3) Language Shift and Revitalization
a. Based on Nevins’s study of the White Mountain Apache, what would you say are some of the major challenges in revitalizing a heritage language in an indigenous community? Be specific and tie your response to the reading.
b. How does Nevin’s role as an ethnographer help her understand the tensions in the White Mountain Community about the school’s Apache language program?
c. Why is De Meulder concerned that sign languages are in peril even though the number of hearing signers has increased?
d. According to De Meulder’s study, why are current sign language revitalization policies problematic? What do you think could be some solutions to this issue?