Projects

Wi Soulatlouy ("we will speak Soulatluk") curriculum development project In 2022, the Wiyot Tribe was awarded a 3-year Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance Grant from the Administration for Native Americans. (July 2022-June 2025) We are developing two years of school-based Soulatluk (aka Wiyot language) curriculum content that will be piloted at Loleta School beginning in 2024.  We are also developing a 3-month, culturally-based rotating Soulatluk curriculum for the Wiyot tribal community which we hope to introduce virtually and in person in 2024.		Wiyot youth acting out phrases from the Soulatluk curriculum. (Click the photo for links to vocabulary posters & video lessons based on our curriculum content)
Draft language videosweather phrases (click image to view)	Harouklhamu'n ("what is watched") language video project In 2022, the Wiyot Tribe was awarded a 1-year (extended to 1.5 years) Living Languages Grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Indian Econonomic Development. (July 2022-December 2023) See the OIED press release here Read/listen to Quinn Nelson's Northern California Public Media story about the project here (includes excerpts from an interview with Wiyot tribal member & Da Gou Rou Louwi' Cultural Center Manager Marnie Atkins + linguist Lynnika Butler) Our project aims to make Soulatluk more accessible and fun to learn for the Wiyot tribal community by creating a series of short videos in and about the language. Videos are being/will be created and edited by Wiyot Tribe staff and the Wiyot community, with expert guidance and training by Wiyot filmmaker Michelle Hernandez-Wenzler and her team.
Qhili Soulatluk ("Wiyot people & language are here") place name mapping project In 2022, the Wiyot Tribe was awarded a 2-year Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Grant from the the Institute of Museum & Library Services (July 2022-June 2024) This project, which we are calling Qhili Soulatluk ("Wiyot language/people are here") will develop interactive and print maps of Wiyot territory: one for public use, containing no culturally sensitive details; and a comprehensive one for Tribal use only. We will thoroughly research the pronunciation, meaning, location, and other historical/cultural/ecological import of ALL documented Soulatluk place names in and around ancestral Wiyot territory. Click the video screen capture to watch the recorded project kickoff meeting, which was held as part of the Natural Resources Department's Sept. 6, 2022 Community Advisory Committee meeting; and/or click the PowerPoint image to download a PDF version of the presentation →		Qhili Soulatluk kickoff meeting video Qhili Soulatluk PDF presentation
	Rou Soulatlouy Conversation Book Project (funded by grant no. MN-00-19-0028-19 from the Institute of Museum & Library Services; Sept. 2019-August 2023) We are building short conversations in Soulatluk (aka the Wiyot language) based on the Wiyot tribal community's requests and suggestions! These will be published as a print & online book with accompanying audio, and will be provided free to all enrolled members of the Wiyot Tribe. (We will also make every attempt to make print copies available to non-enrolled members of the Tribe; the online version will be available to all.) ← Click the poster to view the project page for updates, draft conversations, and opportunities to participate!

Other Ongoing Activities (as of Sept. 2022)

• Virtual Soulatluk lessons led by Marnie Atkins (Da Gou Rou Louwi' Cultural Center Manager) & Lynnika Butler (linguist; videos & downloadable materials available here)
• Transcribing & posting native-speaker archival audio recordings held by UC Berkeley's California Language Archive (Weaver Denman, Della Prince, Nettie Rossig)
• Holding youth Soulatluk classes
• Collaborating with other Tribal departments to incorporate Soulatluk into departmental activities & programs. Examples include:
  • Reclamation of the Mouralherwaqh land parcel (August 2022)
  • Naming the Dishgamu Humboldt ("I love Humboldt") Community Land Trust
  • Establishing the Tsek Houdaqh ("where the children are") youth program
• Collaborating with outside groups & agencies to incorporate Soulatluk into local trail signage, venues, organization names, and projects such as:
  • The Gutswurrak ("many people gather") Student Activities Center at Cal Poly Humboldt
  • The Rou Dalagurr ("everyone works") Food Sovereignty Lab at Cal Poly Humboldt
  • The Hikshari' (mouth of the Elk River) trail in Eureka
  • This Soulatluk place name map created by then-HSU student Toby Valdes, in collaboration with the Wiyot Tribe (2015)
• Publishing language articles in the Wiyot tribal newsletter

Past Projects & Activities

This is only a partial list! Contact Lynnika Butler for more information and materials.

• Creating online language-learning resources
  • Soulatluk vocabulary & pronunciation primer (this began as a word-a-day calendar for the Tsek Houdaqh Wiyot youth program in 2019)
  • Wiyot plant & animal flash cards
• Creating print language-learning resources
  • Soulatluk wall calendars with words and phrases around themes (place names, traditional foods, family)
  • A 100-word Soulatluk mini-dictionary researched & created by tribal member Pilar James (2016)
  • A partial Soulatluk plant & animal glossary (2012)

Plans for the Near Future

• Multimedia dictionary creation

Long-Term Goals

• Creation of a digital database containing all known Wiyot words, phrases and texts from manuscript, print, and audio sources
• Publication of a comprehensive Wiyot-English / English-Wiyot dictionary
• Training of language teachers within the Wiyot Tribe