Native Voices Endowment Recipients - 2013
Mike Carlow - Oglala Lakota, South Dakota
Annual Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Language Summit
Tusweca Tiospaye (TT) is a Native non-profit organization on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation dedicated to the promotion and strengthening of the Lakota language. The Lakota (ISO 639-3 code [lkt]), Dakota (ISO 639-3 code [dak]) and Nakota languages are on the brink of extinction within the next two generations. TT is working to help reverse this trend by hosting the Annual Lakota Dakota Nakota Language Summit for three days every November, in Rapid City, South Dakota. The summit brings together tribal and non-tribal members in an effort to preserve and document the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota languages to guarantee that future descendants of the Ocheti Sakowin (The Seven Council Fires) will have the opportunity to know and speak the languages that are imperative for cultural preservation. With funding from the ELF, TT will generate material throughout the conference to be widely distributed, produce quality audio and video recordings, and further increase their capacity to document and preserve language presentations during the summit and throughout the year. Additionally, TT will create a “How to” guide for other Native communities interested in preserving their language and culture. They will outline the steps and resources required to do so and will create an interactive PowerPoint to be used at conferences and presentations that captures the process.
Robert Brave Heart, Sr. - Red Cloud Indian School, South Dakota
Mahpiya Luta Lakol Waunspe Wicakiyapi - Teaching Lakota to Red Cloud Students
In 2013 Red Cloud Indian School celebrated its 125th anniversary. The school's broad goal is to empower Lakota students with a strong and healthy sense of identity and ultimately to become agents of social change for the future. Located in South Dakota, the tribal language is Lakota (ISO 639-3 code [lkt]) and the average fluent speaker is nearly 65 years old. In 2009, with critical support by the Endangered Language Fund, the school began their comprehensive K-12 Lakota language curriculum. The program now includes textbooks, lesson manuals for the teachers, multimedia games and presentations, dictionaries, readers, flashcards, and alphabet books. This year, NVE continues its support of the Lakota Language Project, as they complete the fundamental curriculum, continue to focus on intensive teacher training and add a host of complementary classroom materials, including digital and online resources. With the support of this NVE grant, the school will, finalize the entire K-12 curriculum, print materials and develop digital tools for Lakota language learning, provide intensive teacher training, post an on-line, interactive Lakota curriculum for students and teachers and enhance community education efforts.
Levina Wilkins - Yakama Nation Language Program, Washington
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation Elders Teaching Culture, Language with Stories to our Youth, Iyanchimi Sapsikwat Mayanashmaman
It is the mission of the Yakama Nation Language Program to work jointly to protect, preserve and enhance the sovereignty, language, culture, traditions, rights and privileges that are expressed or implied in the Yakama Treaty of 1855. The Language program partners with the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI) at the University of Oregon and has, since its inception, transcribed several thousand hours of Ichishkiin recordings, developed 18 curriculum units, created 18 books and translated 9 children's storybooks. The program also provides evening courses for Yakama youth and families. With ELF funding, the project, “Elders Teaching Culture, Language with Stories to our Youth” will enlist tribal elders to teach youth about their language, traditions and culture using a season-based curriculum. This project will teach the next generation a cultural way of life, legends, crafts and the history of the Yakama Nation by combining language preservation with cultural activities for youth. Outcomes include production of video and audio recordings as well as the production of a seasonal curriculum focusing on cultural activities such as fall harvest, winter storage and spring gathering.
Virginia Beavert and Sharon Hargus - Yakama Nation and University of Oregon/University of Washington
Continuation of 'Northwest Sahaptin Textual Transcription and Translation
The Yakama dialect (ISO 639-3 code [yak]) of Northwest Sahaptin is traditionally spoken in Toppenish, WA and neighboring areas, with only about 50 remaining speakers of any dialect. With funding from ELF, Virginia Beavert and Sharon Hargus will continue their work on “Northwest Sahaptin Textual Transcription and Translation,” which has received previous funding from NVE. Work to date has included review of nearly 30 hours of audio recordings with transcriptions and translations. ELF support will enable study of an additional 29 hours of high-priority recorded texts. Many previously studied recordings of Ellen Saluskin have a historical focus, describing events and situations that took place while she was growing up (in the early 20th century). Other recordings are traditional stories. The texts have also turned up items of grammatical interest, such as first position clitics, reported on in Hargus and Beavert 2012. Additional grammatical studies are planned using the texts as a database. The long-term goal is to disseminate these texts and audio on the web.
Yolanda Pushetonequa - Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
Native Voices Endowment scholarship to attend CoLang 2014
This year ELF awarded a Native Voices Endowment scholarship to Yolanda Pushetonequa to attend CoLang 2014. Her tribe, Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, is located on the Meskawaki Indian Settlement. CoLang 2014: Institute on Collaborative Language Research took place in June and July and was hosted by The University of Texas at Arlington. The theme was Native American languages and the event offered an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, practicing linguists, and indigenous community members to develop and refine their skills and approaches to language documentation and revitalization. The institute consisted of two weeks of intensive workshops followed by a four-week field methods course. Ms. Pushetonequa is an MA student at University of Minnesota's Institute of Linguistics. Her long-term goal is to establish a grammatical description of the Meskwaki language in order to create more effective teaching and learning materials and she is motivated to build a corpus of language data. “The CoLang institute was amazing,” said Yolanda, following up with ELF. “I made so many contacts that I did not know even existed and I gained a lot of confidence in my own abilities and my purpose in studying linguistics. I benefited from learning about how to do even the simplest tasks such as file naming, archiving, and fundamentals about audio recording. I can't thank you enough for your support and this amazing opportunity that I still feel so grateful and thankful for.”
