High-tech revives ancient tongue (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

High-tech revives ancient tongue

First Nations youth are employing computer technology to master the language
of their elders

Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, October 05, 2007

A language traditionally spoken by First Nations in Saanich is being pulled
back from the brink of extinction by new technology.

The spoken words of elders in the Tsawout, Tsartlip and Tseycum bands are
being digitally transcribed, and the words -- sometimes known by only a
handful of people -- added to a digital dictionary.

Students can then use interactive tools and games on computers to learn the
language. Yesterday, as Labour Minister Olga Ilich handed over $250,000 to
the FirstVoices program, students from the Saanich bands demonstrated how
it works.

[photo inset - Ben Olsen, foreground, and Eugene Baker learn the traditional
language of their ancestors from a digital dictionary on computers at the
First Peoples' Council boardroom on the Tsartlip reserve yesterday. Debra
Brash, Times Colonist]

"I can't speak it that good yet, but this is fun. I just like it," said
13-year-old Ben Olsen as he keyboarded his way through a list of words in
the language, known as Sencoten.

The provincial funding will be added to a matching grant from the federal
New Relationship Trust.

"This revitalizes a piece of who we are deep inside. It's a piece that many
of us have buried for a very long time," said Tyrone McNeil, chairman of
the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council.

FirstVoices is being used for 26 languages across North America and in 18
communities in B.C. The province has 32 languages and more than 70
dialects.

About a dozen elders speak the Sencoten language fluently, said research
assistant Belinda Claxton as she accompanied elders Ivan Morris, 77, and
Ray Sam, 78, to a celebration buffet table of buffalo meat, herring roe and
smoked salmon after the funding announcement.

"We are trying to teach the young children the language and traditional
disciplines."

A children's book has just been completed in Sencoten and English, telling
the traditional stories and warning about what Squashthun -- the Sencoten
equivalent of the bogeyman -- will do if they break the rules, Claxton
said.

Claxton understands the language and speaks a little, but Sam and Morris
grew up speaking it.

"We must give our young people the courage to carry on with our language ...
it's a language that is beautiful," Morris said.

The sounds of Sencoten are the sounds of nature, said John Elliott, who
teaches the language. "It's the voice of the land, the voice of the wind."

Young people are keen to learn their language because they can use modern
technology and see it has a use in today's society, Elliott said.


© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007