JULY 28, 1978 PAGE 11
Community Center this week. Teacher Linda Muralt from Portland’s David Douglas High School
showed girls the “jazz walk,” part of a dance routine performed for parents and friends Thursday night.
Supergirl Susan Guerin was momentarily airborn while practicing a flying somersault over
the horse. Gary Vanderhoef of Bend High School assisted girls in vaulting, uneven bars and balance
beams.
CDS Photos
INDIAN LANGUAGE SPEAKERS ENHANCE SKILLS
b y C ynthia S tow ell
Linguists and lifetim e
speakers of the Sahaptin and
Wasco languages shared their
talents at a recent workshop and
new classroom techniques were
the result.
Virginia and Dell Hymes,
who have worked closely with
local individuals off and on since
1951, spent two weeks at the
community center this month
helping speakers of the language
refine their skills.
In turn, “ students” made
corrections in the Sahaptin word
list compiled by Mrs. Hymes,
offered new idioms, and slightly
revised the alphabet to make it
consistent for both Sahaptin and
Wasco.
Sponsored by Central Ore-i
gon Community College,, and or
ganized by the Tribes’ cultural
heritage director Nathan Jim,
Sr., the class focused on lan
guage teaching techniques. Sa
haptin is offered in the public
school system and both Sahaptin
and Wasco have been taught in
the COCC adult education pro
gram.
Traditionally oral languag
es, Sahaptin and Wasco are
being taught by local women as
written languages. Reading and
writing have had to be learned
by even the fluent speakers.
Teachers therefore welcom
ed the opportunity to work with
the Hymes on developing their
reading and writing skills. Dur
ing the first week they reviewed
the reading of sounds and let
ters. Then it was on to grammar
and language patterns.
Dialogues were an effective
method for learning and practic
ing the concepts, and the ques
tion and answer technique will
probably show up in the class
rooms this fall.
Ways of grouping words by
sound or by stems and teaching
them together were also dis
covered and used.
This class m ark ed the first
time Wasco and Sahaptin were
studied together. They share the
same alphabet and many of the
same sounds, and where differ
ent, they provide useful con
trast.
The Paiute language was
even introduced,into at least one
session when Wilson Wewa, Jr.
shared the number system and
other words with the class.
The Hymes were particular
ly pleased when Wilson was able
to identify as Paiute the words
scribbled in the m argin of a
well-known 1883 Sahaptin word
list. The identity of the few
words had been a m ystery for
years, said the Hymes.
No stranger fo Wasco, or
“kiksht” as it is known to vari
ous speaking groups, Dell Hy
mes, began studying the lang
uage in 1951 while a graduate
student at Indiana University.
For his doctorate, Dr. Hymes
wrote a Wasco gram m er. His
main contacts through the years
have been Philip Kahclamat and
Hiram Smith.
In 1972 Virginia Hymes be
gan learning Sahaptin, the lan
guage of the upper Columbia
River basin. Her first word list,
accompanied by language mas
ter cards, was assembled in 1973
with the cooperation of such
locals as Susan Moses, Ellen
Squiemphen, Hazel Suppah,
Amelia Colwash, Linton Wini-
shut and Verbena Greene.
Some of the sam e people
who assisted Mrs. Hymes five
years ago shared in the work
shop this month. Such contact,
along with the ongoing working
relationship between Mrs. Hy
mes and Hazel .Suppah, is bring
ing the linguist closer to an
expanded dictionary, which she
hopes to complete this year.
The new dictionary will go
beyond the present word list to
include more words, listed in
alphabetical order by whole
LINGUIST Virginia Hymes (right) reviewed the grammar in recorded legends with Sahaptin language
teacher Eliza Van Pelt, Amelia Colwash and Hazel Suppah.
Rangila Photo
words or word parts, an English
index, and an introductory
grammatical sketch.
Whether or not it is pub
lished, the dictionary will be
made available locally, as has
all the Hymes’ work.
The Hymes are by no means
the first outsiders to take an
interest in Indian languages of
the area, although they have
certainly been among the most
attentive and involved. The first
Sahaptin word list was made by
a man named Biggs in 1853,
shortly before the treaty. The
most comprehensive list was
done by Walker, a visitor to
Warm Springs from 1880-1883.
Wasco, a Chinookan lang
uage of the lower Columbia
River, has received much atten
tion through the years, begin
ning in 1846 when a member of
an official U.S. exploring expe
dition wrote two short word lists
for lower and upper Chinook.
One of the g reatest contri
butions was made by Franz
Boas, eoQsidered to be the father
of modern American anthropol
ogy. In the 1890’s^Ie recorded a
good p art of the traditional
stories of the lower Chinook, as
well as writing a Wasco text and
vocabulary. Boas’s Handbook of
American Indian Languages, a
revolution in the com parative
study of native languages, gives
a significant amount of apace to
lower Chinook, using that tongue
to illustrate linguistic concepts.
A comprehensive grammar
and dictionary compiled by Wal
ter Dyk in this century were
passed on to Dell Hymes, whose
extensive files are invaluable.
In recent years Indians
themselves have encouraged the
preservation and teaching of
their languages by asking that it
be offered in schools and by
forming such groups as the
Sahaptin River Tribes Consor
tium, which is compo^gd/of five
upper Columbia River tribes
who speak variations of Sahap
tin.
People who completed the
class should be even better
equipped to teach Sahaptin or
Wasco formally in the classroom
or share it inform ally with
friends and relatives r— another
step closer to the revitalization
of hot only a languae but a way
of life.
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