OKMULGEE – The Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke (Mvskoke Language Liaison Program) has created the Mvskoke Opunvkv Mentor-Apprentice Program (MOMAP) to help revitalize the Mvskoke language and increase the number of Second-Language Mvskoke language speakers. The program aims to carry the language forward into the next generation and provide more Mvskoke speakers to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s departments/programs. This is a full-time, paid, 2-year position.
““Heyv, Mvskoke Opunvkv akerrake fullakat, eme mahusat, emetat opunvkv kerraket elicvkepat emetat vlkusekot opunvkv mowakat omekos, mv enhvteceskv homv mahat awvte mvn asvpvkaket owes, mowis puhomv awvtetat estofvnken hecakekos.
Es-punhonnetvt sulketos momen mv pum opunvkv cawepet asehvlattet vrepetv vrakkueckv ocet, vrepetv heretos momis yekce mahet es-punhonnet owe tos, mvn vkerricvkat oketv nettv hvmken pume vtekuset puhoskvhanat onton kerre ton towes,” Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke Fyatv (Director) Jay Fife (Mvskoke) stated and translated in Mvskoke language by Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke.
“That’s what we’re hoping that these apprentices will also realize, too, is that they’re not creating their own legacy, they’re joining the legacy of those that come before us and those that we will never see. That’s a lot of burden, and it’s also an honor to carry the language, but it is a burden because we know that one day we are all that’s left,” Fife stated, and English was translated by Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke.
This program will soon be seeking four determined apprentices, who will be taught by the First-Language Mvskoke Opunvkv Speakers/mentors at the Mvskoke Language Liaison Program, where each mentor will be assigned two apprentices. The program staff will use various second-language learning strategies to enhance the Mvskoke Opunvkv communication skills of the apprentices.
“The Mvskoke Opunvkv Mentor-Apprentice Program (MOMAP) is dedicated to creating second-language Mvskoke Opunvkv speakers, through the second-language acquisition methods and strategies supported through the development of intergenerational relationships with First-Language Mvskoke Opunvkv Speakers to perpetuate the Mvskoke Opunvkv and Mvskoke cultural knowledge,” stated the Mvskoke Language Liaison Program.
Creating this program can eventually help regain more Mvskoke Opunvkv speakers, who could one day hold more language speaker positions within tribal departments and programs, to help ensure the language speakers’ presence in all governance aspects, as stated in Executive Order 25-07.
The Mvskoke Language Liaison Program staff spoke with Mvskoke Media about their goals, the differentiation of this apprentice program from others, and the rationale for creating MOMAP.
A distinct initiative
MOMAP has been in the works for some time, and recently, their apprentice program received support from the MCN Department of Culture and Humanities, which later led to the introduction of legislation requesting funding to create the program.
Fife said that the apprentice position won’t function like institutional education programs, there are no classes or grading. The position is a full-time employment opportunity.
“The College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) has a similar structure, but this program, being under the Department of Culture and Humanities, will have a similar goal but a different strategy of implementation,” stated Fife.
For this program, the staff has created a structure to use the language, which Fife stated hasn’t been done before. He explained that if they can get a cohort of four apprentices through, they’ll have knowledge you won’t get at any university.
“You won’t get a certificate for it, but lived experiences are re-validated by positions being created specifically for the knowledge that they hold,” Fife said.
The program consists of two years of formal training and may later be absorbed into the MCN Department of Culture and Humanities or into other positions at the Nation that require language services for their job responsibilities.
“We also recognize that there should be language speakers at health, there should be language speakers in the legislative and judicial branches, all across the Nation. That’s what we’re affirming by saying, it not only impacts our sovereignty and how we perceive ourselves and all these other things, it’s so much more. It’s just recreating infrastructure that supports the language,” Fife said.
“We hope what we’re creating will permeate into other language programs to say, ‘Hey, we can do that too, we don’t have the right answers, but we have strategies that are based upon first language speaker support.’ We have to recognize that our language speakers are the reason that we still have a language. So for us youngings trying to figure out ‘how do we become like them’, it’s hard, it’s not easy, otherwise our language would be spoken all the time,” Fife stated.
“But when you have a structure that supports language learning, and it’s conducive to immersive environments, then I think we’ll get a success, I think that’s what we’re hoping to do with MOMAP.”
Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke Nak ‘Stowetv Svhecv (Project Coordinator) Paskova Deere (Mvskoke) noted that a major difference between this program and others is that it pays well. Apprentices will be able to take care of their own families and needs without struggling.
