Who can speak Lenape in Pennsylvania? Authentication and language learning in an endangered language community of practice

How are new speakers of an endangered language created? In this paper we draw on a three-year ethnographic case study to explore the processes through which a group of learners at a Pennsylvania college came to be identified as speakers of Lenape, a language indigenous to the eastern United States....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language & communication 2016-03, Vol.47, p.124-134
Main Authors: Weinberg, Miranda, De Korne, Haley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authentication
Authenticity
Communities
Community
Community of practice
Endangered languages
Ethnography
Higher education
Identity
Indigenous language revitalization
Language instruction
Language learning
Language revitalization
Learning
Lenape
Native languages
Northern Amerind languages
Regeneration
Social identity
Speech communities
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Summary:How are new speakers of an endangered language created? In this paper we draw on a three-year ethnographic case study to explore the processes through which a group of learners at a Pennsylvania college came to be identified as speakers of Lenape, a language indigenous to the eastern United States. Using a communities of practice framework, we analyze how language learning was facilitated and how the identities of community members were negotiated and contested through processes of authentication. A community of practice lens affords a useful framework for understanding how this successful learning community functioned, and for identifying factors that may benefit other language revitalization initiatives.
ISSN:0271-5309
1873-3395
DOI:10.1016/j.langcom.2015.04.003