Endangered Languages

For tribal elders of the Arapaho, their native language of the same name is deeply ingrained in their identity and history.

But of the estimated 11,000 Native Americans who make up the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming and the Southern Arapaho of Oklahoma, only about 1,000 can speak Arapaho fluently. And nearly all of them are over 50, putting the language at severe risk of disappearing when they die.

Arapaho is one of more than 3,000 languages worldwide that are endangered—at risk of dying out because most users speak and teach their children another language. Linguists predict that up to 90 percent of the estimated 7,100 languages in current use could disappear by the end of the century.

One of the biggest threats to language is globalization. As countries become more interconnected, the languages used by the wealthiest and most powerful countries—such as English and Mandarin—are becoming more dominant in business and the media.

Colonization has also taken a toll. For centuries, settlers went to faraway lands and forced the people they encountered to adopt their languages and customs.

For tribal elders of the Arapaho, their native language of the same name is deeply ingrained in their identity and history.

An estimated 11,000 Native Americans make up the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming and the Southern Arapaho of Oklahoma. Only about 1,000 of them can speak Arapaho fluently. And nearly all of those who can are over 50 years old. That puts the language at severe risk of disappearing when they die.

Arapaho is one of more than 3,000 languages worldwide that are endangered. That means they’re at risk of dying out because most users speak and teach their children another language. Linguists predict that up to 90 percent of the estimated 7,100 languages in current use could disappear by the end of the century.

One of the biggest threats to language is globalization. As countries become more interconnected, the languages used by the wealthiest and most powerful countries, such as English and Mandarin, are becoming more dominant in business and the media.

Colonization has also taken a toll. For centuries, settlers went to faraway lands and forced the people they encountered to adopt their languages and customs.

That’s similar to what happened to the Arapaho language. Like many Indigenous languages in the U.S., Arapaho began to decline in use in the late 1800s. The U.S. government drove Native Americans off their land and onto reservations. Then it forced Indigenous children to go to boarding schools to strip them of their cultures. They were required to learn and speak only English, a practice that continued for about a century. As a result, many children grew into adults who no longer spoke their native tongues.

Today’s Arapaho elders want to change that. To motivate more of the younger generation to learn Arapaho, they’re turning to technology.

In 2016, Arapaho leaders teamed up with a tech company to build an Arapaho-language app, which includes recordings of about 650 words spoken by tribal members. Today students on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Arapahoe, Wyoming, use the app in classrooms. Tribal members hope the effort will create new Arapaho speakers.

“I always stress to young Arapaho that the Arapaho language is who we are,” says tribal elder Wayne C’Hair.

That’s similar to what happened to the Arapaho language. Like many Indigenous languages in the U.S., Arapaho began to decline in use in the late 1800s. The U.S. government drove Native Americans off their land and onto reservations. Then it forced Indigenous children to go to boarding schools to strip them of their cultures. They were required to learn and speak only English. This practice continued for about a century. As a result, many children grew into adults who no longer spoke their native tongues.

Today’s Arapaho elders want to change that. To motivate more of the younger generation to learn Arapaho, they’re turning to technology.

In 2016, Arapaho leaders teamed up with a tech company to build an Arapaho-language app. It  includes recordings of about 650 words spoken by tribal members. Today students on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Arapahoe, Wyoming, use the app in classrooms. Tribal members hope the effort will create new Arapaho speakers.

“I always stress to young Arapaho that the Arapaho language is who we are,” says tribal elder Wayne C’Hair.

There’s evidence that an endangered language, much like an endangered animal species, can recover if people take steps to nurse it back to health. The Maori, the Indigenous people of New Zealand, have worked for decades to resurrect their dying language—and they’ve made significant strides. Use of Maori began to decline after the United Kingdom colonized the region in 1841 and made English the official language. For generations, the colonial government suppressed or banned the Maori language in schools.

By the early 1970s, only 5 percent of Maori children could speak their native tongue. That’s when activists began working to save the language. Their efforts had an impact. In 1982, New Zealand’s government introduced a language immersion program for Maori preschoolers. Today, about 30 percent of New Zealanders speak some Maori, and that rate is rising. There are enough Maori-language speakers to support Maori-language radio stations and a TV channel.

