Page 7 - 2001 DT 4 issues

Native American other. Certainly, it was not just to make at Salish-Kootenai College in western
Communication by Chuck Kleber Europeans understand that they wanted Montana, about 1,000 students study
to trade, would return or sought friend- both current topics and traditional ways,
hen tonto grunted “Uh!” to the ship. Tomkins noted that when an Indian including their tribal languages. This is

Lone Ranger and announced, wanted to express “think,” he put his right just one case in a concerted effort to both

W “Sheriff....him dead,” he was hand over his left breast and then drew discover and preserve the old ways.
reflecting the common Indian practice of it out...as if pulling something from his For Native Americans, the past
using nouns and pronouns far more than heart. Index fingers at a 60 degree angle becomes increasingly alive in a world of
verbs. Tribes also tended to put ideas meant “teepee,” and a dead bear was il- the present.
and concepts into one or two words. lustrated by a paw with its claws at the
The complexities of western languages, top and a dark circle in the center.
with their past participles and the like, Individual names always had mean-
simply did not exist. And when the Crow ing. Kevin Costner was given a Lakota
or Blackfoot learned an English word, it Sioux name in Dances With Wolves. A
was usually in isolation. name might describe a trait, appearance
It would be easy to infer that the or an accomplishment. A Cheyenne youth
many tribal tongues were without gram- did not get his ultimate name until he had
matical construction. That is not the case, been in battle. The Mexicans called him
but the logic of Indian communication “Geronimo,” but his Apache name was
can be very difficult for the outsider to “One Who Yawns.” Meanings also get
understand. One reason is that words lost in translation. “Crazy Horse” was
were often combined with sign language really “His Horse is Crazy.”
and its smoothly sweeping gestures. In Preserving their tribal culture and
his book, Indian Sign Language, William language, in all the different forms, has
been a hard road to travel for the Native
Tomkins refers to poetic expressions to Americans. With English being the lan-
express things and feelings, sentiment guage of a dominant culture, it became
that “....has a beauty and imagery pos- the common language in intertribal
sessed by few, if any, other languages.” marriage. Regrettably, a 1980’s survey
Sign language became a necessity couldn’t find one Kootenai or Salish child
as tribes, nearly all speaking a different fluent in his tribal language. However,
tongue, came into contact with each

(Gift, continued from front page) Coachella Valley ring-toed lizard. The month, copies of the Desert Trumpet
visitor center is staffed entirely by vol- are available to visitors in the Red
additional $7 million. unteer docents. Rock Country Club sales office. Our
The Oasis was purchased by The organization is invited to participate
Nature Conservancy in 1984 and has Bone was also instrumental in ob-
since been incorporated into the now taining a no-development designation to with a membership booth in the Siena

20,000 acre Coachel- l a protect the nearby Santa Rosa Mountains. Community Fair twice yearly, along
Valley Preserve The Santa Rosa Wilderness, comprised with the Sierra Club and other com-
of over 64,000 acres, is administered munity and environmental groups,
managed by Whatever your take on growth
the Center for by the BLM.
Natural Lands A graduate of Stanford University and development, William Bone
Management. and Harvard Business School, William stands out as a man who has “put his
The Preserve Bone believes that development must money where his philosophy is.” His
be supported by a well planned and gift to the Canyon will mean a great
e n c o m p a s s e s implemented infrastructure that allows deal to all of us who bear the imprint
the last undis-
turbed watershed in communities to grow in ways that respect of this special place.
the Coachella Valley, a s and integrate with their environment.
well as sources of Part of the philosophy engenders
water-borne sand, stewardship of a community’s natural re-
which creates the dune sources. Red Rock Canyon is an integral
habitat of the threatened part of the Las Vegas community. Each

FORRC/March, 2001 Page 7