Importance of language planning and language policy

I recently had some conversations with various people about the state of the Irish language, which is rapidly disappearing as a family-community language in Ireland. While it is a mandatory subject in Irish schools and this program does produce speakers, the uses of the language seem to be confined to performance/public realms. So everybody in Ireland can say a little something in Irish Gaelic, but no one has conversations in it. Also, the language is supported in a public way with all signs in Irish first and English second, but children do not use the language on playgrounds with other children, nor with their parents or grandparents at home.  The estimate is that Irish will cease to be a language of the family and community in one more generation.

This reminded me of the situation with the Choctaw (& perhaps other American Indian languages). While the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma provides support for the language via the establishment of the Choctaw Language School, virtually no speakers of the language are being produced. The state of Oklahoma allows for the instruction of American Indian languages in public schools, but all of the curriculum I have seen teaches about Choctaw language and culture. Anecdotal evidence further suggests that people are being certified to be Choctaw language teachers, for example, without being fluent speakers of the language and that community efforts to restore Choctaw as a community language have been strongly discouraged and heavily criticized.

It seems that the Choctaw may be headed down the same path as the Irish. Not having that language as part of the identity of an Irish person kind of just makes them all additional Anglicized speakers of English. I have a keen interest in what happens as my grandmother was Choctaw and spoke Choctaw. That language was not passed down to her children or grandchildren, so I have a keen interest in its preservation. The Choctaw have a unique history and culture that will not be passed down if they language goes. Their stories will just become quaint stories from by-gone days, and the next generations will just join the billions of others who speak English globally.