Speaking of language, tribes honor native speech

NORMAN - Songs, stories and cultural presentations in at least six American Indian languages will highlight the ninth annual Celebration of Oklahoma Indian Language and Culture on Friday.

The master of ceremonies, speaking in both Euchee and English, will introduce native speakers of Pawnee, Comanche, Cheyenne, Chickasaw and Kiowa.

The celebration is sponsored by Intertribal Wordpath Society, a foundation working for the survival of American Indian languages in Oklahoma. It is not a conference to talk about native languages or a class to learn one, said Alice Anderton, Intertribal Wordpath director.

"It's a rare opportunity to simply sit back and hear a long stretch of Indian language used in a cultural way as was common a generation or two ago," Anderton said.

Twenty-four American Indian languages still are spoken in Oklahoma, but several have only one or two speakers left, Anderton said.

Thirteen languages once spoken by Oklahoma tribes no longer are spoken in the state, and two of those have died out since Wordpath started keeping count in 1997, Anderton said.

The celebration of surviving languages starts with gourd dancing at 5 p.m. The main program begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Norman.

A traditional candle-lighting ceremony will end the celebration.

Arts, crafts, snacks and language information will be available in an adjacent room.

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