《日诞之地》与印第安部落语言历史表征

History and Native American Languages in House Made of Dawn

当代美国印第安作家莫马迪的小说《日诞之地》再现了三个印第安部落近80年的历史,可视为印第安语言历史命运的文本表征,揭示了美国的语言政策和相关教育政策对印第安人的影响。小说人物弗朗西斯科、阿韦尔和托萨马可分别解读为部落语言传承者、部落语言与英语世界夹缝中的失语者,和英语世界的挑战者;面对政府的语言同化政策和二战后部落语言被削弱甚至被消灭的危机,三者分别以传承、挣扎和反抗的形式表现对部落语言的坚持,维护部落传统,努力保存部落语言的生命力,其举动在一定程度上折射出当时整个印第安群体传承和坚持部落语言的选择。

N.Scott Momaday＇s novel House Made of Dawn writes a history of three Native American tribes that spans nearly eighty years.As a textual representation of the historical situation of Native American languages,the novel reveals the impact that the American language policy and certain educational policies have imposed upon Native Americans.The three major characters—Francisco,Abel and Tosamah—can be interpreted as respectively the inheritor of native tribal languages,the aphasic caught between the world of tribal languages and the world of English,and the challenger of the English world.Their efforts to resist English and preserve tribal languages reflect Native Americans ＇ attitude towards the crisis of tribal languages in the milieu of language-assimilating policies and the language-annihilating war.Despite their distinctive choices of language, all of the three native characters endeavor to perpetuate the innate vigor of Native American languages,to some extent reflecting the universal vote for language preservation among Native American communities at that time.