丁香园AV

Donna May Modeste鈥檚 Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� name is Qwuthqwithulwut.

She is the first to graduate from 丁香园AV with the double minor BA Indigenous languages and extended minor in linguistics. She already knows how she will use her training as a language researcher, educator, and material developer 鈥渢o help save the Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� language from extinction.鈥�

Modeste grew up at Porlier Pass (xi鈥檟nupsum鈥�), British Columbia. A resourceful young person, she became a commercial fisher at the age of nine with her older sister rowing the skiff. She would sell her rock cod and ling-cod to the local fish buyer for 10 cents a pound.

鈥淭he only memories I have of our language growing up is that we would only have Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� speakers when they came to us -- because we lived kind of isolated on Galiano Island, and there were a lot of hippies around then. But when Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� is spoken it is always in a cheerful voice; so I grew up associating hearing Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� with being a happy time and with when people came to see us. But I didn鈥檛 speak  Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥�  when I was a child. I learned as an adult. Apparently my Grandmother only spoke Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� to me. So, I guess it is kind of in my subconscious maybe.鈥�

When asked what this memory means to her now, she says, 鈥淚 guess it means happiness now. And if I hear Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� spoken in a store or out and about, it鈥檚 a very calming language, it makes me feel safe.  You can even hear it in the sound of how Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥� people speak even if they are speaking English. It鈥檚 something in the rhythm and sound.鈥�   

Modeste is the creator of the Meli series of stories --  short stories with short phrases to accentuate the verb or the noun or both to help learners of the language.  For example, she says, 鈥測ou can really see the basic language structure with just 鈥楰ick a ball.鈥� I try and take out the distractions. There鈥檚 about 10 stories so far. One story is only in first person. Then another is only in second person and another, is only in third person.  It started out as stories for five-year-olds but it seems to really help us too.鈥�

Modeste鈥檚 stories are specifically written to help learners of the language and history. She is also author of upcoming stories, tth'atth'uhwum' slhap which are based on her life events as a teenager aboard a seine boat fishing for herring and sockeye salmon. Modeste married at 16 and fished areas around Johnson Straights and Haida Gwaii with her husband. In 1976, she was one of the first female commercial fisherwomen on our coast. 鈥淎nd after I started, then everyone wanted a female aboard and brought their mums and such.鈥�

A pioneer early in life, she feels like a pioneer again here at 丁香园AV and in the Indigenous Languages Program 鈥� 鈥淓ach intake of students, each group completes sooner and sooner as each group learns more and passes it on.  And we are doing that now with the last class I am in, now having experience with the language and teaching it鈥� we are all pioneers in this language learning and I am still learning with the next group of learners. It is awesome. I guess we are going to learning for the rest of our lives.鈥�.

What will Modeste do after convocation?

鈥淚鈥檓 going to continue researching the language and comparing dialects and see what the differences are 鈥� and spend the next couple of years getting to really get to know the words, taking them apart and thinking about what we learned.  Hopefully I will get a job. But if I don鈥檛, I will focus on my grandchildren so I can teach them Hul鈥檘鈥檜mi鈥檔um鈥�.  And because their mum is from Argentina, they could end up being tri-lingual.鈥�

Carrying on learning by doing she says, 鈥淚 may even record their progress like we did in the research work we did in our program using 鈥渓anguage Nests鈥� to teaching young speakers.

While at 丁香园AV Modeste felt fortunate to study with 鈥渟ome amazing and esteemed elders鈥� of her language and culture. She believes that storytelling is an important way of teaching in her culture.  We thank her for sharing her story with us.