PORT ANGELES — The 2017-18 Studium General series will open with “Welcome to Klallam and S’Klallam Territory” at 12:35 p.m. Thursday.
The lecture will be in the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
A reception will take place in the Peninsula College Longhouse immediately following the presentation.
Both are free and open to the public.
Leaders from the language programs of the Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes will offer a brief history of language revitalization’s role in life, culture, history and education, according to a news release.
‘Revitalization’
“In the 1980s, tribal leaders applied for federal grants so that they could access funding for language revitalization,” the release said.
“A collaboration between these leaders and a linguist/professor from the University of North Texas led to a many-decades commitment to language revitalization. The two worked closely with elders and with youth, not only to transcribe the language into written text but to emphasize the importance of the language to be a ‘living language.’ ”
Klallam language instruction is available from Early Head Start classrooms through college level. High school students can earn foreign language credits.
Resources include a dictionary with more than 9,000 entries and a grammar book with lessons. Students can access a website that features stories, audio files and grammar lessons.
Members of the three tribes who have been teaching the language and been involved in the language programs will offer a panel presentation.
For more information, contact Sadie Crowe at longhouse@pencol.edu or 360-417-7992.
