Language Revitalization
In 1998, the Seneca Faithkeepers School was founded as a five-day-a week school to teach children the Seneca language and tradition. In 2010, K-5 Seneca language teacher Anne Tahamont received recognition for her work with students at Silver Creek School and in language documentation, presenting "Documenting the Seneca Language' using a Recursive Bilingual Education Framework" at the International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC).
As of summer 2012,
The fewer than 50 native speakers of the Seneca Nation of Indians’ language would agree that it is in danger of becoming extinct. Fortunately, a $200,000 federal grant for the Seneca Language Revitalization Program has further solidified a partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology that will help develop a user-friendly computer catalogue allowing future generations to study and speak the language. The revitalization program grant, awarded to RIT’s Native American Future Stewards Program, is designed to enhance usability of the Seneca language.
The project will develop "a user-friendly, web-based dictionary or guide to the Seneca language." "Robbie Jimerson, a graduate student in RIT’s computer science program and resident of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation near Buffalo," who is working on the project, commented: "My grandfather has always said that a joke is funnier in Seneca than it is in English." As of January 2013, a Seneca language app was under development.
As of Fall 2012, Seneca language learners are partnering with fluent mentors, and a newsletter, Gae:wanöhge′! Seneca Language Newsletter, is available online.
Although Seneca-owned radio station WGWE (whose call sign derives from "gwe," a Seneca word roughly translating to "what's up?") broadcasts primarily in English, it features a daily "Seneca Word of the Day" feature prior to each noon newscast, broadcasts a limited amount of Seneca-language music, and makes occasional use of the Seneca language in its broadcasts in a general effort to increase awareness of the Seneca language by the general public.
Read more about this topic: Seneca Language
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