DIVISION OF APPLIED ARTS
School of Liberal Arts
Winter Semester 2011
COURSE OUTLINE
LANG 140
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE PRESERVATION
45 HOURS
3 CREDITS
PREPARED BY:
DATE: __________________
Victoria Castillo, Program Coordinator
APPROVED BY:
DATE: __________________
Deb Bartlette, Dean
YUKON COLLEGE
Copyright, October 5th, 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this material covered by this copyright may be reproduced
or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, traded, or rented or
resold, without written permission from Yukon College.
Course Outline prepared by Victoria Castillo, October 5th, 2010
Yukon College
P.O. Box 2799
Whitehorse, YT
Y1A 5K4
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SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS
LANG 140: Language and Culture Preservation
3 Credit Course
Winter Semester, 2011
LANG 140: LANGUAGE AND CULTURE PRESERVATION
INSTRUCTOR:
Christine Schreyer, PhD
OFFICE HOURS:
OFFICE LOCATION:
By phone or videoconference appointment
Off campus
TELEPHONE/E-MAIL:
Phone: (250) 807-9314
E-mail: christine.schreyer.yukoncollege@gmail.com
(250) 807-8001 ATTN: Christine Schreyer
FAX:
COURSE OFFERING: Winter, 2011
DAYS & TIMES:
Mondays, 3:45 – 6:45 pm
LOCATION:
At your local community campus videoconferencing room;
Whitehorse campus: videoconferencing room C1511
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Throughout this course students will explore reasons why some languages are no longer
spoken. Students will learn practical techniques of language documentation in order to
more fully understand the complexity of languages. They will learn how language and
culture are connected, and how the teaching of one leads to the teaching of the other.
Students will learn how to use archives in order to create new language curriculum that
incorporates traditional stories, traditional ecological knowledge, and/or family histories.
Finally, students will learn about the techniques that are being used to help revitalize and
maintain indigenous languages and cultures around the world. This course will also look
at language revitalization and maintenance in the Yukon.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Define the terms “endangered”, “safe”, “extinct”, “language revitalization”,
“language shift”, and “language maintenance”
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2. Understand the processes through which languages become endangered and why
3. Understand and explain basic concepts of linguistics and how they can be used for
language learning
4. Explain how language and culture are connected and how language curriculum
can include culture and vice versa
5. Use archives or recordings in order to find language and cultural knowledge and
how to process this information
6. Understand a wide range of language-learning techniques used globally and how
to apply these locally as well as define “language planning” and know how to
apply this locally in Yukon First Nations communities
DELIVERY METHODS/FORMAT:
This course will be delivered by distance delivery using videoconferencing and on-line
resources.
PREREQUISITES:
Admission to the Heritage and Culture Certificate Program.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS/EVALUATION:
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. All students will be expected to attend and actively participate
in class and online discussions and activities, as assigned by the instructor. The material
covered in the classroom is cumulative in nature, and missing classes may put students at
a disadvantage. Participation will account for 10% of the student’s final grade.
As per Academic Regulation 4.01, a student may be dismissed from a course if more than
ten percent (10%) of the scheduled contact hours are missed. Dismissal from a course
may result in loss of full-time status and loss of sponsorship funding (Yukon College
Academic Regulations and Procedures, 2004).
Assignments
•
•
•
All students are encouraged to contact the instructor with questions or concerns
about assignments
Requests for extensions to assignments must be made no less than three days
before due date. Extensions are granted only for extraordinary circumstances.
Assignments will not be accepted any later than 14 calendar days after the due
date
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•
All written assignments must be double-spaced and typed using Times New
Roman in 12 point font on 8.5 x 11 size paper. Spelling, grammar and content
organization are reflected in the grade.
EQUIVALENCY/TRANSFERABILITY:
Transfer/Equivalency/Accreditation in progress
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES OR CHRONIC CONDITIONS:
Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability or
chronic condition. It is the student’s responsibility to seek these accommodations. If a
student has a disability or chronic condition and may need accommodation to fully
participate in this class, he/she should contact the Learning Assistance Centre (LAC) at
(867) 668-8785 or lassist@yukoncollege.yk.ca.
PLAGIARISM:
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and will result in your receiving a mark of zero
on the course assignment. In certain cases, it can also result in dismissal from the
College. Plagiarism involves representing the words of someone else as your own,
without citing the source from which the material is taken. If the words of others are
directly quoted or paraphrased, they must be cited according to standard procedures. The
resubmission of a paper for which you have previously received credit and the
submission of the same paper for two courses also constitutes academic dishonesty.
WRITING CENTRE:
All students are encouraged to make the Writing Centre a regular part of the writing
process for coursework. Located in Room C2211 (in the College Library), the Writing
Centre offers writing coaching sessions to students of all writing abilities. For further
information or to book an appointment, visit the Centre's
website:dl1.yukoncollege.yk.ca/writingcentre
At the instructor’s discretion, students may be required to attend Writing Centre
coaching sessions during the composition process of their paper(s) as a condition of
assignment completion. The number of sessions required per assignment will be specified
on the assignment sheet, and the Writing Centre will issue written confirmation of
attendance, which should be attached to the written work being submitted for evaluation.
Evaluation
Participation
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Language Resource List
Using archives to find language and/or culture
Weight
10%
10%
15%
Assignment 3
Status planning – raising awareness
15%
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Assignment 4
Creating language/culture curriculum proposal
15%
Assignment 5
Creating language/culture curriculum project
35%
Total
100%
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
Grade Point Value
4
4
3.7
3.5
3
2.7
2.5
2
1.7
1
0
% Equivalent
95-100
86-94
80-85
75-79
70-74
65-69
62-64
58-61
55-57
50-54
Less than 50
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS/MATERIALS:
Hinton, L. and Hale, K. (Eds.). (2001). The green book of language revitalization. San
Diego: Academic Press.
