Tribes strive to revive vanishing native languages

In the unlikely surroundings of a cluttered art room in a rural Oklahoma high school, a dying language was being given the kiss of life.

Bud Yackeshi got to his feet in front of 20 or so fellow members of his Comanche tribe and recited a blessing. "We ask you to be here, Lord, for us and the people who speak here tonight," he said in the language of his ancestors. Then the Comanche lesson began.

Across the United States, similar scenes are being played out as Native American tribes try to revive their languages, many of which are on the edge of extinction. Efforts range from college courses and immersion schools for young people to simply recording the languages before the last native speakers die.

In Wyoming, the Arapaho tribe have set up a school to educate their children in their native language, not English. Tribal colleges from South Dakota to Michigan to Minnesota are doing courses in Indian languages.

In Oklahoma, the 14,000-strong Comanche people, who little more than a century ago were rulers of the Great Plains, are trying to pull back their language from the brink.

The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee has created a dictionary, developed language courses and CDs of Comanche songs, and holds annual courses in five Oklahoma towns in which large numbers of Comanches live.

The group has also taught the language to some families, even going as far as to give financial incentives for some to teach their children Comanche.

"We tell these parents to follow their little ones around and expose them to as much Comanche as possible," said Ronald Red Elk, a leader of the CLCPC.

At the school in Walters, the group of students represented a generational cross-section of the tribe, from young children to their parents and two elders. As a teacher recited the words for the numbers 1 to 10 in Comanche, the group repeated them and wrote them down.

It has been more than a generation since Comanche was spoken as a family language, and it is difficult. For example, the Comanche equivalent to the English phrase "Happy birthday" is to say: "We are glad for the day that you fell out."

As with many Indian languages, the number of native speakers of Comanche is small and all are old. Perhaps fewer than 100 native Comanche speakers are still alive and none is under 60.

The language was brought low by a deliberate policy of eradication by white authorities, who set up boarding schools where Indian children were punished for speaking their language.

In Walters, Jeanine Collins wept as she described how her grandmother had not passed on the language because she had been beaten in school for it. "The first English words she learned were 'Yes, Ma'am'," Collins said.

The last remaining native speakers of Comanche are a rich resource of language, lore and tradition, scattered in the forgotten corners of Oklahoma. One such place lies at the end of an isolated country road a few miles from Walters, where Edith Kassanavoid, 90, lives alone.

The tiny but sprightly Comanche woman said she did not speak English until she went to school. She talks vividly of her grandmother, who told her of the great buffalo hunts her family used to take part in. She is a living link to a past that is just a few generations ago.

"I have a beautiful language. I am blessed," she said.

"We want to keep our language alive."

LORDS OF THE PLAINS

The Comanche were one of the fiercest Indian tribes, dubbed "The Lords of the Southern Plains" and famed for raiding. Their name comes from a neighbouring tribe's word for "enemy".

Most tribal members live in Oklahoma and barely a hundred speak their native language. All are elderly.

The Comanche placed immense value on horses. When Spanish colonial authorities tried to negotiate a peace settlement with them, the Comanche's demands were to have all the horses in Mexico given to them. The talks failed.

SOME COMANCHE WORDS

Huutsi - grandmother on father's side.
Kaku - grandmother on mother's side.
Tabukihna - rabbit.
Mooka - tree.
Namewatsukwitu - eight.

- OBSERVER