The worksession overlapped four days and 20 people. One of the organizers, Evon Peter, of the Gwich’in Social & Cultural Institute of Alaska (GSCIA) says participants documented speech samples and context of Gwich’in.
“Over this weekend, we will have recorded likely over 700 words and added them to our documentation in the Gwich'in database,” Peter said.
Peter says the Gwich’in Social & Cultural Instituteis dedicated to the revitalization of Dinjii Zhuh K’yàa, the Gwich’in language. They are partnered with the Beaver Village Council, who received an Administration for Native Americans language preservation grant that is funding the effort. Charleen Fisher, another organizer of the worksession, is helping manage the grant.
“The grant was written to do an online dictionary, a vocab builder app -- it's like a flashcard app -- and then six stories. We have two; the first is the alphabet coloring book. one is going to be released hopefully within the next couple of months, and we will be working on the other four before the project period is over,” Fisher said.
That first product, the alphabet book, had a flashy release here in Fairbanks last Friday. It shows 51 Gwich’in letters, and 72 words. A colorful bound edition can be purchased but it is more important to the creators to get the book distributed to people who want to learn the language, so they are giving it away in a free download.
Virgina Peter teaches Gwich’in to K through 12th graders in Fort Yukon. She is contributing to the database as a speaker, but really wants more language products to come out of the project.
“ I'm all alone in Fort Yukon School teaching this, so I'm very thankful that I'm here. I really love this book, this alphabet coloring book. I mean, kids will really like it,” she said.
Gwich’in is a severely endangered language spoken in northeastern Interior Alaska in the Yukon Flats region and northwestern Canada.
“There's a few that are speakers and a few that understand what we're saying. It is very important that we keep our language going, and doing this kind (of thing) will keep us going,” she said.
The Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute of Alaska was launched in 2019, and with the Beaver Village Council grant funding, they will be able to have in-person worksessions about every two months. Evon Peter speaks to bringing together young language learners with first language speakers as a part of the process,
“We are studying Dinjii Zhuh K’yàa, our language here, and we're also working on our language here together,” Peter said in Gwich'in.
Of course, language preservation work isn’t new, and has been underway in Alaska for decades.
86-year old Paul Williams Sr. came from Beaver village for the worksession. He remembers having his language and culture erased.
“ I was four years old. They told us, and you have to learn English and you can't speak your language anymore. You have to live like English and speak like English,” Williams said.
Williams says contributing to the database, the online dictionary, and any future storybooks that might come out of the project is spiritually uplifting.
“ I know we got long ways to go. Yes, but you know, this is a good start. That book, anybody can look at it. I see how they say Rabbit. ‘Geh.’ You know this is beautiful language we got. It's worth saving.”
