03/05/2025
In advance of World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, ELP and the First Peoples' Cultural Council are excited to launch a new resource about language revitalization: โSay it With Respect: A Journalistsโ Guide to Reporting on Indigenous & Minoritized Languages, Language Endangerment, and Language Revitalization" ๐๏ธโ
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Find it at https://fpcc.ca/resource/say-it-with-respect
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This guide is a resource for journalists, written from the point of view of Indigenous Peoples and allies. We appreciate the growing attention that the media is giving to language revitalization and related topics, but we have seen issues covered in ways that unintentionally cause harm. How? Reporting on these topics often falls into deficit narratives like:โ
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โThis ancient language with only five speakers who have few resources are trying to save their dying language and need help.โโ
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This framing spreads false assumptions while obscuring the roots of the problem.โ
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So how does this resource help? The guide has three main sections centered around using respectful language when telling stories about language-related topics: ๐ฉ red flags (disrespectful, avoid), โ ๏ธ yellow flags (use with caution) and โ
green flags (respectful). Each flag has an explanation and โ where appropriate โ a suggested alternative.โ
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This guide incorporates the voices, knowledge, and experiences of Indigenous and minoritized language community members and scholars, as well as non-Indigenous linguists and scholars. โ
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We thank all of the contributors, as well as Lydia Prince (Dakelh/Cree) for her beautiful work on the documentโs design and layout, and Nicaela Leรณn (Quechua) for her fantastic work on finalizing the guide and designing the beautiful cover page.โ
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If you or someone you know is a , , or who may engage with topics of Indigenous and minoritized languages, language endangerment, or language revitalization, please use and share this! We hope it can help empower folks to tell these stories and to "say it with respect"! ๐๏ธโ
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