Siletz Dee-Ni Talking Online Dictionary Project
In 1855, after years of harsh treatment, the twenty seven Tribes of the Confederation of Siletz Indians were forced onto the original Siletz Reservation. With so many languages in one area, a lingua franca, Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa) was a natural and necessary resolution. This meant many of the languages of the original reservation settlers have passed out of existence without being properly recorded. In fact, it appears that only one speaker of one language from this time remains at Siletz itself. Siletz Dee-Ni is an Oregon Athabaskan language with words from Chasta Costa, Applegate, Galice, Rogue River, and other members of the Siletz Confederation.

Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages began the Siletz Dee-Ni Online Talking Dictionary Project in early 2006. The Siletz Dee-Ni Online Talking Dictionary Project went live in Summer 2006 and now has 488 entries, all with associated sound files. An additional 500 words have been recorded and are now being processed. The dictionary has restricted access to tribal members and affiliated scholars only, pending tribal council permission for broader access. It is being used by the last speaker of Siletz Dee-ni, by affiliated scholars, and in a classroom setting to support tribal efforts at language learning and revitalization. The Siletz Dee-Ni Online Talking Dictionary is hosted on a Linux server at Swarthmore College with full backup and RAID array redundancy. It is programmed in the MySQL database management system, which supports multi-user access.

Sound Files from the Siletz Talking Dictionary Project
A Siletz sound file sample

(Click play button once or twice to open in your default audio player)
Siletz Sample #1

Photographs from the Siletz Talking Dictionary Project
Dr. Greg Anderson with ‘Bud’ Lane, last speaker of Siletz Dee-Ni

Siletz tribal emblem	Siletz Basket

The Siletz-Dee-Ni Talking Dictionary Project is currently funded solely by donations to Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages.