Despite how awesome it is that the Siletz community has been able to bring back their language, I cannot get over the irony of the revival in that it is in development to be taught in high school as "a foreign language in the place where it originated." This has begun to alter my previous conception of what a foreign language is. I guess since I am AMerican born and bred, and come from an English speaking household, the notion that "foreign language" denoted a language from another country served as the foundation of my understanding. I was not even conscious of this until reading this article and being forced to again recognize the extent to which the relocation and genocide of the American Natives has and continues to reach, even today.
It excites me, for reasons unbeknownst right now, that the article mentions people communicating via text in Siletz Dee-ni. The fact that the language has been incorporated into modern day activities, something as basic, to my generation at least, as texting shows some promise. Because of it, it even traverses geographical boundaries as Jen Johnson is, as indicated by the article, is located on the East coast, Pennsylvania to be specific. I hope that other languages suppressed due to colonization are able to use this model of revival to bring back or at least document the existence of their native tongues. Only time will tell though.
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