Tucson Standard

A new center at the University of Arizona has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education to lead efforts in revitalizing and maintaining Indigenous languages across tribal communities. The West Region Native American Language Resource Center, funded by a five-year $1.7 million grant from the Department of Education, began operations last fall.

This center is administratively housed within the university's American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) and is one of four such centers nationwide. Other institutions include a national center at the University of Hawai'i and regional centers at the University of Oregon and Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago, Nebraska. The University of Arizona's center will primarily serve Indigenous communities in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

The new center extends AILDI's longstanding work since its establishment in 1978, which involves hosting workshops for tribal members to promote language use as a key aspect of revitalization efforts. Ofelia Zepeda, Regents Professor of Linguistics and director of AILDI, serves as co-principal investigator for the new center. Sheilah E. Nicholas, professor in the College of Education and AILDI faculty member, will serve as center director.

"When we looked at the call for proposals for the grant, the things it listed were the things we were doing for years," said Zepeda, a renowned Tohono O'odham linguist who authored the first grammar book in the Tohono O'odham language.

The new center aims to formalize partnerships with tribal communities and other institutions that have applied AILDI's model to local language revitalization efforts. Partnerships with tribes will be tailored to each community’s unique linguistic needs.

"Enumeration has always been a curiosity from the outside," Nicholas said. "If we can shift and show the vitality, it broadens the definition of language – it's not just a form that people use to communicate on a daily basis."

Much of the programming will involve Indigenous language immersion techniques developed since the 1990s by Nicholas. These methods use Indigenous languages as mediums of instruction for 50% to 100% of teaching time.

Indigenous language immersion techniques were influenced by French immersion programs in Canada and later adopted by Mohawk communities in North America before becoming part of broader movements among Hawai'ian and Māori languages.

AILDI has implemented these techniques across various U.S. communities, allowing educators to develop effective curriculums despite limited resources. "One question we always get from educators is, 'I see why we should do this, but where is the buy-in among decision-makers?'" Nicholas noted.

Emerging research confirms that Indigenous language immersion education is additive rather than subtractive; students excel academically while learning their ancestral languages and developing strong cultural identities.

Ronald Geronimo grew up speaking O'odham as his first language but notes many children today are not fluent. As co-director of Tohono O'odham Community College's O'odham Ñi'okǐ Ki: (O'odham Language Center), Geronimo leads initiatives to reclaim everyday usage of O’odham through school programs and parental involvement.

"We're trying to have a comprehensive approach," he said about integrating immersion into schools and homes alike.

The federal grant establishing this new center provides valuable networking opportunities for tribal linguists like Geronimo to share resources toward common goals in supporting Indigenous language revitalization efforts.

"We'll have our own ideas to meet the obligations of the grant," Zepeda concluded. "But we'll also be listening to the communities about what they want and what they need."