Rare Chukchansi speakers record, preserve language

[Garry Forger]

COARSEGOLD, Calif.—The few remaining speakers of the Chukchansi language 
have begun preserving their tribal words and songs using electronic 
translators first developed for military use.

The unwritten Chukchansi language has long been spoken by residents of 
the Madera County foothills, the traditional territory of the Picayune 
Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians. But like many other American Indian 
languages in California, it is considered nearly extinct. Just six 
tribal members are sufficiently fluent to teach it to others.

"We're recording our language ... to save our language," said Jane 
Wyatt, 62, of Coarsegold, who has been teaching the language at the 
Wassuma Round House culture center. "I learned because my grandmother 
raised me. That's all we spoke."

Tribal members gathered Friday near the tribe's busy Chukchansi Gold 
Resort & Casino in Coarsegold to try out the "Phraselator," an 
electronic translator developed by the Banning-based Thornton Media Inc.

Seventy tribes in the United States and Canada have purchased the 
hand-held translation devices, which also are used by U.S. troops to 
translate Farsi in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the company's president 
Don Thornton.

The tribe will use the units to start a language preservation program, 
said Picayune Rancheria tribal administrator Cornel Pewewardy.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6670195



___________________________________________
Garry J. Forger, MLS, MWS
(Santa Cruz Watershed)
Development and Grants Management Officer
for Learning Technologies
http://ltc.arizona.edu
and
Technology Manager for the Center for Educational
Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy
(CERCLL) http://cercll.arizona.edu
The University of Arizona
gforger at email.arizona.edu
520-626-3918
Fax 520-626-8220

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