Legacies of NALA: The Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act and Implications for Language Revitalization Policy and Practice

Abstract

Abstract:This article traces the development and implementation of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act as a legacy of the 1990/1992 Native American Languages Act (NALA) as well as ongoing policy considerations within the larger context of the Native American language revitalization movement. While both educational and language policies for Native Americans remain highly complex and contradictory, NALA and Esther Martinez illuminate changing ideologies at both the local and national levels. This article explores how local community practice has changed whereby communities are choosing to revitalize and maintain their languages, creating official policies to support those languages and thereby creating new speakers. NALA as an official policy created a foundation for the possibility and development of other policies at the tribal, state and federal levels and has paved the way for policies like Esther Martinez as well as other local and tribal language policies.