Language Maintenance And Language Renewal Among Cherokee People in Oklahoma

Abstract

There was a time in the Americas when many very different languages were spoken by the diverse native peoples. This situation changed rapidly as waves of colonizing Europeans arrived, containing and controlling the native peoples, often forcing them to forfeit culture and language. Today remnants of some Indian tribes are striving to find ways to maintain or renew their own languages. This paper explores some of the issues involved, and then focuses on efforts to maintain and renew Oklahoma Cherokee.