SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010


KLMNO


EZ RE


Politics & The Nation


Apple’s gadgets help preserve a tribe’s endangered language Cherokees partner


with computer maker to develop software


BY MURRAY EVANS


tahlequah, okla. — Nine- year-old Lauren Hummingbird wants a cellphone for Christmas —and not just any old phone, but aniPhone.Sucharequestnormal- ly would be met with skepticism by her father, Cherokee Nation employee JamieHummingbird. He could dismiss the obvious


reasons a kid might want an iPhone, except for this — he’s a proud Cherokee and buying his daughter the phone just might help keep the tribe’s language alive. Nearly two centuries after a


blacksmithnamed Sequoyah con- verted Cherokee into its own uniquewrittenform, the tribehas worked with Apple to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod and, soon, the iPad.Computers used by students — including Lauren — at the tribe’s language immersion school already allowthemto type using Cherokee characters. The goal, Cherokee Chief Chad


Smith said, is to spread the use of the language among tech-savvy children in the digital age. Smith has been known to text students at the school using Cherokee, and teachers do the same, allowing students to continue using the language after school hours. Lauren isn’t the only Cherokee


childpleading for aniPhone, “and thatdoesn’thelpmy cause,” Jamie Hummingbird joked, knowing he’ll probably give in. Tribal officials first contacted


Apple about getting Cherokee on the iPhone three years ago. It seemed like a long shot, as the devices support only 50 of the thousands of languages world- wide, and none were American Indian tongues. But Apple’s repu- tation for innovation gave the tribe hope. After many discussions and a


visit from Smith, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company surprised the tribe by coming through this fall. “There are countries vying to


getonthesedevices for languages, so we are pretty excited we were included,” said Joseph Erb, who works in the Cherokee Nation’s language technology division. The Cherokee take particular


pride in their past, including the alphabet, or syllabary, Sequoyah developed in 1821. In 1828, the tribe obtained a printing press and began publishing the Chero- kee Phoenix, which the Cherokee saywas the nation’s first bilingual newspaper. Copies circulated as far away asEurope, tribal officials say. TheCherokee language thrived


back then, but like other tribal tongues, it has become far less prevalentover thedecades.Today, only about 8,000Cherokee speak- ers remain — a fraction of the tribe’s 290,000 members — and most of those are 50 or older, Smith said. Tribal leaders realized some-


thing must done to encourage younger generations to learn the language. “Whatmakes you a Cherokee if


you don’t have Cherokee thoughts?” asked Rita Bunch, su- perintendent of the tribe’s Se- quoyah Schools. Tribal officials thus decided to


develop the language immersion school, in which students would be taught multiple subjects in a Cherokee-only environment. TheOklahoma school began in


2001 and nowhas 105 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. They work on Apple laptops al- ready loaded with the Cherokee language—theMacintoshoperat- ing system has supported Chero- kee since 2003 — and featuring a unique keypad overlaywith Cher- okee’s 85 characters, each of which represent a different sylla- ble. But Erb and co-workers Jeff


Edwards and Roy Boney knew there had to be more ways to tap into the younger generation’s love of cellphones, iPods and the like. “If you don’t figure out away to


keep technology exciting and in- novative for the language, kids have a choice when they get on a cell phone,” Erb said. “If it doesn’t have Cherokee on


it, they all speak English,” he said. “They’ll just give up their Chero- kee . . . because the cool technolo- gy is in English. So we had to figure out a way tomake the cool technology in Cherokee.” Initially, the thought was to simply create an application so texting could be done in Cherokee. But that idea quickly grew. Apple officials and their tribal


counterparts spoke often during the give-and-take that followed. When prospects seemed bleak, Edwards said, tribal officials “used our immersion school stu- dents topullonheartstrings.”And


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Smith, the chief,made the trip to northern California to speakwith Apple’s decision-makers. Apple has a history of secrecy


when it comes to its product re- leases, so tribal leaders didn’t know for sure the company was going forward with the idea until just before the September release ofMac iOS 4.1. Erb said the Apple devices that


support Cherokee aremost popu- larwithstudents, but the technol- ogy is slowlygainingtractionwith


older tribal members, especially those who might not like using computers but routinely use cell- phones. Apple spokeswoman Trudy


Muller declined to answer ques- tions about the company’s work with the Cherokee, the costs in- volved or whether Apple plans to collaboratewith other tribes. Tribal officials say Cherokee is


so far the only American Indian language supported by Apple de- vices.


However, they’re not the only


indigenous people using technol- ogy to save their language.One of the languages supported in the Mac operating system is Hawai- ian. And in 2003, the Hawaiian Language Digital Library project went online, making available more than 100,000 pages of searchable newspaper archives, books and other material in the language native toHawaii. Back in Tahlequah, Lauren Hummingbird just knows she


wants aniPhone.Using thedevice to practice Cherokee at home would be easier “than getting this out of the bag,” she said, pointing to her laptop. “You can just text.” That enthusiasmfor using Chero- kee-themed technology is what willhelpkeepthetribe’s language, and thus its culture, alive in gen- erations to come, Smith said. He compared the use of Chero-


kee on Apple devices to Sequoy- ah’s creation of the syllabary and the tribe’s purchase of the print-


A5


ing press. He sees adaywhentribalmem-


bers routinelywill readbooks and performplays and operas in their native language. “You always hear the cliche


‘History repeats itself.’ This is one of those historic moments that people just don’t comprehend what ishappening,” the chief said. “What this does is give us some hope that the language will be revitalized.”


—Associated Press


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