“The benefit of this program that we’re initiating is that it’s going to be a full-time job and it’s going to be the first time the Nation has ever done that, a full-time job to learn the language to where you can provide for your family,” Deere said.
“That to me is one of the main benefits that separates us from people or the college or wherever.”
Employment and family obligations can leave little time for learning the Mvskoke language. Deere explained that when people want to learn the language, and they have a full-time job elsewhere, it can be hard. This position solves that issue.
“This is their job to learn Mvskoke and for the first time ever like it was said, the Nation is investing back into Mvskoke citizens, Mvskoke people, so they can reclaim their identity, reclaim their language and the hope is that whatever age range of people apply for it, if they’re in their 20s, 30s, however old they are, then if they can learn and become proficient, they can have a working professional knowledge of the Mvskoke language,” stated Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke Kvpetvne (Manager), Darrell (Mahe) Proctor II.
“The language is going to live on for another 50 years, and 4 more individuals’ lives. That’s the huge benefit, it’s more and more people that are saving it, and hopefully it’ll expand eventually.”
Looking into the Future
Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke Opunanyv Avhuerv (Field Specialist) Jason Tiger (Mvskoke) hopes that meetings will one day be in the Mvskoke language.
“The way they should be, in the way they always should have been, but of course we know what all happened. So just trying to help bring it back and hopefully, all of the Nations meetings will be in the language one day, hopefully our grandkids or kids may see,” stated Tiger.
“Another thing was with McGirt we regained a lot of sovereignty back, but what for, if we had no language, and so it only helps strengthen our sovereignty, I believe.”
Mvskoke Opunvkv Asohyekcicvlke Opunanyv Avhuerv (Field Specialist) Talia Buckley (Mvskoke) has also agreed that seeing the creation of MOMAP and helping to create more speakers will benefit future generations.
Fife explained that having MOMAP will create an intergenerational relationship that sustains a Mvskoke Opunvkv immersive environment.
“What that means is that as long as they are making an effort to speak the language and exchange knowledge, then the classroom becomes everyday life. So it’s no longer limited or contained to a classroom, but rather it’s making the language exist where it needs to be,” Fife said. “It’s also kind of solidifying that this is a valid form of communication that we as employees can make an effort to save and be engaged with.”
Proctor said he grew up not hearing the language spoken to him directly, but heard it around him, only knowing random phrases. Proctor said that having a career in the Mvskoke language, where he can hear and speak it every day, is a blessing.
Proctor hopes that four more people can have the opportunity, but that they won’t take as long as he did to learn the language. It took Proctor 10 years to get conversational, and he hopes it will take six months to one year to achieve that in their intensive program.
“We just want someone else to have that opportunity and to really invest in their identity. That’s why I’m proud of that, that we all have the same vision. We have eight staff members, two of them are first-language speakers, and the rest of us are second-language speakers. We can all converse in the language, and if we can just add that number more and more… our sovereignty grows or our strength as Mvskoke people grows, and everything benefits from it, I’m proud of that, I’m thankful,” Proctor said.
Language revitalization, to Deere, is a group effort, with no individual taking credit. “So, to have a certain feeling about revitalizing the language, I don’t think it falls on just one individual person. It falls on all of us,” Deere said.
For Fife, the feeling is indescribably heavy. “Our abilities to speak the language is from the support of our first language speakers that we have encountered, so everything that we know comes from somebody else, which is why we hope to do that for someone else,” Fife said. “When you’re trying to get into a community where knowledge is so sacred and also very easily lost, there’s a sense of accountability, there’s a sense of dread, there’s a sense of pride, and when you combine those three, everybody responds differently depending on the context and the situation,” Fife said.
“Here within the program, we are blessed to have support as a Nation. This is our career, it’s not a job, it’s a career that we can expand and bring other people into this field.”
Fife explains that there are no wrong ways- only many right ways. “There’s so many right ways that you can do to get there, and you see that when you look at us, we’re all products of different strategies and practices,” Fife said.
“So at the end of the day, we have one vision, but it’s because of the support that we’ve gotten from people that aren’t our kinfolks, that are just community members, ground members, church members, you name it. They don’t have to create time for us, but it’s because of that Vnokeckv (love) that we’re able to spread it and hope that other people will say, “You know what, I’ll help y’all.’”
If anyone is interested in becoming one of the four individuals for the Mvskoke Opunvkv Apprentices you can go to the MCN careers website to find their application.
For more information about their program you can contact Fife at 918-752-8321 or Proctor at 539-286-4853.
