Miami University helps Miami Tribe reclaim language

By: Lisa Cornwell

Kelsey Young - like many other members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma - could not understand her tribe's language. The Myaamia Project, supported by the tribe and Miami University, is changing that - helping the tribe reclaim and keep its language and culture alive.

The Miami language is one of many that have been threatened with extinction. Linguists have said that of an estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world, nearly half are in danger of disappearing in this century and are falling out of use at the rate of about one every two weeks.

In April, an online version of the Miami dictionary debuted. Myaamia Project Director Daryl Baldwin said the online version will make the dictionary more accessible.

The Myaamia inhabited land that now makes up Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, including the Miami Valley region where the tribe's namesake university now stands, and parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.

The tribe now has only about 3,400 members scattered around the country and fewer resources than larger Native American groups to save their language.

Researchers still adding vocabulary to the Miami dictionary have gotten through about 35 to 40 percent of available documentation.

Baldwin has taught the language to his four children and says it's vital that Miami children have that exposure if the tribe's language and culture are to survive.

"Knowledge of the language gives a much deeper and richer sense of the culture and what it means to be Myaamia," Baldwin said. "My hope for my children is that they will value it, cherish it and pass it along."