Gaelic, Acadian, Mi'kmaq: Nova Scotia's Threatened Languages
Memorandum
INTRODUCTION My name is Sarah Berthiaume. I am a student at Cape Breton University currently studying English and Political Science. As a Political Science student interested in the welfare of ancient, dying languages in Nova Scotia, it is important for me to explain to you the importance of ensuring the survival of the Gaelic, Mi’kmaq and Acadian French languages in Cape Breton as well as the rest of Nova Scotia. First I must say that I am not speaking on behalf of any organization or institution. I am contacting you in regards to myself. As a young student, I represent the future of this island and believe, for the welfare of our future generations, that it is of dire importance that we consider these languages. I, for one, would like my children to embark on the history of the island. Learning these languages would most certainly strengthen our unique cultural heritage.
HISTORY
Gaelic: The Scots-Gaelic language came to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia as far back as 200 years ago as part of the Irish and Manx dialects spoken in Europe. At its peak in the mid-19th century, Gaelic was the third most spoken language in Canada after English and French. Unfortunately, the language has severely declined since this point in time and has become nearly extinct.
Mi’kmaq: An indigenous First Nations people of Nova Scotia. Out of 13 other communities in Nova Scotia and five in Cape Breton, the biggest Mi’kmaq communities reside in Cape Breton Island’s Eskasoni and Membertou, named after the Grand Chief Membertou (1510-1611). Membertou is an urban First Nation community located in the city of Sydney and consisting of over 1050 people. Nova Scotia has a total of over 115 thousand Mi’kmaq people according to the Membertou website. Many years ago, Membertou was located just off of Kings Road, along the Sydney Harbor. In 1916, the Exchequer Court of Canada ordered the relocation of the 125 Mi’kmaq; the first time an aboriginal community had been legally forced through the courts to relocate in Canadian history. In 1926, the Membertou Community was officially moved to its present day location. Although the language has a wide number of speakers in Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States, it is important to consider raising awareness elsewhere in the Americas.
French Acadian: Acadian French is a dialect of French spoken by francophone Acadians primarily in Nova Scotia. Acadian French originated from what we know as Metropolitan French, a Romance language spoken in France, Belgium and Switzerland, about 400 years ago.
TECHNOLOGICAL THREAT? Many would agree that the aforementioned languages of Nova Scotia are part of our heritage and that we must not hasten to let these languages disappear. With the lack of Canadian Broadcasting and valid internet resources specific for the speakers of these languages, as well as others interested in them, it would seem that the languages have the possibility, if not probability, of dying out due to the ever evolving technological spectrum. Currently there are a mere 54 television programs designed to attract French Acadian speakers while there is only a part time channel dedicated to Gaelic and one fulltime channel for speakers of the Mi’kmaq language. The only newspaper written in Gaelic stopped print in Cape Breton in the 1960’s. The internet is also an unreliable resource for hard evidence on the origins of these languages or any censuses related to them because many sites offer contradictory evidence whose truths and fallacies are undetermined. Books, written many hundreds of years ago, also prove to be an unreliable source of information for they too contain contradictory and biased information surrounding the time in which they were written.
While technology has become infinitely more sophisticated over the past few hundred years, languages have not. Indeed linguistic complexity is seldom greater than on the lips of hunter-gatherers whose material needs are few and whose grasp of the distant world is minimal. Languages… evolve towards simplicity. Kriol is far simpler and more flexible than the Aboriginal languages that nourished it. Italian is a slipshod free-for-all language compared with the Latin from which it sprang (Abley 44).
WHY SO IMPORTANT? Many would agree that the threat of losing one’s own language, be it one’s own communicative identity, is one of substantial power, one that must be looked at and taken care of immediately. In the words of Mark Abley, author of Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, “Languages are devoid of hierarchy. Infants emerge from the womb with an absolute equality of linguistic opportunity – whatever sounds they grow up hearing, whatever syllables they start out babbling, any fully developed language can express their needs and desires.” (p. 43). Abley goes on to argue in favor of infants’ abilities to understand and take in language, then their ability to speak it and communicate. The mind is a complex thing that we must not take for granted, and must instead cherish and nurture it so that we may become more intelligent than technology itself leads us to be. Cape Breton, much like the Island of Man, has certain ideas about the Scots-Gaelic language, or any of the other languages spoken in the area. With this, I compare Abley’s “Reasons Not to Speak [Manx]” (p. 97) with a number of reasons often told to me about why the languages here are rarely spoken. This is not in support of the opposing argument but rather a glimpse at the threat against these languages. Keep in mind that “No language merits extinction by reason of incompetence.”
“Reasons Not To Speak” - It isn’t spoken in school - Too much effort to learn - Useless off of the island - English has status and prestige - It can be a secret code –OR- - a weapon for excluding people
These feelings of dismay and remorse towards the languages must be counteracted and made to change by use of positive reinforcements for the languages. You can do this through Public Policy as well as awareness programs and heritage societies.
PUBLIC POLICY Public policy is a course of action designated by public authorities in address to a problem. It is expressed in the body of laws, regulations, decisions and actions of the government. The current policies regarding languages of Canada regard only the official languages of French and English. Preference for employment is given only to speakers of these languages due to the fact that the majority of Canada’s population speaks either one or the other. On the Policy Library Canada’s website there are no public listings for issues concerning the Gaelic, Mi’kmaq or Acadian languages. Awareness must be made. Information in regards to the threat against these languages and or to the possibility of instilling policies to preserve them is virtually impossible to find through any mass-media means. In light of these facts, I strongly urge you to consider analyzing our current policies on the welfare of dying languages. Although such policies are practically non-existent, bringing back these dying languages would do a great deal of good for the communities of Nova Scotia as well as other Maritime provinces that face these same issues. Policies must be urged to allow employment for the speakers of these languages, much like the Black Business Initiative, as well as to ensure the preservation of them. Policies concerning education, such as mandatory language awareness as well as courses in local history would promote a better understanding of these languages and certainly more knowledge and awareness pertaining to them. Furthermore, it would be tremendously accommodating and supportive to consider television and news programs as well as radio stations and other media resources aimed at offering awareness for these threatened languages. The implementation of these ideas would not only strengthen our heritage and global identity but it would also allow for flexible employment for the speakers of them.
DECLINE The decline of the languages spoken in Nova Scotia began when they were first spoken here and lacked important documented record of the use of them in communication. They are not currently suitable in the work force or in international affairs. The importance of them, found within the people who currently speak them and the organizations that advocate for them, is quite obviously there. Although a wide range of useful documented information can not be gathered for the cause of preserving these languages, we can learn about them through the stories, songs, myths, legends, and histories brought down to us by our ancestors. It would also be important to promote national awareness, perhaps within a holiday, tourist attraction, or larger, fully staffed, museums and heritage sites.
* Currently, Nova Scotia houses only three institutions dedicated to the study or preservation of these languages. These institutions include the Lyceum, the Gaelic College and small private classes pertaining to milling frolics and Gaelic song. Our largest institution, the Fortress of Louisbourgh, which is dedicated to France and French Canada, is currently under going never-ending construction in which most of the site is barely accessible. The animators, or actors in costumes, are ill-trained except for those trained in military technique of the times. There is little information given by the animators in regards to their displays.
* The only local historical society I personally know of, without going to great lengths to find, is the Whitney Pier Historical Society, one of which does not advocate to the study or preservation of languages. In my search, I have not found any that do advocate for such a cause.
* Workers at these historical societies and museums do not do any primary research for them, other than the work of a handful of volunteer research associates.
* A course in Gaelic was once offered in the local high schools but has recently been abandoned while courses are still offered in Canadian French (not necessarily Acadian) and in Mi’kmaq. There is a relatively small Gaelic community and the only people interested in taking the courses offered at my local college in Gaelic Studies are local historians or those students who are merely interested in learning something new. The numbers are both sparse and fleeting.
In my travels, I do not hear the old languages of Gaelic or Acadian being spoken. I hear what is known merely as “broken Mi’kmaq” which is a sad combination of English phrases and words entangled in the Mi’kmaq language and being spoken only to their families in private. Without your help, these languages will be lost. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that I am unable to raise awareness of these languages on my own. The members of societies dedicated to the preservation of these languages can only do so much while many of them cannot event support their core activity of keeping up with their collection of artifacts and documented information.
CONCLUSIONS My observations are summarized in the following ways:
1) The preservation of languages deserves more funding so as to build awareness and preserve the culture. Nova Scotians value their culture enough to donate artifacts and small monetary funds to the cause for which I am advocating. All that is needed now is more support from the government to ensure that what needs to be done is done.
2) The foundation of these languages rests in the people who speak them. For this reason, we must promote further communications in these languages as well as supportive social institutions aimed towards this goal. For this reason, heritage societies and museums deserve more resources pertaining to these languages. There must be content as well as marketing to entice visitors to the attractions proposed in this memorandum.
3) It is a means to an end to see only tourism as our historical linguistic salvation. For this reason, heavily promoting only tourism attractions strays from the purpose of preserving the language for tourists may come to view but not to immerse themselves into the culture. These languages should be valued fundamentally as cultural assets for Nova Scotia's identity.
Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever
it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see
us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out
is that each one of us is a brain, an athlete, basket case, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.
Labels: Breakfast Club
So.... that paper is actually due December 4. To think I stayed up all night writing it.
Throughout history there have been various ideas and concepts on what culture is and what constitutes a civilized society. To De Sepulveda and Las Casas, it is important to guide the “Indians” in such a way that they see the “true” God and true moral way of life. This guidance would thus bring them from a barbarous lifestyle to that of a civilized manner. Today, this can be seen merely as forced assimilation into culture. As we see from these three articles, people have very different and biased opinions of the cultures that are different from what they might be used to. This lack of understanding leads to assumptions and cruelty. What we learn from this is that there is no “true” way to define humanity or western civilization. How we define it is otherwise dependent on the things we already know and how we perceive the world around us. The problem with this is that the world is thus divided in definitions of “us” and “others”.
The fundamental delusion of humanity is that I am here and you are out there. – Yasutani Roshi
History Nonexistent
Another day lost in the battle against my mind. I still fight what needs to be done and procrastinate when it matters most. I have one hell of a paper due tomorrow and I am not even half done with it. I'm about to go to sleep, I'm going to inhale the poison once more and close my eyes. Here's the introduction to my paper, what do you think?
History is determined by the perception of other cultural events according to one’s own surroundings. As we see in three documents given for the assignment, each historian perceived the cultures that they visited according to the definition of culture and community outlined by the places in which they live. “Culture,” “community,” and “civilization” are all terms difficult to define, just as “history” is. What we consider as civilized, in our own community, may hold a very different meaning to the cultures we study. Cultures themselves are defined historically only by the fragments they leave behind to be studied and analyzed by authorities of science and history. These authorities put pieces together, according to what they already know about their own civilization, to make a story of what the specific culture means. This is the creation of history. Because of this, it is difficult to determine the truth of history except by taking and putting pieces together from what we, and various authorities, have concluded in our research. For this reason, it is not wise to put all of our trust into textbooks that outline history according to the authorities they appeal to. Textbooks, like many but not all books written about historical fact, are thus given as only a mere outline of what history is or may be.
The hour of my creativity hath arrived. It is the hour of my reckoning. I am doomed to follow the path I choose. Understanding an understatement of one's most vivid and comunicative emotion, I see that the emotion is not so vivid, nor powerful, nor communicative. As I sit alone in the wake of a fire burned, I realize that I am not with the rest of humanity. This is not to say that I am better than you, no, it is far worse. I can not fit in with you. I am beneath your communication and lost somewhere in the flow. Even when I have friends around me, I am alone. I am lost without you, without my soul and I can not handle being forgotten. But is it so? Am I really forgotten or am I over reacting? I don't understand why I feel the way I do but the tears are getting too deep. What do I want out of life? What can you offer me? Will I forever be alone in this world? Maybe some one out there understands, maybe someone can help me. Will someone please realize that I'm sitting alone, away from everyone else... wallowing in misery and self pity. I'm rediculous for wanting human attention, aren't I?
We were talking about ethics, a field Jason is studying for his Philosophy major. Normative ethics is the attempt to tell us how to live moral lives on the basis of knowing "right from wrong". The consequences of our behavior on ourselves and others is then determined by the goods or bads created by our behavior and the intrinsic good of some of our actions. Some philosophers often view aesthetics, etiquette and arbritation as implying rather than explicitly stating theories of value or of conduct. In this view, ethics is derived from observations of actual choices made in practice. The problem with this is that there are a vast number of different ethical doctrines. Most of these doctrines contradict eachother and themselves.
For example a
pplied ethics attempts to apply 'theoretical' ethics, such as utilitarianism, social contract theory, and deontology, to real world dilemmas. Applied ethics seeks to engage formal ethics in attempts to solve actual dilemmas. This increases the chances of disagreement over the way theories and principles should be applied. Strict, principle-based ethical approaches often result in solutions to specific problems that are not universally acceptable. A strict deontological approach, for example, to an issue of medical ethics would never permit the deception of a patient about their condition while a utilitarian approach would look only at the consequences of the action. A utilitarian might permit lying to a patient if the result of the action was 'good'. A deontologist could thus derive a different solution to a dilemma than a utilitarian.This all makes me wonder what really is the "right" way. Can we follow our hearts to make our decisions - or do the consequences outweigh the inner feelings of our hearts? Can we not rely on ourselves? Doesn't ethics, in a sense, contradict philosophical logic by "appealing to authority"? Jason at first did not agree with me at all about this because the labels of these ideas are not used the same way for every person that uses them. I believe, on the other hand, that calling oneself utilitarian or Kantian is appealing to authority in that one defines oneself by the name rather than simply following their own beliefs in whatever ethical doctrines they might see credible.
