Teaching
Linguistic Anthropology
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Unit 4
Language and Colonialism
Colonization has had a tremendous impact on Indigenous languages. In many cases, it has resulted in a decrease in the numbers of native language speakers, and, in some instances, language extinction. This unit will help students understand why and how colonial efforts targeted language in attempts to eradicate Indigenous cultures. Students will also learn about efforts to reinstate endangered languages and the effects of colonization on language politics today.
Sapiens articles
How to Resurrect Dying Languages
Community activists are using creative methods to revive endangered languages and reawaken dormant ones.
Can This Indigenous Language Thrive in a Digital Age?
A majority of Paraguayans speak Guaraní despite centuries of colonialism and suppression. Now activists want the written language to flourish online too.
Keywords
View All in Indigenous
![People walk through a long, wide museum hallway with high arched ceilings and skylights framed by tall tan columns.]()
![A person wearing a dark blue shirt and a red umbrella hat walks through a lush field of tall green grasses.]()
![A line of cattle travel across a dry desert landscape, kicking up dust.]()
![A gnarled tree stands on a reddish cliff, beyond which stretches a landscape of deeply hued sandstone plateaus that an ox-bowed river cuts through.]()
![A whale’s tail appears above the water, creating white foam as it splashes on the ocean’s surface. A small bird flies in the background.]()
![An ancient circular stone structure lies exposed under the ground surface. In the distance, light-red and tan mesas and flat desert expanses lie under a piercing blue sky with scattered fluffy white clouds.]()
Spain’s Move to Decolonize Its Museums Must Continue
In early 2024, Spain’s culture minister announced that the nation would overhaul its state museum collections, igniting a wave of anticipation—and controversy.
It’s Time to Replace “Prehistory” With “Deep History”
A team of archaeologists working in Southeast Asia is pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives to challenge traditional archaeological timelines.
An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse
A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her—but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged.
Gathering Firewood—and Redefining Land Stewardship—at Bears Ears
At Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a new co-management plan brings together federal agencies and a consortium of Native American tribes—revealing deep tensions over land rights and demands for environmental justice.
Protecting Ancestral Waters Through Collaborative Stewardship
The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, along California’s Central Coast, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. to be nominated by Native peoples.
Digging Into an Ancient Apocalypse Controversy From a Hopi Perspective
When producers for a popular Netflix series sought a permit to film on public lands in the U.S. Southwest, many Native leaders objected. A Hopi tribal official, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, shares his views.
Professor Talking Points
- European colonialism drastically affected the lives and cultures of Indigenous peoples the world over.
- Colonialism made radical changes to Indigenous forms of governance, trade, material culture, religious practices, and identity.
- These changes took place in many ways, but few would have persisted were it not for the forceful imposition of language, which required colonial subjects to adopt a European language and, frequently, to forget their own.
- European colonialism facilitated Indigenous cultural destruction.
- During colonialism, other languages were created as different groups of people interacted—for example, pidgins and creoles, some of which are now recognized as languages, such as Haitian Creole.
- These processes also created new hierarchies of languages, pidgins, and creoles, whereby language became one way to define different groups of people and understand where they were positioned in sociopolitical hierarches.
- Today the legacy of colonialism can be seen in the abysmally low numbers of native speakers of various Indigenous languages and in the remaining hierarchies still associated with certain ways of speaking.
- A number of Indigenous groups are working to revive and save their languages. They continue to recognize the importance of language to cultural preservation.
Academic Articles
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Fenigsen, Janina. 2007. “From Apartheid to Incorporation: The Emergence and Transformations of Modern Language Community in Barbados, West Indies.” Pragmatics 17 (2): 231–261
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Irvine, Judith T. 2008. “Subjected Words: African Linguistics and the Colonial Encounter.” Language and Communication 28 (4): 323–343.
Student Discussion Questions
- Why is language so important to a culture?
- Why would a colonial power want to get rid of Indigenous languages?
- How did Guaraní become so widespread in Paraguay? Why did that happen, and how is that process different from what happened to Indigenous languages in other places?
- What do the Fenigsen (2007) article and the 2019 SAPIENS article by Frances Jenner tell us about the relationship between modern-day language hierarchies and colonialism?
- List the different strategies that are being used to aid language revival. What are some of the downfalls? Which have proven to be successful?
Activities
- Have students watch PBS’ Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools. Then have them write down or discuss the ways in which language played a key role in reshaping Native American children during the boarding school era.
Additional Resources
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Article: The Nation’s “Language Is a ‘War Zone’”
Unit By
Eshe Lewis (2020)
Teaching
Linguistic Anthropology
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Unit 5
Language and Power
