Ho-Chunk tribe members try to revive language
Associated Press
BARABOO, Wis. - Georgia Lonetree missed speaking her native language so much that she used to drive around Arizona looking for objects she could name in Ho-Chunk.
The teacher at an American Indian boarding school returned to Wisconsin, and said hearing her tribe’s language was overwhelming.
“It sometimes brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat when I’d hear my elders pray,” she said.
Lonetree now teaches Ho-Chunk to high school students in Wisconsin Dells and Black River Falls. Only a handful of students participate, but she’s hopeful the program’s popularity will grow.
“The people of the big voice” have reached a crossroads with the deaths of three elder Ho-Chunk language teachers in the last year. The tribe is launching an effort to revitalize the dying language.
Original Article or
One of the recently deceased elders, William O’Brien of Mauston, had been working with German linguists to create a Ho-Chunk lexicon, an inventory of the tribe’s vocabulary.
Others will try to carry on his effort, but his colleagues say O’Brien’s death was a huge loss to the tribe. O’Brien moved away from Wisconsin, but returned years later, staying fluent in Ho-Chunk.
“That was a big boost to see that somebody spending many years away from here was still able to retain their language,” said Richard Mann of the Ho-Chunk Nation’s Language Division.
After touting language preservation as part of his platform, recently elected Ho-Chunk President Wilfrid Cleveland proclaimed 2008 the year of the Ho-Chunk language.
BARABOO, Wis. - Georgia Lonetree missed speaking her native language so much that she used to drive around Arizona looking for objects she could name in Ho-Chunk.
The teacher at an American Indian boarding school returned to Wisconsin, and said hearing her tribe’s language was overwhelming.
“It sometimes brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat when I’d hear my elders pray,” she said.
Lonetree now teaches Ho-Chunk to high school students in Wisconsin Dells and Black River Falls. Only a handful of students participate, but she’s hopeful the program’s popularity will grow.
“The people of the big voice” have reached a crossroads with the deaths of three elder Ho-Chunk language teachers in the last year. The tribe is launching an effort to revitalize the dying language.
Original Article or
One of the recently deceased elders, William O’Brien of Mauston, had been working with German linguists to create a Ho-Chunk lexicon, an inventory of the tribe’s vocabulary.
Others will try to carry on his effort, but his colleagues say O’Brien’s death was a huge loss to the tribe. O’Brien moved away from Wisconsin, but returned years later, staying fluent in Ho-Chunk.
“That was a big boost to see that somebody spending many years away from here was still able to retain their language,” said Richard Mann of the Ho-Chunk Nation’s Language Division.
After touting language preservation as part of his platform, recently elected Ho-Chunk President Wilfrid Cleveland proclaimed 2008 the year of the Ho-Chunk language.