Culture Exchange Highlight

Wampanoag Tribe works to revive native language
For 150 years, the Wampanoag language has been the only American Indian language without any living speakers. But one woman has changed this by starting the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. 

Jessie "little doe" Baird began the project in 1993 as part of a Masters Degree in Algonquian Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The project is designed to restore the Wôpanâak language as a primary language of the Wampanoag Nation, which is made up of the Assonet Band of Wampanoag, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and the Herring Pond Barnd of Wampanoag. Jessie has taught her six-year-old daughter the language, and the young girl is the first speaker of the language since the mid-1800s.

Because of this project, a dictionary with more than 11,000 words has been developed. Tribal members of all ages can also go to a language immersion camp.

Makepeace Productions recently released a film that documents the tribe’s dedication to language revival titled We Still Live Here. The documentary follows Jessie on her journey to restore her tribal culture.

Learn more about the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project by visiting www.WLRP.org.

Go to http://makepeaceproductions.com/wampfilm.html to watch the trailer for We Still Live Here.