Saving Languages

As native languages disappear throughout the West, most Indian tribes are making some effort to keep their tongues alive, from writing dictionaries to teaching adult education classes to creating courses on the Internet or on CD-ROM. Here are a few of the more intensive programs in operation:

* One of the oldest language immersion programs is Hawaii’s Punano Leo, which began with family-based preschools in 1983 and in the public schools in 1987. There are now at least 10 preschools and 14 schools with immersion classes in Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo has an immersion teacher-training program to staff new schools.

* The Blackfeet tribe in Browning, Mont., adopted the Hawaiian model in 1995 and now has three schools with 50 children. Director Darryl Kipp said only about 10% of the 17,000 Blackfeet still speak their native language. “We simply came to the conclusion that if we did not begin to teach our language, our language would disappear,” Kipp said.

* The Washoe tribe in Gardnerville, Nev., has an immersion school in its fourth year, with about 20 students ranging from preschool to eighth grade. At last count, there were only about 60 native speakers among 1,800 tribal members, said teacher Steve Dressler.

* The Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe in Nixon, Nev., offers a semester-long language class to high school students on the reservation. Coordinator Jeannette Allen said about 40 students have taken the course since it started two years ago. A 1996 survey of about 660 Pyramid Lake Paiutes--about a third of the tribe’s members--found only 61 fluent speakers, seven of whom have died since then.