Cultivating Stoney Speakers (fwd link)

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Cultivating Stoney Speakers

Dictionary in works to help fend off collapse of mother tongue

BY JAMIE KOMARNICKI, CALGARY HERALD
OCTOBER 13, 2009 8:06 AM

The land that J. R. Two Young Men's family has tended for generations is rugged
ground.

Dust clings to the old rancher's blue plaid shirt as he surveys the hilly
territory in the shadow of the Rockies. At his feet, rows of wild prairie grass
cut by tractors lie drying in the harvest sun.

The 71-year-old leans over and picks up a tuft of the prairie wool.

"We started late. Before the leaves turn yellow, we have to bale it," says Two
Young Men.

The annual haying is a family tradition. In years past, Two Young Men brought
his own children to the fields and taught them to harvest much like his own
father showed him years before.

Today, his grandchildren come. The connection to the land is strong.

"I keep it going . . . to maintain a tradition of my grandfather, my father,"
says Two Young Men.

"I do it to make them feel they have (done) something important, to make them
feel . . . a part of this."

As they work, the old man and his progeny talk. The conversation is largely in
the words of their people, the Stoney Nakoda.

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