Rep. Wilson Working on $200,000 for Native American
Language Program at UNM
Wilson Requested Funds in Education Spending Bill and also secured $3 Million for Esther Martinez Language Preservation Efforts
On the UNM Campus
– Congresswoman Heather Wilson today announced that she’s working to
secure $200,000 for a Native American Language program at the
University of New Mexico. Wilson says she successfully inserted the
money in the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill
currently making its way through the Congress.
The bill
containing the funds, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2008, passed the
House of Representatives on July 19, 2007. Action on the bill is
pending in the Senate. The bill also includes $3 million for the
Esther Martinez program, which Rep. Wilson spearheaded.
The funding
for the University of New Mexico’s American Indian Language Policy
Research and Teacher Training Center will be used to train instructors
and conduct research to help preserve Native American languages.
“We’re working
to preserve these native languages and this UNM program helps
accomplish that goal” Wilson said. “Once lost, they will never be
recovered.”
“The
significance of the Esther Martinez Language Act and its potential
benefit to New Mexico tribes and other tribes working to maintain and
revitalize their Native language cannot be underestimated when one
considers how few languages are now being learned and spoken by Native
children and school-age generations,” say Dr. Blum-Martinez & Dr.
Christine Sims, who run UNM’s program. “This is especially critical
where Native languages are the means by which tribal communities
maintain their oral histories, transmit their cultural knowledge and
spiritual life ways. The growing challenge that faces every tribal
language community has been to find the appropriate means with which to
address a rapidly growing phenomenon of language shift.”
In New Mexico,
where there are 21 tribes representing six different languages, many of
the first steps towards addressing these challenges have been taken by
some tribes. Some have initiated community-based and school based
language efforts utilizing the language resources of their communities
such as elders, grandparents and other tribal members to help teach
their language. However, the need remains for intensive training
support and technical assistance in order for these efforts to
flourish.
“Legislative
appropriations for such a Center are the critical means by which tribes
can be supported in their efforts to sustain their native languages and
ensure that these continue for future generations,” say Sims and
Blum-Martinez.
Wilson has a
long history of working on Native American Language issues. In December
2006, President Bush signed into law the Wilson-sponsored Esther
Martinez Native Languages Preservation Act, and today Wilson welcomed
news of funding to implement the effort. Named to honor the life and
memory of Tewa storyteller, Esther Martinez of New Mexico, the new law
helps prevent the loss of the Native American languages that are
rapidly disappearing.
The bill was
designated following the death of Mrs. Martinez last year. On September
14, 2006, Esther Martinez of Ohkay Owingeh was awarded a National
Heritage Fellowship in Washington, DC, through the National Endowment
for the Arts. She was killed in a car accident at 94 years of age in
Espanola while driving home after attending the ceremony in Washington.
Sadly, only an
estimated 20 of more than 300 pre-colonial indigenous languages will
remain by the year 2050. In 1996, 175 of these languages remained, but
now we’re losing them at a rate of 12 languages every 3 years. New
Mexico is home to 19 different pueblos and 3 tribes. Among the tribes
and pueblos, there are six major languages, plus varying dialects.
Language is a key element of each community’s identity.
A recent
survey of Native languages found that among the Lipan Apache on the
Mescalero reservation in southern New Mexico there are just ten
speakers of the native language remaining. At the Sandia Pueblo, north
of Albuquerque, most of their Native speakers are middle aged or older.
Even Navajo, spoken more than any other Native Language in the U.S., is
spoken fluently by less than half of the Navajo children entering
kindergarten.
The Esther
Martinez Act was written and introduced by Congresswoman Heather Wilson
in February 2006, then was passed by the House in September followed by
the Senate with the support of the entire New Mexico delegation. In
addition to the $200,000 appropriation designated for UNM, the bill
includes $3 million for implementing the Esther Martinez Native
American Languages Preservation Act.
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