UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES, LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES, AND LEARNER MOTIVATION IN CHICKASAW LANGUAGE PROGRAMS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By IVAN CAMILLE OZBOLT Norman, Oklahoma 2014 COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES, LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES, AND LEARNER MOTIVATION IN CHICKASAW LANGUAGE PROGRAMS A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY BY ______________________________ Dr. Daniel Swan, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Amanda Minks ______________________________ Dr. Gus Palmer, Jr. ______________________________ Dr. Paul Spicer ______________________________ Dr. Amanda Cobb-Greetham © Copyright by IVAN CAMILLE OZBOLT 2014 All Rights Reserved. Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to pursue a PhD in anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and to complete this dissertation. I am very thankful to the many people who have helped me so much along the way. First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents Jean and Jeanne for their extraordinary and unconditional support. I also want to thank my brothers Boris and Victor and the rest of my family. Thank you for being so supportive and for having taught me the values that have allowed me to complete this work: intellectual curiosity, integrity, humility, concern for others, and belief in myself. I am extremely grateful to the Chickasaw people who have helped me throughout this project. None of this would have been possible without you all. I want to especially thank Joshua Hinson for having worked with me from beginning to end. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for working on the language survey with me. Thank you for having always helped me so well with all the questions and needs I had. I would also like to thank my friend April Taylor for having provided me with useful insights about the Chickasaw Nation, for having taken me to a few employee classes, and having always pointed me in the right direction and towards the right resources. I am very thankful to Hannah Pitman for having graciously invited and welcomed me to her language class at the Senior Site in Sulphur. Thank you so much for all your help, for your language lessons, and your critically important insights into iv Chickasaw traditions. From the language class in Sulphur, I also want to thank my friend Rebecca (Becky) Hatcher Travis. Thank you so much for your willingness to help me and for sharing your poetry with me. Other members of the language class who have shown a remarkable sense of hospitality towards me and have allowed me to learn a lot about Chickasaw culture and history have included: Juanita Hanna, Willarene Amos, Lillian Underwood, Betty Clark, Charles Holden, Richard Murray, Irene Digby, Beverly Reynen, Wayne Edgar, and Joyce Wesley. A special thank to Lillian, Betty, and Willarene for their culinary talent. I was fortunate to attend another language class in Purcell. I am very thankful to Leerene Frazier and Keith Shackleford for welcoming me there, and sharing with me many insights about the Chickasaw language, but also Chickasaw culture and history. I also want to thank the other members of the Shackleford family whom I got to meet: Sandra, Dale, Katie, and Brooke. Many thanks as well to Matt Clark and Ezra Johnson. I want to thank you guys for your incredible hospitality. I am very impressed by your dedication to learning the Chickasaw language. I want to wish you all the best of luck in your future language and martial arts endeavors. I would also like to thank Jeremy Wallace, Amy Gantt, Rachel Wedlow, Philip Morgan, Jason Eyachabbe, and Taylor Marlow for having helped me at various points in this study. Finally, I am very thankful to Kari Chew (cited as Kari Lewis in this study) for having shared her work and ideas with me. v On my dissertation committee, I would like to first thank my dissertation chair Dr. Daniel Swan. Thank you so much for stepping in at a late stage in my dissertation work. I have been very fortunate to work with you continuously since my master thesis in 2007. Thank you so much for all your insights and advice on research, writing, and professional development. Thank you for spending so much time with me in the revision, late draft, and final draft stages of this dissertation. Dr. Mary Linn was not on my committee at the time when this dissertation was completed. However, she was instrumental in its development and served as my chair until the last semester before its completion. From her feedback and recommendations on the language survey, her many suggestions on my research methods and questions, to her feedback on chapters one through three, I am hugely grateful for her guidance. Thank you so much for your mentorship throughout these years and best of luck to you at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. I would also like to extend my deep gratitude to Dr. Amanda Minks for having worked with me continuously as a member of my committee, despite all the changes in my research agenda. Thank you so much for your time and guidance. I am grateful as well to Dr. Paul Spicer for having supported me throughout my years in the PhD program. Thank you so much for your incredible availability, willingness, and promptness to help. I want to thank Dr. Gus Palmer Jr. very much. Thank you for the classes I took with you and everything that I have learned from you. Thank you for accepting to join the committee at a late stage and still provide your help. I am very grateful to Dr. Amanda Cobb-Greetham for having accepted to join my committee vi shortly after joining the University. Thank you so much for your perspectives, feedback, and recommendations. For having previously served on my committee, I would like to thank Dr. Sean O‘Neill and Dr. Joe Watkins. Thank you for having supported me and helped me through my General Exams. I am very pleased with everything I have learned from you in your classes and through your one-on-one mentorship. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Kristin Dowell for her helpful suggestions on chapter four. In the anthropology department, I would also like to thank several of my peers for their comradeship during all these years in the PhD program. For being such good friends and sharing a similar passion for anthropology, I would like to thank Will Foster, Andy Ozga, Nicole Umayam, Juliet Morgan, Donna Longhorn, Tom Thompson, Warren Queton, Keith Kleszynski, and Derrell Cox. I am immensely grateful to Derrell Cox for having spent many hours helping me with the statistical part of this study. Your work ethic and dedication to helping others are incredible and very inspiring. Thanks to funding provided by the anthropology department and the University of Oklahoma, I was able to attend several summer schools and a number of conferences throughout my years as a PhD student. These travels have allowed me to learn a lot of very useful skills and to meet people I learned a lot from. At the American Indian Language Development Institute, I would like to thank Jennie DeGroat for having taught me important insights into language immersion teaching as well as some Navajo vii language skills. At Arizona State University, I would like to thank Dr. Mary-Eunice Romero-Little for her interest in my research, encouragements, and useful feedback. At the Summer Institute for Research Design in Cultural Anthropology, I would like to thank Dr. Russell Bernard for his many insightful suggestions and continued interest in my research. At the CoLang Institute, I am very appreciative of everything I have learned from Dr. Keren Rice in terms of designing language surveys. Thank you so much for your feedback! Finally, I would like to thank my fellow PhD candidates and friends Gordon Ulmer at Ohio State University and Melvy Chee at the University of New Mexico. I am very grateful to Dr. Michelle Eodice and Moira Ozias at the University of Oklahoma Writing Center for having accepted me among their employees and having taught me so much about writing. Working at the Writing Center has made me a more aware and effective writer, which has been tremendously helpful as I was writing my dissertation. I also want to thank my colleagues and graduate writing group peers, especially Rachel Jackson, for having provided very insightful feedback on the first drafts of chapter two and four. Last but not least, I would like to thank a few of my closest friends in the World for their continued support and encouragements. Thank you for making life more meaningful and thank you for supporting me during the more challenging times. Thank you to Reynaldo Benally and to Alexandria Lockett. Thank you to Tim and Elsbeth Dowd for being such good and loyal friends. Thank you to Nancy El-Gendy for being viii an amazing friend and sharing with me the joys and challenges of being an international PhD candidate. And finally, many many thanks to my dear and lovely Lena for her great and invaluable support when writing this dissertation. Lastly, I am very grateful to the Jacobs Research Fund, the Morris E. Opler Fund, the Graduate Student Senate, and the College of Arts and Sciences for funding this research project. ix Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................ xiv Abstract .......................................................................................................................