Documenting Warm Springs Ichishkiin, an endangered language of Oregon

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

The essential elements that constitute the minimal scientific documentation of a language include a reference grammar, a dictionary, and transcribed narratives with translations and linguistic analysis. Contemporary digital tools in language documentation allow the integration of the building blocks, so that a linguistic database might use the dictionary to translate the narratives, use the narratives to add words to the dictionary. Electronic databases structure a set of data, in this case language material, and they facilitate searches for information by allowing various keywords or categories to be used. These kinds of digital documentation tools produce very rich databases, with sound files, photographs, grammar information, and entire stories, all which are possible data that can be entered and tagged. This project will employ digital language documentation tools to process and analyze materials in an endangered Native American language, Warm Springs Ichishkiin (also known as Sahaptin). The Native American Languages Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, enacted into policy the recognition of the unique status and importance of Native American languages. By using digital tools to assist in the analysis of Native American languages, this project will increase access to linguistic and cultural materials, traditional cultural knowledge, and produce and disseminate a grammar and a dictionary. Broader impacts include training workshops for tribal citizens, and a best practices collaboration among the community elders, the tribal language program and academics. This will broaden participation by increasing the number of Native American citizen scientists as Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs community members are trained in the scientific methods of linguistic documentation and apply them to their own language. This project will document and analyze discourse, morphosyntax and semantics in the Warm Springs Ichishkiin language which is spoken on the Warm Springs Reservation in the volcanic valleys of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, USA. With no more than 50 elder speakers remaining, the translation and interpretation tasks are urgent. The collaborative team will include the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Language Program and community, joined by linguists from Portland State University and the Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon. Valerie Switzler of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Nariyo Kono of Portland State University and Joana Jansen of the University of Oregon will work with digitized copies of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes as well as newly collected audio and video materials. The researchers will create transcriptions and translations that will contribute to a deeper level of understanding of lexical and grammatical features of Ichishkiin. A database, updated dictionary and updated grammar will result. Scientific interest in the language includes verbal morphology, referent tracking systems and metrical patterns, as these appear to differ in related varieties. Investigations will lead to a greater understanding of the relationships within the larger Sahaptian family, including Nez Perce and other of Ichishkiin varieties. This project will also provide a pathway to mobilizing the data and findings in the community's language programs, and in the continued maintenance of the Warm Springs Ichishkiin language within the tribe.