There’s evidence that an endangered language, much like an endangered animal species, can recover if people take steps to nurse it back to health. The Maori are the Indigenous people of New Zealand. They have worked for decades to resurrect their dying language. And they’ve made significant strides. Use of Maori began to decline after the United Kingdom colonized the region in 1841 and made English the official language. For generations, the colonial government suppressed or banned the Maori language in schools.

By the early 1970s, only 5 percent of Maori children could speak their native tongue. That’s when activists began working to save the language. Their efforts had an impact. In 1982, New Zealand’s government introduced a language immersion program for Maori preschoolers. Today, about 30 percent of New Zealanders speak some Maori. And that rate is rising. There are enough Maori-language speakers to support Maori-language radio stations and a TV channel.

Loss of language is about more than words. Language represents a society’s history, traditions, and way of life, experts say.

“Communities know that language matters for their well-being, for the social cohesion of their community, and for the transmission of knowledge,” says Gabriela Pérez Báez, a professor at the University of Oregon who specializes in language revitalization.

In the Central American nation of Belize, a group of musicians is trying to preserve Garifuna, the native tongue of the Garinagu people. The Garinagu descend from a group of West Africans who were forcibly taken from their continent in the 1600s to be enslaved in the Americas. But the ship carrying them capsized in the Caribbean Sea, and its survivors escaped to nearby islands. They intermarried with Indigenous people and eventually moved to Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Loss of language is about more than words. Language represents a society’s history, traditions, and way of life, experts say.

“Communities know that language matters for their well-being, for the social cohesion of their community, and for the transmission of knowledge,” says Gabriela Pérez Báez, a professor at the University of Oregon who specializes in language revitalization.

In the Central American nation of Belize, a group of musicians is trying to preserve Garifuna, the native tongue of the Garinagu people. The Garinagu descend from a group of West Africans who were forcibly taken from their continent in the 1600s to be enslaved in the Americas. But the ship carrying them capsized in the Caribbean Sea. Its survivors escaped to nearby islands. They intermarried with Indigenous people and eventually moved to Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The Garinagu population was small to begin with, and by the 20th century, the Garifuna language was in decline, as young people mostly spoke Spanish. To inspire Garinagu youth to learn Garifuna, the musicians of the Garifuna Collective set out to make the language cool. One of the band’s founders, Andy Palacio, had visited Nicaragua and saw that Garifuna language there had almost disappeared entirely; he vowed not to let the same thing happen in Belize, where he lived. The band writes passionate lyrics in Garifuna and pairs them with punta rock, a genre of music that combines Indigenous sounds with electric guitars and bass. Its first album, Wátina, was an international hit in 2007.

“I hope that our efforts will not only preserve Garifuna culture but also re-energize a generation,” Palacio said after Wátina’s release.

Professor Pérez Báez is inspired by projects like this.

“It’s mind-blowing to see the efforts that communities are undertaking to either sustain the use of their languages or reinstate the use of their languages,” she says. “This is a pretty special moment in history.”

The Garinagu population was small to begin with. And by the 20th century, the Garifuna language was in decline. Young people mostly spoke Spanish. To inspire Garinagu youth to learn Garifuna, the musicians of the Garifuna Collective set out to make the language cool. One of the band’s founders, Andy Palacio, had visited Nicaragua. He saw that Garifuna language had almost disappeared entirely there. He vowed not to let the same thing happen in Belize, where he lived. The band writes passionate lyrics in Garifuna and pairs them with punta rock, a genre of music that combines Indigenous sounds with electric guitars and bass. Its first album, Wátina, was an international hit in 2007.

“I hope that our efforts will not only preserve Garifuna culture but also re-energize a generation,” Palacio said after Wátina’s release.

Professor Pérez Báez is inspired by projects like this.

“It’s mind-blowing to see the efforts that communities are undertaking to either sustain the use of their languages or reinstate the use of their languages,” she says. “This is a pretty special moment in history.”