Yelkatte one of the last Sencoten speakers (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Yelkatte one of the last Sencoten speakers

BY JUDITH LAVOIE, TIMES COLONIST JUNE 21, 2011
Canada

One of the few remaining fluent speakers of the Sencoten language has died.

Earl Claxton Sr., whose aboriginal name was Yelkatte, died June 16
after battling multiple myeloma.

Claxton, the father of Tsawout First Nation Chief Allan Claxton, was
awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of Victoria in
2006 for his work on the Sencoten language.

Claxton, one of fewer than 10 fluent speakers of the aboriginal
language formerly spoken by First Nations on southern Vancouver
Island, helped develop a language curriculum for use by the Saanich
Indian School Board and the Pacific Northwest Indian College in Lummi,
Washington, and was working on a written record of the language.



Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/Yelkatte+last+Sencoten+speakers/4979496/story.html#ixzz1PwQgskKG