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Syilx Language House releasing 7th installment of Elder Stories

It’s the latest installment of a series that records and transcribes Syilx Elders sharing stories in Nsyilxcn
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(Kelowna Museums)

Kelowna Museums is hosting a virtual book launch for the Syilx Language House’s seventh volume of Elder Stories on Saturday (July 24).

It’s the latest installment of a series that records and transcribes Syilx Elders sharing stories, prayers, history and word lists in Nsyilxcn, an interior Salish language spoken by members of the Syilx Okanagan Nation that is considered critically endangered.

The Syilx Language House estimates there are fewer than 40 Elders fluent in Nsyilxcn and only a few handfuls of intermediate-advanced speakers across the Syilx Nation, which stretches from Revelstoke to northern Washington.

The book launch on Saturday will feature fluent Elders Grouse Barnes, Herman Edward, Theresa Ann Terbasket, Theresa Dennis and Thomas Pierre.

The six other installments of the series are available here. They are free to download, and each book comes with three to seven hours’ worth of audio recordings.

The two-hour event begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday and requires no entry fee. The Zoom link can be accessed here.

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@aaron_hemens
aaron.hemens@kelownacapnews.com

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