Language 
Status

Types of Language Movements

Safe

A safe language has a large number of speakers when compared to the population of descendants of the language and also the number of people overall who reside within the territory of the language. Safe languages are spoken across generations and in a wide variety of social settings.

STRATEGY: Indigenous Language Stabilization (safe)

A strategy to ensure that a language does not drop in percentage of speakers or social use.

Endangered

An endangered language is in a state of loss, with high fluency birth speakers who are usually elderly. The language is rarely used in social settings and often is no longer spoken across generations. STRATEGY: Indigenous Language Revitalization (endangered) A strategy to increase the percentage of speakers and social use.

Asleep

Languages that are asleep may not have any living birth speakers and are not currently used with high fluency in any social situations. STRATEGY: Indigenous Language Revival (asleep) A strategy to bring a language back to use that has no current speakers.

Vitality Scale

Where does your language fall on the vitality scale?

Language vitality, known also as language health, safety, wellness, etc. can be a deeply personal discussion within a community. Not all language advocates/scholars agree on what terms to use, and not all languages will fit neatly into a “vitality” scale. Thatʼs okay! Each language community will often need to decide for themselves which scale best fits with their values. Below is a loose guide, based on the Aanikoobijigeng experience in language work. See also ACTFL and UNESCO for more examples.

To maintain, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Camps
  • Classes
  • Mentor-Apprentice
  • Adult Immersion
  • Language-Community Bldg

Transforming Education

  • Language Medium Education

The language is spoken by most everyone, but there may be more public domains like school, or work, where itʼs spoken less often. There is a sense that not all children are learning, or are becoming as proficient as their parents.

To grow, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Camps
  • Classes
  • Adult Immersion
  • Language-Community Bldg
  • Directory for Stores/Businesses that use and perpetuate languages

Transforming Education

  • Language Medium Education

When children stop learning and speaking the language, thereʼs a risk to intergenerational transmission.

To grow, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Camps
  • Classes
  • Mentor-Apprentice
  • Adult Immersion
  • Language-Community Bldg

Transforming Education

  • Cultural Immersion
  • Language Immersion
  • Dual Language
  • Language Medium

When parents no longer speak the language themselves, or to their children, a language could be considered severely endangered.

To grow from here, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Camps
  • Classes
  • Mentor-Apprentice
  • Adult Immersion

Transforming Education

  • Cultural Immersion
  • Language Immersion
  • Dual Language

When no children or parents speak the language, and Elderʼs speak only on rare occasions, a language could be considered critically endangered.

To grow from here, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Camps
  • Weekly Classes/Gatherings
  • Mentor-Apprentice Model
  • Adult Immersion

Transforming Education

  • Cultural Immersion
  • Dual Language

Known also as a sleeping language, dormant languages have no first generation speakers of any age.

To grow from this stage, consider these next steps:

Transforming Community

  • Language interest survey
  • Culture camps
  • Community-led research initiatives
  • Relationship building with neighboring languages/ communities

Transforming Education

  • Partnership building with trusted researchers
  • Cultural Immersion
  • Beginning level adult language gatherings/ classes
  • Archival work

Analysis and Adjustment

Micro/meso/macro analysis

It is important to determine the state of a language and then to develop and implement strategies in order to stay safe or to move to safety. All Native American languages require constant analysis and adjustment at the micro, meso, and macro levels.
  • The micro is made up of individuals and families,
  • The meso is made up of communities, institutions, and regions, and
  • The macro is made up of the governments of Indigenous peoples, cities, regions, states, and nations.

Language Status

Speaker number, age, fluency

Determining the health of a language requires a balanced analysis of the following indicators of language health: number of speakers, age of speakers, levels of fluency, rate of making new speakers, presence of inter-generational transmission, and physical and social places where the language is spoken. When determining the health of a language, it is important to find the balance between being overly optimistic and overly pessimistic. Sometimes it is hard to see the truth of language health because one may not wish to admit that things are in a state of endangerment, and other times it is hard to see the way to improve language health. When doing the work of determining language health, those doing the work need to keep in mind that where a language may be on a scale of endangerment does not mean that is where it must stay. It is not a permanent diagnosis, but a moment in time with a future that will be determined by those who reside on the ancestral lands of a given language.

Balanced assessment

Aanikoobijigeng encourages folks to determine the health of their language, and then to work collaboratively towards safety. We are committed to helping all Indigenous languages in North America find ways to language safety that work for them. There are several ways to measure language health, and the chart below shows one of those ways to determine the current state of language health. Beyond this, language advocates should also consider the ways the language is valued and used, and how attitudes towards the language and towards language use can be adjusted.