NILI Northwest Indian Language Institute
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 1
Welcome from the Director In 2012, the Northwest Indian Language Institute was given a generous gift of $250,000 from the Taylor Fithian family, to honor Virginia Beavert’s life and work. Previous to this, the Fithians had provided scholarship support to many Native language teachers to attend NILI’s Summer Institute. Their gifts have secured the learning of Ichishkíin and other Indigenous languages for future generations, and have allowed NILI to create a useable language resource and repository of languages indigenous teachers and scholars are revitalizing today. The Fithian’s gifts have been far reaching, benefiting Indigenous language teachers, learners, elder first speakers, and youth community members; UO graduate and undergraduate students; NILI faculty; and the university. Using their gift to provide for future generations of learners of Indigenous languages locally as well as across the globe is at the heart of our work. In this way, we ensure that their legacy will live on in NILI’s mission and in individual lives. This is the most meaningful way to express our gratitude. Dr. Taylor Fithian’s commitment to Indigenous people began when he interned on the Navajo Reservation. His care of Indigenous youth has continued for many generations. Margie Fithian is deeply committed to Indigenous youth knowing their culture and language. In spending time with Virginia Beavert, they were moved by her commitment to the Ichishkíin language, culture and people, and a shared love of horses.
Besides providing two or three scholarships to NILI’s Summer Institute for nine years, the Fithian gift has supported a Graduate Research Fellowship at NILI that allowed us to begin the critically needed task of archiving our language and curriculum data and materials. This led us into a partnership with the Digital Scholarship Center at Knight Library to design a materials resource hub using the Mukurtu learning management system. Besides creating an innovative and lasting language resource, their gift has provided faculty support on the project, and a Graduate Research Fellowship salary. That student now is a teacher at Chiloquin Elementary School in Oregon, and included in her teaching is sharing her knowledge and love of her Indigenous language with her students. Their gift has touched undergraduate students in the departments of linguistics, journalism, product design, and education to work on curricular projects, where they have learned about Indigenous languages and cultures. In addition, the Fithian gift has supported early online and distance education endeavors by NILI. Realtime video collaborations between the UO and Heritage University Ichishkíin classes allowed students to expand their access to fluent speakers and increase the number of partners learners could converse with in the language. Seven Ichishkíin language videos were also filmed and edited, adding to the availability of rich, multimedia materials for teaching the language. The Fithian gift also provided
NILI 2016-17 Office Staff: Rows, from back to front: Robert Elliott, Janne Underriner, Carson Viles, Jerome Viles, Joana Jansen, Regan Anderson, Allison Taylor-Adams, Jaeci Hall, Brittany Parham, Francesca Blythe, Judith Fernandes, and Julia Trippe
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support for Virginia Beavert’s dissertation to be edited into her book The Gift of Knowledge: Ttnúwit Átawish Nch’inch’imamí, available spring 2017. Together with a gift from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation we were able to bring Beavert’s dream to fruition. The Fithian endowment will continue to provide scholarships to NILI’s Summer Institute. As I reflect on the dreams NILI has been able to realize over the past five years because of our relationship with the Fithians, I feel that perhaps the greatest aspect of receiving their gift is knowing that Taylor and Margie believe and trust in us and our work and relationships with Indigenous communities and people. It has been an honor to be chosen as a priority for their giving, and to materialize it into a valued resource that will live well into the future. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you, Taylor and Margie, for your caring and generosity. We dedicate this newsletter to you.
Celebrating 20 Years of NILI! Join us in 2017! NILI is 20 years old! You are welcome to join us in a conference and celebration following the next Summer Institute, June 30–July 2, 2017. Along with the UO Department of Linguistics and colleagues of the Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (DDL) of the Université de Lyon in France, we are planning a conference titled “Celebrating 20 Years of NILI—Local to Global Perspectives on Language Revitalization and Documentation.” We will look at what has been learned over the past 20 years, and the promises of the next 20 years and beyond. We’ll address both language revitalization and language documentation topics, including evolving practices, collaboration, training, postvernacular languages, and issues of vitality. We
will also examine the global context of NILI’s work and global revitalization and documentation in general. NILI grew from the 1997 request of Oregon and Washington tribes to address their needs for language teacher training. This led to the first Summer Institute. Since then, NILI has become a year-round program supporting language preservation locally, nationally, and internationally. In addition, we support UO’s mission and UO students working on language description and revitalization. As a part of our retrospective, we will welcome the elders and faculty and students who founded the institute. One of these individuals is Colette Grinevald, professor emerita of the Dynamique du Language laboratory (DDL), a founder of the UO Department of Linguistics, and one of the
first UO faculty members to connect with local communities and languages. Colette has worked extensively with language communities in Guatemala and Nicaragua where the Rama Language Project is ongoing, and the conference also honors the work she has done to promote true collaboration between speakers of endangered languages and academic institutions. We plan for a variety of presenters and presentations, with linguistic and community concerns as topics of focus. We are hoping that many of our Summer Institute participants will stay around for at least the first part of the weekend, and that Summer Institute alumni will return to join us. For more information about the conference, please see NILI’s website!
NILI Summer Institute: June 19-30, 2017
Carrying our Languages Forward NILI’s Journey - Pulling Together for 20 Years
Gain new skills in Native language learning, teaching, and technology. For more information visit http://pages.uoregon.edu/nwili/summerinstitute/summer-institute-2017)
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 3
The Gift of Knowledge –Ttnúwit Átawish Nch’inch’imamí
NILI in Alaska Judith Fernandes
By Virginia Beavert and Janne Underriner In being asked to write an article together about Virginia’s book we thought we would look at what motivated her to write it. She made it clear to me that it was not her idea. She told me, “Scott DeLancey suggested I write a book.” What follows here are Virginia’s thoughts, and how she hopes her writing will inspire youth and future generations. I sat in a class at Heritage University and these young people were there, and they said, “Write a book about the old ways. We don’t know those things. We don’t know the old ways.” And I said, “What old ways? Root digging?” “No, that’s been taught at the Longhouse. We want to know about how they managed to stay scattered like this, the speakers, the Sahaptin speakers, how they were way over there at the
Columbia, way over at Warm Springs; how come they’re still here.” I said, “Oh, that would be through marriages; they used to have these dances. That’s how they expanded their culture and language.” “Write about that.” And I said, “Well I’m going to have to do a little research in my brain because I want to do it in my own way. I don’t want to go and research at the libraries or anything. I’d like to do it with my own experience.” Well, I thought about that so I tried to recall stories that my mother had told me about her and grandma. My grandma was a midwife. We used to have these flat rocks lying around, and she always seemed to take care of them, and I was curious about why they were so important. Those were the water
bottles that she used to warm a mother’s abdomen after she gave birth. Or even before that, to help with childbirth. So that was just like a water bottle. She’d heat it in the fire and then cool it so that it wouldn’t burn the woman; then she’d put it on her abdomen. So I found that out about the artifacts and things that were around there. I put things like that together—things the youth don’t know anymore, and I finally ended up writing a book. Most of it is personal, and there were some things that needed to be researched. Like horses. And we had to do some research collecting pictures. They are hard to come by. A lot of them have been lost. Our pictures illustrate some of the cultural practices I write about, like praying for the roots before they dug them. And maybe some of them are
Virginia Beavert discussing her childhood with Colin Fogarty for the Confluence Project. For more about the project, you can visit http://www.confluenceproject.org/
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family members that died a long time ago that the young people don’t know about. We tried to put both the Indian and the English names on pictures, so if the younger people might want to do research on them, they might find their heritage. So that’s what my book is all about. I wrote about the knowledge that was passed down to me. It is written in two languages, Sahaptin and English, so those students who have taken reading and writing in our language can read it in the Native language and the English translation. And sometimes, English translation does not pick up the deeper meaning of the Native language. It’s difficult to translate what they mean. I did my best to do justice to the culture and the language, but I made some mistakes and we had to edit, because I would get tired because of my age. I had to think about leaving something for the younger generation to think about and, too, so they could learn to read and write their language. So doing a dual book, with the Indian language on one side and English on the other, I think that contributes quite a bit because we don’t have textbooks like that. And maybe somebody of the younger generation will decide to write a book too, all in their language someday. I guess, hopefully, like the elders say who try to teach their children at home, they say that some of the children don’t want to listen to this sort of thing. They always say, “Maybe someday they will want to know.” And the only way to do it is to put it in writing.
NILI staff has had the privilege of working with teachers at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage over the course of their Urban Eskimo Language Revitalization ANA grant. The main languages represented were Yup’ik and Inupiaq. Janne, Judith, and Joana have all traveled to work with and learn from these teachers. This year, Joana and Judith focused their two workshops on language proficiency assessment. The overall goal was to help teachers create pre- and post-assessment tools for their learners in evening community classes. There was much discussion of relabeling ACTFL benchmark descriptors to accommodate Alaskan Native cultures. Of the many
assessment options available, teachers tended to favor can-do statements, journaling, elder interviews, and picture description. One goal of the assessment process was that it be gentle and respectful for those taking it. To punctuate the dry topic of assessment with something lively, Judith and Joana led the group in several language games where laughter sometimes got raucous. It was clear that folks up north know how to have a good time. Excited to be in Alaska, Judith and Joana had their hearts set on seeing a moose. On the second trip, thanks to a suggestion from one of the workshop participants, we drove up a mountain before catching our plane and saw five!
Languages Awakening under the Midnight Sun: CoLang 2016 Allison Taylor-Adams and Jaeci Hall NILI graduate employees (the graduate students who work at NILI, also known as GEs) Jaeci Hall and Allison Taylor-Adams spent part of their summer at the Institute on Collaborative Language Research, AKA CoLang. Held every other year, CoLang 2016 was hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It started with two weeks of workshops and community gatherings. Jaeci and Allison took courses in technologies for language documentation focused on the computer programs ELAN, FLEx, and Miromaa, programs for linguistic documentation and dictionary databases; domains for documentation (Documentation of Landscape, Conversational Analysis for Endangered Languages); and community considerations in linguistic work (Community Language Archives, Language, and Wellness). They met language activists and linguists from around the world, and heard songs and
drumming from the Tlingit attendees almost daily. They even got to take some time to go visit Denali National Park! After the workshops, CoLang hosted an intensive three-week long field method training practica that focused on three endangered languages: Han Athabaskan, Miyako, and Unangam Tunuu. Jaeci stayed in Fairbanks for the intensive course on Han, where she had the opportunity to work with and make friends with Han speakers and community members. Between Han and Tututni, her own native language, she is well on her way to being a notable scholar of Athabaskan languages! Allison says that her most vivid memories of CoLang are the big broad Alaskan sky, the (literally) endless days, and the supportive and uplifting community, including Jaeci, her fellow member of the NILI family.
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Camas at the Center by Regan Anderson
Changing communities: NILI’s Online Class Joana Jansen NILI’s online class is in its third year! This is a series of three, one-credit, online classes that are developed for people working on language revitalization in any type of setting: at a language program, at a school, or within their homes. Around 35 teachers from 16 tribes have participated, sharing strategies and supporting one another. Each of the three classes has a different focus. The first is about learning one’s own language, the second about teaching language, and the third, called Enriching Language Communities, asks students to plan and implement a change within their class or community. Students can take any of the classes, or all three. Over the last two years, student projects from the third class, Enriching Language Communities, have brought about important and inspiring changes. The first weeks of the class focus on essentials of language activism and teacher and action research. Then, students zero in on a question about their language teaching, learning, or community, and develop and implement a project that addresses the question. In the final weeks, participants assess how effective the strategy was, determine a further goal, and share the project results. In the words of participants, here are a few project steps:
Setting goals: Maria Pascua (Makah Tribe), on increasing home use of language: “My overall project goal for Makah in the Kitchen is to increase Makah language in my home, with an extended goal to increase Makah language in the homes of my immediate family members and coworkers. We decided to focus on the kitchen because we do a lot of cooking. We also wanted to include our children.”
in the form of an adopted tribal resolution, Nuu-wee-ya’ Xwee-nish, Our Language Lives. It declares Tolowa Dee-ni’ the first language of the Nation and its people as well as resolves actions that will support the use of language and its importance. Through the development of formal policy supporting the language we will be able to more completely and successfully implement language efforts in our Head Start.”
