"The Mohican Language Revitalized" with Chris Harvey

​The Mohican language was proclaimed "extinct" in the early 1900s with the passing of the last few people who were raised in the language. However, there continued to be people who remembered some words and phrases long after this time, even up to elders living today. Ten years ago, I teamed up with the members of the Mohican community in Wisconsin to look through all of the written records in the language, from the 18th century missionary papers to the early 20th century linguistic documentation. From these, we were able to tease out a language that could be taught to community members and brought into people's daily life. Today we have a vibrant and eager group of advanced learners who speak the language every day with their friends and family. I would like to share with you the journey of the Mohican language throughout all periods of history, and what it means to have a language revitalized.

Chris Harvey is the Tribal Linguist for the Mohican language at the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. Together he and the community are reviving the Mohican language. For decades, Chris has worked with indigenous languages throughout North America in the fields of both formal linguistics and technology (as languagegeek.com). He is a proud learner and speaker of Welsh, and unabashedly speaks it wherever possible.