A whisper away from extinction (fwd)

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Published: August 06, 2007 11:34 am     print this story   email this story 
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A whisper away from extinction

Local program working against the clock to save the Euchee language through
their children

By HEATHER SLEIGHTHOLM
Herald Assistant Editor
http://www.sapulpadailyherald.com/homepage/local_story_218113459.html?keyword=leadpicturestory

On a hot August afternoon in Sapulpa, about a dozen children gather at a
shaded table for snack time.

Chattering excitedly about the game they have just finished playing, they
are offered a drink and a snack by their teachers at the Euchee Language
Project’s summer program.

One by one the children take their snack and thank their teacher in the
Euchee language. They try their best to use their new vocabulary words, but
a few giggled English phrases make their way into the conversation.

Watched closely by their teachers, the children –– who range from young
teenagers to toddlers –– are encouraged to use the language of their
people.

On a lighthearted afternoon such as this, is easy to forget the importance
of this interaction.

Quite literally, these children are the only hope for the Euchee language,
which is a whisper away from extinction.

“We believe that the Creator gave us this language,” said Richard Grounds,
Director of the Euchee Language Project. “It’s coming very close to being
lost. And when it’s gone, its gone forever.”

Currently, there is only one man left that speaks Euchee as a first
language, and a handful of women native speakers.

These slim numbers are not just the number of speakers left in the Sapulpa
area; they are the only people left in the world that are native Euchee
speakers.

In an effort to combat the loss of their language –– and a large part of
their culture –– the Euchee community has taken action to save their
language by teaching it to a younger generation and preserving their
stories and songs in their native tongue.

“We’re still very much in triage mode,” Grounds said. “This is an emergency
intervention, and the language is hanging in the balance.”

The goal of the program is to produce new fluent speakers of Euchee and to
reintroduce the language into the community as well as ceremonial
gatherings.

“The problem is, 75 percent of native languages are only spoken by
grandparents, with parents knowing little or none of the language,” Grounds
said.

Now, the program is hoping it can bring fluency in Euchee to the younger
generation through activities, lessons, and interaction with the remaining
elders.

“We want our learners to be young enough that they can teach their children
the language,” Grounds said. “We don’t expect them to be monolingual, but
bilingual in English and Euchee.”

The influence of the Euchee has been profound on the community, although
this in many instances has been forgotten over time.

The site of the current Sapulpa High School and junior high is located on
the previous grounds of the Euchee Indian Boarding School, a boarding
school for young Euchees at the turn of the century.

Both boys and girls attended the school (which later became an all boys
school) and later Creek, Cherokee and Seminole boys were also enrolled.

At the mission school, students were punished for speaking Euchee, a lesson
that many students took to heart.

Ground’s grandmother was one of these students.

“She began going to the school when she was a teenager, so she was old
enough by then to retain the Euchee language while learning to speak
English,” Grounds said. “And while she continued to speak Euchee within the
Euchee community, she never taught my father the language. The school had
ingrained in her something that made her think that her children should
only speak English.”

Now Grounds, like most of his colleagues at the program, is becoming fluent
in the language that he was never taught as a child, although he heard it
often from the elders around him.

Linda Harjo, the assistant director for the language program, is also
becoming fluent in the language and is focused on passing it on to the
younger generation.

“It’s been a long process, and we’re a grass roots organization,” Harjo
said.

Currently, the program gets its funding through grants, donations and
federal dollars, and is making great strides since the first language class
was given in 1994.

“We just moved into our new location in October 2006 and are holding classes
here four afternoons a week for the smaller children,” Harjo said.

In addition to the children’s class, there are also gatherings of elders to
visit and pass their knowledge on to the staff and older learners, as well
as weekly community nights.

Currently, children aged two to five years come to the program four days a
week for two hours of immersion in the Euchee language.

Through games, activities and conversations, the children are given a chance
to hear the language of their people and attempt to speak it themselves.

All the program asks in return is that parents attend a weekly community
night and encourage the use of Euchee in their home.

“What we would really love to do is have an after school program for the
older kids to come to,” Harjo said. “At the moment, they are only able to
attend during the summer.”

The administrators of the program are cautiously optimistic about their
endeavor, while realizing that the clock is ticking on the time they have
with their aging elders.

But as a people, the Euchees have overcome many obstacles, including being
virtually written out of the history books when many of the Euchee were
forced to register as Creeks during the government mandated removal from
their homelands in the southern states to Indian territory in the 1830s.

“According to the history books, the Euchee people and their language are
already extinct,” Grounds said. “But we’re still here, and we still have
our language, even after the assault on our people and our culture. That’s
a testimony of strength of our people.”

The Euchee Language Project is currently located on South Main Street in
Sapulpa. For more information on their classes or if you would like to help
maintain their language, contact The Euchee Language Project at 224-6481.



Heather Sleightholm 224-5185 Ext.204

education at sapulpadailyherald.com