Troubleshooting: Audra Vincent (Coeur d’Alene), on using immersion in community classes: “One thing I realized was that it was hard to do an immersion session because we have different levels of learners. My original immersion session was set up for the advanced students. Instead, I did one that was probably too easy for the advanced students and a little too hard for a super beginner. I’m thinking now that to even things out I may have to do an immersion session that would be new to everybody.”
Advice for others: Dillon Vaughn (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians), on emphasizing speaking in university classes: “Keeping in mind the overall goal of communication is very important. Make sure many of the activities that are used emphasize oral practice. Languages should be alive—they should have emotions, volume, character. Reciting word lists does not make a language come alive. Poems, songs, dialogue, jokes—all of these make it come alive.”
Results: Cynthia Ford (Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation), on developing tribal policy to support language: “The project result was a positive and powerful statement
What this community of students learned and shared is amazing, and supports the work of all of us! For more information about the class, go to nili. uoregon.edu.
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Last spring term 2016, NILI director Janne Underriner taught a linguistics seminar titled “Language Revitalization through Place-Based Learning.” The course discussed factors of language loss such as boarding schools and federal policies, and the importance of honoring the relationship between language and place. Students engaged with place at a local level by taking a field trip to Mount Pisgah, a county park and arboretum where the local ecosystem is preserved. Such practical learning enhanced discussions and motivated students to think outside the box in terms of linguistic work and curriculum development. I was one of the students, along with NILI GEs Jaeci Hall and Allison Taylor-Adams, as well as other linguistics graduate and undergraduate students. The project we were assigned offered us an opportunity to develop curricula that incorporated the principles we had studied and discussed. Many students opted to work together on a project for the Ichishkíin language classes. A partnership between NILI and members of the Ichishkíin speaking community made this possible. I coinstruct the class with Tuxámshish (Virginia Beavert) Yakama elder, and two of our language students, who were also enrolled in this
seminar. Beavert provided guidance and language throughout the process. She also chose the theme wáḵ’amu ‘camas’, a traditional food source, emphasizing the importance of documenting language and building curriculum aligned with principles of place-based education— work to help learners carry traditions forward with language that has been shaped around such traditions for generations. The project’s design was modeled in part after a camas curriculum developed by NILI staff and language teachers at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. In the UO class, students each took responsibility for a section of the curriculum based on topics including wáḵ’amu identification, life cycle, gathering, preparation, and preservation. They learned how to gather and document original language from a Native speaker, and developed lesson plans and materials with the input of tribal teachers. The curriculum was refined and enhanced at NILI’s Summer Institute where additional documentation from elders of two dialects, Yakima and Warm Springs, was possible, as was feedback from classroom teachers who attended. Summer Institute participants now have the resulting materials and audio files to use in their own classes, and further
additions and changes are planned based on their input. The materials generated are also being used as tools to further document language and processes involving wáḵ’amu in varied projects and classes. One of these is Documenting Warm Springs (tqn) Ichishkíin (see page 12 for more information). Elders described the pictures and process in their own dialects, and these materials will add to the dictionary, grammar, and text database that are being developed for Warm Springs. This seminar and resulting projects hope to exemplify what NILI strives for in all our work: an integrative reciprocal model of language documentation, curriculum development, and language teaching that is centered on an equitable partnership between academic institutions and Native language communities. Editor’s note: Other great projects done by NILI graduate students also resulted from the class. Allison Taylor-Adams wrote a place-based unit for learning Classical Greek in university classes. She presented on this at CoLang at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and will present it to UO Classics faculty. Jaeci Hall developed a unit centered on speaking her language, Tututni, with her young daughter around their home.
Art by Kara Romriell UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 7
Speaking Every Day, Everyday Speaking: Summer Institute 2016 by Joana Jansen Take a moment to picture your home in your mind. Now, draw a map of it. What will you include? Rivers, roads, mountains, buildings? How much land will the map cover, an acre or less, thousands of acres, or something in between? What are the boundaries? Could your map be used for navigation? This was the task for participants at our Summer Institute Saturday workshop, and additionally this set the stage for the other work participants did during the week. The map workshop also exemplified our theme of Speaking Every Day, Everyday Speaking. During the institute, we focused on using Native languages in daily lives, whether a greeting, a song, a prayer, a conversation, or a full day of Native language only. Some maps included longer descriptions in Native languages, and some a few words only. Some demonstrated the language that one might use in a particular place. The theme recognized that we
have different resources for our languages, and we are at different places along our paths of language learning, but we all are moving ahead together. New courses supported communities who are restoring languages from older materials to use these languages daily (see Marnie Atkins’s article on page 10). We welcomed 51 participants including 13 high school youth, 20 faculty and staff members, and 11 volunteers. The elders—faculty as well as participants—were, as always, our foundation. Every year, we are reminded that NILI grows, changes, and gets better because we are a community. Everyone involved with Summer Institute—student, volunteer, faculty or staff member—shapes our work. Language programs and school districts allocate their precious and limited funds to send teachers and learners. The support of
departments and individuals from UO and our greater communities makes the institute possible. Our thanks and deep appreciation goes to each of you.
