Language Planning in American Indian Pueblo Communities: Contemporary Challenges and Issues

In the American southwest, Pueblo Indian tribes have managed to retain their languages and cultures far longer than many American Indian tribes who have suffered complete language loss as a result of historical oppression, displacement and annihilation. In more recent times, however, Pueblo Indian tribes have faced tremendous pressures to abandon their languages resulting in varying degrees of gradual language erosion. This paper describes some of the challenges and issues facing American Indian Pueblos in their efforts to plan and implement language maintenance initiatives. Maintaining oral language traditions that are the basis of Pueblo life raises important considerations about the starting point for community-based language planning. Tribal perspectives about teaching and learning language as well as tribal self-determination are discussed with regard to their influence on specific directions such initiatives have taken at the community level and in their introduction and expansion into mainstream school settings.