A Voice now Dead.- Mother Tongue.

With a Nation now dying out, their language is soon to follow. The Native Americans mother tongue separates them from there of the world, as a singular unit, as does all languages. The language is not only a mere communication skill however it is a oneness amongst their people and culture. However this begs the question of what the Native American language is and where it originated from? “The absence of grammars handed down from the past, owing to either the dearth of writing or the destruction of written texts, has further hampered the study of the Native American tongues.” Native American People: First People of America. Due to the amount of different tribes and geographical regions there is a mass range of Native languages. Three geographical locations are headed under all regions. These are: North America ( Including Mexico) Central America and the West Indies. The language spoken in the 15th Century by Native Americans is now extinct. It is unknown as to how many languages were in fact used. Due to the European Conquest in the 20th Century two thirds of the American Indigenous languages have already died out. The Native American languages are said to have much diversity within their language.

Grammalot.

This is used so that all Native Americans can join together and celebrate as one and be understood. A grammatical characteristic of widespread occurrence in Native American languages is polysynthesism. A polysynthetic language is one in which a number of word elements are joined together to form a composite word that functions as the sentence does in Indo-European languages. Thus, a sentence or phrase is expressed by one long word unit, each element of which has meaning usually only as part of the sentence or phrase and not as a separate item. In a polysynthetic language, no clear distinction is made between a word and a sentence. For example, a series of words expressing several connected ideas, such as I am searching for my lost horse, would be merged to form a single word or meaning unit. Edward Sapir, a major scholar in the field of Native American languages, first presented the following, much-quoted word unit from Southern Paiute:wiitokuchumpunkurganiyugwivantm, meaning they-who-are-going-to-sit-and-cut-up-with-a-knife-a-black-female- (or male-) buffalo. It is thought that the numerous aboriginal tongues showing polysynthesism may originally have been the offshoots of a single parent language. Some Native Americans words have been stolen by the western civilisation. English, for example, has been enriched by such words as moccasin, moose, mukluk, raccoon, skunk, terrapin, tomahawk, totem, and wampum from indigenous North American languages; by chocolate, coyote, and tomato from indigenous Mexican tongues; by barbecue, cannibal, hurricane, maize, and potato from aboriginal languages of the West Indies; and by coca, condor, guano, jaguar, llama, maraca, pampa, puma, quinine, tapioca, and vicua from indigenous South American languages. It is said that the Native American language will eventually be extinct. Native American’s have set up organisations to help revive their native language and sustain their culture. Some groups of native Americans in the United States are working to revitalize the languages of their peoples as a result of increased ethnic consciousness and feelings of cultural identity. The outlook for the future of the indigenous American languages is not good; most will probably die out. This is a nations mother tongue which connects them to their culture and people. At present, the aboriginal languages of the Western Hemisphere are gradually being replaced by the Indo-European tongues of the European conquerors and settlers of the New World English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Dutch.

My own language Punjabi, which is unfortunately not my mother tongue, however my second language has brought me together with my own people. I have noticed over the years how speaking my own language with the British-youth society makes us feel as though we are the same and part of a culture which sets us apart from others. If anything the fact I can speak and understand the language with my peers has brought me closer to them. I wonder if I had not known my language I perhaps would not feel as close to them and our understanding of one another would be much different. I feel as though my Punjabi language brings me closer to my culture. I believe I would not be able to embrace my culture fully without the simple basis of the language to root me in.