Ojibwe Elders' Perceptions on Ojibwe Language Revitalization

Abstract

Historically, the United States federal government forced numerous assimilation policies upon the Native American population. The federal government’s most effective assimilation policy was the establishment of off-reservation boarding schools for Native American children in the late nineteenth century. Such an assimilation policy had a destructive impact upon the Native American population as the only language permitted to be spoken within the boarding school system was the English language. As a result of both the federal government’s assimilation policies and the dominance and pervasiveness of the English language, Native American languages are either classified as endangered or extinct. Specifically, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has classified the Ojibwe language as severely endangered. Despite preservation and revitalization efforts, usage of the Ojibwe language is sharply declining. However, the very persistence of the Ojibwe language is a strong indicator of its vitality to survive into the twenty-first century. A qualitative research study was conducted by a Native American researcher to explore experiences and factors contributing to Ojibwe elders’ fluency of the Ojibwe language, and how the identified experiences and factors can be replicated to reverse the endangerment status of the Ojibwe language.