"When We Talk": Okanagan Ways of Speaking of Elders/Fluent Speakers in Social Domains of Language-In-Use Implications for Okanagan Language Revitalization

Okanagan is a Southern Interior Salish language spoken in south-central British Columbia and north central Washington State. Okanagan is considered an endangered language having 132 fluent speakers (Dunlop, Gessner, Herbert & Parker, 2018) remaining. There has not been a body of work done on conversation and discourse patterns by fluent speakers of this language. A descriptive study which focuses on conversation patterns, naturally occurring speech patterns, language use, functions and communication—descriptive features of Okanagan Edler talk-- is the focus of this research. The components of the study will be used in pedagogical materials and for reference by language learners and will be invaluable in the teaching of language, as it would best serve the needs of the language learner in learning the language in context and provide the learner with proper discourse patterns. I wanted to answer the question "What do language learners need to know about the social use of language in order to use the Okanagan language appropriately and gain fluency?" How do we as Okanagan people use D/discourse? To answer this question, I recorded Elders and fluent speakers to document their language use in conversation with each other. The data showed that language speakers use language in a variety of genres such as teasing, word play, and metaphor with very descriptive language through the use of morphologically complex words. The data also showed the importance of fluent speakers' ideology of language, language teaching and the need for revitalizing the language and the urgency of developing fluency in the language learners. Elders/fluent speakers’ highly fluent language is important for informing the development of materials for language revitalization within our communities