海角大神

Samantha Laine Perfas:听Hey everyone, Samantha Laine Perfas here. Today we鈥檝e got another episode of our series, 鈥淪ay That Again?鈥� hosted by the Monitor鈥檚 Jessica Mendoza and Jingnan Peng. Many indigenous languages are in danger of being lost. In this episode, Jing and Jess head to Alaska to hear how one Native community is reclaiming its voice.

[MUSIC]

Jessica Mendoza:听We鈥檙e in a classroom of 4th and 5th graders at Harborview Elementary School, in Juneau, Alaska.

Jingnan Peng:听The students are learning a language called Ling铆t (also written as Tlingit), commonly pronounced as 鈥渒ling-kit鈥� in English. It鈥檚 an Indigenous language of southeast Alaska, and it鈥檚 in danger of dying out.听

Mendoza:听This is their teacher, Jessica Chester. 鈥淲hat are you picking?鈥� she asks.听

Mendoza:听The answer: 鈥淚鈥檓 picking nagoon berries.鈥� That鈥檚 a type of raspberry found in Alaska.听听

Peng:听At the back of the classroom sits Florence Sheakley, or Grandma Florence.听

Peng:听She鈥檚 one of the few dozen advanced Ling铆t speakers alive. And she鈥檚 helping Jessica teach the kids.

Mendoza:听Jessica鈥檚 classroom is like a mini version of work going on across the U.S. to bring back endangered Indigenous languages. As fluent speakers age and pass away, it鈥檚 a race against time for Jessica鈥檚 generation.听

[THEME SONG]

Peng:听You鈥檙e listening to 鈥淪ay That Again?,鈥� a podcast about how we sound, how we listen, and why that matters. From 海角大神, I鈥檓 Jingnan Peng.

Mendoza:听And I鈥檓 Jessica Mendoza.

[THEME SONG]

Peng:听So far, our show has been focusing on the ways people speak English in the U.S. It鈥檚 the. And听.听

Mendoza:听But, as English became this major language, it also marginalized 鈥� and, in many cases, wiped out 鈥撎�.听

Peng:听Today, we look at one community鈥檚 fight to save their language 鈥� and how their people hope to heal in the process.听

Mendoza:听We go back to Alaska, which we visited in Episode 2. This time we take you to Juneau, the state capital and part of the ancestral lands of the Ling铆t people. It鈥檚 also the center of the effort to revive the Ling铆t language.听

Peng:听This is Episode 5: Language Lesson.

[TCLL kids sing the alphabet song in Ling铆t.]

Peng:听Jessica Chester鈥檚 classroom at Harborview Elementary is part of a program called Tlingit Culture Language Literacy, or TCLL. The K-through-5 program is like a 鈥渟chool within a school.鈥� Teachers incorporate Ling铆t language and culture into lessons that meet state education standards.听

Mendoza:听So like for English class, students would read Ling铆t folk tales. Or teachers would take canon literature and find ways to connect those stories to Ling铆t culture.听

Peng:听Right, and then for math, they鈥檇 take a problem about how many cows there are, and change that instead to how many halibut.听

Mendoza:听Important figures in Ling铆t and Alaska Native communities would also come up regularly.听

Peng:听TCLL has three dedicated language teachers, who are assisted by two elders: Grandma Florence and Grandma Geis.听

Peng:听This is Jessica Chester again. She鈥檚 been with the program for 14 years.

Peng:听TCLL started in 2001 with about 12 students. It was part of a broader push to bring endangered Alaska Native languages into schools across the state.听

Mendoza:听Today there are about 70 kids in the program. And they鈥檙e learning more about their language and culture than most of their parents did growing up.听

Mendoza:听But it鈥檚 not easy to revive an entire language. One of the biggest issues is this huge shortage in people who can actually teach Ling铆t. And there are very few places for kids to go when they age out of the program.听

Peng:听In fact, Jessica鈥檚 first day teaching came only 4 months after she started taking Ling铆t classes herself. Her brother, who was teaching Ling铆t at a preschool, asked her to sub for him while he went on vacation.听

Peng:听So Jess, that scenario feels unthinkable if what you鈥檙e learning is a mainstream language.听

Mendoza:听驰别补丑.

