Sharing Dene language and culture
Community members learn to speak the tongue of the land
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Saturday, May 9, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Edaanet'e - meaning "how are you?" - is Susan Saunders' new favourite phrase.
Susan Saunders -- a recent graduate of University of Victoria where she was studying indigenous language revitalization - said she enjoyed Wiilideh language classes taught in Dettah by Goyatiko Language Society interpreter Mary Rose Sundberg, a six-week introduction to local language and culture offered by Aurora College.
- Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo
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Saunders, who recently completed a masters degree in indigenous language revitalization at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said she uses the Wiilideh greeting anytime she sees people she met while attending a six-week Dene language class in Dettah, offered through Aurora College late last year.
"I think you get an appreciation of the land you're living on and the people who have lived here for a very long time," she said, remembering the course taught by Goyatiko Language Society interpreter Mary-Rose Sundberg. "I think that's an important part of living in the Northwest Territories. To learn the languages that were spoken here before us."
Sundberg, who was recruited to teach the course by Aurora College developmental studies instructor Hugh Moloney, said she is glad to teach people about the cultures that were here first.
"We've done all kinds of culture camps at schools over the years, and I'm really surprised to learn that some children don't realize that we exist out here, in the community of Dettah," she said. "They don't know anything about our people. Anybody that moves into the Yellowknives Dene area, I think they should be taught."
Moloney said the program has been run twice, once during the January and February of 2014 and then again in November of that year. He said he hopes the courses will continue to be offered at least twice a year and to find more teachers.
"Local languages should be offered in the area," he said. "To foster greater respect between cultures, it's important to understand a bit of their language. You can begin to understand the things that they value and believe in."
Moloney said he got the idea when visiting New Zealand, and learned about that country's indigenous Maori people.
"My wife went to Maori language courses, and they were structured the same way," he said. "It was about six weeks, and was based on the language and the culture, and the idea was to get people engaged so it can further pique their interest to include that culture in their lives. When I came back I couldn't see any Weledeh language classes in Yellowknife, so I wanted to get that going."
Sundberg said the students get a lesson on Dene history which helps them to understand the language that is strongly influenced by local geography.
Somba'ke, which means "on the money," Ti Deh, the name for Great Slave Lake which means "big lake," and the meaning of the name Dettah, are on the list of learned terms, she said.
"Dettah means 'burned point'," said Sundberg. "In the 1800s this whole point burned so they called it burned point."
Even the name Weledeh, the name of the Yellowknife River for which the language is named, comes from an understanding of the land, said Sundberg.
"Wiili means coney fish (inconnu)," she said. "In that time there used to be ton and tons of coney fish in that river. And then over time it disappeared, but I've heard they're starting to slowly come back again."
She said teaching people about Dene history is her favourite part of the lessons.
"I like teaching it to adults," she said. "And I think all of the schools in Yellowknife should be taught the Yellowknives Dene history."
Saunders said the courses were a great way to meet like-minded people.
"It was a neat way to meet other Yellowknifers who are interested in languages," she said. "I'd done a lot of paddling up North ... and I saw lots of land and tasted lots of water. I became interested in being able to describe the different things I saw, since in English there's only one word for water, one word for ice. But when you're on the land in the territory you see a lot of different types of ice or water and I think the people who lived here obviously had lots of different words for this."
