Lawyer of Chemehuevi

As a lawyer of the Chemehuevi tribe and dialect, I stand by preserving this beautiful language. Chemehuevi is a forlorn language approaching demise due to lack of confabulation.  The following arguments are aimed to rebut those advocating the English language, and marking it as most dominant.

Supporting Chemehuevi:

Intrinsic Argument

• Chemehuevi has historical ties to the land and heritage.
• Holds unique traditions, i.e. the bear dance performed annually in the hopes of gaining more food during the dry season. They deliver chants in their unique language as a part of their dance.

Extrinsic Argument

• Can easily be reborn using the resources available, i.e. Johnny Hill’s recordings of the indigenous language, along with an achieve developed by Margret L. Press.

Functional Argument

• Holds insight into agriculture and medicinal knowledge that cannot be obtained without a familiarization with the land. This then provides a gateway into science and economic utility.
• It provides a lifestyle well suited to its people, which is imperative for human evolution. This acts as an ideological function.

Against English:

Intrinsic Argument

• It is rich in other aspects such as land and fertility, in addition to traditions, rather than societal status (status signal). Until Western hegemony hid their true potential of wealth of information.

Extrinsic Argument

• The reason English has a wealth of teaching resources is not because it is a naturally superior language. But, it contains such resources because Western civilizations have manipulated it to be like this in order to promote English. This also applies for the number of speakers.  It became widespread due to the way it has been framed to the public. Any language has the potential to be taught and become widespread. It was not social evolution that promoted the English language.

Functional Argument

• Hegemonic imperialism uplifted the English language. The purpose of a language is to be a mean of communication amongst individuals. Chemehuevi acts as just that.