This week in Airway Heights, the Kalispel Tribe has invited Native people from the northwest U.S. and western Canada to talk about their ancestral language. The annual Celebrating Salish Conference is a place where Indian people share their progress in reviving dialects that not long ago were thought to be dying. During the day, they speak their language in conference rooms and at night they sing it on stage.
Jessie Isadore is a Kalispel tribal member who didn’t begin speaking Salish, her native language, until she was 18. And now, listen to her. She speaks a few sentence of Salish, then translates.
Jessie Isadore: “I said that ‘We’re all gathered here at our Kalispel casino and we’re all happy and thankful to be here. There are just so many speakers and it’s just a blessing to be amongst all of our elders and children and all of our fellow people.'”
Isadore is the lead instructor for the Kalispel language program. Children and adults, all are learning the language that, until recently, was spoken only by the elders. Not long ago it was only used during formal ceremonies, but now it’s everywhere.
“It’s not just a job. You don’t just turn it off when you go home," Isadore said.
“So do you speak it at home?” reporter Doug Nadvornick asked.
“I do. I have two kids and I’m raising them in the language as well," Isadore said. "My son goes to our immersion school and my daughter, she’s 2 1/2 and she’s coming along.”
Isadore’s colleague in the tribal language program is J.R. Bluff.
“What we speak is the Kalispel dialect. There’s the Montana Bitterroot Salish dialect. There’s Okanogan. There’s Spokane dialect," Bluff said. "So there’s different ways, but the good thing about Salish is it’s pretty common, so an Okanogan who might be a little bit farther away from our dialect, we can still pretty much understand him because they’re pretty consistent on the differences so we can dissect it.”
For four days, Bluff, Isadore and their colleagues in the other tribes discussed the progress they’re making and the challenges still ahead.
“Really a lot of good-hearted people have the best intentions to bring language back, but a lot of them are struggling. A lot of them don’t feel like they’re heard. They feel they’re not supported,” Bluff said.
But lest they get discouraged, they need spend only a few minutes with 11-year-old Kale Nissen. He’s a Colville tribal member who lives in Spokane. When we met him in a small room in the Pend Oreille Pavilion at the Northern Quest Casino, he was dressed in bright red pants and a bright red Western style shirt with white trim that his mom made.
“She just bought some fringe and cut it and glued it on there,” Kale said.
He began learning Salish in school when he was five. He considers himself a fairly proficient speaker, but not fluent. And he gets the big picture of why he’s learning Salish.
“It was really important for me to learn my language because I had to, like, revive it. It was like, super, super close to going extinct,” he said.
And now he’s not only speaking it, but singing it. He displayed his skills Wednesday night in a Karaoke contest at the conference.
“Number three, Kale Nissen, Colville, singing ‘Seven Nation Army,’” said the emcee, Kalispel elder Francis Cullooyah to applause.
Kale dances as he sings his song in Salish and the audience moves along with him. As it turns out, he won the young person’s part of the contest.
In between acts, Cullooyah told the crowd that he looks forward to the day when the tradition of sharing his language with the next generation returns.
“From our grandmothers and our grandfathers, our cacas and our nunus, all those aunts and uncles that used to be running around in our homes, eating with us, speaking with us, telling us stories,” Cullooyah said.
If people like Jessie Isadore and J.R. Bluff continue their work for another generation, perhaps Mr. Cullooyah’s wish will come true.