Indigenous Use of Scripts as a Response to Colonialism

Abstract

69 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Linguistics and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2017Writing systems are a form of language that have traditionally been controlled by colonizing forces. In Africa, the South Pacific and even in Native reservations in the United States the legacy of colonialism has been that literacy is taught in the colonizing language and using the Latin script. Unbeknownst to or despite the efforts of the colonizers, some marginalized people developed scripts of their own that are original and not based on an introduced script from missionaries or directly linked to the Latin orthography of colonizers. This Thesis is a case-study of three of these scripts from very different parts of the world in an attempt to synthesize a call to action for future script research and gauge the effect of these scripts in fostering “Ethnolinguistic Vitality” or in-group solidarity This Thesis synthesizes primary and secondary research on N’ko (from West Africa), Cherokee (North America) and Avoiuli (Oceania). It specifically gauges the Linguistic Landscape (public visibility of scripts), apparent literacy statistics from each area and their probable trajectory into the future. Preliminary results suggest that having a natively-derived script can increase subjective vitality among in-group members and may motivate students to become literate in their mother tongue alongside or in place of colonial-language education. I end with a call to action for further research in this understudied aspect of language revitalization, and position scripts as a potential boon in an era of globalization where more and more information is written online