Where the Language Lives by Janet Yoder is about the life’s work of Vi Hilbert who saved the nearly dormant indigenous language Lushootseed.
Location: Seattle area, USA
Where the Language Lives synopsis
The life and work of Upper Skagit tribal elder Vi Hilbert, who, more than anyone, revitalized her native language—Lushootseed—and shared it and the culture it expresses with the world.
In 1978, Seattle writer Janet Yoder took a Lushootseed class at the University of Washington. She was expecting to learn a little about this Salish language, and while Yoder did begin her Lushootseed lessons, what followed was lifelong learning and lots of adventures with Skagit tribal elder Vi Hilbert.
Drawn from thirty years of friendship and interviews, Where the Language Lives is a tribute to Vi Hilbert’s life, work, and her quest to preserve her native language. Vi carried her culture by the example of her life as she shared her beloved Lushootseed language through her teaching, speaking, storytelling, recording, and publishing. Without her diligent research and her transcription and translation of early recordings in Lushootseed, much of the language could have been lost to the world. Her historical preservation efforts were recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by First Lady Hillary Clinton. She was also named a Washington State Living Treasure in 1989. Vi tasked Yoder with this collaborative book as a way of bearing witness, sometimes referring to Yoder as her “chronicler” and showing appreciation for the essays written during her life.
To celebrate the legacy of her dear friend and mentor, Yoder poured decades of Vi’s teachings and stories, along with her experience of knowing Vi, into these essays. Ultimately, Where the Language Lives is a tribute to the memory of a woman who profoundly impacted a culture, a history, and the longevity of a language.
Vi’s commitment to preserving Lushootseed contributed greatly to the renaissance of interest in Lushootseed and the growth of tribal language programs across western Washington.
These essays cover the cultural significance of canoes, baskets, blankets, the bone game, naming ceremonies, stories, and story places, as well as the ritual burning of Vi’s parents’ house in order to send it to them in the spirit world and how Vi came to commission the Healing Heart Symphony.
One foreword note is written by Vi Hilbert’s granddaughter, Jill La Pointe, and the second by Vi’s great-granddaughter Sasha La Pointe. Sasha, who carries Vi’s traditional name, is the author of the forthcoming memoir Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk (Counterpoint Press).
Book review
Janet Yoder wrote an ode to the teacher who changed her life. Where the Language Lives is a collection of essays about the life of Vi Hilbert (Lushootseed name: taqʷšəblu), a member of the Upper Skagit Indian tribe in northwest Washington. Vi Hilbert is credited with saving her nearly dormant indigenous language Lushootseed. Such a topic always piques my interest.
Lushootseed language
The Lushootseed language values words about animals and nature. It has only recently become a written language, using IPA to convey its sounds. Vi’s parents wanted her to speak English because the authorities wanted her to, so she was only passively exposed to the Lushootseed language at a young age. Vi Hilbert was not initiated to practice spirit power or healing, as her parents felt there was something more important for her to do in the future.
Vi did not turn her attention to linguistics until her fifties. She took over a teaching post from linguist Thomas Hess who taught her how to write her language. The tribal elders helped her decipher speech from recorded tapes and with great dedication she achieved her goal. Had she not done so it might have been too late and more words, meanings and grammar would have been lost forever. She made the materials about her language widely available (you can find some here), which was not appreciated by everyone.
Culture
Vi Hilbert had a habit of claiming people as family. From the 10 things that Janet learned from Vi it sounds like she lived her life with passion. The reader gets some insight into the tribal culture through accounts of longhouse meetings, stories from the past and explanations of current customs such as gifting blankets and baskets. What surprised me is that this is definitely not an account that focuses on the suffering of indigenous people. I don’t know if these details were simply left out or if it was felt less strongly by Vi than by elders of other tribes.
It is the little things that make this book interesting, such as the rituals involved in selecting a tree to make a canoe and the many Lushootseed words shared with the reader.
Perspective
Janet Yoder writes about Vi Hilbert from her own perspective, making Where the Language Lives more about her journey than Vi’s. The author’s voice and point of view is very present, making you feel a certain distance from Vi. I would have liked it more if the story had been told differently, for example by using more literal quotes from interviews or meetings instead of paraphrasing almost everything. Stories about Vi growing up and other experiences that the author was not present for could have easily been written without the author relating it to other anecdotes. Now it seems more like a book for those who knew Vi intimately than a book for others interested in Vi’s life, the Lushootseed language and culture.
Some events that have special meaning to Janet Yoder are repeatedly mentioned, such as how Janet was welcomed into the classroom despite being an outsider. Janet Yoder sounds extremely grateful when she talks about the many ways she was accepted by Vi. I can clearly feel her gratitude from the way she writes and after a while it starts to make me feel a little uncomfortable. The following quote illustrates this perfectly, “You cover yourself with this blanket and you understand it is not really yours.”
This book will be very dear to her and others who belong to Vi’s (adopted) family. For me, this is a very educational book. It helps me broaden my knowledge of indigenous tribes and languages; a very valuable piece of history, present and future, that I would not otherwise be exposed to.
Interested?
Buy Where the Language Lives from Amazon (available 3 May 2022).
Book details
Title: Where the Language Lives
Author: Janet Yoder
Language: English
Publisher: Girl Friday Productions
Pages: 176
ISBN (13): 9781954854260
Publication date: 3 May 2022
Author’s statement
I write to consider place, culture, memory, longing. I write to understand why a person does something—especially something unexpected. I write to surprise myself.
I write essays about Hanford, about coffee, the accumulation of clutter, Post-it notes, food, hymn singing, our dog Misha, about a Charlie McCarthy puppet, a stairway walk, about giving your heart, about the care of the central line of a stem cell transplant patient.
I write stories about a bridge club, a violinist, a piano teacher, a muse, a linguist, a small-town photographer, a woman whose mother believes she will be taken in the rapture, about the earth as an overworked overheated college professor.
I write about Vi Hilbert.
Many thanks to Girl Friday Productions and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
