hear…
Tala: That’s very interesting to note. Through my linguistic
studies, I learned about the theory of hybridity. It seems to me as if there’s
live proof for it here. It’s interesting because hybridity is essentially a
cross-identity between two different cultures. Your son seems to be attempting
to adopt the western culture. However, his differences, which makes him
socially “unusual”, makes him unable to attest to the westernized culture
wholly.
Johnny: Hey I actually haven’t noticed. Thinking about it now, it
seems that as their language diminished, so did our awareness for our own
culture. It’s like as we adopted a new language, we also adopted the culture
associated with that language. This made my tribe develop a new identity that’s
associated with the ruling western culture. I mean even our most prominent
parts of our culture like our Bear Dance, ceased to exist anymore.
Tala: Very insightful observation. What you’re talking about here
is a link between three different linguistic theories. Your tribe got struck
with the feeling of alterity, or the feeling of being unusual or an outsider.
They had trouble adapting into the western culture, making them have the need
for affiliation. This need to fit in caused cross-cultural exchange, leading to
hybridity, further demoting to monolingualism. I noticed how there is very
minimal documentation of the ethnic culture however there is documentation of
the jargon, which has not been utilized.
Johnny: Yes, me personally I have tape recordings of me speaking
the language in my free time, with the hopes of it being used by future
generations of the tribe. And, another woman has created an archive. Bringing
back our website and our culture, you can see that we have minimal cultural and
self expression because we’ve developed a creolized identity from borrowing
ways of living from different cultures in an attempt to appeal to the cultural
hegemony.
Tala: Interesting of you to say that because that’s denoted as
subalternity. What are your last remarks?
Johnny: This makes me ask myself, what is the link between
culture, language and identity?
Tala: There is a solid trend here. You see culture seems to be
directly intertwined with language. As you mentioned as your people failed to
preserve the language they began to adopt external traditions. This then
furthers the idea that minority languages, such as Chemehuevi, tend to diminish
as they aren't powerful enough to hold a voice. Thus, aren't being taught to
children then will eventually approach demise. This then all relates to the
formation of one’s identity. As diverse cultures will impinge on the formation
of an individual or community’s identity and way of living.
