Language students take honors at fair

NORMAN, Okla. – More than 600 students converged upon the Sam Noble Museum in Norman on April 4 and 5 for the ninth annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair. The competition drew participants in grades Pre-K through 12 from more than 70 schools and language programs across Oklahoma as well as from Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico. Students competed in spoken language, language with song, poster art, book, multimedia or language advocacy essay categories. During the course of the two-day event, 32 Native American languages were spoken. A full list of winners of the 2011 Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair is below.


The annual language fair is organized by the Sam Noble Museum’s Native American Language Department.  The project was started nine years ago as a way to provide support and encouragement to the many tribes struggling to preserve their Native languages.  Most young Native Americans are not brought up speaking the languages at home, and as tribal elders age, there are fewer and fewer fluent speakers left to teach them.  Many tribes have only a handful of speakers remaining, and some tribes have lost all those elders for whom their Native language was their first tongue.  In recent years, there has been an increase in interest in preserving the languages, and schools and tribal programs across the country are striving to get young people in the community involved in learning and speaking their tribal language.


Mary Linn, curator of Native American Languages at the museum, said:  “An event like this provides a goal for the students to work toward through the year as they learn their languages. It also encourages students and teachers alike when they come together and get a chance to interact with so many others who are learning their Native languages.  They can see how important it is to Native people all across the country and how many people are working together to help prevent languages from being lost.”


Each student who participates in the Fair receives a T-shirt and a medal of participation, and the first, second and third place winners in each category receive a trophy that can be displayed at their school or tribal center.  Each category is judged by a panel of Native American elders, teachers, authors and artists from many different tribes.


The Presenting Sponsors for the 2011 Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair were the Boeing Company, the Sam Noble Museum and The Cyril Fund. The Muskogee (Creek) Nation was a Contributing Sponsor. Additional support was provided by the University of Oklahoma Department of Anthropology, OU American Indian Student Life, the OU Native American Studies Program, the OU Department of History, and University Silkscreen.


A full list of winners of the 2011 Fair is available online at www.snomnh.ou.edu.  Application materials and information for the Tenth Annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair in 2012 will be available for the museum’s Native American Languages department in January. The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is located on the OU Norman campus. Additional information about the museum is available by calling (405) 325-4712 or on the Web at www.samnoblemuseum.org