Tidbits

Did you know?

• Language is a powerful representation of cultural identity

• Languages are also important to collective identity

• It is expected that only a handful of Aboriginal languages will survive into the future. Those that survive tend to be ones that have a high number of people who speak the language and consider it their mother tongue as well as have a greater tendency to pass the language on to future generations

• Of all the provinces Saskatchewan tends to have the highest retention of people speaking an Aboriginal language

• There are 11 Aboriginal language families in Canada

• There are approximately 53 distinct Aboriginal languages surviving today

• The Algonquian language family is the largest in Canada

• The Cree language contains five dialects

• Geography is an important factor is determining the size and distribution of Aboriginal language groups across the country

• Aboriginal languages suffered when they were not allowed to be spoken in residential schools. Many children did not learn how to properly speak their native tongue as they forbidden from doing so for a number of years

• Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibwa are the top three Aboriginal languages that are believed to survive into the future

• British Columbia has the largest number of different Aboriginal languages spoken, however most of the languages contain less than 1000 members who are fluent in the language, making many of them endangered

• Languages that are spoken in insolated communities may have a low number of speakers, but they are considered viable languages because the language tends to be spoken at home as the mother tongue. Some examples of these languages are Dogrib, Montagnais-Naskapi, Micmac, and Dene

• Having a young mother tongue population is another critical factor in determining the long term success of a language. The more young people who speak the language at home make it more likely the language will survive. Passing language on to younger generations is a very important aspect of a languages survival
  
  
  
   

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