Endangered Languages Podcast - Chemehuevi

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.