Yesa:sahį Language Project
Hu:k kihoe mekureme:ĉʰen
Welcome to all who come here.
The Yesa:sahį Language Project is a non-profit organization owned and operated by community members of the Monacan, Haliwa-Saponi, Sappony, Occaneechi, and Ohio Saponi. The YLP's mission is to preserve our ancestral language and catalyze a strong future for our culture and our communities by restoring Yesa:sahį to everyday use.
Our Mission
We are awakening the voices of our ancestors by living and speaking their language.
We have inherited this language from those who came before us, and we are preserving it for those who will come after us.
We accomplish our mission to restore and preserve Yesa:sahį through documentation, teaching, research, collaboration, and traditional practices, carried out by Yesáh community members, researchers, teachers, elders, storytellers, and learners.
Our Activities
Yesáh Community Literacy
We support a monthly, free online language class for members of Yesáh communities, and help to coordinate two immersive language gatherings per year, hosted by the College of William & Mary and Virginia Tech.
If you are Yesáh and would like to join our classes or extend our language offerings to your community, please reach out by email: yesanechilanguageproject@gmail.com.
Yesáh Cultural Learning
Our language exists in living relationship with our history, our present, and our future. It is a reflection and a guide to how and where we have lived, as well as how and where we live today. For that reason, effective language teaching must also incorporate cultural practices and worldviews.
We provide a variety of opportunities throughout the year for members of Yesàh communities to learn more about our history, spirituality, and cultural practices.
Linguistics Research & Document Archives
We are working to create a permanent home for the Yesanechi Language Project and establish digital archives (images, recordings, etc.) for our linguistic revitalization work. Archives will be made available to Yesáh community members and approved researchers working through collaboration with Federal and State tribal entities within our service range.
If you are a non-Yesáh researcher or collaborator seeking information on our research or archival work, please reach out through our Contact Form.
Our Events
Monthly Events
We support a monthly Yesa:sahį class, led and offered by Corey Roberts. For more information or to request admission, email yesanechilanguageproject@gmail.com
Annual Events
Annual Yesá Intertribal Language & Culture Gathering
This event will take place from July 11-14, 2024 at Virginia Tech.
The gathering will feature 4 days of experiential language learning through an interactive and immersive approach that integrates history, culture, storytelling and traditional food and lifeways.
The gathering structure will generally follow the below format:
Morning sessions will focus on building participants' knowledge and skill in using the language including alphabet sounds/ pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence structure, use of verbs and other grammar and skills that will increase participants ability to use and practice the language. Participants will have opportunities to practice and speak the language with others.
Afternoon sessions will explore the use of Yesa:sahį́ in the context of Yesá traditional lifeways through a series of experiences, presentations, and discussions with tribal elders, linguists, researchers, and other community members. These interactive presentations and tours will include discussions of traditional food practices, the Yesá lunar agricultural calendars, Appalachian forests and plants, history, mapping and migration, storytelling, social dances and more. The conference will include local field trips on and off-campus and transportation to field trip locations.
This is a family friendly event: all ages are welcome to participate. Language-focused youth programs and childcare will be available for youth 13 and under during the morning language session (children are also welcome in the morning language class with parents).
Registration coming soon!
See more information on our Facebook page: https://fb.me/e/eiUrJrcTa