Museum honors Yavapai elder for language work

PHOENIX (AP) – A Yavapai Indian honored by the Heard Museum on Friday for his efforts to preserve his tribe’s language and culture said the need to document language was as urgent as ever.

“There’s history in the language. There’s also spirituality in language,” said Ted Vaughn, of the Yavapai-Prescott Indian tribe. “Try to get them written and documented before the speakers pass on.”

Vaughn was feted with the Spirit of the Heard award in a ceremony in front of friends and relatives at the Phoenix museum.

The 81-year-old, his voice choked up with emotion, said receiving the award was truly a special moment in his life.

“I didn’t think that anyone noticed,” Vaughn said, wiping tears from his eyes. “The Heard cared about what I was doing.”

Vaughn was bestowed with a Pendleton blanket, a turquoise necklace and a proclamation signed by Gov. Jan Brewer. The presentation closed with a group of Yavapai Gourd Singers, women and children, serenading him.

Vaughn co-founded an annual summit where tribe members and academics discuss documenting the Yuman language and its offshoots. Among the branches of the Yuman language are the Yavapai, Hualapai and Havasupai dialects. He was also one of the first people to start writing Yavapai words phonetically.

Each year, the museum recognizes someone in the American Indian community for work done either individually or as a leader.

“His story is an extraordinary one,” said museum director Frank Goodyear. He called Vaughn one of the Heard’s many “silent partners.”

Vaughn has spent the last 20 years teaching and researching the Yavapai language. He did much of his work without any tribal help, teaching out of his childhood home on the tribe’s Prescott reservation

Before he started his grassroots effort, Vaughn worked for the Indian Health Service. As a driver for patients between the town of Peach Springs and Phoenix, he later opted to get a commercial pilot’s license in order to transport patients quicker.

Vaughn said he was raised to not give up, no matter the task.

“When I get involved in something, I go whole hog,” Vaughn said. “You make do with what you have.”

Although he has even developed educational software, Vaughn said more linguists are needed to ensure his work continues for a long time to come.

“It would be good to leave something that somebody else can pick up on,” Vaughn said.

Founded in 1929, the Heard Museum houses more than 40,000 artifacts and 10 art galleries showcasing Indian tribes of the Southwest.

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On the Net:

Heard Museum: http://www.heard.org