How to save a language from extinction | Daniel Bögre Udell

翻译人员: Conway Ye 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

Languages don't just die naturally.

语言不会自动消失。

People abandon mother tongues, because they're forced to.

人们被迫抛弃母语，

Often, the pressure is political.

经常是因为政治原因。

In 1892,

在 1892 年，

the US Army general Richard Henry Pratt

美国陆军将军里查德·亨利·普拉特

argued that killing indigenous cultures

认为消灭土著文化

was the only alternative to killing indigenous people.

是取代屠杀的唯一替代方式。

"Kill the Indian," he said, "but save the man."

他说：“杀了印第安文化，却不杀人。”

And until 1978, the government did just that,

直到 1978 年， 政府一直采取了这样的措施。

removing indigenous children from their families

让土著孩子离开家人，

and forcing them into boarding schools where they were given English names

逼迫他们去寄宿学校，给他们英文名，

and punished for speaking their languages.

不让他们说他们的语言。

Assimilation was a complement to genocide.

这种文化的融合和种族灭绝差不多。

Seven thousand languages are alive today,

现在世界上有 7000 种语言，

but few are recognized by their own governments

但是被当地政府认可，

or supported online.

或在网络上被认可的寥寥无几。

So for people from the vast majority of cultures,

所以，对于绝大多数文化背景的人，

globalization remains profoundly alienating.

全球化会让他们越来越疏远。

It means giving up your language for someone else's.

这意味着，要为其他语言 而放弃自己的母语。

And if nothing changes,

如果事情没有改变的话，

as many as 3,000 languages could disappear in 80 years.

3000 种语言会在 80 年之内消失。

But things are changing.

但是事情正在变化。

Around the world,

世界各地，

people are reviving ancestral languages

人们都在复活祖先的语言，

and rebuilding their cultures.

并重建他们的文化。

As far as we know,

据我们所了解的，

language reclamation began in the 1800s when, at a time of rising antisemitism,

复苏语言的工作开始 于反犹太主义猖狂的十九世纪，

Jewish communities looked to their ancestral language, Hebrew,

犹太人民认为他们的祖先语言， 希伯来语，

as a means of cultural revival.

是一种文化复兴的方式。

And though it had been dormant for over 1,000 years,

虽然希伯来语已经沉睡了一千多年，

it was well preserved in books of Jewish religion and philosophy.

但它还是被犹太宗教和哲学的书籍 完好地保存了下来。

So Jewish activists studied and taught it to their children,

所以犹太学者研究了 并教育他们的孩子希伯来语，

raising the first native speakers in nearly 100 generations.

养育了近一百代里的第一代 以希伯来语为母语的犹太人。

Today, it's the mother tongue of five million Jews.

现在，希伯来语 是超过五百万犹太人的母语。

And at least for me,

至少对于我来说，

an assimilated English-speaking member of the Jewish diaspora,

作为一个说英语的犹太人，

a pillar of cultural sovereignty.

这是文化自治的表现。

Two thousand years later,

两千年后，

we're still here.

希伯来语还存在。

Now, until recently,

一直以来，

Hebrew's reawakening was an anomaly.

希伯来语的复苏仍是 一件不寻常的事情。

Few languages are as well preserved as ours was,

很少有语言像希伯来语一样 保存的如此完好，

and the creation of Israel,

再加上以色列的诞生，

the first Jewish state in over 1,000 years,

这是一千年来第一个犹太国家，

provided a space for Hebrew's daily use.

让希伯来语能够被日常使用。

In other words, most cultures just weren't given a chance.

换句话说， 很多文化都没有这样的机会。

(Video) Good evening, I'm Elizabeth

（视频）晚上好，我叫伊丽莎白，

and I live in Cornwall.

我住在康沃尔郡。

That was Cornish,

这是康沃尔语，

the ancestral language of Cornwall,

康沃尔的祖先语言。

which today is technically a county in southern England.

康沃尔是英格兰南部的一个郡。

In the 1900s, Cornish activists fought for their culture.

在二十世纪初，康沃尔语支持者 为了他们的文化进行过斗争。

The language had been dormant for over 100 years,

这门语言已经沉睡了超过一百年了，

but they used old books and plays to teach it to their children.

但是他们用旧书和话剧 来教育他们的孩子。

However, this new generation of Cornish speakers

说康沃尔语的新一代

was scattered across Cornwall

零散地散布在康沃尔，

and unable to use the language freely.

不能流畅的使用这门语言。

By the 1990s, Cornish had reawakened,

到二十世纪九十年代， 康沃尔语开始复苏，

but it wasn't thriving.

但是并不繁荣。

Then, in the early 2000s, Cornish speakers found one another online

二十一世纪初， 说康沃尔语的人找到了

and leveraged digital spaces to speak on a daily basis.

一个线上的网络对话空间。

From there, they organized weekly or monthly events

从那之后，他们组织了 每周或每月的活动，

where they could gather and speak in public.

