Language Matters

On entering The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, young Indian students were assigned a new name and forbidden to speak their own language.

Perhaps we can better understand the destructive influence the English only rule had on Aborgininal cultures, by first examining our own culture. Those of us with a Euro-American background may associate our self identity with our names far more than our language. At the end of The Crucible John Proctor proclaims, "I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" However, young Indians students were accustomed to receiving new names throughout their lives. A childhood name might be replaced by one that designated a brave deed. Consequently, for many of these children taking on a new name was not nearly as traumatic as losing their language.

In many ways, language represents our world view. European based languages are, in many ways, rooted in shared culture, but if Americans attempt to learn the language of a very different culture, say Chinese, they will find words for things European languages did not find important enough to name.

Applying this to Aboriginal cultures, consider that the Inuit will have many different, nuanced words for the weather. This is because weather, in such a harsh climate, takes an important position in the culture. An Inuit child who is forced to put her language aside, to the point where she forgets it entirely and begins to think in the other language, will automatically suffer a disconnect with her family and ancestors.

The harmful effects also work the other way around by introducing new concepts that are at odds with their own culture. "The Indian Helper," which was the weekly newsletter from the Carlisle School often uses words like "advancement" and "progress." In English, both of these words mean to "move ahead" in some way. However, they have another cultural meaning associated with improvment. "Progress" and "advancement"--moving ahead in space or time--always carries a good connotation, never a bad one. While the word "regress" which strictly means "to move backward" also means to fall back into a less advanced state. Regressing is always a bad thing.

The concept of time for many Aboriginal cultures was not linear and forward moving. It was measured in repetitions of the seasons and the faces of the moon. They maintained strong connections to the past and their ancestors, learning valuable lessons from their elders. Consequently, students "progressing" in their studies or "advancing" in the world repudiated their cultures in every way.

Consider these excerpts from "The Indian Helper" March 31, 1893.

How did you learn to skate, this winter? By getting up every time you tumbled down? Certainly! So we can learn to be the respectable boy or girl we wish to become only by getting up every time we tumble down.

THAT is what Carlisle does! We do nothing to hold our pupils from going out to BETTER places than Carlisle, but do EVERYTHING to encourage them from going to worse places - the reservation, for instance.

Language reflects the essence of a culture and to the Aboriginal sense of self, language matters!