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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wonderful! Look forward to outcomes of
projects and tips on how best to continue on revitalization of our
languages. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=cashcash@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU
href="mailto:cashcash@EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU">phil cash cash</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU">ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 05, 2008 11:37
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [ILAT] The Native Voices
Endowment 2008 Awards (fwd)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>The Native Voices Endowment: <BR>A Lewis & Clark Expedition
Bicentennial Legacy<BR>Endangered Language Fund<BR><BR>5 June 2008 <BR>For
Immediate Release: <BR><BR>Endangered Language Fund supports languages of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition When Lewis and Clark explored the territory from
the Mississippi to the Pacific two hundred years ago, they encountered
speakers of dozens of languages. Now, those tribes are fighting to keep their
languages alive. The Endangered Language Fund, thanks to an endowment created
by the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, has made five
awards to help with those efforts. <BR><BR>The Native Voices Endowment: A
Lewis & Clark Expedition Bicentennial Legacy provides support for tribal
members or tribal colleges to work to maintain their languages. 2008 marks the
first year of these awards, and the following five projects were selected to
share the $80,000 available: <BR><BR>Debbie Martin, Quinault Indian Nation:
Quinault Language Community Immersion Project. <BR><BR>This three-year plan
will further immerse the Native peoples of the Quinault Indian Nation in the
culture, language and history of their elders. Quinault is a language within
the Tsamosan branch of the Salishan Family of the Northwest Coastal Native
American Languages. This projects outcomes will include an enhanced
collection of literacy materials both for children and adults, with the
production of the material serving as training for tribal members. This
project recognizes the intrinsic wisdom of the elder population and affirms
the Quinault core value of stewardship practices in the effort to protect
human, natural and cultural resources for the present and future of the
Quinault Nation. <BR><BR>Justin T. McBride, Kaw Nation: Wajíphanyin Material
Support Project. <BR><BR>In the Kaw language, Wajíphanyin is the Camp Crier,
and the Kaw Nation hopes that there can be new ones. The last native speakers
passed away in the 1970s, but their descendants, who now live in Oklahoma,
have begun reviving their language. They recently made use of an
Administration for Native Americans grant to produce an interactive CD for
language learning. Included in this package is a language-learning game. The
present project will make that tool more accessible to the tribe by creating a
board game version. The 500 copies of this game will be distributed to
interested tribal members and sold through the tribal gift shop, with proceeds
going to the Language Department.<BR><BR>Archie Beauvais, Rosebud Sioux Tribe:
Lakota Language Preservation Project. <BR><BR>Lakota, like most of the
languages encountered by the Expedition, is currently being spoken by smaller
percentages of tribal members, especially at the younger ages. In this
project, teachers of the language will be trained in the language as well as a
way of teaching it. Archie Beauvais, project director, has secured the
commitment of four expert teachers of the Lakota language who will serve as
advisory board members and initial language teachers. They will recruit 20
tribal members, ideally from the 20 communities, who will then teach members
of their household. This ripple effect is hoped to ensure that the goal of
increasing the number of speakers by 10% per year can be met.<BR><BR>Joyce
McFarland, Nez Perce Tribe: Nez Perce Language Preservation Project: Bridging
the Gap Between Elders and Youth. <BR><BR>Nimipuutímt, the Nez Perce Language,
is a Sahaptian language spoken on the tribal lands in Idaho and neighboring
areas. There has been a steep decline in the number of speakers over the past
decade, especially among the most fluent. With assistance from the Endangered
Language Fund, Joyce McFarland and her team from the tribal Education
Department will make the language more accessible to younger speakers. Using
the Nez Perce Cultural Camp as a springboard, they will extend that program
into an after school club. New material will be recorded and made available on
DVDs. Modern media are important to the youth and will be an important tool in
helping them maintain their traditions. <BR><BR>LaRae Wiley, (Lakes band of
the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington State): Scholarship to study
Nselxcin with fluent Elder. <BR><BR>The Native Voices Endowment supports not
only systematic language projects like the ones just described, but also
scholarships for those tribal members who want to extend their knowledge of
their language. Scholarships can be for work in language or linguistics at
universities or, like the present case, for Master-Apprentice programs. In
these, an elder and a younger learner meet regularly to engage in everyday
activities, with the condition that only the Native language is spoken. Such
programs have proven to be quite effective in improving the speaking skills of
those with a basic understanding of the language, in this case, Nselxcin
(Colville-Okanagan Salish). Wiley hopes that someday soon, Nselxcin will be a
living, dynamic language that is once again passed naturally from parents to
children. <BR><BR>Contact: <BR>Bobby Winston <BR>Endangered Language Fund
<BR>300 George St., Suite 900 New Haven, CT 06511 <BR>510-903-1061
<BR><BR>[ISO 639 language codes: qun; ksk; lak; nez; oka]<BR><BR>the
endangered language
fund<BR>http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/index.html<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>