Membership & Genealogy – Shannon Frank

The connection starts with those who are working directly on the project and eventually will connect everyone through access to Tāłtān through the digital platform once the work is complete. Many Tahltans do not have access to the language – meaning it is not visible or accessible to them where they are and/or they may not have relationships with Elders or speakers. The Tāłtān Dictionary will provide that missing connection. The user can simply press a button and hear the language being spoken by a fluent speaker. It is an experience like no other and it has been a true honour to lead and facilitate such a special project for the Nation.

There are many phases to developing a dictionary and the work will continue throughout the years. We consider this dictionary to be a living project, meaning that while the initial work now focuses on basic word collection, documentation will continue in the years to come. The Tāłtān Dictionary will always be growing and evolving – just like language. Those working on it from the back-end will have the ability to add new entries or words including new words as they are created that may not yet exist in Tāłtān, add alternate recordings or dialects with other speakers, add example sentences to accompany each entry, and continue to edit as needed – the list goes on!

Mēduh chō to all those who were a part of this exciting first phase. This is a group effort and a legacy project that will be available for Tahltans for years to come. There are many individuals to thank including the Elders, speakers, coordinators, caterers, and everyone else who has had a helping hand in making Phase 1 a success. We are very grateful for such a wonderful team and the support of Leadership and the Board of Directors in making this project a reality and a success. We are actively planning Phase 2 for the latter part of spring. Throughout all the next phases, we want to provide the opportunity for all Tāłtān speakers to be involved and contribute. We plan to continue to work with speakers from in the territory and include those who live outside of the territory. If any Tāłtān speaker would like to be involved in these next phases, or if anyone knows of a speaker – in or outside of the territory who would like to participate, please reach out to Pamela Labonte, TCG Language Director.

We still get the common question, “Who owns the

materials in the end?” The Tāłtān Dictionary and all documented language through this process will belong to the Tahltan Nation/Tahltan people via development through this TCG initiative. Once complete, the web-based dictionary will be hosted on the TCG’s website, and an App will be available for download. There will also be print copies available for those who prefer a paperback version once the team has determined the dictionary is ready to go to print.

We look forward to continuing to share in the journey during each milestone of these exciting next steps. Stay tuned for incremental progress reports on the TCG Language Facebook Page at: facebook.com/ TCGLanguageDepartment.

Left: TCG Language Department Team Members.

Below: TCG Language Department Team, Rapid Word Collection Session.

In a conversation Mary Quock had with her grandson he asked her, “Grandma why do you want to work? We do not need the money?” She replied, “It is for the future generations I am doing this so that they can learn from it. We need to gather as many words as we can.”