Recognizing the Linguistic Landscape of Local Indigenous Languages at the U of A
In order to bring awareness to Arizona's unique linguistic diversity and communicate AILDI's role as a link between the university and Indigenous communities in Arizona, a 2015 project campaign was initiated by AILDI colleague Rolando Coto to create university building signs in local Indigenous languages for campus distribution during the week of International Mother Language Day (IMLD). The signs were designed to bring visibility and recognition to the Indigenous languages, peoples, and lands on which the University of Arizona is built. Producing signs in Indigenous languages helps balance the linguistic landscape, provides visibility for the languages of Arizona, and challenges the narrative of linguistic uniformity espoused by many inhabitants of the state.
The following building signs are just a few examples of the signage developed by Rolando, with translational help from community members from the Tohono O'Odham, Navajo, Hopi, and Pascua Hiaki Nations. We are grateful for their work to make this possible!
