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Tribes target young to save dying languages
CEDAR CITY, UTAH (AP) - But
terfly is only 3, but she speaks better
Paiute than most of her Elders.
She can sing her ABC's in the
Tribe's dying language, hesitantly
count to 10 and introduce herself with
her Paiute nickname, Aesevetsi.
She learned it all in the Paiute Pre
school Language Immersion Pro
gram, which is trying to preserve the
language common to a Tribe whose
members are scattered throughout
the Southwest. Of the 744 members
in Utah, fewer than 40 speak the lan
guage fluently.
"The real sad thing is that all of
these people are almost dead now,"
said Gloria Benson, who directs the
preschool program for the Paiute
Tribe of Utah. "We have lost so many
of our Elders in the past three years,
it's really scary."
It's a dilemma facing American
Indian Tribes around the country.
Of the 3,200 Utes in Utah and
Colorado, only about 480 are fluent
in their Native tongue. There are
fewer than 900 Comanche speakers
left in Oklahoma or Apache speak
ers in New Mexico. The 1990 Cen
sus estimated that more than a third
of American Indian and Alaska Na
tive languages have fewer than 100
speakers.
"Out of 185 Native languages still
viable today, less than 20 will sur
vive in the next 50 years," said
Darryl Kipp of the Piegan Institute
in Montana, which works for the
preservation of Native tongues.
The Paiutes trace the demise of their
language to 1954, when a Utah sena
tor included them on a list of Tribes
to be "terminated," dropping their rec
ognition as Indians. Without that des
ignation, the Paiutes lost federal fund
ing and much of their land.
think many people have taken for
granted that their language is always going
to be there but now see the reality that it
isn 't unless you promote it actively"
Ofelia Zepeda
Co-director of the American Indian Language Development Institute
at the University of Arizona and a member of the Tohono O'odham Tribe
By the time the Utah Paiutes were
re-recognized in 1980, half of the
Tribe's members had died, many
from untreated health problems.
The decrease in population, and the
government's policy of "putting or
phaned Indian children into English
only boarding schools, nearly oblit
erated the language.
In 1997, with a grant from the fed
eral Department of Health and Hu
man Services, the Tribe surveyed
members of the five Paiute bands
scattered around southern Utah: the
Koosharem, Shivwits, Indian Peaks,
Kanosh and Cedar. They found that
only about 3 percent of members were
using the language on a daily basis.
The next step was to find a rem
edy. Benson said officials first con
sidered bringing adult education
courses to the reservation or target
ing teens. But members had a dif
ferent idea.
"When we went out to the band
areas during council meetings and
presented our grant concept, many
of them said that it's with the young
people," she said. "That's where
you've got to teach it, because they're
so young, they're going to learn it
and they'll remember it. So that was
the direction we took."
Ten 3- and 4-year-olds attend the
preschool, really just an unused stor
age room at Tribal headquarters on
the edge of Cedar City.
Cardboard cutouts of Indian chil
dren in traditional dress decorate the
walls. The bulletin board and child
sized chairs bear pictures represent
ing the Paiute nicknames teachers
have given the children.
There's Kiriits, the cat; Sanapi, the
pitch-pine tree; Iyovi, the dove; and
Kamunts, the rabbit.
The school day opens with a Paiute
prayer before children move on to
singing songs, including "Mary Had
a Little Lamb" and the Barney song
("I love you, you love me ...") in Paiute.
Storytime means either traditional
Tribal tales or contemporary children's
books the teachers have translated
themselves. As they read "Pat the
Bunny," the squirming students call
out the Paiute words they are learn
ing: hard, soft, rough, smooth: '
"It's amazing how they pick it up.
They're like little sponges," said
teacher Vala Parshonts, who once
taught an adult class but says the
children learn much faster. "I'm just
trying to keep up with them."
As the children closed the day with
a ceremonial and circle dance,
Benson explained that the Tribe
would like to expand the preschool
to all five reservations.
"The next thing we're looking at is
going even younger," she said. "We
want to work with pregnant mothers
or mothers of infants and start trying
to teach them, so that when they're
singing with their baby they can sing
Paiute and they can talk Paiute."
Other Tribes are trying similar pro
grams to keep their languages alive,
including the Paiutes of Pyramid
Lake, Nevada, and the Blackfeet of
Browning, Montana.
One of the most ambitious is the
Washoe Tribe Immersion School
near Reno, where about 20 students
from preschool to eighth grade share
a single classroom. The school, now
in its fourth year, is the Washoe's
attempt to resurrect their language,
which is spoken by only 60 people
out of a Tribe of 1,800 members.
The urge to save Tribal identity has
sparked a growing interest in reviv
ing Native languages, said Ofelia
Zepeda, co-director of the American
Indian Language Development In
stitute at the University of Arizona
and a member of the Tohono
O'odham Tribe.
"I think many people have taken
for granted that their language is
always going to be there but now see
the reality that it isn't unless you pro
mote it actively," she said.
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Deer visits Grand Ronde
National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) Chairman Montie R. Deer,
of NIGC's Washington D.C. office, recently toured the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde. Deer met with members of the Tribal Council,
including Tribal Chair Kathryn Harrison, and toured Tribal facilities
and the Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino.
City, Tribal officials agree to
terms for excavation at burial
BAY CITY, MI (AP) - City offi
cials and the Saginaw Chippewa In
dian Tribe have agreed how to
handle the discovery of Indian re
mains during a railroad construction
project.
Archaeologists discovered the re
mains of three Native Americans in
March about 4-12 feet below the sur
face near the Marquette Avenue Via
duct, which is being demolished and
replaced with a street-level railroad
crossing.
The city had hired the scientists to
search the area for historically sig
nificant objects because the 72-year-old
viaduct was located near a known
Indian burial ground. The Tribe,
however, was concerned that dig
ging may be invasive and disrespect
ful toward its traditions.
The agreement, approved recently
by the Bay City Commission, outlines
steps for the handling and disposi
tion of any human remains discov
ered on the site of the viaduct project.
The protocol provides for a Tribal
monitor of the project and stipulates
the remains be disturbed as little as
possible, The Bay City Times re
ported. The agreement also calls for
remains to be reburied in the same
place and in the same way they were
found.
If the remains could be destroyed
by the project if left in place, "then
the remains shall be reinterred at
another suitable site located as close
as possible to the original burial site."
Tribal officials said that the agree
ment is historic and significant.
"This is the first time that any kind
of government or municipality has
entered into such a sensitive agree
ment with a Native American Tribe,"
said Tribal Spokesman Frank J.
Cloutier. "I think the city has done
everything it can to appease the feel
ings early on, because we ap
proached this very offended."