Revered keeper of Piegen tongue, cultural icon dies (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Revered keeper of Piegen tongue, cultural icon dies

By KAREN OGDEN
Tribune Enterprise Editor
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050830/NEWS01/508300303/1002

BROWNING — Efforts to revive the fading Blackfeet language suffered a
blow Friday with the death Thomas Blackweasel, an elder who spent much
of his life studying and teaching his native tongue.

Blackweasel, 70, died of natural causes Friday in Kalispell.

"We're very surprised and we're also very saddened because we've lost an
extremely valuable person in regards to language revitalization on the
reservation," said Darrell Kipp, director of the Browning-based Piegan
Institute, which works to promote and preserve the tribe's native
tongue.

Blackweasel's voice was a familiar one on the reservation, where he
opened countless ceremonies and public events with prayers and
introductions in Piegan, the Blackfeet's original language.

"Mr. Blackweasel spoke his language with pride and dignity in public at
all times wherever he could," Kipp said. "He was not one who lessened
the fact that he knew the language."

A fluent speaker of Piegan since childhood, Blackweasel earned his GED
and went on to become a scholar of his native language. He received
formal training in orthography, the practice of recording language
according to spelling conventions, at the University of New Mexico,
according to his wife, Doreen.

Gregarious and multi-talented, he had served on the Blackfeet Tribal
Business Council and, in younger years, was a champion calf roper.

Blackweasel taught Piegan on and off at the Blackfeet Community College,
where he also lectured on a variety of other issues including land use,
tribal constitutions and treaties, said Marvin Weatherwax a current
Piegan language instructor at the college.

"He was very well-versed in the culture and also the life of the
(Blackfeet), the political scene past and present," Weatherwax said.

Blackweasel, along with his wife, was a major contributor to a permanent
Blackfoot gallery — titled "Niisitapisinni: Our Way of Life" — at the
Glenbow Museum and Archives in Calgary.

He was a current member of the Blackfeet Language Studies Advisory
Board.

Today fewer than 200 people on the Blackfeet Reservation are fluent
Piegan speakers, Kipp said. At 70, Blackweasel was among the youngest.

What's more, his formal linguistic training allowed him to effectively
teach and record the language.

And he was generous with his knowledge.

Although Blackweasel often worked as a professional linguist, he donated
an enormous amount of his time to the community, Kipp said.

Darrell Norman, a Blackfeet artist and historian, often turned to
Blackweasel for help with his language studies.

Norman opens his cultural presentations at Glacier National Park,
through the "Native America Speaks" program, in Piegan.

"I've learned to be semi-fluent from people like Tom who were willing to
share their time," he said. "...I was always grateful for Tom."

On the Web:

Blackweasel was a contributor to an on-line exhibit on Blackfeet life
through the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. The site is located at
http://www.glenbow.org/blackfoot/EN/html/index.htm.

Reach Tribune Enterprise Editor Karen Ogden at
kogden at greatfal.gannett.com or at (406) 791-6536 or (800) 438-6600.

Originally published August 30, 2005