人们可以在公共场合聚集并交谈。

Today, some schools teach Cornish.

现在，有些学校会教康沃尔语。

There are Cornish language signs,

有康沃尔语的路标，

ice-cream commercials,

冰淇淋广告，

Wikipedia, and even memes.

维基百科，甚至网络笑话。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And with their language once again intact,

有了完整的语言系统，

the people of Cornwall have secured recognition

康沃尔人民已经获得了 与爱尔兰、苏格兰和威尔士

as a Celtic nation alongside Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

并列的凯尔特国家的称号。

They stared down centuries of forced assimilation

他们打败了几世纪的文化殖民，

and said, "We're not a county in England.

并宣告：“我们不是英格兰的一个郡，

We're a people in our own right.

我们是自己的民族。

And we're still here."

我们并没有消失。”

And they're not the only ones.

这样的例子还有很多。

The Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Louisiana is reviving their ancestral language.

路易斯安那州的突尼卡比罗西部落 也在复活他们的祖先语言。

(Video) My name is Teyanna.

（视频）“我的名字是泰纳。

My friends, they call me "Quiet Storm."

我的朋友叫我'无声风暴'。”

It started in the 1980s,

从二十世纪八十年代开始，

when Donna Pierite and her family

唐纳·皮里特和她的家人

started taking trips to Baton Rouge and New Orleans

去了巴吞鲁日和新奥尔良，

to photocopy old dictionaries stored away in university archives.

复印了大学档案里的旧字典。

The goal was to study Tunica

他们的目标是为了学习突尼卡语，

and teach it to the children and share it with the community.

并教给孩子和社区里的人们。

Today, they're leading a Tunica renaissance.

现在，他们正引领着突尼卡语的复兴。

Since 2014, there are nearly 100 speakers in language immersion classes,

到 2004 年，有近 100 位 说突尼卡语的人在上语言课。

and according to a 2017 census,

根据一个 2017 年的普查，

32 new fluent speakers,

新增了 32 个能流利使用 突尼卡语的人，

some of whom, like Donna's daughter Elisabeth,

其中有唐纳的女儿，伊丽莎白，

are teaching Tunica to their children.

在教她们的孩子突尼卡语。

These new speakers are creating content,

这些人在创造内容，

Facebook videos and also memes.

脸书视频和网络笑话。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And the more they publish,

他们创造得越多，

the more they inspire other Tunica people to get involved.

越来越多的突尼卡人就会加入他们。

Recently, a tribal member living in Texas wrote Elisabeth on Facebook,

一个住在德州的部落成员在脸书上

asking how to say "bless these lands."

问伊丽莎白如何说：“保佑这些土地。”

It was for a yard sign,

来当一个院子的标志，

so she could show her neighbors that her culture is alive

所以她可以告诉她的邻居， 她的文化现在还活着

and thriving today.

并很繁荣。

Now, Hebrew, Cornish and Tunica

希伯来语、康沃尔语和突尼卡语

are just three examples from a groundswell of language activism on every continent.

只是世界各地语言复苏的三个例子。

And whether they're Jèrriais speakers from the Channel Isles,

从在海峡群岛说耶里亚斯语的人，

or Kenyan sign language speakers from Nairobi,

到在内罗毕说肯尼亚手语的人，

all communities working to preserve or reclaim a language

所有保护和复兴一门语言的工作

have one thing in common: media,

都有一个共同点：媒体。

so their language can be shared and taught.

媒体让语言能够被分享和教导。

And as the internet grows,

随着互联网的增长，

expanding media access and creation,

媒体的获取和创造也更简单了，

preserving and reclaiming ancestral languages

让保护和复兴祖先语言

is now more possible than ever.

从未有过的变成了可能。

So what are your ancestral languages?

你的祖先语言是什么？

Mine are Hebrew, Yiddish, Hungarian and Scottish Gaelic,

我的是希伯来语、意第绪语、 匈牙利语和苏格兰盖尔语，

even though I was raised in English.

虽然我在英语环境里长大。

And luckily for me, each of these languages is available online.

我很幸运，这些语言再网上都有。

Hebrew in particular -- it came installed on my iPhone,

特别是希伯来语，我的手机上就有，

it's supported by Google Translate,

谷歌翻译也支持，

it even has autocorrect.

甚至还有自动纠错。

And while your language may not be as widely supported,

即使你的语言没有很多资源，

I encourage you to investigate,

我也鼓励你做些研究，

because chances are, someone, somewhere, has started getting it online.

因为有可能某个地方的某个人 正在开始创造资源。

Reclaiming your language and embracing your culture

复兴你的语言和接受自己的文化

is a powerful way to be yourself in the age of globalization,

是在全球化中保持自我的重要方法，

because as I recently learned to say in Hebrew,

正如我刚学会的希伯来语所说，

"'nḥnw 'dyyn k'n" --

“'nḥnw 'dyyn k'n”

we're still here.

我们还存在。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）