Sandhya Krittika Narayanan

This project will look at the linguistic and social processes associated with the revitalization of Massachusett, the ancestral sleeping language of members of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag. As a sleeping language, Massachusett has not been spoken by members of the Tribe in over a century. This project will ethnographically situate the process of revitalizing a sleeping language, framing the emergence of Massachusett in relation to settler-colonial histories and inter-Tribal politics and relationships in Southern New England. This project first will provide insight into the linguistic and social processes associated with sleeping language revitalization, particularly in the initial stages of the language revitalization process. Tracking the re-awakening of Massachusett complicates ongoing discussions between language and cognition, and the role that social practices play in shaping the genesis of new linguistic varieties. Lastly, findings from this project will also broaden discussions around identity and political recognition, and the role that language plays in formalizing group boundaries and inter-group differences.