Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Americas

As a field of study and a social practice, language revitalization has grown exponentially in tandem with escalating language endangerment throughout the world. This volume examines the current state of Indigenous language revitalization in the Americas. Focusing on the Americas, home to 15 percent of the world’s Indigenous population, it explores past and recent language revitalization research and initiatives across this vast territory, including "top-down" (official) and "bottom-up" (grassroots) language planning and policy. The book is organized thematically and regionally, with complementary chapters representing work in Canada, the U.S., and the circumpolar North, and in Latin America and the Caribbean. Offering state-of-the-art scholarship and analysis of practice in Indigenous language revitalization throughout the hemisphere, this singular collection, with chapters by both established and emerging scholars – Indigenous and non-Indigenous, all with strong expertise in their topic – is an invaluable resource to widen the research horizon and deepen regional and cross-regional perspectives on language revitalization for Indigenous peoples.

Serafin M. Coronel-Molina is Assistant Professor in the Department of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education at the School of Education; Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anthropology, and American Studies and in the Latino Studies Program; and a Core Faculty in the Minority Languages and Cultures Program at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, US.

Teresa L. McCarty is the Alice Wiley Snell Professor of Education Policy Studies and Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University, US.