HEART OF LOUISIANA: Houma Language

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – When the first Europeans arrived in Louisiana, the Houma tribe lived closer to Baton Rouge.

“The reason Baton Rouge is called Baton Rouge, that red stick was our red stick. It denoted where our lands ended and the Bayou Goula began,” said Colleen Billiot.

But the Houma gradually moved to the bayou parishes of southeastern Louisiana. They were fishermen and trappers who began speaking Cajun French and dropped their native language.

“The Houma language in and of itself had been dormant, so not really used or known, or there were no native speakers of it for roughly a century when we started this project,” Billiot said.

Colleen Billiot is a member of the Houma tribe. She co-founded the Houma language project, which is trying to revive the Houma’s native language called Uma. It all started with a cassette tape of her great-grandmother and another woman singing a song.

“They knew one of the songs was the Chan-Chuba song, the alligator song. But they didn’t have the specifics of what they were singing. They just remembered these things from their own childhoods and their own lives,” said Billiot.

And there were more clues. 80 Houma words written down in 1917 by anthropologist John R. Swanton. That was enough to begin reclaiming a nearly lost language.

“We knew that a lot of our vocabulary was very similar to Choctaw. And so when we didn’t have a word, we would look at Choctaw. But we would transcribe it into our alphabet,” Billiot said.

Researchers have created an Uma alphabet. There is now a dictionary of more than 3000 Uma words.

“Talk about nita’ which is bear, and suba’ which is horse. And you know, familial relationship terms. You know, I told you kweni’ is like mamma, but fufu’ is pappa,” said Billiot.

The Uma language has been updated with native names for modern things like computer and cell phone, and short lessons are available online.

What’s the point of all of this? Why do you feel it’s so important to reclaim and get people using this, this language again?

“You know, language is a part of again, who you are and your culture and your community, and I think it’s a great way to bring people together and give them a sense of pride,” Billiot said.

Reclaiming the language of the Houma is likely to be a generations-long effort. But one that can connect people to their past and enhance the future of a native culture.

More information on the Houma language project can be found on Heart of Louisiana’s website.

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