Daryl Baldwin - “aapisaatawiaanki: We Awaken Our Language”
Channel: Center for 21st Century Studies
Date: 2015-05-07

Dr. Daryl Baldwin (Myaamia Center, Miama University) at the Center for 21st Century Studies "After Extinction" Conference, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. May 1, 2015.

“aapisaatawiaanki: We Awaken Our Language”
The Myaamia (Miami) language ceased to be spoken sometime during the mid 20th century after the passing of its last speakers. During the following years, linguists and other academicians labeled the language as extinct, and claimed there was insufficient documentation to describe the language. This terminal designation, and the lack of knowledge regarding available documentation, would become challenged during the following decades. Beginning in the late 1980s, linguists and community members began the difficult work of not only reconstruct the language, but to reawaken their sleeping language among the tribal community. Today the Miami-Illinois language, as it is now officially called, has expanded in use and is currently being promoted by a youth generation who is developing an identity around its use and the knowledge system it reflects.