How I learned an endangered language—and why it matters | Jonathan Mayers | TEDxBatonRouge

[Music] nostalgy Nostalgia sentimental longing wistful affection memories unlocked now when I say that word nostalgia what Memories pop into your head when I think of memories gone by I think back to fishing with my dad gardening with our family and stories of my great-grandmother if you could reconnect with your memories in some tangible physical way wouldn't you want to well I have I reconnect with my memories with one of my family's Heritage languages in my case the endangered Creole language of Louisiana also known as Louisiana Creole as a poet and an artist and Louisiana Creole m i seek out research and visit places where my family made marks in history I gather Earth I take in a deep breath of fresh air and I appreciate the land landcape that's so Lush in this environment and as I do so I know exactly what it is that we're losing py latte py long and in Louisiana as we lose land from oil and gas drilling every year that also includes what else saltwater encroachment climate change and things of the like as we lose these things its cultures and our languages will eventually go with it unless we're diligent in Creo Louisiana I'm I'm speaking about in colonial Louisiana the Creole Louisiana originally CR or Creole became an identity for people who in Louisiana who spoke Creole French or Spanish and were also Roman Catholic it was also applied to uh plants grown and animals race raed in as far north as present day Missouri and Illinois and as far south as Louisiana every language is steeped in a rich a rich history and they all deserve their story to be told and quiv is no different in colonial Louisiana right the origins are this the French enslaved West Africans such as the Bomar F Igbo Yoruba mandinka and vola among other peoples and then they were sent across the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico and when they arrived in as early as 1719 here in Louisiana the Louisiana Creole language started to become a developed language within a generation or two as we understand it not long after plantation owners their families and folks in close proximity started to speak too the Louisiana Creo language became solidified as it also became eventually the lingua franka or common language um for many regions of the southern part of colonial Louisiana along the Mississippi River and the Bayes when first documented in in the 18th and 19th centuries our language was recorded using a French orthography a French spelling or writing system while Kini is a French leifi cre language it also borrows terms like okri and gbo from African languages and mang and patasa from Regional indigenous languages such as choc it also shares grammatical structures similar to West African languages uh like Mand volov and some say F and a in the 1930s Creo language researchers stated that the French orthography could not capture the full array of sounds in our language in the late 20th century academics used a pan Creole haian orthography to write our language which still didn't give Louisiana creel's autonomy literary autonomy I mean no our language is not French and it's not asan creel we needed our own orthography we needed our own writing system made by and for Louisiana Creoles so in the mid 2010s a group of Louisiana Creoles did just that they created the kivan orthography and this was such a big step in preserving our language because it opened up avenues for Creos like myself to create communicate and collaborate through our own lens as a means of connecting to our heritage for me I wanted to connect with my great grandma whose first language was kivan which eventually led me to create a Louisiana Creole form of art called Latin yarisma which combines physical Place visual art and our language in various literary formats such as poetry and micro stories in my poetry I explore topics as far ranging from Nostalgia to capitalism to environmental activism but one thing will always be kiv my poetry is first in kiv and then often translated into English I'd like to share with you a poem that I wrote that recounts a simple memory of fishing with my dad from sweetening up the water in our batau before daylight we ride 30 minutes under star cover to attract all the fish in sight dad says we got to sweeten up the water little specks in beautiful oo next to fish who make red the Deep tornadoes scare them so much so they don't dare leave the marsh to eat we'll end up catching them little by little right after we sweetened up the sea in our batau before daylight we ride 30 minutes under star cover to catch all the fish sight dad says we got to sweeten up the water now now while that may not seem like some sort of like Grand Jester large statement making poem it is because anytime I use Civ vene I know that it helps to expand our language to new audiences like yourselves but then also that it helps to give it continued life this is important worked to me for many reasons but one personal reason in particular again involves a nostalgic memory with my dad so a couple years back dad and I were out in the garden tell we were just picking tomatoes you know just chatting well when we finished he said something that struck me me he said to me bu when you speak Civ cre on the phone with your friends it's just like when Grandma would sit and visit in the kitchen growing up look I told him he had never said that to me before when I was speaking French to which he replied nope no because that didn't sound like how she spoke this does let me tell you how much that meant to me and it means so much to me you know that sort of thing hearing my dad's verification you know that showed me the power and the importance of language and the connection to Heritage that mopa who didn't learn our language growing up still had a subconscious understanding of its Nuance Cadence and intonations that became a driving force for me to continue learning speaking and writing so that I could do my part to carry on this endangered language sa so where are we now people have been saying since the 1930s that this language was going to die it was ver it was supposed to be virtually dead by the 1950s then the 1980s but then also 2020 right well we're in the 2020s and we're where what time now 2023 it's continued because of Technology art art poetry and most importantly Community friends and colleagues of mine have come together to found chambo Inc a nonprofit full of passionate community members who create educational and learning materials for kiv vene for me the work doesn't stop with just using the language it continues with hosting and co-hosting uh poetry and cre storytelling and quiv language workshops for kids and adults with writing literature and lyrics and even co-editing and illustrating books recording audio and making videos so these are just a handful of things that I do with fellow Louisiana Creoles who speak or are learning to speak the language together as a community we can create a linguistic future that connects the past to the present May mediums such as art and poetry expand the existence of our language which then in turn increases the learning understanding and preservation of one's culture in this Ence our own ask anybody in the world who's heard of Louisiana what they think or know about it and chances are they probably going to say some like oh well it's one of the most unique cultures in the world yes we are different from anywhere else and sometimes that that's hard for us to appreciate because it's so intrinsic to who we are and what we've experienced living here but we're losing that culture land loss equals language loss equals culture loss and in in Louisiana when anything threatens to take away our land language and culture be it hurricanes Coastal erosion climate change or drilling we must make a stand to preserve nurture and grow these for future generations and if threats emerge for your heritage language especially if it's an endanger one I implore you to learn from your Elder speakers or relatives or friends and use your talents to create an enduring linguistic future you have the power to unlock memories to provide verification give Newfound perspectives and continue traditional non-traditional cultural stories and traditions Plante toel bcad thank you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 17,730

Keywords: Activism, Art, Climate Change, Culture, English, Humanities, Language, Poetry, TEDxTalks, [TEDxEID:52801]

Id: fycMUbo281k

Length: 12min 56sec (776 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024