Our thanks to: Academic Extension, Conference Services, the Office of the Assistant Vice President and Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government to Government Relations, the Department of Linguistics, the Department of Native American Studies, the Department of Parking and Transportation, the Division of Student Life, GLOSS, Knight Library, Map and Aerial Photography Library, the Many Nations Longhouse and Longhouse Steward, the Office of the Vice President for Research & Innovation, the Office of the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, Yamada Language Center, John and Robin Jaqua Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, Taylor Fithian, BS ’65 and Family, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Virginia Beavert, PhD ‘12
Summer Institute participants share their experiences
Sgęnoh swagwe:gih Ǫhsęniyohstha’ ni’ah gya:jih, Onǫda’gega’ niwagǫhwęjyohdęh, Othayhonih niwage’se:dęh, Ahyak nihonowęjya’geh nidwage:noh, by Darla Isaacs
A Taíno’s Experience at the Northwest Indian Language Institute by Richard Morrow Porrata, Ph.D. This past summer I was honored to represent our Taíno Council, GuatuMa-cu A Borikén (Great Spiritual Fire of Puerto Rico), for two weeks at the NILI Summer Institute. For those having interest in Native languages but who have never heard of NILI’s summer program for adults and youth, this article may interest them. First, let me say Summer Institute 2016 was fantastic! It was the prime educational experience of my life! Not only did I learn linguistics, but also met a bunch of great people who became wonderful friends. Although I taught English for the University of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico National Guard, I never had linguistics training. I became interested in linguistics years ago when introduced to my ancestral Taíno language, which
some consider extinct. For me, it’s awakening thanks to some of the world’s great linguists such as Colette Grinevald and Spike Gildea. Grinevald taught me to identify plurals in the Taíno language, while Gildea taught me how to trace a language back to its origin. I learned from instructor Zalmai Zahir that creating domains in the home awakens a language. From Janne Underriner, I learned semantic meanings, and from instructor Marnie Atkins, I learned teaching methods for awakening languages. In addition, the staff was marvelous and ensured accommodations were made for a pleasant stay. But all good things must come to an end and it did, with an awesome powwow! “Jajom ma da NILI tiaono” --Yukibo
Waq lis ʔi, gew ʔa seesas Lofanitani by Lofanitani Aisea, youth participant This summer I attended the NILI Institute for the first time. This was one of the best language revitalization programs I have ever been to. I learned the Klamath language at my own pace in a safe and stable environment with people like myself—people who are dedicated to learning their indigenous language and aren’t afraid to speak. They, like myself, are leaders of their community and care about the 8 NILI—THE NORTHWEST INDIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
well being of their culture. Being at NILI was the first time I felt completely comfortable speaking my language without being judged. I am so grateful for a scholarship that covered my expenses and food for the entire program. I was well taken care of and came back to my community enlightened. Thank you NILI for all that you have done for me and the advancement of language everywhere.
Hi everyone. My name is Darla Isaacs. I am Onondaga from the Wolf Clan and I come from Six Nations, Ontario, Canada. My Nation is one of six from the Iroquois Confederacy. There are two native territories of Onondaga People. One is from New York near Syracuse, and the other is in southern Ontario on an Indian Reservation called Six Nations of the Grand River. There are no first-language speakers left of Onondaga near Syracuse, while we have fewer than five first language speakers left here in Six Nations. People have been working hard on new methods, new ways of bringing language back into our homes and in our lives. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the NILI Summer Institute this past summer and have learned so much. I believe my language is in danger of going to sleep if I don’t do something about it now. The information I received while there has been helping me improve the language program I am helping to create. The NILI teachers and staff were so friendly and helpful. The people that I met, with the same intentions and the same desire to help their language, were absolutely remarkable; they are language warriors. My whole experience at the Northwest Indian Language Institute has been so memorable that I can’t wait to attend the next one. I shared a lot of the information with other teachers, and I often talk about the program and what it had to offer, and I am sparking the interest of other people on the same language journey. Nyawęhah for the experience.
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Other Happenings Welcome to the Lushootseed Language Institute Zalmai ʔəswəli Zahir and Joana Jansen This summer, NILI welcomed a new language institute to the Northwest! The Lushootseed Language Institute (LLI), sponsored by the Puyallup Tribe and University of Washington Tacoma, focused on preparing participants to use language in their homes on a daily basis. Zalmai ʔəswəli Zahir was the lead language teacher, and other institute teachers were Danica Miller, Amber SterudHayward, Chris Duenas, Archie Cantrell, Stephanie Jackson-Louis,
and Lenissa Grover from the Puyallup Tribal Language Program, and Angela Wymer of the Snoqualmie Tribe. Students were immersed in language for daily activities, games, and songs, and the results so far suggest that the goal of bringing the language to daily household use was met, and participants report that they are using what they learned and reaching out for more. LLI will be a yearly event, and planning for 2017 and beyond is underway. haʔł tiʔił!
Chinuk Wawa at Lane Community College
Revitalizing Sleeping Languages at Summer Institute 2016 by Marnie Atkins This past summer, NILI offered a new class for language teachers who are working with sleeping or endangered languages, Teaching Methods for Revitalizing Sleeping Languages. This class was geared toward language teachers and learners who are working with written and/or recorded linguistic archival materials, on languages that are returning to spoken use via new learners of their ancestral language, but have no living fluent speakers who grew up speaking the language. It can be a daunting task to work with written and/or recorded linguistic archival materials, especially if a learner or a teacher is not a trained linguist. Many of the linguistic archival materials are written by and for linguists, not the lay language learner-teacher. Extracting learnable and teachable language from linguistic archival materials is in many instances challenging, even for a well-trained linguist. In addition,
it takes different methodological, teaching, lesson planning, and materials development approaches to learn and teach a language from written and/or recorded archival linguistic materials. The class aimed to address the different ways in which a learnerteacher of a sleeping language can learn and teach their sleeping languages. For example, planning is even more paramount for a learner-teacher of a sleeping language. Therefore, this class provided time for the development of planning and organizational materials: a needs assessment, goals and objectives, syllabi (standard and conceptual), activity plans, benchmarks, and learning and teaching materials. The class also provided practice activities: extracting teachable language from archival linguistic materials, implementing goals and objectives to stay on track for learning and teaching a sleeping language, and developing language
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learning-teaching benchmarks, to name a few. Along with teacher-learners of sleeping languages such as Taíno, Takelma, and Hanis and Miluk Coos, several students whose languages are still spoken by fluent elders enrolled. Their reasoning was that the methods of the class apply to their endangered language situations as well. Endangered languages (as opposed to sleeping languages) are ancestral languages that have some speakers at various age levels, but the community needs stronger learning and teaching plans to develop more speakers. In the future, we will be incorporating the needs of endangered languages more integrally into the class. Stay tuned for details on NILI’s 2017 Summer Institute course offerings! If you have any questions or would like more information about this class, please do not hesitate to contact NILI office staff.
