In Our Languages: Tips and Tricks

By Muriel Ammon

We are living through a period of great innovation in Indigenous language revitalization. Indigenous communities, “are rising to the challenge of keeping their languages alive, of regaining a relationship to the language in whatever ways they can, re-establishing traditions where the language is used, finding new functions for the language, and trying to bring up new generations of speakers (Hinton et al., 2018).” Everyone, from a second language learner at the very start of their journey to an elder fluent speaker, is constantly asking themself: ‘What can I do to get more language, to satisfy my craving for language, and fulfill my responsibility to teach what I know?’

The beauty of language revitalization is that it encompasses every part of our lives. Language is the mode we use to operate in. We have potential to eat while speaking our languages, to relax in them, tease and joke, even conduct business. But often, we don’t. Anyone involved in language revitalization knows that this is the outcome of colonization, missionization, and boarding schools. But our stories are much larger than that.

There’s no giving up with language people. So many talented people are working in support of their languages. Ask about their work, and they’ll likely share the whole story, with all the emotions and motivations that fuel them. It is reinvigorating to come together over language. The right connection at the right moment can spark your next project or push you back into the rhythm of using your language.

We have to find what works for us. One of the best and brightest, Connor Yiamkis of the Illmawi band of the Pit River nation, has put his time towards learning his language. The greatest constraint he works around is the lack of immersion space. Students of the world’s dominant languages, French, Spanish, and the like, can travel by car and plane and be surrounded by speakers of that language. Institutes of higher education create immersion settings for language students, knowing that this method works well. For many Indigenous languages, including Achumawi, Pit River language, there is no such place to visit. Yiamkis explains, “We don’t really have somewhere to go to be immersed in the language. There’s no one for me to do a Master Apprenticeship with. We can learn some from elders, but we’re working largely from documentation.” Now, Yiamkis is working towards expanding immersion practices for Achumawi learners speaking in the home.

Yiamkis enrolled in a Language Teaching Studies Masters program at University of Oregon, where he connected with then PhD student Zalmai Zahir, speaker and teacher of the Lushootseed language, and creator of his Language Nesting method. He saw how Zahir’s method succeeded in exponentially increasing the speaker population for Lushootseed. Yiamkis notes, “His story was real powerful because he was a language teacher for twenty years.” Yiamkis explains that in his time teaching, Zahir created many fluent speakers. However, after the classes ended, some of these students did not continue to use the language. There was a disconnect between learning the language and using it. This realization altered Zahir’s work, and he switched his focus from teaching the language to teaching people how to use the language.

Yiamkis decided that Zahir’s Language Nesting method worked, and he wanted to bring this tool back to his own community. This method is unique from the nests which teach young children through immersion. Rather, this method ejects English from one area of your home (the bathroom, the kitchen) and you build the habit of narrating your daily routine in your language. Start with washing your hands. Write out a handful of steps on a poster and stick it by your sink. Every time you wash your hands, say out loud what you are doing. It becomes habit. When you get comfortable with this domain, add another. It’s a powerful dedication, to eliminate the use of English in any space of our lives. Yiamkis describes the feeling, “Whenever you step inside that space – that’s where you speak the language. So you always have a place to do it.” His work on this method started by translating templates from Zahir with a linguist. They worked over a period of six months. During this time, Yiamkis was able to incorporate the new domains into his routine. After those six months, he was perfectly capable in narrating sets and sets of domains. What’s more, he was speaking every day.

Parallel to this self-narration comes conversation. Zahir’s students provided groups for conversation. This was something Yiamkis experimented with. “Conversation activities, those were a little bit harder. I tried to do them on my own.” It’s hard, he notes, “when you don’t have someone learning at the same pace as you.” His group did emerge. Yiamkis taught zoom classes two times a month over the course of a year. In these classes, he led learners through the domains so that they could establish language nests in their homes, and introduced the group to conversation activities. It was rewarding to see the group progress. “At the end of the year, some who gave it a chance started to see how it was helping them,” he remarks. Acknowledging the difficulty of inspiring commitment in new learners, he recommends, “It takes time for people to feel like it’s working. Just giving them time and reassurance.” Bugging also works.