Hopilavayna'ya

The revival of traditional Hopi thinking through language and education.

Hopilavayna'ya is committed to bringing future generations of Hopi closer to the accomplishments of their ancestors. We believe in improving our community by promoting greater access to our language. This translates to a better understanding of traditional relationships and activities that are the foundation of our culture. To build this foundation it is important to improve the frequency and clarity of conversations between traditional language speakers. Hopilavayna’ya will work to bridge this intergenerational barrier with the creation of a Hopi language application. It is our belief that today’s smartphone technology has the potential to provide a unique and interactive way to connect today’s youth with their culture and tradition, and our elders.

The Hopi language is an important part of our culture and we must honor past generations that preserved our language. Federal policies and practices in boarding schools included punishing children for speaking their native languages. Efforts were made to retain Hopi language when a dictionary was printed in 1998. It is our belief that the next evolution of the Hopi language restoration will harmonize it with today’s digital technology. This means incorporating Hopi language across multiple platforms, computers, internet pages, and operating systems. Starting with smartphone applications that are interactive and allow for access lessons and a dictionary.

The current challenge for teaching the Hopi language is the limited resources, which are primarily developed for classroom environments. By creating an application we are allowing access to language resources at anytime and anywhere. We are reinforcing language comprehension and vocabulary  by immersing the learner completely in Hopi. When language learning takes place in an environment where the words are applicable to the task at hand they can be easily retained and recalled.

The application will be free and easy to access through a  download with the intention that it will be available to Hopi  community members. Care will be taken to respect the wishes of the Hopi community to prevent language and cultural misappropriation. The Hopi community will be able to afford our program as  we will apply a not-for-profit revenue model.

The Hopi Tribe currently has over 18,327 enrolled tribal members based on the U.S. Census. Of which 6,780 are Hopi language speakers. This is 37% of tribal members with an additional  5% at a basic written non-conversational level , therefore, the majority of tribal members are english speaking only. Hopi demographics show a greater percentage of the population are under 25 than the US population. The loss of Hopi language speakers is a significant concern along with the loss of traditional knowledge tied to the use of the Hopi language

Change how language is used in software , use of native language keyboard or icons for digital communication, facilitate learning by incorporating peer-to-peer editing and messaging in the application. Allow any general language platform developed to accessed by other tribes to use in preventing language loss and ultimately to increase native language use.

We are expanding relationships with active Hopi community members passionate about Hopi language and culture. It is empowering to work on a project that is for Hopi, by Hopi, and one that envisions a future where conversational Hopi is common among peers. Uniting talented individuals through our Hopi  language project will provide better language resources for the community.

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Partnering with Massachusetts Institute of Technology will give me access resources to advance our Hopi language solution. These resources include the talent pool at MIT, the exposure to creative thinking and problem solving along with the financial backing.

This project is in the idea stage and will develop its outreach and messaging in year one.

Hopi Tribe

KUYI radio

Hopi Education Endowment Fund

The Hopi foundation and other private foundations that support language initiatives

University partnerships

Other native  Language efforts or projects

Google- keyboard

Duolingo- language teaching application