First Peoples' Cultural Council hosted a recent celebration event for Pentl’ach Language Team members (First Peoples’ Cultural Council)

By Ian Holmes

language revived

Qualicum First Nation reawakens previously dormant language

Dec 1, 2023 | 5:11 PM

QUALIUCM BEACH — A once thriving language passed down by Qualicum First Nation (QFN) members for thousands of years then faded into dormancy until now.

Considered a “sleeping language” since the 1940’s, the B.C. government has officially recognized pentl’ach as the 35^th First Nation language in the province.

QFN had worked with numerous provincial and local community partners since 2017 to restore pentl’ach (pronounced punt-lutch).

Mathew Andreatta of QFN is a language and cultural researcher who worked on “deconstructing and reconstructing”their traditional dialect since the project’s inception.

“It is a language and linguistic project, but it’s also a healing and re-strengthening and reconnecting project too for our community,” Andreatta told NanaimoNewsNOW.

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The detailed process of reviving a language not formally spoken for about 80 years was challenging to say the least.

Andreatta said pentl’ach had no written documentation as their language and QFN’s way of life was only orally portrayed from generation to generation.

Aided by archived work of anthropologists and linguistics professionals from the late 1800’s, Andreatta said it was a labour-intensive process was a “heavy responsibility” to decipher how their language was intended to be portrayed.

“We are taking those first steps and learning what that process is to reconstruct a language strictly based off of written documentation, because it’s not a situation that most projects and languages find themselves in.”

Flagging similarities and stark differences in the pentl’ach language to that of other First Nations was an important aspect of the project.

Amplifying unique qualities of the pentl’ach language to hopefully preserve it for generations to come is an ambitious goal Andreatta sees as obtainable.

“Those are teachings from our ancestors that were left for us to pick up and carry forward. Those distinctions, they were in the language, they were informed by the land around us and informed us about the land around us, too.”

Andreatta said it’s his hope to introduce their language in a way that their members can be absorb and have the ability to help it thrive.

He said tools are in place to adjust pentl’ach if need be.

“The language called to us in its dormant state and called for us to approach it and start to re-awaken it within ourselves and within our communities, so to do that is a great honour.”

Pentl’ach is part of the Salishan language family originating in QFN territory between Nanaimo and Comox.

In a statement, QFN chief Michael Recalma said their team is working on fully awakening the language.

“Our vision is that next generations of pentl’ach descendants will understand the importance of being who we are on the lands of which we are from.”

— with files from Alex Rawnsley

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes