It’s hard to believe that our last leg of training, the linguistics practicum in Cookson, OK (near Tahlequah) has brought us back so close to home! It’s one hour west to my parents in Broken Arrow, and one hour east to Jacks’ in Fort Smith!
Life has been a whirlwind, since the program began on August 16th! Sunday morning, we met my Cherokee language helper, Lucille, at her church. Lucille is the sweetest lady, and I’m looking forward to getting to know during the next 7 weeks! My partner Deb and I spent all of last week at Lucille’s house learning some key Cherokee phrases and getting our ears adjusted to the language. We also collected recordings of language data to transcribe later.
Our language sessions with Lucille last about 2.5 hours. We start out by practicing some phrases we’ve learned. Most of our time, up until now, has been spent using pictures to learn Cherokee words through pointing and listening, listening and pointing. This week though, we will begin elicitation–the process of showing Lucille a picture, and writing down every phonetic sound we hear. This is much trickier than it seems, because there are many subtle sounds that we take for granted in English. Cherokee, for instance, has many very sneaky “h” sounds that will be incredibly important when Deb and I begin to analyze the language. Not to mention the importance of tone and stress on certain syllables. Luckily after this first week, these sounds are becoming more normal to us! Soon, Deb and I will have collected enough words for our database to begin analyzing the language and grammar (though the wheels are already turning like crazy!).
Meanwhile, Jack is proving to me yet again what an amazing husband he is. While I am working 9-5 planning sessions, listening to recordings, and working with Lucille, Jack is watching the girls! Talk about super dad! On top of that he has been researching and setting up computer programs and apps for me to use during this time, and things we will eventually use in the tribe. He’s using all of his free time preparing for our upcoming time of support raising, and working on some cool side projects (that guy keeps himself busy!)
While I am developing some truly practical linguistic skills during this time, I am especially thankful for other dynamics this practicum is offering. Time management, working with a language helper, living in serious community, team work, how to plan a language session. Jack and I are also getting a real taste of how we will be communicating about life and schedules in the tribe. It is so good to be experiencing this now!
Please pray for Jack and Justin (Deb’s husband) as they are doing full time childcare. And for Deb and I to continue working well together and to be efficient with our time!
Thanks for tracking with us on this journey! We can’t even express how encouraging it is to know you are behind us as we pursue God’s calling on our lives!
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