Peng:听When I was learning French, all my teachers were fully native speakers.听

Mendoza:听Yeah, and I figure you had books and TV shows to watch听鈥�

Peng:听Yeah, tons of material in the language. And I also went to France twice for immersion programs.听听

Mendoza:听Right, and I mean this is true even for not so major languages. Like Tagalog, which I grew up speaking in the Philippines 鈥� it鈥檚 not that hard to find ways to learn it, in person, you can get classes. Or if you go online.听

Peng:听Right. But for a lot of Indigenous languages, it鈥檚 much harder. We talked about it back in Episode 2:听听of Alaska鈥檚 20 Native languages have any advanced speakers left. And some have none at all.听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听So back in Episode 2 we talked about forced assimilation. How the government and churches tried to 鈥渃ivilize鈥� Native Americans, through all kinds of rules and laws.听

Mendoza:听Wil Meya is the CEO of The Language Conservancy. That鈥檚 a nonprofit that helps communities all over the world save their languages.听

Peng:听听of Native children attended these schools. They were given Western-style names, clothes, even haircuts. They were also forced to speak English, and banned from practicing their Native religions and customs.听

Mendoza:听It wasn鈥檛 just boarding schools, either. Native kids were punished, or even abused, in all kinds of spaces 鈥� including public schools.听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听Talking to elders at TCLL, Jess and I came face-to-face with that history.听

Mendoza:听That鈥檚 Grandma Florence again. She was only nine when she had that experience at a Catholic school in Juneau, where she was sent in the late 1940s.

Mendoza:听By the 1950s, most Native families had stopped speaking their languages to their children.听

Peng:听This is Grandma Geis. The other elder at TCLL. Her full name is Genevieve Guanzon.听

Mendoza:听In case you didn鈥檛 catch that, she said: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 tell them about the spanking until they were adults.鈥澨�

Peng:听That happened to her in high school, when she was caught speaking Ling铆t by the principal.

Mendoza:听Now, forced assimilation wasn鈥檛 the only reason Indigenous families stopped speaking to their kids in their Native languages.听

Mendoza:听Wil Meya again, talking about the middle of the 20th century.听

[LIGHT MUSIC]听

Peng:听For all those reasons, the result is that today, many Indigenous communities are rushing to document their languages 鈥撎齱hile creating teaching material in them and training teachers, all at the same time. And a lot of these efforts are underfunded.听

Mendoza:听This is a challenge around the world:听

Peng:听At TCLL, Jessica Chester knows that her personal choices can make a difference in whether or not Ling铆t survives.听

Mendoza:听Jessica has been carrying those fears and anxieties about her language and culture for a long time. Since high school at least. They鈥檙e a big part of what motivates her to basically devote her whole life to teaching Ling铆t.听

Peng:听That was in 1998. Jessica started learning and teaching Ling铆t in college, in 2001. And she never stopped.

Mendoza:听Jessica wasn鈥檛 alone.听, a lot of Native American communities started to realize that they needed to save their languages now 鈥� or risk losing them forever.

Peng:听This is Lance Twitchell. He teaches Ling铆t at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. Lance is one of the leaders in the effort to revitalize Ling铆t.

[LIGHT MUSIC]听

Peng:听Like Jessica, Lance is in his 40s. And he was in college when he first got fired up about Ling铆t.听

Mendoza:听Lance, Jessica, and other second-language Ling铆t speakers brought new energy to the work. They looked at new ways to revitalize languages. Reached out to elders, took classes, started teaching. At the same time, Native organizations began putting more resources into the work. TCLL is actually a result of that push. And today 鈥撎�

[MUSIC]

Peng:听And then, this new generation of language teachers 鈥� they started having kids of their own. And they decided to do something that older generations wouldn鈥檛, or couldn鈥檛, do for decades: parenting in Ling铆t.

