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As more communities work to create new speakers of their languages we are seeing a new linguistic environment develop and, from that, particular styles of language use emerge. This dissertation adds to the growing literature on studying and supporting the process of language revitalization (e.g. Stebbins et al. 2017, Zuckerman 2021), by describing the process of documenting and analyzing Tunica (tun ISO 639-3), a reawakening language spoken in central Louisiana, USA. ‘Reawakening languages’ are languages whose usual transmission has been interrupted and the community is looking to learn them through existing documentation, meaning looking at their revitalization process has the potential to be both incredibly illuminating and in- credibly disruptive to language learners and language workers. With these concerns in mind, this dissertation presents a method for documenting languages as they are being revitalized that minimizes disruption and maximizes support by centering the documentation around language revitalization activities and output. The first chapter introduces key terms and situates current research in language revitalization. Chapter 2 provides background on Tunica, the revitalization efforts in the community, and the language structure. Chapter 3 provides general recommendations for documenting the process of languages being reclaimed and reawakened. Chapters 4 and 5 focus specifically on documenting Tunica, with Chapter 4 describing the process of documenting Tunica in the classroom, through the creation of podcasts, and with more traditional elicitation. Chapter 5 turns to the types of questions we can look at using documentation of reawakening languages by considering trends in three morphological and syntactic phenomena in the language: the use of gender-number-agreement clitics, the use of overt subjects, and the structure of questions. Chapter 6 ties this all together and looks towards future projects.

This dissertation explores the historical and cultural relationship of land and water within the San Xavier Community. O’odham from San Xavier or Wa:k O’odham have farmed the land for time immemorial. They have always helped one another with planting, harvesting, and making sure everyone within the community had enough to eat and store away during the off seasons. However, that all changed in 1887 when the General Allotment Act which was adopted by Congress authorized U.S. President Grover Cleveland to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Native Americans. In 1890, the San Xavier Indian Reservation was divided into allotments, and it is the only land base on the Tohono O’odham Nation that was a part of General Allotment Act. There were 292 allotments, which total 41,000 acres. Following allotment, other historical events occurred in San Xavier; In 1971, a group of Allottee members formed the San Xavier Cooperative Farm to combine allotted lands that were previously farmed by individual/families into a farming entity. Pressure from the O’odham led the federal government to finally see the predicament that San Xavier would be left dry due to the overdraft of the groundwater by the outside entities, if they did not file suit against agribusiness men, copper mines, and the City of Tucson for its water use practices and which included the withdrawal of water from the aquifer beneath the San Xavier District. Additionally, the federal government should act to protect water rights for the O’odham as defined by the Winters Doctrine. In 1970s-1980s, Wa:k O’odham formed the group, Defenders of O’Odham Land Rights to contest a proposed land development that would have created a city of 100,000 just south of the San Xavier del Bac Mission on leased allotted lands. In 1991, the San Xavier Allottees Association, Inc., was created to assist Allottees as a group and individually to manage land related concerns including water rights, econom