Language Maintenance and Revitalization

My interest in indigenous languages was initially inspired by my wife, and I eventually learned Hawaiian and then Tahitian. We have used both English and Hawaiian as home languages, and our son went to a Hawaiian language immersion high school for a year to improve his “academic” Hawaiian, so I have had the personal experience of speaking a “minority” language and raising a child in such a setting. This has led to a continuing interest in language maintenance and revitalization work, and I have published on issues of language, culture and literature in Hawaii, Tahiti and the Pacific, as well as in Native America. I have also been very involved in helping with teacher training and curriculum development, with the Northern Arapaho, Gros Ventre, and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, including producing an extensive language learning and documentation website (http://www.colorado.edu/csilw/alp/) as well as an earlier cultural education website (http://www.colorado.edu/csilw/newarapproj2.htm).