4
Culture and Heritage
Smoke Signals
Language Specialist develops Chinook Dictionary
By Kathleen Mitchell, Culture Board Assistant
Since coming on board in September of 1997,
Tony Johnson has managed to build a Language
Program for the Tribe.
Working through the Kwelth Tahlkie Culture and
Heritage Society office, Tony has built an archive
focusing on all the original languages of the Grand
Ronde Reservation, with a special emphasis on
Chinook Jargon. This archive of written and au
dio materials has been growing steadily. This is
made up of historic documents as well as recently,
conducted field-work.
Tony, who was born in South Bend, Washing
ton, went to college to focus on the culture and
language of his father's people, the Chinook.
Tony's grandfather was an allottee on the Quinault
Reservation in Washington.
"My life's focus has been the culture of my dad's
people and family," Tony said.
Tony has a background in American Indian Stud
ies from the University of Washington, but later trans
ferred to Central Washington University. He was
looking to pursue a master's degree in linguistics at
the University of Oregon when he was recruited as
Language Specialist by the Culture Board.
Currently tribal Elder Annabelle "Peachie"
Hamm, acts as Culture Board Chair. At its annual
planning workshop in August the Culture Board
made a language program its top priority.
Tony decided that establishment of the Language
Program's archive was the essential first step to
fulfilling the Culture Board's wishes.
"We will be looking for dedicated helpers," said
Dale Archibald, Culture and Heritage Board Ex
ecutive Director.
With the help of the archival materials, tribal El
ders, and his own experience, Tony, the Tribe's
Language Specialist, compiled a dictionary of Chi
nook that currently has 825 entries for English
equivalents. Tony refers to the Chinook Jargon as
"Chinook" because the older Chinookan languages
had their own names.
Tony sees Jargon as the key to language revital
ization here. "Learning Chinook is considerably
easier, because of its limited vocabulary and its
structure, than the older languages of Grand
Ronde."
At first, Tony worked on the dictionary using an
existing font (lettering) developed for use with Salish
languages, such as Tillamook. The Salish font rep
resented most sounds in Chinook, but was. not a
perfect fit for a Chinookan language.
Tony, with help from intern Greg Davis, then
i t
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Tony Johnson, Curator & Language Specialist
developed an alphabet (orthography) to represent
all the sounds in Chinook.
After Tony drafted the dictionary and alphabet
he found a "phonetic" font developed by a profes
sor in Toronto, Canada, that could be easily modi
fied to represent all the sounds in Chinook. Tony
received permission from the professor and then
adapted the font to the needs of the Grand Ronde
Chinook alphabet. This new True-Type, called
"Chinook Wawa," can now be entered into any
word processing program. In the future a typing
tutor will be developed to help members master
the new keyboard. Also, Tony has made it a policy
to recruit graduate students of linguistics, from lo
cal universities, to be interns with the Language
Program. Greg Davis, a Master's candidate at
Portland State University, has become the
program's first. Tony believes Greg's thesis will
be a valuable document to the future of the Grand
Ronde Tribe's language effort.
More recently, Tony has been collaborating with
a software developer to perfect a Talking Word
Tutor, "TWT." He hopes that this will become a
part of the long range Chinook Teaching Program
at Grand Ronde. A new version of the "TWT" is
currently being developed for use by the younger
students and will have pictures rather than English
definitions.
Now that basic development of the Chinook Dic
tionary, Orthography and Font is complete, Tony
has drafted Language Program plans for the com
ing year. The plans are established in a grant ap
plication that he and tribal Grant Specialist Bob
McElderry recently submitted to the Administra
tion for Native Americans (ANA).
The goal of this ANA Planning Grant is to create
a foundation so that "an undeniable ANA imple
mentation grant can be written," Tony said. The
Planning Grant, if received, will allow for the fol
lowing important elements to be completed during
the next year.
The first step is to do a comprehensive survey of
the language speakers already in the community.
Another step toward language learning will be
that the Culture and Heritage Society will work to
wards making agreements with tribal and public
education regarding a Chinook learning program.
Research and recording of all language materi
als will continue to have top priority with the Cul
ture and Heritage Society.
Still another step toward the eventual teaching of
Chinook is the soon to be established, "Core" lan
guage group. This group will be asked to commit
over the next year to learning Chinook. For more
information, please refer to the article below. Tony
is confident in the sense of urgency and commit
ment he has heard from tribal members in and
around Grand Ronde. "A year from now, regard
less of our grants, we will find a way to get lan
guage learning going at some level," Tony said.
Tony's other focus is traditional Chinook Indian
arts. He is trained in carving, print making and
jewelry making. Tony received a bachelor's degree
in small metals, mostly Silver Smithing, from Cen
tral Washington University.
Learn Chinook Jargon
The Culture Board is seeking tribal members
who are willing to commit to a "pilot" Chinook
(Jargon) project. Project participants will be re
quired to meet weekly, on evenings, throughout
the upcoming year. This group will provide sup
port for the teaching of Chinook. A tentative start
data for this group has been set for WEDNES
DAY, MAY 20. Meeting dates and locations will
be discussed there.
An interest in "Chinook" is all that is required
to apply. Individuals associated with Tribal or
Public Education are especially encouraged.
A letter stating your interest to apply, and your
commitment to attend classes, is required for
consideration for the project. Letters of appli
cation must be received by Friday, May 15.
Please send applications to:
Kwelth Tahlkie
co Tony A. Johnson
961 5 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, OR 97347
Culture Board meeting to be held May 9; seeking applicants
Kwelth Tahlkie Culture and Heritage Board will
hold its monthly meeting at 10 a.m. on May 9 in
the Banquet Room of Spirit Mountain Casino.
Tribal members are always welcome to attend.
The agenda includes a presentation by the Tribe's
Language Specialist, Tony Johnson, of the Chinook
Jargon talking tutor computerized learning pro
gram. Other agenda items include: discussion of
Mission Statement, hiring of an Education Coordi
nator, a logo, and reorganization following mora
torium. The Board is also recruiting persons interested
in serving on its Board of Trustees. Two positions
currently are vacant. The term of office is for three
years. These two positions are open to both tribal
and non-tribal members.
The Culture Board meets no more than eight times
yearly to give direction to the Society by making
policy decisions. A Board Trustee helps oversee
the activities of a Culture Center staff and develop
support from others, both within and outside the
Tribe.
The mission of Kwelth Tahlkie Culture and Heri
tage Society is to recognize, affirm, and celebrate
the historical and contemporary cultural achieve
ments of the Grand Ronde people; to preserve and
perpetuate that culture and collaborate with other
groups and individuals with similar aims; to col
lect, preserve and interpret articles of cultural pat
rimony as well as documents, language and oral
history; to use such resources as educational op
portunities for students and scholars alike.
, Interested applicants are encouraged to write a
letter of application the Culture Board office. Any
letter should contain the answers to the following
questions:
a) Are you a member of any Indian tribe or mar
ried into the Grand Ronde Tribe? If you are a tribal
member, please include your roll number.
b) What do you think you have to offer to the Cul
ture and Heritage Society?
c) Why do you want to serve on the Culture Board?
Please send the letter of application to Culture
Board, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde,
OR 97347 or call 879-2085 or toll free 1-800-422-0232,
ext. 2085.
All applications need to be received by June 1 to
be considered. A committee of the Culture Board
will interview selected applicants in June and make
its recommendation to the Culture Board, which
will advise Tribal Council on these appointments.