S MOKE S IGNALS
OCTOBER 15, 2014
11
Tribe celebrates new Wawa language app
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Grand Ronde Tribe cele-
brated transporting the 19th cen-
tury Chinuk Wawa language into
the 21st century with a teaching
application for Lipum (Wawa for
“apple”) products from 4 to 6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 9, at Chachalu Trib-
al Museum and Cultural Center,
8720 Grand Ronde Road.
“Chinuk Wawa is an interTribal
hybrid language indigenous to the
Pacifi c Northwest, where it served
as a regional lingua franca facil-
itating communication between
speakers of different Tribal lan-
guages, as well as between Tribal
people and speakers of English
and Canadian French,” states the
introduction of “Chinuk Wawa: As
our Elders teach us to speak it,” a
Wawa dictionary published by the
Tribe in 2012.
When the almost 30 Tribes and
bands were forced on to the Grand
Ronde Reservation in the 1850s,
Chinuk Wawa became the only
tongue that Native speakers of
different languages could use to
communicate with each other. Over
the years, as other Tribal languag-
es died out from lack of use or lack
of speakers, it became the offi cial
language of the Grand Ronde Tribe.
“Since Tribal members live all
over the world, it is difficult for
some of them to learn and use our
language,” Tribal Land and Cul-
ture Manager Jan Looking Wolf
Reibach said. “The creation of this
application combines our language
with technology, creating a modern
teaching tool for use in classrooms,
homes and everywhere there is a
desire to learn our language.”
The celebration opened with a
prayer in Chinuk Wawa and then
English by Tribal Council member
Jon A. George. A drum that includ-
ed Bobby Mercier, Brian Krehbiel,
Jeff Mercier, Reibach, George, Ei-
rik Thorsgard and Halona Butler
followed.
Reibach welcomed those in at-
tendance and thanked Cultural
Education and Outreach Program
Manager Kathy Cole for her work
on creation of the app.
“I can’t get her to take a day off,”
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Kathy Cole, Tribal Cultural Education and Outreach Program manager,
demonstrates the Tribe’s new Chinuk Wawa application during a celebration
to launch the language app for iPhones and iPads at Chachalu Tribal Museum
& Cultural Center in Grand Ronde on Thursday, Oct. 9.
Chachalu
info
According to Land and
Culture Department Manager
Jan Looking Wolf Reibach,
since Chachalu opened on
June 5, the Tribal museum
has seen:
• More than 1,300 visitors;
• Conducted more than 28
guided tours;
• Raised more than $700,000
toward its Phase II capital
campaign to build a new
exhibit hall;
• Staff is working on a mar-
keting plan.
Reibach said. “Even when she takes a
day off, she still goes to the high school
to teach Tribal students Chinuk
Wawa. … She is very dedicated to this
language and she is the most dedicat-
ed teacher of this language. Her hard
work made this app possible.”
Cultural Outreach Specialist
Bobby Mercier talked about how far
the Tribe has come in resurrecting
the Chinuk Wawa language, which
was on the brink of extinction.
“How special and how far this has
come,” Mercier said. “From some-
thing that our people went through
a time when you weren’t able to
speak this or you were shunned to
having it today and seeing every-
thing that we have done with this.
All the way from having immersion
classrooms to having it accredited
through universities to teaching it
in high school on a daily basis to a
dictionary and now an app.
“This is showing the evolution
of ourselves and our language. It
shows that we have taken a step
to preserve something for our kids
so that they will never know a day
that it did not exist.”
Mercier said that his interest in
learning the language was inspired
by his desire to speak with his
grandmother, who walked on be-
fore he became fl u-
ent. He eventually
became a master
apprentice to learn
the language.
“It was a true
blessing in my life
and for my chil-
dren,” he said,
adding that his chil-
dren and nieces and
nephews can now
speak the language.
After Tribal chil-
dren sang “Tum-
ala (Tomorrow)”
in Chinuk Wawa,
Tribal Council
Chairman Reyn
Leno thanked pre-
vious Tribal Councils for recogniz-
ing the importance of saving and
teaching the language. He honored
Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison, a
longtime Tribal Council member
and Tribal chairperson, who was
sitting in the back of the room.
“We didn’t have anything else
but a cemetery, a language and
a name,” Leno said about 1954’s
Termination. “It has always been
supported by Tribal Council. It’s
just one of those things as a Native
American Tribe that you respect.
There really are not a lot of ques-
tions when it comes to supporting
the language program. The outcome
is what we have today, putting it on
apps. … This is our culture. This
is Grand Ronde people. This is our
representation of who we are.”
Tribal Council Vice Chair Jack
Giffen Jr. said Chinuk Wawa was
one of many languages Tribal an-
cestors spoke.
“It is the only tool we really have
left from all those different lan-
guages,” Giffen said. “As a Tribal
Council person, I know the value
of that language and I know how
much sovereignty it brings back to
each one of us.”
Tribal Council member Jon A.
George recalled hearing Elders
speak Chinuk Wawa while he was
growing up in Grand Ronde. He re-
members them going off into other
rooms or out to the barn to speak
the language, refraining from doing
so in public.
“Now no matter where our Tribal
members live, they have an oppor-
tunity to have a connection to our
Tribe,” George said. “What is so dear
to me is that this is something that is
who we are. This is our identity, our
sovereignty. We get to speak it and
write it. Pretty soon, our children
won’t know anything different.”
Tribal Council member Chris
Mercier used Chinuk Wawa to sa-
lute his alma mater, the University
of Oregon, by saying “Latwa qHweX-
qHweX” (“Go Ducks!”).
Tribal Chinuk Wawa language
consultant Henry Zenk received a
Pendleton blanket in appreciation
of his work on chronicling the lan-
guage, which included spending
many hours interviewing Elders on
how to speak Chinuk Wawa.
“The work that he did is history for
us. You couldn’t put a price on the
work he did,” Bobby Mercier said.
Mercier also acknowledged the
dedicated work that was done on the
language program by former Tribal
employee Tony Johnson and Jackie
Whisler, who walked on in 2007.
Cole demonstrated the app on a
large screen. It features 27 catego-
ries that allow users to learn the
language, play games to reinforce
the lessons and take quizzes. It also
includes audio (fi ve songs and fi ve
stories in Chinuk Wawa), a history
video and 50 historical photos with
See APP continued
on page 15
iPads loaded with the Chinuk Wawa application are
available for use in the lobby of Chachalu Tribal Museum
& Cultural Center in Grand Ronde. Ian Mercier uses the
app during a launch celebration held at Chachalu on
Thursday, Oct. 9.