Keeping our language alive through breath to breath immersion.
yUdjEha gO'wAdAnA k'ak'ûnEchE
Yuchi Language Project
yUdjEha gO'wAdAnA-A h@lA gOthla TAl@^ !
The Yuchi Language Project is a model program for language and cultural revitalization. This 501(c)3 non-profit is designed as a living language habitat to produce a new generation of Yuchi speakers. When we speak our own language, we embody our Indigenous culture and worldview like our ancestors.
Linguists identify Yuchi as a language isolate, unrelated to any other language. This means it is one of the world’s most ancient and richest languages, carrying eons of tradition, history and a unique perspective on the world.
To protect the health and safety of our students, teachers, and Elders during the COVID-19 pandemic, our primary activities were conducted on Zoom this year. Over the last year we have offered zoom classes for children, youth, and families and additional master-apprentice sessions for advanced learners and staff.
We offered approximately 450 classes, sessions, and talking circles throughout the school year and summer months.
We mailed monthly language packets to 30 families with extensive materials we use in our daily zoom
If you are interested in language classes, please reply to this email to learn more!
We also created many digital resources this year to support learners from home. For example, click imageto hear the yUsû (skunk) book read by one of our preschool students.
This year we released a video tribute to gOlaha bOshET@ beloved Elder Maxine, illustrated by sAwAthlanA, which features Maxine's own words in an autobiographical Yuchi story. Click image at left to see video.
Our 25th Anniversary Edition! Beautiful teaching calendar filled with historical photos, current events, memory phrases and seasonal explanations.
One of the program’s important touchstones is the creation of new fluent speakers for whom Yuchi is their FIRST language. Because we work with families and start immersion at preverbal ages -- Yuchi toddlers are speaking their first words in Yuchi! In fact, we recently welcomed four new babies into our program. Furthermore, parents are making the commitment to raise their children solely in the Yuchi language. To hear an example click on image below!
