Struggles of the phoenix and myrtle: strategies and challenges for preserving the cherokee and guarani languages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/rhla.v22i2.46989Keywords:
Cherokee, Guarani, Vitality, Language shift, DiversityAbstract
This article explores the role of writing for the preservation of oral languages stemming from the story about the creation of the Cherokee syllabary. Based on the tale about the reception of the syllabary by members of the Cherokee Nation, the article deals with the concept of blasphemy proposed by Bhabha (1998) aiming at investigating the ambiguity of applying the technology of writing for the Cherokee people. In a second moment, three articles are revised and interrelated. Guyette’s article (1981) analyzes the vitality of the Cherokee language by researching the domains in which the language is used by three Cherokee communities; Velasquez (2021) writes about the bilingual education of the Guarani people in Paraná; and Peter (2007) analyzes the experience of an immersion school in Cherokee for children as one of the initiatives for reversing language shift. We conclude, in conversation with Bastardas-Bodas (2012), that linguistic diversity must be protected and encouraged, mostly when facing the risks presented by languages of international commerce such as English. Linguistic diversity is understood as shaping a robust symbolic ecology of ways to live and think.
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