There are so many aspects of Ktunaxa science that students can learn about through learning the Ktunaxa language. I am glad that we learn about animal names in class, but what else can we do? I don’t want to leave students with the impression that Ktunaxa science is limited to categorizing animals, because it’s so much more than that. How about describing landforms, seasons, geological processes? Or… how about the thousands of Ktunaxa verbs that describe specific states of being and changes in living and non-living beings and the environment?
“We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.”
One thing that makes the languages of Ktunaxa and English so different is that Ktunaxa is verb-based, while English is noun-based. In Ktunaxa, the centrality of verbs shows that the relationships between beings and things is valued and appreciated above the individuals. My favourite example of this, one that I’m sure would be absolutely hilarious to students of any age, is that Ktunaxa has four separate verbs relating to farting. They are:
Because English is noun based, we often have only one verb to describe the general idea of something that Ktunaxa describes in many distinct ways. But, we have many words for specific items such as aglet (the little nub at the end of your shoelace) or pareidolia (the phenomenon of seeing faces and patterns in random objects). I think we might want to teach students (Ktunaxa and English) nouns first in science because we see it as more helpful for them to know, and it comes automatically. But if we stop at categorizations, I think we run the risk of trying to fit Ktunaxa science into a western science framework. I also would hate for students to miss the opportunity to see the complexity of the world through a Ktunaxa language lens in the areas that English falls short.
So, I flipped open my copy of Ksanka ʼA·kłukaqwum and started digging for verbs (and other descriptive words) that name scientific happenings- specifically ones that English doesn’t have an equivalent for. I only skimmed through the “H” section, and here’s how much I found:
A lot of words for only one section of the dictionary!
In the future, I will make sure to bring Ktunaxa verbs such as these ones into science to help students deepen their learning and look for connections, not just items. As usual, western scientific approaches are juuuuuust catching up to Indigenous ones, it seems.