The Upper Nicola Nsyilxcn Talking Dictionary Project: Community-Driven Revitalization Lexicography within an Academic Context

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Upper Nicola dialect of Nsyilxcn (aka Okaangan Salish) currently has fewer than twelve first-language speakers ( twi -Sharon Lindley, p.c.). This paper describes the Upper Nicola Nsyilxcn Talking Dictionary Project, a community-driven, collaborative project that utilizes heritage language recordings and their associated transcriptions with the goal of developing an online dictionary resource for use by the Upper Nicola Syilx community. The content of the dictionary stems from recently digitized recordings (originally made by Dr. Yvonne Hébert between 1978 and 1980) of elder twi -Joseph Albert Michel reciting Nsyilxcn words and sentences along with their English translations. The collection now consists of 6,831 individual sound files, which our team is currently transcribing with the aid of published language materials. A significant number of lexical items are either unique to this dialect, or otherwise previously undocumented. Our team currently consists of a linguist and two Syilx Indigenous language learners from the Upper Nicola who are enrolled in University of British Columbia, Okanagan's Bachelor of Nsyilxcn Language Fluency Program. This project is important since there has never before been any published dictionary of the Upper Nicola dialect. This project also builds capacity within the community for language maintenance and provides a model for future collaborations between Indigenous communities and academic institutions.