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...kota (Sioux) Yankton Yanktonai Use of native language today • Elders may use language at home to talk about issues they do not want children to know about. • Used primarily at ceremonial occasions. Prayers (at home and in public, opening an event) • Rituals: Giving a Native name, Mourning feasts • Major Ceremonies: Sun Dance, Native American Church Symbolically indicates the event is a tribal occasion. Belief that spiritual beings only understand Native languages. Language retention Language retention is a major concern. James Bauman. A guide to issues in Indian Language Retention (1980) listed five situations for native languages. 1. Flourishing 2. Enduring 3. Declining 4. Obsolescing 5. Extinct The primary concern is whether children are learning and using Native Language. A. Enduring describes languages spoken by large tribes. 1. Lakota • 1999 – 5000 fluent speakers (Parbs and Rankin 2001) • Native languages communities versus English speaking communities. • Changes in language. • Young people speak Lakota slang. • Pine ridge has enough interest to support a Native American school. 2. Blackfoot (Canada) Most adults A few children were learning as a first language (US) fewer than 100 elderly. Taught in immersion sc...