As a child, Joshua Olsen always paid attention to foreign languages. When strangers would speak Spanish, or Punjabi, or any other language native to their country, he’d think: “I only have English — and I know that English was forced on the Native people.”
Olsen is a member of the Nooksack Tribe, whose language is Lhéchelesem, one of many Indigenous languages spoken in the Americas prior to European colonization. But when its last native speaker passed away in 1977, Lhéchelesem was classified as extinct, so Olsen didn’t hear it growing up.
This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon: Of the roughly 6,000 Indigenous languages spoken worldwide according to the U.N., one dies every two weeks. And in the U.S., a recently released report from the Interior Department shows that, from 1871 to 1969, the country spent $23 billion (adjusted for inflation) on the Indian boarding school system — forcibly assimilating Indigenous children into white culture and forbidding them from speaking their native language.
But efforts over the last century have helped preserve knowledge of Lhéchelesem for future generations. Olsen plays a key role: He began learning the language more than a decade ago in a program developed by George Adams, a Nooksack elder. Adams used research, tapes and notes from linguists, researchers and tribal elders to become fluent decades after Sindick’s death.
Thanks to a master/student grant, Olsen is continuing his study with Adams to become fluent himself and pay this knowledge forward. Another of Adams’ former students, Jeremiah Johnny, also teaches Lhéchelesem classes to tribal members as part of his work with the Nooksack Cultural Department.
“I’m just more and more realizing how much it solidifies and strengthens your connection to the land, and how the language actually comes from the land,” Olsen said at a Whatcom County Library System event in March. “I really feel like it’s an integral part of tribes’ sovereignty, to say that we’re still here, and we’re still us.”
Language background
According to language database Ethnologue, there are currently 197 living Indigenous languages in the U.S. — and 193 of them are endangered.
Lhéchelesem is among the languages considered “dormant” by Ethnologue. It is a Salishan language, similar to Squamish, and related yet distinct from nearby language groups Halkomelem and Shíshálh, which are spoken near the Fraser River in British Columbia. Lhéchelesem is also distinct from Lushootseed and other bordering dialects.
Like many Indigenous languages, Lhéchelesem is strictly verbal. It’s represented in writing with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), or a set of standardized symbols (known as practical orthography) used to describe the sounds of spoken languages.
Johnny said Lhéchelesem is also verb-based: “When you speak, you’re speaking with action and intention, and how you relate to people, and how you relate to the world.”
His favorite phrase in Lhéchelesem is made up of two words: “’Sqwáliwen,’ which is used to denote feelings, thinking, thoughts and understanding,” he explained. “A word that would go with that would be ‘ha7lh,’ which is a word that means ‘good.’ And so ‘ha7lh sqwáliwen’ would be ‘the good feelings.'”
Place names in Lhéchelesem often refer to the resources found there. For example, the place name for the Nooksack River’s South Fork, Nuxw7íyem, refers to its clear water. The place name for Kendall Creek, which flows into the North Fork of the Nooksack River, is Xwkw’ól7oxwey, translating roughly to “always-dog-salmon-place.” (Dog salmon is also known as chum salmon.)
Adams added that other words — especially those in relation to seasons — reference or act as “triggers” for actions necessary to survive upcoming months. Winter preparedness is a marker of Nooksack culture, so much so that age is not counted by days or years, but the number of winters survived.
In other words, Lhéchelesem is more than a means of communication: It carries vital knowledge, some of which was crucial to survival. Today, Johnny said preserving Lhéchelesem is necessary for tribal sovereignty, and its continued existence “really backs up that people have been here for more than 10,000 years.”
Preserving Lhéchelesem
Lhéchelesem has been spoken since time immemorial, but the book “Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language” solidified its documentation.
Linguist Brent Galloway began weekly language research with the Nooksack Tribe in 1974 at the tribe’s request, according to the book’s introduction. That same year, anthropologist Allan Richardson began researching traditional Nooksack fishing sites and villages while employed by the tribe’s education and planning department.
