AAAL 2026: Invited Colloquium
Convened by Belinda Daniels and Andrea Sterzuk
Many Paths to Healthy and Vibrant Indigenous Languages, Speakers and Communities
Conveners:
Belinda Daniels, University of Victoria
Andrea Sterzuk, University of Regina
Andrea Sterzuk, University of Regina
Discussant:
TBD
Colloquium Abstract
Our world has produced multiple languages born out of local environments. Languages are used and needed by people, all people, for societal development, relationships, education, and traditions. Yet ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and globalization have impacted many Indigenous languages, with profound impacts on the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples (Whalen et al., 2022). In most parts of the world, the goal of restoring balance to the world’s language ecology requires the reclamation of Indigenous languages (McCarty, Nicholas & Wigglesworth, 2019). Our planet depends on it (Perley & Black, 2025).
Multifaceted language reclamation projects must be (re)enacted and maintained by speakers of these languages (Anisman & McIvor, 2018) and be of these lands (Ferguson & Weaselboy, 2020). These initiatives are important because Indigenous languages foster well-being (Gonzalez et al., 2021; Sivak et al., 2019), serve as identity markers (Moore, 2018), and carry incommensurable intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual properties (Daniels et al., 2021).
This colloquium presents a shared vision of hopeful, community-rooted, and practical pathways to Indigenous language vitality. These papers collectively envision a future of Indigenous language vitality grounded in intergenerational transmission, community-led initiatives, and culturally rooted practices. They emphasize that diverse pathways, including legal frameworks, child and adult language acquisition, documentation, and immersion, are all essential and interconnected. Together, the presentations affirm that Indigenous language revitalization is not only possible and ongoing, but also deeply tied to collective well-being, identity, and Indigenous sovereignty.
This colloquium contributes to the growing body of scholarship on Indigenous language revitalization by showcasing collaborative, land-based, and community-driven approaches that foreground Indigenous knowledge systems and priorities.
Indigenous Language Rights in Education: Transmission, Responsibility, and Resurgence
Lorena Sekwan Fontaine, University of Manitoba
Cree and Anishinaabe, member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba
Cree and Anishinaabe, member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba
This presentation will explore the legal, cultural, and educational dimensions of Indigenous language transmission, asserting that Indigenous language rights are deeply rooted in both Indigenous and Canadian constitutional law. Blending personal narrative with scholarly analysis, this presentation examines the sacred responsibility within Indigenous legal traditions to preserve and transmit language across generations. It also considers the critical role of education in language resurgence, addressing the policies, legislation, and institutional supports necessary to sustain and revitalize Indigenous languages.
Barriers to Adult Indigenous Language Speakers Speaking Indigenous Languages to Youth
James McKenzie, University of Arizona
Diné
Having experienced many years of oppressive, assimilative measures under American settler colonial educational structures, Indigenous communities are asserting agency to maintain and revitalize their Indigenous languages. Many communities in which revitalization of an Indigenous language is addressed have noted that relying on schools alone will not lead to the often desired outcomes related to language development and use by youth. Even the most successful Indigenous language immersion schools often find that support from children’s parents and other family members is key to seeing the Indigenous language flourish within young learners. Through more holistic involvement of a network of language cultivation involving community/relationality-based support (potentially complimenting school-based education in the language), community members may contribute to both positive development of wellbeing of children, as well as positive wellbeing of the community, as a whole. This presentation brings together literature highlighting factors that may hinder the ways that family/community/relationality-based oral language support can play a role in Indigenous language development in children. The review identifies key groupings of barriers faced by Indigenous community members in supporting their children to develop their languages in out-of-school (or home and community) settings by speaking the language to them, as well as how these barriers may be related to wellbeing of the children and the community. While the review brings into focus emerging research that increasingly addresses this critical area in the complex picture of Indigenous language revitalization, it also considers ways in which future research can better inform this important topic.
Adult Immersion in Kanien’kéha Revitalization
Oheróhskon Ryan DeCaire, University of Toronto / Wáhta Mohawks
Onkwawén:na Kentyóhkwa
The use of Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) has experienced rapid decline, not unsimilar to the experiences of most other indigenous languages worldwide. In response, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk people) have been actively working to revitalize Kanien’kéha since the 1970s, establishing significant revitalization infrastructure. Given the level of language shift, the path forward requires producing adequate proficiency among the young adult, parent generation to re-establish intergenerational transmission at a rate faster than the loss of current speakers. This presentation details how Kanien’kehá:ka have been addressing this gap in adult speakers through adult immersion programming, a distinct instructional framework for producing adult second-language (L2) speakers. Despite the challenges of teaching and learning a highly complex and typologically distinct language like Kanien’kéha adult immersion programming has been successful in efficiently creating adult L2 speakers, bringing them to advanced levels of speaking proficiency in two years, or 2000 hours of instruction, even without core long-term government funding and support or a firm embrace from institutes of higher education. As part of this presentation, Kanien’kéha adult immersion programming will be described, including program design and method, and its impact on Kanien’kéha vitality, as Kanien’kehá:ka communities with increasing vitality are those with lasting adult immersion programs. These programs are graduating adult L2 speakers who are fostering primary language use domains, promoting and maintaining daily peer group usage, and passing the language on to a new generation. While aiding in filling a recognizable gap within the literature concerning best practices for adult indigenous language acquisition, this presentation seeks to increase recognition and understanding of the importance of adult immersion programming in the revitalization of indigenous languages so that they can become more prominent and stable institutions in indigenous communities worldwide.
