NW tribes strive to save disappearing languages

[MichaelMcGuire]

EUGENE, Ore. - Virginia Beavert grew up in a little village just down the road from Yakima, Wash.

Beavert did not go to government school. However, the Yakama native did learned to speak several different languages while growing up.

"My first language was Nez Perce," Beavert said. "My father was from Umatilla, and I learned his language. My mother spoke Yakama, so I learned that, too."

But now some of those languages she's learned have disappeared altogether.

"Klickitat is no longer spoken," Beavert said. "I can read the language, but I'm the only one."

According to the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI), only 5 out of the 26 original Native American languages in Oregon are still spoken.

The languages first started dwindling in the 1800s.

"With boarding schools, children were taken from their families and taken away to schools and forced to speak English," said Janne Underriner, Director at the Northwest Indian Language Institute.

But through NILI, instructors are teaching the Sahaptin langauge, a dialect of the Yakama nation.

The course is offered through the University of Oregon.

Instructor Roger Jacob said he is still learning the language himself.

"It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized that I wasn't hearing it as much anymore," Jacob said.

"We'd like to retain our identity, our language and our culture," Beavert said. "I think it's important to preserve that because I see globally people disappearing."

In addition to the University of Oregon college courses, the institute also provides curriculum for first grade immersion and after school programs for children in the area.

http://www.kval.com/news/local/NW-tribes--to-save-disappearing-languages-141255843.html

[CountAllVotes]

1. finding/preserving languages in the NW

Good luck with this problem.

Most of the tribes in the northwest are greatly diminished from something called genocide.

Genocide destroys not only the people but also their cultures, identities and languages.

With Federal Indian policies ranging from extermination to relocation to whatever you care to call it now, they have accomplished their mission for the most part and that is/was to be rid of the Indian people in the United States.

Sure, there are plenty of us mixed-bloods left but few if any of us speak or know much if any of the indigenous languages that are part of us.

Sad reality really really really.

[PufPuf23]

2. Book - How to Keep Your Language Alive: A Commonsense Approach to One-On-One Language Learning

Last edited Thu Mar 8, 2012, 03:29 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Your-Language-Alive-One/dp/1890771422/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

There are local language classes available in Karuk along the lower Klamath River including for children.

Another relatively recent book about Klamath Mountain Tribes is:

Cultural Contact and Linguistic Relativity among the Indians of Northwestern California

http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Linguistic-Relativity-Northwestern-California/dp/0806139226/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331230568&sr=1-1

I recommend clicking "search inside this book" for a closeup on the ancestral ranges of the Tribes and then "first pages" for what is excellent contemporary scholarship.

Karuk was once considered Hokan but is now classified as a language isolate.

The adjacent Hupa and Yurok Tribes originally spoke languages in the Athabascan and Alaquonkin (sp?) linguistic families and came after the Karuk but adopted Karuk spiritual and material cultures. Some native speakers survived until relatively recent times and there are dictionaries / lexicons recorded by cataloguing anthropologists.

Edit to add:

Now You're Speaking Karuk! (Arar'ahih - the People's Language)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000NWEMP4/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_all

Amazon says not available but I am pretty sure one can still buy on far north coast California. I am almost certain the book can be found at Clark Museum in Old Town Eureka.

[MichaelMcGuire]

3. It interests me how other people have made gains in protecting native languages

I think many of us Scottish Gaels could learn much, on the steps made by others. Thanks for sharing.