Now, Wailaki joins other Native languages continuing to be spoken and revitalized in California. It鈥檚 a vision of the future 鈥� and a revival of the past 鈥� that鈥檚 at the heart of Native American Studies Professor Kayla Begay鈥檚 research.
Her work focuses on developing a working grammar of Wailaki. One of about 80 Native languages in California, Wailaki shares some similarities with Hupa, though it鈥檚 not as well documented. A polysynthetic language, one Wailaki word often contains what in English could need an entire sentence.
Begay is a Hoopa Valley Tribal member of Hupa, Karuk, and Yurok descent. She鈥檇 always been interested in language, but it wasn鈥檛 until her undergraduate studies at Stanford that she zeroed in on linguistics, earning a degree with honors as well as a minor in Native American Studies. Though she saw a connection between the disciplines, the programs weren鈥檛 connected. 鈥淚 kind of had to make my own path,鈥� she says.
She found a convergence of those disciplines at UC Berkeley鈥檚 Linguistics Program, where she earned a master鈥檚 degree and is currently finishing her dissertation for a doctorate, entitled 鈥淭opics in Wailaki Grammar.鈥� Berkeley is home to a program with a history of studying and archiving California indigenous languages 鈥� it鈥檚 there that Begay found the crossover between Native American Studies and linguistics that she鈥檚 brought to Humboldt State.
鈥淚 feel responsible, not just to my language but to all California Native languages as well, so people have resources to learn them and they continue to maintain them,鈥� Begay says.
Begay says she鈥檚 creating a tool for educators and community members to use. 鈥淎 lot of the work teaching and getting the language spoken is being done by those community members,鈥� she says. The working grammar gives those speakers a reference guide that they can interpret, adapt and build upon as they like.
Round Valley School District is home to a Wailaki language program, and Begay has worked collaboratively with the community. Recently, students were seeking to show support for the Dakota Access pipeline protestors with a Wailaki language video, but they were struggling with how to say 鈥淲ater is Life,鈥� a phrase that came to symbolize support of the movement. So Round Valley Elementary/Middle School Principal Cheryl Tuttle reached out to Begay to help with a translation.
鈥淭o-bang Kish-nang鈥�: 鈥淲ater, because I am alive,鈥� or, 鈥渂ecause of water I am alive.鈥漈o map out the language, Begay has been turning to old texts, like those of Pliny Earle Goddard, a language scholar who studied California Native Languages in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Begay, along with Round Valley High School educators Tuttle and Rolinda Wantt, and UC Davis Native American Studies Professor Justin Spence, was invited this summer to present at the American Philosophical Society on her work, and was presented with copies of some of Goddard鈥檚 original works on Wailaki.
Begay isn鈥檛 the first HSU scholar to study Wailaki. Anthropology Professor Victor Golla also studied Wailaki in his survey of Native languages of California, working primarily from the texts of Chinese linguistics scholar Li Fang-Kuei.
Begay has enlisted the help of two Native American Studies students, both of whom approached Begay after hearing about her research.
Jocelyn Edmonson is one of those students, and her fascination with old documents initially drew her in. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something that makes me really happy and giddy about primary sources. It鈥檚 reaching back through history.鈥�
She鈥檚 been archiving the Goddard texts, going through digital photos of the original documents and typing up the notes. The work is 鈥渕editative,鈥� she says, and while the focus of her studies is federal Indian policy, she finds linguistics interesting and sees a connection between Native languages and the law.
Speaking Native languages connects individuals with their cultures and communities. 鈥淪o much of culture is evident in the way we structure languages and concepts in our languages. It鈥檚 one of the many forms of continuance we have,鈥� Begay says. 鈥淚t usually leads into other avenues for the Native communities to strengthen themselves.鈥漎outh who grow up learning second languages are shown to have better rates of graduation and academic success.
Begay鈥檚 seen that firsthand, in work she鈥檚 done with the Head Start program in Hoopa and with the successful Round Valley schools鈥� Wailaki reintroduction program, which has seen success teaching high school kids the language. Students have created videos and presentations entirely in Wailaki.
Studying, restoring and preserving鈥攁nd simply using鈥擭ative languages has tangible social and cultural effects on the health and wellbeing of communities. 鈥淵ou need all of the tools in the toolbox and that鈥檚 one of them,鈥� Begay says.
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