Mendoza:听This has been huge for the movement. For a language to thrive, it can鈥檛 just be used in songs, rituals, or just to speak to your grandparents. It needs to be used in all types of spaces, and be able to express all kinds of experiences. And that鈥檚 where Lance鈥檚 story comes in.听

Peng:听So Lance and his wife are raising three kids, aged 6, 8, and 10. They鈥檙e all in TCLL, by the way. But at home, Lance speaks to them only in Ling铆t. He has done that since they were born, no matter where they are.

Mendoza:听It鈥檚 a commitment to the language that has really helped their community confront loss 鈥� and also heal 鈥� in new ways. We鈥檒l hear more about that from Lance and his family after the break.听

[MUSIC]

Clay Collins:听I鈥檓 Clay Collins, an editor at the Monitor. I hope you鈥檙e enjoying this episode of 鈥淪ay That Again?鈥澨鼶o you maintain a speak language in your household 鈥� at least in part as a way of preserving a culture or embracing a new one? What are some of the family challenges, and some of the joys? Drop us an email 鈥� a comment, an anecdote 鈥� at podcast@csmonitor.com. And if know someone you think could relate to the story that you鈥檙e hearing here today, then please send it their way. Thank you!

[MUSIC]

Mendoza:听Welcome back. You鈥檙e listening to 鈥淪ay That Again?鈥� A podcast about how we sound, how we listen, and why that matters. I鈥檓 Jess.听听

Peng:听And I鈥檓 Jing.听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听We met Lance Twitchell at his advanced Ling铆t class for adults at the University of Alaska Southeast. The class had about 20 students. And most of them were attending remotely. We sat in a mostly empty classroom with Lance behind a Plexiglass shield.听

Mendoza:听Lance started learning Ling铆t in college. His first teacher was his late grandfather, who at the time was the only Ling铆t speaker in their family.听

Peng:听After his grandfather passed away, Lance kept up the language work. In 2018, he earned a Ph.D. in language revitalization from the University of Hawaii.听

Mendoza:听But the idea of parenting in Ling铆t 鈥� that actually came from an advisor he had, in a creative writing program.听

Peng:听听And so after Lance and his wife got married and decided to have kids 鈥撎�

Mendoza:听And as the kids grew older 鈥撎�

Peng:听Quick note here: Lance鈥檚 wife, Miriah, isn鈥檛 Ling铆t. She mainly speaks to the kids in English, though she has learned to use Ling铆t more and more, just by being in that environment. This type of parenting is called the 鈥渙ne parent, one language鈥� model. And it鈥檚 a method for.

Mendoza:听But imagine raising a child in a language you鈥檙e still learning. And on top of that, the language hasn鈥檛 been used for parenting in decades.听

Peng:听So parenting turned out to be this tool for showing the things people need to learn to say. Like one time Lance was driving past a fish hatchery. His oldest daughter, Kiana, was about two or three at the time.听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听This is a huge issue with a lot of endangered languages. 听

Peng:听That鈥檚 Wil Meya again.

Peng:听At the same time, they have to confront the trauma that comes with the work. So when Lance and other parents can鈥檛 figure out a word or phrase in Ling铆t, they often turn to elders. And one time 鈥撎�听

[MUSIC]

Mendoza:听While the work hasn鈥檛 been easy, it has been rewarding. Lance says his Ling铆t has improved a lot. And his kids have started to make the language their own. Kiana, for example 鈥撎�

[LIGHT MUSIC]

Mendoza:听Jing, after I left Juneau you managed to squeeze in a visit to the Twitchells right before your flight.听

Peng:听It was close!

Mendoza:听So what was that like?

Peng:听So I got to their place in the afternoon.

