Our Languages are crucial to
our cultural survival.The language retention rates are just
over 1%. This means that out of approximately 20,000 members at Six Nations of the
Grand River community, ONLY about 225 fluent speakers are
remaining. Almost all of the fluent speakers left with us are over the age of 60.
With the establishment of the Mohawk & Cayuga Immersion Schools,
and other various language initiatives within our communities, the perpetuation of
our languages will be assured well into the coming millenniums.
With the exception of the Mohawk communities, we can safely assume
that the other Iroquoian communities are facing the same falling fluency rates. The
Mohawk communities are fortunate enough to have the population and concentration of one
language to enable the retention of their language.
This site is one small endeavour to ensure that our languages continue to live.
The community of Six Nations of the Grand River, is the most diverse Iroquoian community,
which in some instances may be perceived as a hindrance, only because of its many
languages and efforts to revive the languages nearly lost in the community of aging fluent
speakers. It houses all six of the different Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and
must struggle to maintain its cultural identity through language and songs and guarantee
to its over 20,000 members that we will survive. While this community must do its
best to revive the languages, the resources to continue the struggle are limited and Six
Nations is faced with stretching those resources to accommodate six different languages. |