By Jerome Viles Chinuk Wawa language courses resumed this fall at Lane Community College (LCC) with strong enrollment in the first year course following uncertainty surrounding the program’s continuation in the spring. Thanks to broad community support, the organizing efforts of NILI Advisory Board member Drew Viles, LCC faculty including James Florendo, and recognition of the importance of the Chinuk Wawa program by LCC’s Board of Education,
Chinuk Wawa 101 through 203 continues to be offered. The courses are currently being taught by three local tribal people and NILI affiliates; Nicholas and Jerome Viles (Siletz) and Heidi Helms (CTCLUSI).As the college looks to the continued sustainability of the program, NILI Director Janne Underriner and Viles are poised to play an important role in advocating for the language at LCC and in maintaining the courses’ close relationship with the NILI family.
University of Oregon Graduate Linguists Host Annual Endangered Languages Night Allison Taylor-Adams In April, the Graduate Linguists of Oregon Student Society (GLOSS) held its annual Endangered Languages Night. This event serves to draw attention to the importance of language maintenance and diversity. GLOSS also runs a fundraiser during this event to help underwrite scholarships to NILI Summer Institute. This year, we held a “living library,” an interactive event like a science fair. UO students and
faculty members assembled posters and shared information about the languages they research. We had a dozen languages representing almost every continent! We also hosted a silent auction which raised more than $600—enough to cover tuition for four elders to attend Summer Institute. The GLOSS organizers were very proud of the event, and pleased to be able to help with the important language revitalization work that NILI does.
NILI student worker Lorraine Goggles helps prepare games for Summer Institute 2016
Game Corner Judith Fernandes Ruby Tuttle presented “Across the River” at the 2016 Summer Institute as a fun and lively movement activity to practice new vocabulary or review already-presented vocabulary. It can be played anywhere there is enough room to put out cards to step on. It can be especially fun at language camps. How to play: Make picture cards (at least 5” x 8” in size) of the vocabulary you have been teaching. Laminate them if possible. Lay the pictures out on the ground as though they are rocks in a river. Students must use the rocks as stepping stones to cross the river. At first, have learners line up single file to take turns crossing the river. To get across, they must be able to say what each picture represents in their language as they step on the cards. If they can’t make it across, they get back in line, listen and learn from their fellow students, and keep trying to cross the river until they can successfully do so. Next, after all learners are able to get across the river, divide the group into two equal teams. Using two sets of picture cards or a stopwatch, see which team can cross the river the fastest. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 11
Projects The Grand Ronde Chinuk Wawa Kindergarten–Third Grade Immersion Administration for Native Americans (ANA) Project This is the second year NILI has worked on an ANA Esther Martinez Language Immersion grant with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The K–3 school is a half-day blended Chinuk Wawa immersion school that works with the Willamina School District. The goals of the grant are to build curriculum and foster master-apprentice language development. Curriculum writers Mercedes Reeves and Judith Fernandes have been creating story books in Chinuk Wawa language that give children a foundation in their culture and community. Creating Ichishkíin Speakers— Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWS) ANA project The CTWS project is now in its third year. Language interns have been teaching throughout the community and continue to work with elders to build their language, and they will become tribally certified as teachers. NILI staff travel to Warm Springs quarterly for trainings, and Warm Springs staff have been wonderful to have at Summer Institute. Numlh-ts’vt Tr’vn’ Naa-tr’aa-‘a (Turning the Tide Toward Fluency)— Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation Culture and Language Department ANA project This project will expand and enhance access to language resources by developing and launching a Wee-ya’-dvn (Language Place)—an interactive website, with a variety of language resources. It will provide increased opportunities to use language and practice culture, including a Dee-ni’-dvn (People’s Place), a physical location to house resources. NILI’s role is to help develop online teaching material. Ichishkíin/Sahaptin: Language Documentation of Yakama Natural and Cultural Resources National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Through collaboration between the Yakama Nation and NILI, this project documents the knowledge of the elders
NSF Warm Springs Ichishkíin Project team, from left: Joana Jansen, University of Oregon; Merle Kirk, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWS); Valerie Switzler, CTWS; Nariyo Kono, Portland State University; Hank Millstein speaking about places, cultural and natural resource management, and preservation within the Yakama Nation as well as transcribing and translating these recordings. This work will support and strengthen natural and cultural resource management and add to efforts to teach and preserve Ichishkíin. The project is funded by the NSF’s Documenting Endangered Languages Program (Award # BCS-1064459). (Read about the Southwest Oregon Athabaskan Languages (SWOAL) Project on page 13.)
the UO College of Education and the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior on a project that explores the role of native language and culture in increasing academic achievement and decreasing behavioral problems for students from American Indian and Alaska Native backgrounds. The project is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education (Grant# R305A140162). We are learning more about the benefits of including Native language and culture in school settings.
Documenting Warm Springs (tqn) Ichishkíin, NSF project This project promotes the continued stabilization of the Warm Springs Ichishkíin language, life ways, and culture through language documentation. Outcomes will be dictionary and text databases, an updated dictionary, and updated grammar. The team includes the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Language Program and community, joined by a former tribal linguist and linguists from Portland State University and NILI. We will work with digitized copies of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes as well as newly collected materials. The project is funded by the NSF’s Documenting Endangered Languages Program (Award # BCS-1500674).