[Audio of Lance, Kiana, and the youngest boy playing cards in Ling铆t.]听

Peng:听It was November, but their house was still decked out in all these cute Halloween decorations. The kids were a bit shy, and I mostly got to talk to Kiana. The 10-year-old.听

Mendoza:听And so you don鈥檛 speak Ling铆t, but you wanted them to speak the language so that you could get it on tape. How did you manage that?

Peng:听Well I tried to have Lance and Kiana discuss some of my questions between themselves, like, why did the U.S. try to make Native people give up their language? When Kiana didn鈥檛 know the answer to a question, she just translated what Lance said.

Peng:听But I noticed that Kiana mostly replied to Lance in English.听

Mendoza:听Maybe she just wanted to include you in the conversation?听

Peng:听Maybe. But her mom, Miriah, said that was actually a new thing for the kids.

Mendoza:听Lance and Miriah have tried all kinds of ways to encourage the kids to speak Ling铆t more: like, if you ask for something in Ling铆t, it鈥檚 much more likely to happen. Lance told us that their second child, Ava, has used that to avoid eating broccoli.听

Peng:听But one thing is helping. And that鈥檚 TCLL.听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听So Jess, when Miriah told me that, I was reminded of a book I read by the linguist John McWhorter.

Mendoza:听The linguist John McWhorter! How many books of his have you read, like 5?

Peng:听I wish! Nah, it was the second book. The book is called the The Power of Babel. And he wrote that kids are extremely sensitive to the social status of a language. Like is it the language they hear in viral videos or their favorite songs, or, you know, spoken by the cool kids? And when an indigenous language feels less 鈥渃ool鈥� than English, they鈥檒l speak English more. So that can be a tough competition.

Mendoza:听I mean, that makes sense. I think that鈥檚 why a lot of the folks we talked to said that it鈥檚 important to create spaces where knowing an Indigenous language actually gives the speaker a sense of pride and power.听

Peng:听Right.听

Mendoza:听Back at TCLL, Jessica Chester is trying to do the same thing.听

Mendoza:听Jessica would be the first to say that they鈥檝e got a lot of work ahead of them to get Ling铆t where they want it to be. But she鈥檚 also proud of how much the language has grown, even just since she鈥檚 started teaching. 听

Peng:听The best evidence of the change, though, is the kids themselves. We talked to a few of the fifth graders in Jessica鈥檚 class. And they were all so proud to be learning their language.听

Mendoza:听That鈥檚 Carter Ehlers. He鈥檚 10.听

[Audio of TCLL kids performing Ling铆t drum song Shee daa kaa]

Mendoza:听That鈥檚 Grandma Geis again. The Ling铆t elder.听听

[MUSIC]

Peng:听That鈥檚 it for today鈥檚 show. Thanks for listening!听

Mendoza:听We鈥檝e said this before: If you know someone who has a story about their voice, language, or accent, please share this episode with them! Just hit the share button on whatever platform you鈥檙e on, or send them the link to our site: csmonitor.com/saythatagain.听

Peng:听Thank you to the teachers at TCLL: Michelle Martin, Cora Bontrager, and the principal of Harborview Elementary, Kelly Harvey. We鈥檙e also grateful to Roy Mitchell from the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council; Rosita Worl from the Sealaska Heritage Institute. And Ling铆t teacher Mary Folletti. Gunalch茅esh! Thank you.

Mendoza:听We also have a video about what it鈥檚 like to teach an Indigenous language to toddlers. The kids are super cute and the adults very knowledgeable. You can check it out on our website.听听

Peng:听This episode was written, reported, and produced by me, Jingnan Peng.听

Mendoza:听And me, Jessica Mendoza. The script was edited by Clay Collins and Trudy Palmer. Sound design by Morgan Anderson and Noel Flatt. Our sensitivity reader is Arielle Gray.

Peng:听This podcast was brought to you by 海角大神. Copyright 2022.听

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