Five years later, Galloway and Richardson designed an extensive joint research project, combining ethno-historical and linguistic approaches to document Nooksack place names. The resulting manuscript was completed in 2005 after decades of work. It catalogs more than 150 Lhéchelesem place names using photographs, maps and linguistic analysis.
The project incorporated collaboration with tribal elders, photography and prior research (such as audio tapes, field notes and manuscripts) from a range of linguists and anthropologists. These records had also preserved the knowledge of late tribal elders George Swanaset and Sindick Jimmy, the last speakers to learn Nooksack as a first language.
In 2002, Galloway donated CD copies of the prior researchers’ Nooksack audio tapes, plus his own Halkomelem tapes, to the Nooksack Tribe. “Nooksack Place Names” explained how this donation took place at a ceremony devoted to revitalizing Lhéchelesem; Adams, a tribal elder, was master of ceremonies. He used the researchers’ notes to give the first speech in Lhéchelesem in 30 years.
Adams then began collaborating with Galloway to transcribe and learn from the donated tapes. Today, he is fluent in Lhéchelesem (though he uses the spelling “Lhéchalosem,” or the language’s name with a slight Halkomelem accent according to pronunciation in extant tapes).
Adams developed and taught the first conversational lessons in the language, along with literacy lessons developed by Galloway, through the Lhéchelesem Teacher Training Language Immersion Project. Tribal members like Olsen and Johnny learned Lhéchelesem from this program in 2010, and have gone on to continue his work.
Lhéchelesem today
Being employed by the tribe, Johnny had access to literature and documentation of Lhéchelesem and was able to continue his study even after Adams’ course ended. He obtained a grant in 2023 to “utilize the tools of today, namely technology” to continue building strong teaching foundations and curriculums for Lhéchelesem.
“Through the audio, with something that was traditionally orally passed down through writing, from Brent Galloway and George Adams, Allan Richardson, the work that they did … I was able to familiarize myself through a new methodology of learning,” he said.
Today, Johnny leads teaching and outreach for the tribe’s Cultural Resources program, which among other areas, teaches “language, place names, songs and stories, traditional trades and skills.” He follows in Adams’ footsteps by leading Lhéchelesem classes for Nooksack tribal members.
Meanwhile, Olsen has received a Washington Humanities Grant as well as a master/apprentice language arts grant from the University of British Columbia. These resources allow him to meet regularly with Adams, listen to him speak and continue his study and documentation of Lhéchelesem.
Olsen often asks Adams questions about Lhéchelesem etymology. Certain words are even borrowed from other languages, like Halkomelem. “It’s kind of like a big puzzle that’s being put together since it’s not really in use anymore,” he said.
In his lessons with Adams, “It’s all printed out in a table format with the new word in the left corner, or a sentence using the word, and then responses,” Olsen said. “So we’ll talk and read off of a paper that George put together, and just kind of go down the line and talk back and forth and learn these new words.”
Olsen’s canoe journey was also pivotal to his language-learning efforts. During this journey, “People often use their traditional language, and then repeat it again in English when they’re doing the protocol” in which canoeists state intentions and ask permission to come ashore, he explained. “Using the protocol for that really helps to solidify learning the language.”
In the future, Olsen and Johnny hope Lhéchelesem words and phrases can be utilized beyond just ceremonial or classroom settings. But language learning and teaching requires significant time investment — and both men must balance this with other commitments, like jobs and families. Even so, Johnny said, “People are hungry for it. They want it.”
Olsen aims to pass on his knowledge through a program with Whatcom County Library Systems, or even a 501-c3 nonprofit. He knows such a feat requires community interest, organized efforts and funding; therefore, “If you want to see something done, then you’re just gonna have to do it yourself,” he joked.
But without his commitment to Lhéchelesem, Olsen said he wouldn’t know what his driving force would be. “It’s at such high risk of not being used and not being preserved,” he continued. “And there’s so much work that people have done previously, that just needs to be built on and utilized.”
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