Páwyak’ukt Ichishkíin Sapsikw’ałáma Teachers’ Gathering The Fourth Annual Ichishkíin Teachers’ Gathering—Páwyak’ukt Ichishkíin Sapsikw’ałáma —was held at Heritage University (HU) in August. The event, sponsored by HU’s Center for Native Health and Culture and NILI, brings together speakers and learners from various dialects of Ichishkíin and focuses on teaching strategies and activities. Participants were welcomed by HU President Bassett and Arlen Washines, Yakama Nation Higher Education program manager. Following that, several teachers shared activities and suggestions. The elders in attendance spoke of the importance of language, and Warm Springs elder and Summer Institute faculty member Arlita Rhoan was presented with a Community Leader Award.
The Role of Native Language and Culture (NLC) in Decreasing Discipline Problems and Increasing Academic Achievement for American Indian and Alaska Native Students NILI is working with colleagues from
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Language Classes The Chinuk Wawa language program, supported by Lane Community College in Eugene, is a collaboration between
Lane, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and NILI. Read more about the class and community support for the class on page 11. At UO, Ichishkíin 100 and 200 level courses are being offered as a combined class this year, with elder Virginia Beavert supported by instructor Regan Anderson. Combining first- and secondyear groups increases the number of speakers students have access to for interaction and group work, and second-year students support first years. Last spring, students traveled to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to volunteer at the Language Knowledge Bowl, and hope to do so again. NILI faculty members also teach UO linguistics, language teaching specialization, and American English Institute classes. Some of those in the past year were a linguistics seminar focused on language revitalization through place-based learning taught by Janne Underriner (see article on page 7), a pronunciation class, taught by Robert Elliott, and a class combining an introduction to linguistics with second language acquisition theories taught by
Joana Jansen and Linguistics faculty member Melissa Baese-Berk. Distance Education NILI Distance Education (DE) has started a fourth year of online teacher training courses and we are continuing to build a teacher base from an even more diversified tribal and language array. With recent participants from Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and now one participant from Utah and one from as far away as New York State, NILI DE is truly reaching beyond the Northwest. One participant writes: “I am really, really enjoying this class. It is probably the best thing I could have done at this time in my life. It has helped to answer a lot of questions I’m having with regards to learning and teaching language.” This work is greatly indebted to the support of the Fithian Family Foundation and UO Academic Extension. Read more about the class on page 6.
Sapsik’ʷałá Program Michelle Jacob (Yakama) has joined the UO as the director of the Sapsik’ʷałá Teacher Education Program and associate professor of education studies.
The Sapsik’ʷałá program was created in partnership with the nine federally recognized tribes of Oregon, with the goal of preparing American Indians and Alaska Natives as master’s-level teachers who will teach in districts that serve AI/ AN youth. This year, Michelle, Joana, and Kelly LaChance are working to build collaborative projects with a focus on education and language, and we plan to involve Sapsik’ʷałá students in a pilot project at Summer Institute. You can read more about the Sapsik’ʷałá Program here: https://education.uoregon.edu/ program/sapsikwala-project. Yakama e-Book Project Since the fall of 2014, NILI has been partnering with schools on the Yakama reservation in a project designed to build new language leaders. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the most recent supporter of this ongoing project. NILI has worked with high school youth to build a small library of eBooks in the Ichishkíin language. The high school students have learned new technology skills, expanded their language use, and contributed to filling the great need for materials in their language.
Project in Focus: Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL) Program Supports Tututni Scholars in Database Project Carson Viles NILI is excited to begin working with Tututni scholars to create a lexical database of Southwest Oregon Athabaskan Languages (SWOAL) materials. The project is made possible by the support of the National Science Foundations (NSF) as part of their Documenting Endangered Language’s (DEL) program (Award # BCS1562859). From the mid-1880s until the late 1900s there was extensive work by numerous linguists to document the Athabaskan languages of Southwest Oregon. These materials are now housed at several archives across the country. Currently, these materials are inaccessible to language learners, community members, and academic researchers because of their antiquated and sometimes obscure orthographies, their dispersed locations and the lack of digitization, organization or clear cataloging.
The project and resulting database will aid learners by providing a single resource that contains publicly available language resources and documentation on the Athabaskan languages of Southwest Oregon. The project staff—made up of Jaeci Hall, Jerome Viles, and Carson Viles—is thankful for the opportunity to work on their own heritage language. And what an opportunity it is! These three budding Native scholars are lucky enough to work under the guidance of PIs Janne Underriner and Scott DeLancey, and with further guidance from noted Athabaskanist, Justin Spence. The entire team looks forward to lending their diverse skillsets in linguistic analysis, database creation, and language revitalization to this project. The project team is excited about the chance to collaborate
with several tribes across Oregon and Northern California, to ensure that project materials are a boon to the ongoing and momentous efforts of those tribes. We all hope that this project can contribute to lhee-naa-ch’aa-ghit-‘a, to all of the people speaking together again. Anyone interested in more information about the project, please contact Carson Viles (cviles@uoregon).
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 13
NILI’s Graduate Employees (GEs) Regan Anderson has worked with NILI since 2009. She is a secondyear PhD student in linguistics and has a master’s degree in language teaching. As a graduate employee at the University of Oregon, Regan teaches Ichishkíin (Sahaptin) language classes under the guidance of Yakama elder and scholar, Tuxámshish, Dr. Virginia Beavert. She collaborates with members of the Yakama Nation on language and classroom research, as well as curriculum and materials development. Regan’s research interests include endangered and heritage language acquisition, language documentation, and ethical components of this work, particularly university and tribe relations and educational and linguistic sovereignty.
Jaeci Hall is a third-year PhD student in linguistics. She focuses her studies on the revitalization of her own heritage language, Tututni, an Athabaskan language from Southwest Oregon, as well as the theoretical components of language revitalization. She is currently working as a GE on a project to compile previously collected Tututni materials into a database and dictionary (See the Project in Focus on page 14.) Her work is propelled by the desire to learn and to speak Tututni with her daughter. She has a BA in anthropology from Linfield College and an MA in Native American linguistics from University of Arizona.
