By Dr. Carrie Dyck, February 1, 2019, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Department of Linguistics and Languages will host a talk by Dr. Carrie Dyck, an Associate Professor at the Department of Linguistics, Memorial University, on Friday, February 1, 2019. Dr. Dyck received her PhD in Linguistics from University of Toronto, and has collaborated with Cayuga speakers at Six Nations since 1993 on language revitalization projects, including a dictionary of Cayuga.
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Indigenous languages have arrived at a time of great peril and promise. In this talk, Dr. Dyck will present an introduction to the topic of language endangerment, drawing examples from Cayuga, an Iroquoian language spoken at Six Nations of the Grand River, near Brantford, Ontario. Dr. Dyck will begin by describing the breadth and depth of Indigenous knowledge encoded in Cayuga. She will then discuss the historical context of language endangerment, drawing some parallels from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings (https://bit.ly/2taCEfq). Next, Dr. Dyck will describe the recent history of language revitalization efforts at Six Nations, and will point out similarities with efforts to preserve Cherokee (a related language; see “First Language: the race to save Cherokee”; https://youtu.be/e9y8fDOLsO4). Dr. Dyck will conclude with some thoughts about how Cayuga can survive in a modern, bilingual context.