Language Preservation

by Andrew Narcomey

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida combined only have a few thousand speakers of the Maskoke language (College of William and Mary). This number only continues to go down without adequate techniques to preserve the past and effectively teach younger members of the tribe. With the help of modern technology platforms and evolving applications, the preservation of knowledge can become easier. The spoken language can be recorded for anybody to access and listen to that is learning so that future generations have an opportunity to feel integrated with the culture and language of the tribe. On the opposite side, teaching the language orally can add profound value to that information and make it more meaningful to be passed on from generation to generation while technological means seem too detached. However, technological means offer a promising option to preserve a language by permanently saving a tribe’s past for the future that can be accessed anywhere and anytime.


This idea was something I had the desire to work on as a high school student and member of the Seminole Nation. I travelled to Wewoka, Oklahoma with my brother with the idea of using an online teaching platform to help document, preserve, and teach the Seminole language, Maskoke. Working with Seminole language preservationists, information technologists, and Chief and Assistant Chief of the Seminole Nation, we worked to bring Seminoledge to life: a Seminole learning software developed as a fun platform to learn Seminole language, history, and culture. We distributed the app to local members of the tribe to try, and have worked to expand its knowledge domain and to be for all members of the tribe since.

Technology offers a safe option that is completely independent of the actual number of speakers of the language. Knowledge can be permanently and publicly stored online for others to view and learn from. An increasing amount of today’s youth are being educated with technology and are constantly in contact with a “smart” device of some kind. For these youth to “keep their traditional languages alive and pass them on to future generations, [teachers] need to meet them in the middle using media distribution methods they are familiar with,” (Saddler). Individually, they can learn the language with access to online recordings, dictionaries, common phrases, etc. Many schools are using tablets and laptops at earlier stages of education as versatile tools for education, and it is important to continue to support this as technology’s role in society continues to grow. An online way of teaching is beneficial for being able to learn outside of a classroom, but it is especially important for tribal members that are not geographically close to their tribe. They do not have the same ability to learn the language orally by an elder, and need a separate means of accessing information to help them stay connected. An online database would provide a way for these people to be able to interact with members who are fluent in the tribe and allow them also to be able to pass on the language to future generations. An online database could also become easily translatable to other languages so that it can be easier to understand for people of other cultures and languages. For spreading knowledge of the language to spread out members of the tribe, technology promises a viable way to teach and disseminate information.

Technology does not have to, and should not, replace teaching through word of mouth. When information is safely documented online, technology can be used collaboratively with oral teaching. When used in the classroom, online information can reduce the cost of publishing written materials (Bernhard) and can make the editing of information easier. Instead of numerous editions of written texts, online sources of information can easily be updated so that everyone who is interested is automatically aware of changes. Teachers in schools such as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma’s Pumvhakv School uses “computer-based multimedia materials, classroom visual aids, and provide teacher training” (Maylen) thanks to modern technological tools to teach. With a real person using the developed technology, the language can still be taught in a personable way to future generations.

Oral and written forms of teaching language have benefits over technology that have to be accounted for. They can be preferred over technology because technology can be difficult to teach to tribal elders who still want to feel involved in the process of teaching. It is important that they are still in charge of the process and play a seminal job and that they are not taken out of this because they are not as involved with using technology. Learning through technology could also make learning the language impersonal for distant members of the tribe. With audio recordings, it is possible to hear the actual voice of a fluent speaker so that the language can come to life and not seem so detached. The complication with this is that “oral traditions and expressions often vary significantly in their telling” that “makes them a vibrant and colorful form of expression” (ICH). When preserving oral traditions and expressions in technology, it is crucial to “maintain their everyday role in society” so that their meaning is not lost (ICH). In order to accomplish this, younger members of the tribe that have been brought up with technology in their education can work together with elders so that both can benefit from each other. Elders can begin to document important stories and the context that they are told in a way that can easily be shared online for the rest of the tribe to have access to.

Collaborative efforts by young members with elder members of a tribe can effectively solve each other’s challenges. The problems that young members of the tribe face to learn the language of their tribe and the problems that elders face to easily teach and preserve the language can be combated by working together. Both have something to teach each other so that everyone can be involved in preserving the information of their tribe to be forever documented and to work to make technology used more often so that the tribe does not fall behind in a world that is quickly evolving and becoming more dependent on technology. Technology and oral and written tradition can be brought together so that a tribe does not have to worry about the preservation of their culture and so that every member who so desires can learn and continue to pass on their heritage to the future.

Works Cited
Bernhard, and H. Russell. "Preserving Language Diversity: Computers Can Be a Tool for Making the Survival of Languages Possible." Cultural Survival. 1992. Web. 13 Sept. 2015."
Muskogee (Creek) Language Project." LingSpace. William & Mary Linguistics, 1 Feb. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.
"Oral Traditions and Expressions Including Language as a Vehicle of the Intangible Cultural Heritage." United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. 2006. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.
"Pumvhakv School Online Learning Center." Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015. 
Saddler, Trey. "How Technology Is Helping Modern Language Revitalization Efforts." Indian Country, 8 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.