Our entire 7000 Languages Team is honored to support these language courses made by our incredibly talented fellows. The 7000 Languages Fellowship program provides community members with an opportunity to develop skills in language revitalization and course creation. Not only do we want to help support fellows in the creation of language courses for endangered languages, we hope to continue to uplift their work and see them flourish in the years to come. Please read recent updates from our fellows on their amazing work!
From Fellow Kelvin Ndegwa:
Our team, dedicated to the revival of Oo Gurapau, is actively restoring the traditional foods, folk medicine, and healing practices that once sustained our people. We are bringing back ancestral fishing techniques and ensuring that younger generations learn and practice these skills. We are reclaiming the knowledge of natural remedies and preserving and storing seeds of long-forgotten trees and crops, safeguarding the biodiversity that once flourished in our land. Through these efforts, we are not just reviving traditions - we are rebuilding our future.
We are committed to ensuring that every Gurapau child has the opportunity to learn and embrace our language. By working closely with local schools, we are integrating Oo Gurapau into early education, making it a living language once more. Beyond the community, we are advocating for its study and research in institutions of higher learning, ensuring it gains academic recognition and long-term preservation. Every step of our work is being meticulously archived, combining traditional knowledge with modern technology. We are utilizing audio-visual tools to document, store, and share our progress, creating digital resources that will be accessible for generations. We hope not only to just revitalize our language—but to secure its future in both community and academia.
As part of the revival of Oo Gurapau, our team is actively cataloguing the traditional clothing, adornments, and their cultural significance among the El Molo (Gurapau). Drawing inspiration from our sister tribe, the Arbore of Ethiopia, we are exploring the role of hair length in signifying marital status. Among the Arbore, young girls shave their heads and wear draped cloths as a symbol of their virginity, while married women grow their hair into shoulder-length braids. We suspect this tradition was once shared by our own people, and we are committed to uncovering and preserving these lost aspects of Gurapau identity.
Reviving Oo Gurapau is a journey that must involve our entire community—from the elders who hold our deepest memories to the youngest Gurapau who will carry our culture forward. To ensure everyone’s voice is heard, we are holding town hall meetings, albeit under trees, where we gather to discuss and shape our revitalization efforts. Through consultations with all community members, we are not only rebuilding our language but also restoring our treasure trove of fables, folktales, myths, and legends. Though we are not yet able to tell these stories in Oo Gurapau, we look forward to the day we will. Together, through shared knowledge and collective action, we are bringing Oo Gurapau back to life.
From Fellow Tanner Barney:
Ayukîi koovura (Hello everyone),
This International Mother Language Day has been a good opportunity to re-visit some of my positive experiences with 7000 Languages and remind me of why we do language work. Since my work with 7000L, I've been working for the National NAGPRA Program. A totally different world compared to that of Indigenous grassroots organizations. While I do my job to the best of my ability, maintaining high NAGPRA standards in the repatriation of our ancestors and items, I've been able to witness a slice of history that all of our communities know about, but many people may not interact with. Each day is a reminder of where we, as communities, have been, how far we've come, how far we're going to go, and the work it's taken to get here and eventually go beyond.
While the end of my term with 7000 Languages entailed some hardships, resulting in letting my work rest for a while, this International Mother Language Day has brought the idea of re-awakening that work to fine tune it. That experience along with my current work are reminders that nothing worth having comes easy. Why? Because of the immense satisfaction of success we feel after a sometimes strenuous and time consuming process.
For now, I plan to stay with the National NAGPRA Program and continue to make a positive impact for Native communities on that level, and I think I'd eventually like to make a return to education. Both of these, with the continuation of the work with 7000L, whenever possible.
Happy International Mother Language Day!
Yéeshiip (Best),
Tanner Barney"
From Fellow Andy Amaya:
The Lenca languages were once widely spoken in areas now known as El Salvador and Honduras. Over centuries the use of the languages drastically decreased and thus now have no none fluent speakers since the 20th century. The languages, however, are asleep and continue to exist in the fragments that are used in every day speak in some communities, but also in some documentation of the languages. Through these fragments, people have created many learning materials to revitalize the languages and are hopeful that the language will continue to breathe in existence.
Currently, efforts to revitalize the language include the creation of media, including songs and poetry. Additionally, linguistic analysis is being conducted. They also include educational videos that explore the language and its history and grammar. Through 7000 Languages, an online course also has been created. These resources not only serve as tools for learning but also as a means of reconnecting with the ancestral knowledge and identity of the Lenca people.
A major challenge in this work is the lack of comprehensive documentation and the misconception that the language is lost beyond recovery. It is true that there is a grand lack of documentation, however much work can be done with what we already have. Dedicated individuals continue to work to change this narrative, proving that the Lenca language still holds meaning, memory, and the potential for resurgence. Another major challenge is that language revitalization is often not given the time it deserves as Lencas in both El Salvador and Honduras face food insecurity, land right battles, and encroaching corporations that aim to extract natural resources.
