Indigenous Language and Mental Health Recent studies (Walls, Hautala, and Hurley, 2014) have reported the association between language dispossession and a steady increase in suicide rates amongst First Nations youth in Canada. Indeed, the ability to articulate inner psychological experiences, and its association with mental health has been the focus of many psychological researches around the world. For instance, Şimşek (2010) contributed to the conceptualization of language as a determinant of self-identity, by exploring three predominant key functions of language in mental health: the referential, epistemic, and communicative functions. However, as these abilities decrease, the individual becomes susceptible to the development of mental
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69-70) argued that the referential function is considered the most basic of the language functions. In fact, as the name implies, it pertains to the capability of using language to refer to a certain experience, and could compare to the behavior of “pointing” at objects, which is one of the first cognitive developmental milestones in children. Furthermore, according to Owen (1991), the epistemic function consists of the use of linguistic markers, such as language and words, in order to attribute meanings, and ultimately, to obtain knowledge from inner experiences. Lastly, the communicative function consists the “tendency to consider language as a reliable means for communicating those inner experiences” (Şimşek & Çerçi, 2013, p. 295). Following this logic, it is clear that impairments to the ability to use these linguistic tools will show negative results in mental …show more content…
In fact, the results showed that communities with higher levels of Indigenous language knowledge had 6 times less cases of suicide in their youth. The authors reinforce these statistics with the following statement: “between 1987 and 1992, only one youth committed suicide from within those 16 bands that had the language factor while, from the remaining 136 bands, 84 youth committed suicide during this same 6-year period” (Hallett, et. al., 2007, p. 398). Although it is important to reiterate the diversity of Indigenous communities, and the fact that they greatly differ from each other, both culturally and linguistically, the numbers are still pertinent to the analysis of Indigenous mental health from a macro
69-70) argued that the referential function is considered the most basic of the language functions. In fact, as the name implies, it pertains to the capability of using language to refer to a certain experience, and could compare to the behavior of “pointing” at objects, which is one of the first cognitive developmental milestones in children. Furthermore, according to Owen (1991), the epistemic function consists of the use of linguistic markers, such as language and words, in order to attribute meanings, and ultimately, to obtain knowledge from inner experiences. Lastly, the communicative function consists the “tendency to consider language as a reliable means for communicating those inner experiences” (Şimşek & Çerçi, 2013, p. 295). Following this logic, it is clear that impairments to the ability to use these linguistic tools will show negative results in mental …show more content…
In fact, the results showed that communities with higher levels of Indigenous language knowledge had 6 times less cases of suicide in their youth. The authors reinforce these statistics with the following statement: “between 1987 and 1992, only one youth committed suicide from within those 16 bands that had the language factor while, from the remaining 136 bands, 84 youth committed suicide during this same 6-year period” (Hallett, et. al., 2007, p. 398). Although it is important to reiterate the diversity of Indigenous communities, and the fact that they greatly differ from each other, both culturally and linguistically, the numbers are still pertinent to the analysis of Indigenous mental health from a macro