Onkwawén:na Kentyóhkwa
The use of Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) has experienced rapid decline, not unsimilar to the experiences of most other indigenous languages worldwide. In response, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk people) have been actively working to revitalize Kanien’kéha since the 1970s, establishing significant revitalization infrastructure. Given the level of language shift, the path forward requires producing adequate proficiency among the young adult, parent generation to re-establish intergenerational transmission at a rate faster than the loss of current speakers. This presentation details how Kanien’kehá:ka have been addressing this gap in adult speakers through adult immersion programming, a distinct instructional framework for producing adult second-language (L2) speakers. Despite the challenges of teaching and learning a highly complex and typologically distinct language like Kanien’kéha adult immersion programming has been successful in efficiently creating adult L2 speakers, bringing them to advanced levels of speaking proficiency in two years, or 2000 hours of instruction, even without core long-term government funding and support or a firm embrace from institutes of higher education. As part of this presentation, Kanien’kéha adult immersion programming will be described, including program design and method, and its impact on Kanien’kéha vitality, as Kanien’kehá:ka communities with increasing vitality are those with lasting adult immersion programs. These programs are graduating adult L2 speakers who are fostering primary language use domains, promoting and maintaining daily peer group usage, and passing the language on to a new generation. While aiding in filling a recognizable gap within the literature concerning best practices for adult indigenous language acquisition, this presentation seeks to increase recognition and understanding of the importance of adult immersion programming in the revitalization of indigenous languages so that they can become more prominent and stable institutions in indigenous communities worldwide.
Child Speakers Sustain Languages: Indigenous Child Language Research
Melvatha R. Chee, University of New Mexico
Tsé Nahabiłnii, Kin Łichíi’nii, Hooghan Łání and Áshįįhí, Diné from Lake Valley, New Mexico
Tsé Nahabiłnii, Kin Łichíi’nii, Hooghan Łání and Áshįįhí, Diné from Lake Valley, New Mexico
Child speakers are foundational to sustaining a language, yet it has been observed that Indigenous children seldom acquire their native languages as their first language (L1) anymore (Krauss 1992:4; Meek 2019:95). With very few L1 child speakers, there are rare opportunities to document and understand the language acquisition process of Indigenous languages. In fact, most child language studies examine child and child-directed speech in Indo-European languages (Kidd & Garcia, 2022). Though little attention is given to Native American child languages, further investigation into how children master these languages raises important theoretical questions (Chee & Henke, 2023) and contributes insights into how children navigate these languages that typically comprise an under-studied language structure. We look to Navajo children to understand how they acquire Navajo, a morphologically complex language. This talk will briefly describe a few preliminary findings, some benefits of child language research, and encourage the documentation of adult-child dyad interactions.
Tó: nya’teká:yen entewà:ronke’ – Mohawk Language Documentation for Learning
Tahohtharátye' Joe Brant, University of Toronto
Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation Territory
Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation Territory
The term “nya’teká:yen tsi yonhrónkha’” is a term used by first-language speakers to describe a person who is a gifted orator. This level of proficiency is characterized as the process of "finishing and polishing" additional language learners use of Onkwehonwehnéha - the Mohawk language (Green, 2020). In this presentation, I will discuss the opportunities and challenges in attaining “nya’teká:yen tsi yonhrónkha’” proficiency in Onkwehonwehnéha additional-language (O2) learning and how these experiences have shaped my approach to enacting collaborative documentary research. The reality of Onkwehonwehnéha endangerment exemplifies the urgent need for innovative, radical measures to increase O2 proficiency attainment to the superior and distinguished levels (ACTFL, 2012; Brant, 2024, Decaire, 2023; Green, 2020, Stacey, 2024). A learner’s deliberate and supported interaction with first-language Onkwehonwehnéha speakers, or documentary resources therefrom derived, can help the attainment of this high proficiency standard. A finished, polished, or gifted orator, can maintain, transmit, and develop authentic use of Onkwehonwehnéha; the expression of the vast knowledge, collective experiences, and imagined futures of the Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk People’s) civilization that have accumulated for millennia and been transmitted for humanity’s collective wellness and prosperity (Brant, 2024; Galla, 2021; Green, 2020; Mithun, 2013; 2017; Stacey, 2016; 2024).