Mcleod's View Of English As An Indigenous Language
As a part Indigenous person who does not speak an Indigenous language I do see a gap, those who are able to understand or speak learn on a different level from the stories told then those who do not. The stories I have been told, even by my mother who barely recollects being a fluent Cree speaker, are usually described to be summaries only, as the full story is better conveyed in the language. Using traditional languages connects to the spirit world; the land and the ancestors, giving the words used multiple layers of meaning and giving the listeners multiple understandings. I have come to view English as a silencer rather than a means to voice ones opinion. This opinion is based in the stories I hear of Indigenous people losing their language for English and how the western language is enforced on them.
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A quote from McLeod’s writing really resonated with my understanding of the role of English and Christianity in relation to Indigenous orality: “Part of the process of Christianization involved the erasing of a previous Cree memory which had been marked in the landscape by sacred stones” (2007, Pp. 20). With the colonizers came Christianity and the English language, both of which were used to oppress Indigenous people by silencing their language and culture. I interpreted this quote in the fashion that the use of the oppressors language and thoughts in turn will begin to erase the traditional knowledge and stories. For Indigenous orality to flourish in my personal opinion the storytellers must return to their Indigenous languages separating themselves from the colonial influence of
A quote from McLeod’s writing really resonated with my understanding of the role of English and Christianity in relation to Indigenous orality: “Part of the process of Christianization involved the erasing of a previous Cree memory which had been marked in the landscape by sacred stones” (2007, Pp. 20). With the colonizers came Christianity and the English language, both of which were used to oppress Indigenous people by silencing their language and culture. I interpreted this quote in the fashion that the use of the oppressors language and thoughts in turn will begin to erase the traditional knowledge and stories. For Indigenous orality to flourish in my personal opinion the storytellers must return to their Indigenous languages separating themselves from the colonial influence of