Reprotext (distributed to students prior to beginning of course)
* other readings may be added.
COURSE SYLLABUS:
Date
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Topic
Introduction – language shift – what is it and why does it
happen?
What is lost when a language is lost?
Language Revitalization – what is it and what are some
methods of teaching language?
* Assignment 1 Due
Yukon Plans for Action – a history of language
documentation and revitalization in the Yukon
Awakening Sleeping Languages – how to use archives for
language and culture preservation and revitalization
Language Planning – what is it and why should it be done?
Creating New Words – how to do it, should you do it, and
why or why not? Principles of linguistics
*Assignment 2 Due
Readings
Nettle and Romaine,
Chapter 1
Nettle and Romaine,
Chapter 3
Hinton and Hale, Chapter 1
and 2 Pp. 3-35
Pettigrew, 1990, Yukon
executive council, 2004
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
31, 32, and 33, pp. 413-432
Hinton and Hale, Chapter 5
pp. 51-60; Amery, 2004
Kimura, L and I,
Councellor, 2009
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Week 8
How are language and culture learning connected?;
Ecolinguistics, connecting language and the land
Noori, 2009; Schreyer and
Gordon, 2007
Week 9
More techniques for language learning: Master Apprentice
Program and non-fluent teachers
Reading Week – No Classes (Mar. 14th – 18th)
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
17; and Hinton, 2003
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
11; Mortenson, 2008; and
Cantoni, 1999
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
19, pp. 239-250
Week 13
Even more teaching techniques: Language Nests and Total
Physical Response
* Assignment 3 Due
The place of writing in language learning; to standardize an
orthography or not?
* Assignment 4 Due
Multi-media for language and culture learning
Week 14
Songs for language and culture learning
Week 15
Sustainable futures – where do we go from here?
* Assignment 5 Due – one week following last class
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
26; Williams, 2002; Taff,
1997
Hinton and Hale, Chapter
25; Miyashita and Shoe,
2009
Aboriginal Languages Task
Force, 2005 (executive
summary)
* other readings may be
added
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REQUIRED ARTICLES (included in the reprotext) and WEBSITES:
Amery, R. (2004). Karuna language reclamation and the formulaic method. In Language
is life: The proceedings of the 11th annual stabilizing indigenous languages
conference. University of California at Berkeley, June 10-13, 2004 (pp. 81-99). San
Francisco.
Cantoni, G. (1999). Using TPR storytelling to develop fluency and literacy in Native
American languages. In Revitalizing indigenous languages, J. Reyhner, G. Cantoni,
R. N. St. Clair, and E. Parsons Yazzie (Eds) (pp.53-58). Flagstaff: Northern Arizona
University Press.
Hinton, L. (2003). How to teach when the teacher isn’t fluent. In Nurturing Native
languages. J. Reyhner, O. Trujillo, R. L. Carrasco & L. Lockard (Eds.) (pp. 79-82).
Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University Press.
Kimura, L and Councellor, I. (2009). Indigenous new words creation: Perspectives from
Alaska and Hawai‘i. In J. Reyhner and L. Lockhard (Eds.), Indigenous language
revitalization: Encouragement, guidance, and lessons learned (pp.121-139). Flagstaff:
Northern Arizona University Press.
Miyahista, M. and Crow Shoe, S. (2009). Blackfoot lullabies and language revitalization.
In J. Reyhner and L. Lockhard (Eds.), Indigenous language revitalization:
Encouragement, guidance, and lessons learned (pp. 183-190). Flagstaff: Northern
Arizona University Press.
Mortenson, J. (2008). The gift of the Kia7as: Splats’in First Nation language nest
Program. Journal of Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia 23(12): 14-16.
Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2004). Where have all the languages gone? (Ch. 1). In
Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages (pp. 1-25). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Nettle, D. and Romaine, S. (2004). Lost words/Lost worlds (Ch. 3). Vanishing Voices:
The Extinction of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Noori, M. (2009). Wenesh waa oshkii-bmaadizijig noondamowaad? What will the young
children hear? In J. Reyhner and L. Lockhard (Eds.), Indigenous language
revitalization: Encouragement, guidance, and lessons learned (pp. 11-22). Flagstaff:
Northern Arizona University Press.
Pettigrew, C. J. (1990). Yukon Native language instructors: The struggle for recognition.
Women's EDUCATION des Femmes, 8(1), 25-29.
Schreyer, C. and Gordon, L. (2007). Traveling our ancestors’ paths: Fun and games in
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language revitalization. Originally Published as: Parcourir les sentiers de nos ancêtres:
Un projet de revitalisation linguistique par le jeu. (Traveling our ancestors’ paths:
Fun and games in language revitalization.) Anthropologie et Sociétés, 31(1), 143-162.
Taff, A. (1997). Learning ancestral languages by telephone: Creating situations for
language use. In J. Reyhner (Ed.), Teaching indigenous languages (pp. 40-45).
Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University.
Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures. (2005). Towards a new beginning: A
foundational report for a strategy to revitalize First Nation, Inuit and Métis languages
and cultures. Retrieved August, 2010, from
http://www.aboriginallanguagestaskforce.ca
Williams, S. I. (2002). Ojibwe hockey CD-ROM in the making. In B. Burnaby and J.
Reyhner (Eds.), Indigenous languages across the community (pp. 219-223). Flagstaff:
Northern Arizona University.
Yukon Executive Council (2004). We are our language – Sharing the gift of language:
Profile of Yukon First Nations languages. Whitehorse: Government of Yukon
Executive Council Office: Aboriginal Language Services.
* other readings may be added.
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