Annual Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Language Summit
Tusweca Tiospaye (TT) is a Native non-profit organization on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation dedicated to the promotion and strengthening of the Lakota language. The Lakota (ISO 639-3 code [lkt]), Dakota (ISO 639-3 code [dak]) and Nakota languages are on the brink of extinction within the next two generations. TT is working to help reverse this trend by hosting the Annual Lakota Dakota Nakota Language Summit for three days every November, in Rapid City, South Dakota. The summit brings together tribal and non-tribal members in an effort to preserve and document the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota languages to guarantee that future descendants of the Ocheti Sakowin (The Seven Council Fires) will have the opportunity to know and speak the languages that are imperative for cultural preservation. With funding from the ELF, TT will generate material throughout the conference to be widely distributed, produce quality audio and video recordings, and further increase their capacity to document and preserve language presentations during the summit and throughout the year. Additionally, TT will create a “How to” guide for other Native communities interested in preserving their language and culture. They will outline the steps and resources required to do so and will create an interactive PowerPoint to be used at conferences and presentations that captures the process.
Robert Brave Heart, Sr. - Red Cloud Indian School, South Dakota
Mahpiya Luta Lakol Waunspe Wicakiyapi - Teaching Lakota to Red Cloud Students
In 2013 Red Cloud Indian School celebrated its 125th anniversary. The school's broad goal is to empower Lakota students with a strong and healthy sense of identity and ultimately to become agents of social change for the future. Located in South Dakota, the tribal language is Lakota (ISO 639-3 code [lkt]) and the average fluent speaker is nearly 65 years old. In 2009, with critical support by the Endangered Language Fund, the school began their comprehensive K-12 Lakota language curriculum. The program now includes textbooks, lesson manuals for the teachers, multimedia games and presentations, dictionaries, readers, flashcards, and alphabet books. This year, NVE continues its support of the Lakota Language Project, as they complete the fundamental curriculum, continue to focus on intensive teacher training and add a host of complementary classroom materials, including digital and online resources. With the support of this NVE grant, the school will, finalize the entire K-12 curriculum, print materials and develop digital tools for Lakota language learning, provide intensive teacher training, post an on-line, interactive Lakota curriculum for students and teachers and enhance community education efforts.
Levina Wilkins - Yakama Nation Language Program, Washington
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation Elders Teaching Culture, Language with Stories to our Youth, Iyanchimi Sapsikwat Mayanashmaman
It is the mission of the Yakama Nation Language Program to work jointly to protect, preserve and enhance the sovereignty, language, culture, traditions, rights and privileges that are expressed or implied in the Yakama Treaty of 1855. The Language program partners with the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI) at the University of Oregon and has, since its inception, transcribed several thousand hours of Ichishkiin recordings, developed 18 curriculum units, created 18 books and translated 9 children's storybooks. The program also provides evening courses for Yakama youth and families. With ELF funding, the project, “Elders Teaching Culture, Language with Stories to our Youth” will enlist tribal elders to teach youth about their language, traditions and culture using a season-based curriculum. This project will teach the next generation a cultural way of life, legends, crafts and the history of the Yakama Nation by combining language preservation with cultural activities for youth. Outcomes include production of video and audio recordings as well as the production of a seasonal curriculum focusing on cultural activities such as fall harvest, winter storage and spring gathering.
Virginia Beavert and Sharon Hargus - Yakama Nation and University of Oregon/University of Washington
Continuation of 'Northwest Sahaptin Textual Transcription and Translation
The Yakama dialect (ISO 639-3 code [yak]) of Northwest Sahaptin is traditionally spoken in Toppenish, WA and neighboring areas, with only about 50 remaining speakers of any dialect. With funding from ELF, Virginia Beavert and Sharon Hargus will continue their work on “Northwest Sahaptin Textual Transcription and Translation,” which has received previous funding from NVE. Work to date has included review of nearly 30 hours of audio recordings with transcriptions and translations. ELF support will enable study of an additional 29 hours of high-priority recorded texts. Many previously studied recordings of Ellen Saluskin have a historical focus, describing events and situations that took place while she was growing up (in the early 20th century). Other recordings are traditional stories. The texts have also turned up items of grammatical interest, such as first position clitics, reported on in Hargus and Beavert 2012. Additional grammatical studies are planned using the texts as a database. The long-term goal is to disseminate these texts and audio on the web.
Yolanda Pushetonequa - Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
Native Voices Endowment scholarship to attend CoLang 2014
This year ELF awarded a Native Voices Endowment scholarship to Yolanda Pushetonequa to attend CoLang 2014. Her tribe, Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, is located on the Meskawaki Indian Settlement. CoLang 2014: Institute on Collaborative Language Research took place in June and July and was hosted by The University of Texas at Arlington. The theme was Native American languages and the event offered an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, practicing linguists, and indigenous community members to develop and refine their skills and approaches to language documentation and revitalization. The institute consisted of two weeks of intensive workshops followed by a four-week field methods course. Ms. Pushetonequa is an MA student at University of Minnesota's Institute of Linguistics. Her long-term goal is to establish a grammatical description of the Meskwaki language in order to create more effective teaching and learning materials and she is motivated to build a corpus of language data. “The CoLang institute was amazing,” said Yolanda, following up with ELF. “I made so many contacts that I did not know even existed and I gained a lot of confidence in my own abilities and my purpose in studying linguistics. I benefited from learning about how to do even the simplest tasks such as file naming, archiving, and fundamentals about audio recording. I can't thank you enough for your support and this amazing opportunity that I still feel so grateful and thankful for.”
