She's the last surviving fluent speaker of her Indigenous language, but Elizabeth Phillips says she's more confident now than ever that her mother tongue will survive.
The 79-year-old Sto:lo Nation elder is scheduled to receive an honorary degree Wednesday for her efforts to preserve the Halq'emeylem language of the Indigenous people who live in British Columbia's Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon areas.
"I do believe it is quite an honour," said Phillips, who joked she was nervous about the ceremony and wanted to ask the University of the Fraser Valley if she "may back out now."
Phillips, whose Sto:lo name is Siyamiyateliyout, will be presented with an honorary doctor of letters degree at the university's convocation ceremony.
She said she has lived and breathed the language all her life to the point where she held imaginary conversations with her parents in Halq'emeylem, pronounced hal-kah-me-lem, while at the Catholic-run St. Mary's residential school in Mission from 1947 to 1954.
“I only knew Halq’eméylem at first, but I would listen at the door as the Indian Agent came to talk to my dad, and he would translate for my mother, and I got to know both languages. One day, a xwelítem spoke to me in English and I answered, and my parents were surprised that I knew English.”
As a child, many in her community spoke Halq’eméylem, but after residential school experiences, the children came home not knowing their language and eventually only the elders could speak it.
In spite of many obstacles, Elizabeth’s dedication has enabled her to share her knowledge of Halq’eméylem widely. She has devote over half her life to trying to save her ancestral language, and generously helps anyone who wants to learn it.
She worked at the Coqualeetza Education Centre on efforts to preserve the language, starting in the 1980s. These days, she regularly visits Halq’eméylem classes offered by UFV.
In the 1970s and 80s, she cooperated with professional linguist Brent Galloway and other fluent speakers to create the Halq’eméylem dictionary, helping to preserve a language that was fading fast.
“Halq’eméylem was an oral language until the Coqualeetza elders group created a writing system with Dr. Galloway,” recalls Elizabeth’s daughter Vivian Walker. “My mother and 11 other elders went and lived in a dorm at UBC where they learned to use the writing system and completed the orthography of the language. Without their effort the language might be dead now. And now my mom is the last one alive who was involved in this project.”
In recent years, linguist Strang Burton recorded her speaking her native tongue both on film and as an ultrasound recording, enabling students to see how the muscles move inside the mouth for certain sounds.
Elizabeth and the late Xwiyólemot Tillie Gutierrez and linguist Susan Russell co-authored Talking in Halq’eméylem, Documenting Conversation in an Indigenous Language, published in 2017.
For Elizabeth, it’s the casual encounters with her former students that make her efforts worthwhile. She has proudly witnessed some going on to earn their education degrees and become teachers. Others stop her on the street to thank her.
“I was waiting for the bus after shopping and a young man came up to me and said éy swayel [hello]. He was from a class that I have visited taught by Koyalemot Mary Stewart. It happens at bingo too. Someone came up and asked if I was Elizabeth and thanked me for preserving our language.”
The 79-year-old Sto:lo Nation elder is scheduled to receive an honorary degree Wednesday for her efforts to preserve the Halq'emeylem language of the Indigenous people who live in British Columbia's Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon areas.
"I do believe it is quite an honour," said Phillips, who joked she was nervous about the ceremony and wanted to ask the University of the Fraser Valley if she "may back out now."
Phillips, whose Sto:lo name is Siyamiyateliyout, will be presented with an honorary doctor of letters degree at the university's convocation ceremony.
She said she has lived and breathed the language all her life to the point where she held imaginary conversations with her parents in Halq'emeylem, pronounced hal-kah-me-lem, while at the Catholic-run St. Mary's residential school in Mission from 1947 to 1954.
“I only knew Halq’eméylem at first, but I would listen at the door as the Indian Agent came to talk to my dad, and he would translate for my mother, and I got to know both languages. One day, a xwelítem spoke to me in English and I answered, and my parents were surprised that I knew English.”
As a child, many in her community spoke Halq’eméylem, but after residential school experiences, the children came home not knowing their language and eventually only the elders could speak it.
In spite of many obstacles, Elizabeth’s dedication has enabled her to share her knowledge of Halq’eméylem widely. She has devote over half her life to trying to save her ancestral language, and generously helps anyone who wants to learn it.
She worked at the Coqualeetza Education Centre on efforts to preserve the language, starting in the 1980s. These days, she regularly visits Halq’eméylem classes offered by UFV.
In the 1970s and 80s, she cooperated with professional linguist Brent Galloway and other fluent speakers to create the Halq’eméylem dictionary, helping to preserve a language that was fading fast.
“Halq’eméylem was an oral language until the Coqualeetza elders group created a writing system with Dr. Galloway,” recalls Elizabeth’s daughter Vivian Walker. “My mother and 11 other elders went and lived in a dorm at UBC where they learned to use the writing system and completed the orthography of the language. Without their effort the language might be dead now. And now my mom is the last one alive who was involved in this project.”
In recent years, linguist Strang Burton recorded her speaking her native tongue both on film and as an ultrasound recording, enabling students to see how the muscles move inside the mouth for certain sounds.
Elizabeth and the late Xwiyólemot Tillie Gutierrez and linguist Susan Russell co-authored Talking in Halq’eméylem, Documenting Conversation in an Indigenous Language, published in 2017.
For Elizabeth, it’s the casual encounters with her former students that make her efforts worthwhile. She has proudly witnessed some going on to earn their education degrees and become teachers. Others stop her on the street to thank her.
“I was waiting for the bus after shopping and a young man came up to me and said éy swayel [hello]. He was from a class that I have visited taught by Koyalemot Mary Stewart. It happens at bingo too. Someone came up and asked if I was Elizabeth and thanked me for preserving our language.”
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