Allison Taylor-Adams is in her second yea r in t he PhD program in t he linguistics depa rt ment and is happy to be continuing as t he administ rative GE at NILI. She worked as t he administ rator for t he Depa rt ment of Religion at George Washington University in Washington, DC, for eight yea rs, and moved to Oregon to study language description and revitalization. Prior to coming here, she ea rned an MA in applied linguistics f rom t he University of Massachusetts at Boston in t he hope of collaborating wit h communities on revitalization projects. Some of her favorite t hings in t he world a re lace weight ya rn, t he mountains of Oregon, and t he NILI family.
Featured Graduate Employee: Julia Trippe Julia is a sixth-year linguistics doctoral student. Her focus is phonetics and phonology, specifically the prosody and intelligibility of Aviation English, the language all international pilots and controllers must speak with one another. This study combines her linguistics training with her years of experience as a professional pilot. Julia’s research goal is to affect change in international regulation regarding training and testing of Aviation English users. Although her degree work has taken her in a different direction, Julia has always been interested in indigenous languages. Shortly after she started her graduate work at UO, in 2011, this interest drove Julia to organize an event in which graduate students shared their experiences of working on languages around the globe with community members here in Eugene. As a longtime Eugene resident, Julia was convinced that the local population
would like to know how the students at UO were helping indigenous peoples save their languages. The Endangered Language event continues to be an annual event in the Longhouse every spring. (See the article on Endangered Languages Night on page 11.) In her (hopefully) final year at UO, Julia considers herself amazingly lucky to have been chosen as a GE for NILI. Always a fan, supportive from the sidelines, Julia is grateful to have the chance to take a more
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active part in the NILI mission by helping create a web-based interface through which teachers and students of Northwest languages can access educational resources.
Undergraduate student in focus: Anna Hoffer Anna Hoffer is a second year student in the Ichishkíin language class. She is Yakama, Clackamas, and Shawnee, and a Grand Ronde tribal member. She is a senior in ethnic studies, with minors in Native American studies and English. She plans to become a teacher. An academic institution took away Anna’s opportunity to learn her language at home: her grandfather spoke Chinuk Wawa and Ichishkíin until he went to boarding school. Given that, taking the language at UO, another academic institution, is at times difficult and painfully ironic. (For an interview with Anna, visit https://soundcloud.com/ crossings-radio/fighting-fordying-languages.) Here is what Anna says about the class: “This is more than just a class. It is a community surrounded by language. When I started this
class last year, I was the only Native person from the states. At first I was angry and felt discouraged. I was unwilling to accept the whiteness of the others in the class. But over the last year, I have come to realize that they are not just here to consume my culture and not care about the indigenous people it belongs to. Through this language, I have seen people united for a common cause: indigenous language revitalization to be brought back to Native communities. Through this language, we were even able to build coalition with our Latin American and South American cousins. The language has not only solidified me in my identity, it has forever changed me and how I see the world. Through the suffering we face as Native people, I have found beauty in the struggle through culture.”
Undergraduate Student Workers Lorraine Goggles is a senior majoring in sociology and minoring in Native American studies and nonprofit administ ration. This is her third year working at NILI. She is considering graduate school to pursue her master’s degree in nonprofit or public administ ration. She says she appreciates NILI for its language preservation efforts, and has enjoyed helping to create storybooks and being a part of Summer Institute. She says NILI inspires her to return to her community and help with the language preservation efforts there as well.
Tracie Jackson is a senior studying product design. She is Navajo and originally f rom Star Mountain on the Navajo Reservation and grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She wants to use her degree to create products that are inspired by Native culture and products that help the Native community. She wants to work with t ribes to make a difference and help build up the communities. Jessica Miller is a journalism student at the University of Oregon. A sophomore, Jessica began working at NILI earlier
this year. So far her workload has included making f lashcards and board games for children learning Chinuk Wawa and editing educational videos. She is excited to see what her f uture at NILI and the University of Oregon may teach her, and where it may take her. Brittany Parham was born and raised in Eugene. She graduated f rom the UO with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics in June 2016. She worked at NILI during her senior year. As an undergraduate she also studied the Ichishkíin language, which she hopes to pursue f urther in f uture graduate studies. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 15
A Note of Thanks and of Welcome We would like to thank Brad Shelton for his leadership, support, and caring of NILI’s programs and mission for the past two-plus years. We wish you the best in your new position of senior vice provost for budget and st rategic planning at UO. We also want to thank Moira Kiltie, associate vice president and chief of staff in the Office of the Vice President of Research and
Innovation, who has worked behind the scenes to support and advocate for NILI since we became a research institute in 2007. We could not have had a better ally. Know we are wishing you all the best as you t ransition to your new position. We welcome David Conover as the new vice president for the Office of Research and Innovation. David came to UO f rom Stony Brook
University, where he was the vice president for research, and served as dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and as professor of marine science. David understands that endangerment of a species, or in NILI’s case, language, has serious repercussions for the world and for humankind. We look forward to working together to st rengthen NILI.
NILI Board report It has been a busy year for NILI’s Advisory Board! Their annual meeting was held in February. At NILI’s Summer Institute, board members and their families attended NILI’s welcoming dinner and cultural sharing evening. They reconvened in October around issues of NILI’s sustainability and then met with David Conover, the new Vice President for Research and Innovation, to welcome him to UO and to share their vision of NILI as we grow into the future. We rely on our Advisory Board members for their insights and support and thank them for their service and guidance. Our current board members are Virginia Beavert, elder representative, research associate, UO– NILI, Yakama Nation; Marnie Atkins,
Department of Anthropology, UO, citizen of the Wiyot Tribe; Sheila Bong, cofounder and vice president of sales, Avant Assessment, Blackfeet Tribe; Spike Gildea, professor of linguistics, UO; Tony Johnson, chair, Community Education director of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation; Jeff Magoto, director Yamada Language Center, UO; Leilani Sabzalian, postdoctorate, Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education, UO, Sugpiaq; Drew Viles, instructor, Language, Literature and Communication Division, Lane Community College, Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians. More than ever we have relied on their commitment to NILI’s mission and to Native student success. Their talents
and experiences enrich and guide our work. We are grateful for their leadership and service. We’d like to especially recognize Leilani this year. She graduated with her PhD and her dissertation research will be published as a book titled Urban Education in Colonial Contexts: Survivance Stories of Teaching and Research. In her words, one goal of her work is to ”identify both the content and nature of the competencies teachers, administrators, and policymakers might need in order to provide educational services that promote indigenous students’ success and well-being in school and foster educational selfdetermination.” Congratulations, Leilani!
