911吃瓜

By Nicole North

The Indigenous Languages Program (INLP) of 911吃瓜 had a very strong presence at this year鈥檚 International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (). The conference is hosted by the University of Hawai鈥檌 at M膩noa every two years. Founded in 2009, ICLDC is known internationally as the flagship conference for the field of language documentation. 

This year鈥檚 theme was Navigating new realities in diaspora communities. As conference co-chair Bradley McDonnell explains, 鈥淚CLDC proposes to initiate a dialogue which will turn the attention of documentary linguistics to the unique needs of diaspora language communities. Documentation techniques may need to be adapted to deal with contact scenarios and language shift.鈥� 

According to INLP Professor Dr. Donna Gerdts, this biennial conference is the leading one in the field of language revitalization, with a very competitive acceptance rate. Hul'q'umi'num' language instructor Lawrence George and MA students Terri Allen and Kendra Ann Page presented a paper titled Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� numeracy immersion style, authored in partnership with the . You can to learn more. The presentation showcased the work of 911吃瓜 instructors and students at modifying and creating new card and board games as well as immersion play. Mastering counting in Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� is no small task as there are 23 different lexical suffixes that attach to numerals to serve as classifiers 鈥� an object is counted for its type (tree, root plant, house, clothing, canoe, etc.) or for its shape and size (round, large sphere, long and flexible, etc.).  

Research titled Secwepemcts铆n as Home Language: Challenges and Glimpses of Hope across three Generations was presented by INLP Director Dr. Marianne Ignace and her daughters Julienne Ignace and Elizabeth Ignace. Elizabeth is currently employed with as their Cultural Heritage Agrologist, working mainly in cultural heritage and species-at-risk management. Julienne is a Cultural Heritage Researcher at the (SSN). 

INLP Assistant Professor Dr. Jas岣祑aan Bedard presented a research talk titled Gas谩nuu X瘫aad K铆hlga Hl Sk鈥檃dgan (How I learned the Haida language): Mentor Apprentice Method and Haida Ways of Being. Bedard also co-presented a talk titled Revitalizing X瘫aad K铆l (Northern Haida) across communities, virtually and face-to-face on Haida Gwaii, which she co-authored along with Marianne Ignace, K'Uyaang Benjamin Young and Marita Tolson.

INLP MA student Myia Antone and INLP MA alum Charlene George presented work titled Learning to speak, speaking to learn: Strategies for advanced S岣祑x瘫 w煤7mesh Sn铆chim proficiency building, alongside Nicki Benson, who recently earned her PhD from the University of Victoria. 

Lieutenant Governor's Medal winner Kaitlyn Cunningham, along with her MA cohort peer and niece Lilly Cunningham, her sister Leah Meunier (a recent INLP MA alum), and her other sister Cheyenne Cunningham, who is a UBC PhD student, presented a poster titled Community connections created through language and culture. Says Kaitlyn, 鈥淚 was so grateful to have the opportunity to present our poster at an international conference. We all made connections with language champions, linguists and knowledge keepers from all over the world.鈥� Kaitlyn is a co-founder of the , where language learners collectively work towards implementing h蓹n虛q虛蓹min虛蓹m虛 in their homes, communities, and online.

Dr. Heather Bliss presented a talk titled Ainna鈥檏otsiiysinni: Taking Care of Each Other Through Blackfoot Language Learning in Urban Contexts, co-authored by Naato鈥檌piksi Kendrick Fox, Naato鈥檚aaki Annette and Fox-Bruised Head. Bliss also presented, alongside Wiigwaas Carmen Craig, a talk titled Shared Wisdom: Community Conversations about Dialect Standardization. Additionally, Bliss moderated three research talks (see the ), including a talk by Leora Bar-el, Rebecca Wood and Milani Sandoval, Rethinking language resources.