Language Revitalization
As of the 2000 census, the language had about 680 speakers. As of 2007, "there are about 300 first-language speakers and an equal or greater number of semi-speakers out of a total Jicarilla tribal population of 3,100." In 2003, "the Jicarilla Apache Nation ... the first tribe in New Mexico to take advantage of a new teaching certificate" that enables community members to be certified to teach a Native American language. Revitalization efforts (as of 2012) have included compilation of a dictionary, classes, and seasonal camps for youth.
Read more about this topic: Jicarilla Language
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Any language is necessarily a finite system applied with different degrees of creativity to an infinite variety of situations, and most of the words and phrases we use are “prefabricated” in the sense that we don’t coin new ones every time we speak.”
—David Lodge (b. 1935)