ad hoc: southern lushootseed

This is the second course in the Southern Lushootseed Language series. We are learning to speak, read and write Southern Lushootseed, a Native language (part of the Coast Salish Language family) spoken in the south Puget Sound region. The first lectures of the course for new or returning students focus on the history and culture of Coast Salish tribes in the context of language evolution and loss. Throughout the rest of the course, we complete breakdowns of sentences preserved and/or extracted from first speaker documentation. We learn about the process of language extraction and the elders and academics who helped progress the revitalization process. 

 

The coursework for this class culminates in a course portfolio, containing all of the work completed over the quarter. This includes complete instructional notes for each day of class, grammar work and definitions, and any other in-class assignments; two highlight projects, where students are tasked with connecting their x̌əč (inner sense/self) to Lushootseed; daily participation, including practicing sound drills, speaking, taking notes and asking questions; and a midterm and final exam.

 

This course is taught in what Prof. Hohn calls the wəɬbid method (wəɬ - to be intellectual) as opposed to immersion. We learn the building blocks, structure, and flow of the language, breaking down sentences and words into smaller pieces to show why things mean what they mean. Another learned skill is how to navigate the Lushootseed-English dictionary, and how to type the language on a standard keyboard. 

 

Project Topic: Southern Lushootseed in early learning 

 

Focus: Prof. Hohn has been doing incredible language work with Southern Lushootseed for many many years. She has taught us that for language revitalization, getting more people learning, using and engaging with the language in respectful ways is the path to revival, even if those learners are not Native. I want to create an activity where early learning students can hear a story/spoken scavenger hunt that is teaching them Lushootseed words for things in the environment like a rock (č’əƛ̓əʔ) a flower (c'əqay'səb), and then go on a scavenger hunt to find each one. The items to be found (placed somewhere outside, like a park or a play garden) will have their Lushootseed word written on or near them. This creates a fun sensory activity that sparks excitement and learning around the language. The spoken story component allows students to hear the language spoken and take in some of it’s beautiful characteristics, particularly how some words for different scavenger hunt items reflect the sounds they make. For example, č’əƛ̓əʔ (my best written pronunciation would be “ch-uh*click*uh”), the word for rock, sounds like two rocks being hit together when spoken. Storytelling is also a more engaging way of giving directions for an activity. 

 

Deliverable: An activity guide that includes a readable scavenger hunt and (pictures of) the scavenger hunt items creatively painted with their Lushootseed names, which I will make myself.

 

Goals: I aim to gain a deeper understanding of Lushootseed by creating connections between the language and my life/my field. I hope to spark inspiration, awareness and interest in the language for myself and others. I am also hoping to connect my learning of Lushootseed to a larger capstone project I’m working on, a tool for students and educators to consider the place that they are in holistically, ethically, and through a lens other than that of the dominant culture. This ad hoc project will strengthen my own sense of Lushootseed while also inspiring/informing work on my senior project.

 

The goals of the course are to grow language comprehension, as well as to understand and participate in the process of a preserved language being revitalized. This project  (1) grows my own language comprehension by giving me space to reflect on my current knowledge and connect it to other parts of my life that I am passionate about (e.g. early education, art) (2) participates in the process of language revitalization by encouraging interest, inspiration and awareness of the language beyond this particular classroom.