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A Community-Based Language Revitalization Project

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A Community-Based Language Revitalization Project A LANGUAGE SURVEY OF NORTHERN MÉTIS LANGUAGES: A COMMUNITY-BASED LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION PROJECT by Susan Jane Saunders B.Sc., University of Victoria, 2011 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Linguistics Susan Jane Saunders, 2015 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee A LANGUAGE SURVEY OF NORTHERN MÉTIS LANGUAGES: A COMMUNITY-BASED LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION PROJECT by Susan Jane Saunders B.Sc., University of Victoria, 2011 Supervisory Committee Dr. Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins, Department of Linguistics Supervisor Dr. Peter Jacobs, Department of Linguistics Department Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Ewa Czaykowska- Higgins, Department of Linguistics Supervisor Dr. Peter Jacobs, Department of Linguistics Department Member The purpose of the thesis is two-fold: to document the results of a language survey of Northern Métis languages which examines the language practices and attitudes of those Northern Métis people who participated, and to reflect upon the research process by examining the assumptions I bring to the research and my role and the role of other Masters level researchers in language revitalization projects. The research presented here has been conducted within the Community-based language revitalization (CBLR) research model (Czaykowska-Higgins 2009), a model which can be a powerful way to frame linguistic research and which is increasingly called upon when undertaking language revitalization projects. This thesis addresses the application of CBLR practices to a language revitalization project undertaken in collaboration with the North Slave Métis Alliance in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Along with positioning myself in the research, I provide an in-depth description of the historical, political, and social landscape in which the research takes place. My epistemologies and the CBLR model are informed by feminist and Native American methodologies, as well as participatory, participatory-action and action frameworks. Through this lens, I reflect on the academic context of language revitalization and offer my own model of collaborative language research which builds upon work done by Leonard & Haynes (2010). Applying this model, I present the results of the North Slave Métis Language Survey, conducted in 2013 in collaboration with the North Slave Métis Alliance. This thesis contributes to the body of work on Métis languages, and is the iv first to thoroughly examine and document the language practices of Métis people of the NWT. It also contributes to the growing body of work on CBLR research. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Definitions.................................................................................................................................... viii Acronyms and Alphabetisms .......................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 My story ................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Approval process, research relationships, funding ............................................ 12 1.4 Challenges .............................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2: Context and Rationale ................................................................................................. 18 2.1 Physical context: Historical, geographical, and political landscape of Métis north of 60° .................................................................................................................. 18 2.1.1 Northern Métis beginnings .............................................................................. 20 2.1.2 Northern Métis and treaties, scrip, & land claims ........................................... 22 2.1.3 The birth of the North Slave Métis Alliance .................................................... 25 2.2 The historic languages of Métis north of 60° ...................................................... 26 2.3 North Slave Métis voices ...................................................................................... 31 2.3.1 The usurpation of Indigenous lands ................................................................. 31 2.3.2 The destruction of Indigenous habitats ............................................................ 32 2.3.3 The involuntary incorporation of Indigenous peoples into the larger society (generally into the lower-class margins of that society) ........................................... 34 2.4 Summary of Context and Rationale .................................................................... 36 Chapter 3: Methodology and Methods ......................................................................................... 38 3.1 Epistemology and Methodologies ........................................................................ 38 3.1.1 Participatory, participatory-action, action, and interaction frameworks .......... 40 3.1.2 Feminist and Native American methodologies ................................................ 41 3.1.3 Grounded Theory ............................................................................................. 41 3.1.4 Reflections on Methodologies ......................................................................... 42 3.2 Academia and language revitalization efforts .................................................... 42 3.2.1 Community-Based Language Research and Collaborative methods ............... 43 3.2.2 Notes and thoughts on collaborative frameworks ............................................ 46 3.2.3 In which we move from Collaborations to Relations ...................................... 50 3.2.4 Summary of academic context of language revitalization ............................... 54 3.3 The academic study of Métis languages .............................................................. 55 3.3.1 Michif ............................................................................................................... 56 3.3.2 Michif-French / Métis-French / French ........................................................... 58 3.3.3 Cree other aboriginal languages....................................................................... 59 3.3.4 Bungi ................................................................................................................ 59 3.3.5 English ............................................................................................................. 60 vi 3.4 North Slave Métis Language Survey Methods ................................................... 60 3.4.1 Interview methods ............................................................................................ 61 3.4.2 Relational sampling ......................................................................................... 63 3.4.3 Analysis methods ............................................................................................. 64 3.5 Summary of Methodology and Methods............................................................. 65 Chapter 4: Reflexivity Reprise...................................................................................................... 66 4.1 A few of my own reflections ................................................................................. 67 Part 1: Ethics ............................................................................................................. 67 Part 2: Lunch at the Snowshoe Inn ........................................................................... 68 Part 3: Writing........................................................................................................... 69 4.2 From theory to practice ........................................................................................ 70 Chapter 5: The North Slave Métis Language Survey ................................................................... 72 5.1 Description of the Northern Métis language ...................................................... 72 5.2 Where is the Northern Métis language spoken? ................................................ 78 5.3 Identity ................................................................................................................... 81 5.4 Movement and Migration..................................................................................... 86
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