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Native languages magically disappeared because their native speakers, after 10,000+ years living in the same region, abruptly became very bad at living, and die

Native languages magically disappeared because their native speakers, after 10,000+ years living in the same region, abruptly became very bad at living, and died. There's also 50% chance that it was settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

oh_sigh 8y ago
Ok but this is a pidgin of a bunch of languages, including European, Native American, and even Asian ones. All this means is that all those groups were trying to talk to each other, which isn't a bad thing. Chinook Wawa only became a thing < 300 years ago, and died out not because of genocide or colonialism, but probably because the prestige language of the area shifted to the point where it made most sense to just speak that language.
- antics 8y ago
  No, that's not correct. As I said elsewhere in the thread, my family is Wasq'u, and we spoke Kiksht, a dialect of Upper Chinook that Chinook Wawa borrows from. The boardings schools implemented on the reservations had the stated and explicit purpose of obliterating the culture, customs, and especially language, of the indigenous people. If you hang out for any amount of time on the reservation, you know that people stopped teaching their kids the language because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they did not assimilate. The evidence is incontrovertible. There is no factual account that contradicts this. I would know -- my grandmother was the first Native American woman with 2 PhDs, and her thesis was literally about this. I have been steeped in this history since I was a child.
- partycoder 8y ago
  When was the last time you saw a Native American? How often does that happen? Why do you think there are so few? Why don't most people in America partially look like natives in a continent that used to have millions of them? Use your goddamn common sense. Your revisionism is offensive.

oh_sigh 8y ago

Ok but this is a pidgin of a bunch of languages, including European, Native American, and even Asian ones. All this means is that all those groups were trying to talk to each other, which isn't a bad thing. Chinook Wawa only became a thing < 300 years ago, and died out not because of genocide or colonialism, but probably because the prestige language of the area shifted to the point where it made most sense to just speak that language.

antics 8y ago
No, that's not correct. As I said elsewhere in the thread, my family is Wasq'u, and we spoke Kiksht, a dialect of Upper Chinook that Chinook Wawa borrows from. The boardings schools implemented on the reservations had the stated and explicit purpose of obliterating the culture, customs, and especially language, of the indigenous people. If you hang out for any amount of time on the reservation, you know that people stopped teaching their kids the language because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they did not assimilate. The evidence is incontrovertible. There is no factual account that contradicts this. I would know -- my grandmother was the first Native American woman with 2 PhDs, and her thesis was literally about this. I have been steeped in this history since I was a child.
partycoder 8y ago
When was the last time you saw a Native American? How often does that happen? Why do you think there are so few? Why don't most people in America partially look like natives in a continent that used to have millions of them? Use your goddamn common sense. Your revisionism is offensive.