Participants and instructors - NILI Summer Institute 2016 16 NILI—THE NORTHWEST INDIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
Above: A collaborative Google map made by Summer Institute participants. Left: Map used for Virginia Beavert’s book.
The Year of the Map Robert Elliott
This past year we at NILI have been tackling maps. It all started when a request was made for a map of the different languages NILI has recently worked with in the Pacific Northwest. We realized that such a map might be a great benefit for those wanting to know more about the original languages of the area or about the work NILI does. What we didn’t realize was that we had started a long journey into the wild world of mapmaking. Many small decisions go into a map, something that we took for granted before trying to make one ourselves. For example, if we are mapping the location where a language was once spoken, what point in time do you try to reflect? Because there were many languages in the Pacific Northwest and the territories of the people, and languages of the region changed over periods of time, how does that get reflected in a map that is looking at a single point of time? Another consideration is how do we deal with the current political boundaries, such as state borders and present day cities? How much should landmarks that help orient the present-day map reader be represented on the map of the languages of the first people? These questions, and more, kept us
thinking about the best way to represent the ideas that we wanted to convey. After some initial false starts, we settled on an illustrated map that combined watercolors painted by our NILI student artist Tracie Jackson. Taking that initial map and adding Google drawings on top allowed us to simply layer information onto the base map. After our success with the NILI map, another request came in to design a map to accompany Virginia Beavert’s book based on her dissertation (see article, page 4). A map was needed that would cover many of the areas discussed in her book of the Ichishkíin-speaking areas of Oregon and Washington. With this kind of map we felt we had to up our game, and decided new tools were called for. Adobe Illustrator allowed us to have better precision in the labeling layers of this map, although we stayed with the concept of the watercolored base map. Finally, when a topic for our Summer Institute Saturday workshop was needed, mapmaking and potential uses of maps in a language class seemed to be a perfect fit. To produce a successful workshop, we needed help. We approached the expertise of the map and global information systems (GIS) librarian at the University of Oregon,
Kathy Stroud. Kathy generously helped us design the summer workshop, while Sarah Proctor, the map and aerial photography technician and Kathy’s coworker, helped us deliver the Saturday workshop. The result was an afternoon in which some 45 NILI Summer Institute participants spent time together thinking about maps, creating maps, and brainstorming ways to use them in the indigenous language classroom. One of the most fun maps we created together that day was a collaborative Google map. In this map, we first put in place markers to represent where we come from. After, we added pictures from that place, as well as some text to accompany those pictures. As a final step, some of us added video of us speaking in our languages into the place markers. The result is a visual display of the numerous tribes and languages represented at Summer Institute 2016. For final projects, a number of people created maps for use with their teaching or home communities. Exciting to see people put into use something we were working on right here at NILI . . . and wondering what new thing 2017 will bring to us! To see the NILI group map, visit our website or tinyurl.com/nilimap2016. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 17
Thank you NILI could not do the work we do without your generous support. Many of our achievements during 2016 were made possible by contributions from both individuals and departments at the university. Contributions to NILI in 2016 helped support continued work on NILI’s archiving project, a joint effort with the UO Library’s Digital Collections division. Contributions also helped support NILI’s Summer Institute. NILI was able to offer a total of 23 scholarships to Summer Institute this year—the most we have ever given. Several of those scholarships were to high school students who took part in NILI’s Youth Program, which is growing each year. Scholarships also helped bring participants from Canada, Idaho, California, and Washington. University support has also allowed NILI to continue development of our three-term distance-learning program with classes on lifelong language learning, teaching language to others, and improving language teaching and learning through action research.
Your generosity is appreciated! Your tax-deductible gift of any amount has an impact on our work. For example:
• • • • •
•$25 allows NILI to print three storybooks for use in Tribal communities, schools, and libraries.
• •
•$50 supports an undergraduate student to work on projects at NILI for a month. •$100 allows for travel to Tribal communities for training and outreach. •$250 brings an elder to Summer Institute.
• • • • • • • •
•$500 helps NILI’s faculty or graduate students present their research at a national conference.
• • • •
•$2,050 supports youth or language teachers with a scholarship to attend NILI’s Summer Institute on the UO campus.
•
To all those individuals and departments who have donated money, time, and resources, we thank you.
• •
Virginia Beavert, PhD ’12 Lynne Bonnett, BA ’69 Linda Danielson, DA ’74 Gloria Bock Muniz, MA ’85 Janne Underriner, PhD ’84, and John Curtis, BS ’88 Taylor Fithian, BS ’65, and Family John and Robin Jaqua Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation Carla, BS ’91, and Andrew Viles, PhD ’97 Northwest Heritage Resources Anonymous Graduate Linguists of Oregon Student Society UO, Academic Extension UO, College of Arts and Sciences UO, Department of Academic Affairs UO, Department of Native American Studies UO, Department of Linguistics UO, Division of Student Life UO, Many Nations Longhouse UO, Office of the Assistant Vice President and Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations UO, Office of the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion UO, Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation UO, Yamada Language Center
I would like to contribute to the Northwest Indian Language Institute, fund 20-6150. Name Address Phone Please charge $ Account number
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An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance. © 2016 University of Oregon.
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