​​Online publication of Yukon Indigenous language material

#Yukon, #Canada; #KristaDempster; #YukonNativeLanguageCentre; #CouncilofYukonFirstNations

Yukon, Jul 26 (Canadian-Media): At least 10,000 pages of Yukon Indigenous language books material earlier available only on paper have been have been scanned, organized and published in eight indigenous languages of Yukon and made freely available online, media reports said.

Yukon Indigenous language books. Image credit of NCTR

The eight languages in which the material -- which used to be available within the Yukon College office of the Yukon Native Language Centre -- has been published are: Gwich'in, Han, Kaska, Northern Tutchone, Southern Tutchone, Tagish, Tlingit and Upper Tanana. 

The material can be found at www.ynlc.ca under the languages tab.

"Until now people from the communities would have to come into the language centre to access any resources. Or they'd have to put in an order and it would be mailed out to them. And they weren't free," said Krista Dempster, Language curriculum developer.

Scanning benefited people to search the records electronically, for one word or a person's name. 

"You can actually search through all of the 10,000 pages that have been scanned," Dempster said. 

The online publication only happened after a change in management of the Yukon government, which earlier this year, handed over responsibility for the Yukon Native Language Centre (YNLC)  to the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN). 
 
CYFN has proposed to change the YNLC, which earlier was just a resource to certify teachers, into  a community school, reaching out to anyone interested in learning a Yukon Indigenous language. 

YNLC's website already has a dictionary for Kaska that features pronunciations recorded by elders in communities and is now planning to add  more audio.  

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)​