Lenca language revitalization is truly that of generations. As the future generations will one day enjoy the fruits of all the efforts created today. The seeds we sow: digital media and community engagement, initiatives aim to reawaken interest in Lenca, fostering a renewed sense of pride and belonging. If you're interested in contributing to the preservation and revitalization of the Lenca language, whether through research, art, or education, it is imperative to continue to support by studying the language and all available materials. Additionally, supporting Lenca led organizations such as COPINH, COPULENKA, and even CCNIS is important. If you are interested in learning more about current and upcoming Lenca projects, please contact lencaputum@gmail.com.
From Fellow Tyler Lee-Wynant:
As an Indigenous linguist with no formal background in pedagogy, my goal from the outset for the course was in fact to avoid as much linguistics jargon as possible. This was out of fear of falling into the trap of my discipline and presuming more background knowledge of the learner than I should. Since my primary goal is to create a course that is accessible to the widest possible audience, I presumed no such background knowledge. This led to the adoption of terminology already in use in our community. One of our language teachers uses the term 'windy' for what linguists call 'aspiration'. In the first unit on sounds, I used this community term when introducing all aspirated consonants in our language. In the same spirit, I refer to ejectives as 'popping' sounds.
For language focused lessons, I avoided grammar (morphology/syntax) heavy lessons and adopted a "language in context" approach to teaching phrases and vocabulary. When the time came to showcase the course to community members (a teacher and four years of high school students), I was surprised to hear that some folks would like to see grammar focused lessons. I had heard early on in the process that including assessment activities could discourage learners; surprisingly, quite a few students would like to have assessments as part of the lessons.
While I had it in mind to make this course for ideally all members, realistically I had our adult community members in mind. This is because they often do not have access to classes or programs in the way that our younger community members do. However, one student pointed out that I could include picture-audio based activities for our youngest community members. This could be mutually beneficial for parents and their kids, as they would go through the activity together. This feedback is essential in pursuit of creating a balanced resource that represents the interests of ideally all community members in our individual and collective language learning journey.
From fellow Karyna Keliohlo:
Participating in the 7000 Languages program has been an incredibly transformative experience, allowing me to apply my linguistic knowledge and cultural expertise to create a meaningful impact. My primary goal was to develop a comprehensive and engaging Gagauz language course that would be accessible to a broad audience, particularly those who had previously lost connection with their heritage. Now, six months after the course's launch, I can confidently say that it has made significant progress in both educational and cultural spheres.
One of the most impactful achievements of this course is its successful integration into Ukrainian primary schools. Today, pupils are actively using it during their school lessons, benefiting from its interactive nature and the variety of games included in the curriculum. By incorporating engaging exercises and digital resources, the course has made language learning more accessible and enjoyable for young learners, fostering their connection to their Gagauz heritage from an early age.
Moreover, the course has attracted substantial interest beyond the primary school setting. Thanks to a well-executed promotional campaign on personal social media platforms and the official pages of the Ukrainian Gagauz Union, over 100 native Gagauz people who had no prior knowledge of their language have begun studying it. This response underscores the widespread need for accessible and engaging language-learning resources tailored to heritage speakers. The course has given them the opportunity to reconnect with their linguistic roots, something that was previously unavailable to them.
The influence of this project extends even further, inspiring individuals in my personal environment. Several young people, aged 16-17, have decided to pursue studies in cultural heritage and Turkic studies at universities as a direct result of their engagement with the course. This demonstrates that the impact of language revitalization is not only about learning vocabulary and grammar—it is about fostering a deeper cultural awareness and sparking intellectual curiosity that can shape future academic and professional paths.
Reflecting on the past six months, I am proud of the progress achieved through this initiative. The Gagauz language course has proven to be a powerful tool in both formal education and informal learning contexts, encouraging people of all ages to reconnect with their heritage. This experience has reaffirmed my belief in the importance of language preservation and revitalization, and I look forward to further expanding this project to reach even more learners in the future.
From fellow Lisa Casarez:
I think that my goals align with a lot of Community Language Workers, in that we want to see our heritage language(s) reintegrated into our everyday lives. We are aware of how inherent our languages are to our identity, and it is a huge piece of us that has been thoroughly separated through colonial policing and assimilation. We need more incentives and opportunities to learn and use our language. Language was spoken and understood by everyone in our community. Community language work is collaborative and inter-generational. I truly believe reclaiming our languages assists in asserting our sovereignty as MHA people, as Indigenous people.
I would love to see more individuals in our community become invested learners and achieve advanced proficiency and learn to reincorporate our languages into their everyday life, addressing relatives, prayer and speeches at cultural events, teaching their children, etc. I would love to see more support from institutions and programs and be able to support our learners, as self-study of language is only one aspect of learning. More language learning resources are definitely needed.
Some of my goals and aspirations include gaining a more thorough understanding of my language through linguistics, and applying it to creating language learning materials. I would also enjoy lending any guidance or insight into any language initiatives that would require linguistic knowledge or input about my experiences as a language re-learner. I wholeheartedly encourage our young people who wish to learn and let them know that I’m here to support them.
We at 7000 Languages are so honored to support these and other fellows. Investing in this work means investing in the next generation of language champions, like these amazing fellows. Please learn more about the fellows’ courses through the following links:
You too can invest in this work through a tax-deductible donation to support linguistic diversity and language revitalization around the world.
From our growing community: Happy International Mother Language Day!
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