Dedicated to preserving the Indigenous cultures of the Great Basin.
We are a community-based language restoration program, aiming to preserve our cultures and languages and provide a learning space for all.
How did this project start?
At the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic, the creator of this project, Abby Bennett, was taking classes in order to learn their traditional language, Wasiw. The pandemic shut those classes down in order for the safety of the elders and students involved in the nightly classes. Over the course of the year, several elders were lost from Abby’s tribe and it frustrated her to think of the language and cultural knowledge that was being lost along with them.
In 2021, she wrote a grant and proposed it to the Center of Native American Youth (CNAY), which gave the project the push it needed to finally be realized.
Project Goals
Compile Available Resources
This project aims to make resources for learning indigenous languages of the Great Basin easier for all learners. Whether you are trying to reconnect with your culture, wanting to make your language more accessible for the next generation, or are simply interested in learning about the ancestral people of the land you live on, this resource is here for you.
Make Learning Easier
Our languages are harder to learn than others, largely due to the inaccessible materials. In order to help strengthen our dying languages, we have built resources to make it easier to learn the Great Basin Indigenous languages. Resources are not complete and are updated when new information is provided. If we are missing information about your tribe, please email us.
Collaborate
The Great Basin Language Project strongly values tribal collaboration and believes the best way to help our community is by helping each other. Please reach out if you are a tribal member and believe you might have important information for our project or if we are missing something that should be included. We strive to be as accurate and as fair as possible.
Email: greatbasinlanguageproject@gmail.com
“Losing the language means losing the culture. We need to know who we are because it makes a difference in who our children are.”
— Dottie LeBeau, Indigenous Elder.