I'll be writing more on this at another time when I have authoritative research to back up my feelings.
Labels: Utilitarianism
Still no comments, I'm not suprised. I must attend to more pressing matters, like the description of my very first shroom trip on Halloween...
Hallowe'en was the perfect time to experience this trip as it was and always will be my favorite time of year. The weather was perfect although we did not wander outside unless it was for a joint. Everyone in the complex was partying in their own ways that consisted of broken beer bottles and debauchery. Jason and I, however, started our late night off with 3 grams each of some nice tobins. I don't quite remember all that happened but I hope I can drag it out of my subconcious because I know the experience was simply amazing. I had maybe a tenth of my three grams and Jason took all of his in one sitting. We took a shower and the feeling was so intense that we nearly passed out on eachother - I was enjoying the feel of the water against my skin and the feeling of Jason's wet body crumpled in standing against me. I lowered my head and closed my eyes and that's all I remember before turning on the light and stepping out of bed to finish the rest of my shrooms. Only a few minutes had passed, five or ten, and my eventually disappeared from the plate. The bitter taste didn't last as I mixed some barbecue pringles with the tobins. Eventually everything got blury. Music turned on, I don't remember how. The light was off and I was sitting on the bed again... when did I even sit down? Jason and I were staring at eachother, feeling the air brush itself against our skin. I was naked. I don't remember taking my clothes off. We just sat there, staring, holding eachother, letting the music penitrate our deepest thoughts. We waited hours before we emersed ourselves into eachother. It was like our souls were melding, our minds were fucking. It was amazing, I felt one with him. I felt like we belonged this way, like a yin and yang scrabbled together in the mass of two bodies. My body is a temple.... joined with another temple that is my Jason. Together we are a mansion, together we are heaven.
I can't really describe this too well, the feeling was perfect and intense... and I stayed awake for 32 hours - if not more. When I went to sleep, I slept perfectly, Jason's body intertwined with mine. It was a beautiful, spiritual, loving experience. I felt God and I feel as though I have never thought the same since that night. It puts things in perspective things that otherwise make no sense.
Labels: Shroom Trip
Makes me wonder.
Fifteen page views and not a comment to spare.
It makes me sad that no one is interested but I suppose I shouldn't expect people to desire much out of me. I am not but a mere shadow on the wall critical of the blinding lights that shut me out.
Lately I've been pretty creative, working on poems and a cartoon project... I think it's all that pot I smoke. I hope to keep the creativity as I back off a bit. Lately my world has been full of group hang outs that consist of odd imagery and scene creation. We have missions by the bridge or at the rock where the holy levatation of penitration at the rock in the church of the trees and leaves... happened. Don't ask. I might just tell you some day. Last night I hemorhaged at the sounds of progressive tunes from King Crimson and Gentle Bear - I couldn't handle it, my whole head was exploding inside my mind. Everyone sat staring at space waiting for it to end, no one could handle it. Jason was shaking his head and holding his face in his hands, Phil was on the corner of his seat staring into space losing contact with the entire world around him. Dan knew that he was tripping us out so he just sat there with a mischevious smirk on his face, enjoying the pleasurable disdain in our eyes. We loved it so much we hated it.
POEMS
Untitled
Slow flame phaze
From the darkened sun
An orange sky and blue typhoon.
Suicide Dream.
Not of death or pain or hate
But of change and love and faith.
And quiet are the feet of the
Leaders of your mind.
No!
Inspiration.
That's right, not leaders, inspire.
Inspire that which brings
You near to the darkened sky.
Sanity
Warrants
Bravery.
Philosophy brings on truth.
Accept that which touches you
Deeply.
Euphoria
Silence.
Dance in the wind under moon and stars.
Connect with life, deny your strife.
I'm stranded above a cloud of doubt
Wondering, searching, and grasping.
Grasping at hope, hoping to float
On a trip that's grand
To heaven of sand.
I cannot get beyond it
I Must accept it,
I Submerge into mind.
I Race into thought
And the plot of the story thickens.
Quickening sky,
Strength from art and then...
All there is
Is
Silence.
Random Endnote:
Humanity is an organism whose creations and accomplishments are all products of evolution. Everything we invent and every philosophy we come up with came from a will to reproduce. However, behaviors and physical traits brought on by adaptation and evolution are only perpetuated if they advance the production of entities who hold these same behaviors and traits. Human behaviors which perpetuate the reproduction of more humans are either a product of genetic or cultural evolution.
Labels: A Trip that's Grand
