Models Talks

Find the Models Talks and Plenary Address happening at CoLang 2026.

Plenary Address

Language knowledge, experience, thoughts, and feelings: Exploring Jon Henner's "Your languaging is the story of your life" in language documentation and reclamation

Speaker: Claire Bowern

Date/time: Monday, June 22, 2026, at 10:15-11:45 a.m.

Location: John Tulloch Business Building, Room 100

When linguists participate in language projects, they often focus on language knowledge: who's a "speaker" or signer of the language. Academic (and in particular theoretical) linguists often focus on the concept of Chomsky's "ideal native speaker" in language documentation, taking monolingual speakers raised with the language from birth as the "best" people for linguists to work with. In this talk, and following language activists and linguists in many fields, I explicitly reject this focus, building instead on the late Jon Henner's notion that "your languaging is the story of your life". All our experiences with language (different languages, different varieties, modalities, ways of speaking) contribute to that language knowledge. Language experiences also influence our thoughts and feelings about language, however: where a language should be used, who should use it and what feelings it evokes when using it. I discuss some of the ways that these feelings (positive and negative) play a role in documentation and reclamation projects, particularly to support emerging, new, and silent speakers/signers in their language goals.

Models Talks

Etorri, Ikasi, Elkartu: The University of Nevada, Reno Center for Basque Studies and the Global Basque Community

Speaker: Oihana Villanueva

Date/time: Monday, June 22, 2026, at 1-2 p.m.

Location: John Tulloch Business Building, Room 100

Description: Over the last century, Euskara, the Basque language, has undergone a dramatic and inspiring progression of language shift from forced repression and endangerment to ongoing, global revitalization. This talk provides an overview of that progression alongside the University of Nevada, Reno's Center for Basque Studies and its historic roles in Basque language and culture studies and preservation within the American diaspora and throughout the world. Attendees will get a look into the unique local/global intersection of these roles in Reno from a local community member and scholar.

About Oihana Villanueva: Oihana Villanueva was born and raised in Reno, Nevada, as a member of the vibrant Basque-American community there. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she also minored in Basque Studies. She currently works as a library assistant in the Washoe County Library System and continues to be involved in the Reno Basque community, carrying on traditions of dance, language learning and cultural celebrations as a member of the Reno Zazpiak Bat Basque Club. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in sociocultural anthropology.

INSTILS Models Talk

Speakers: Darren Flavelle (co-founder, INSTILS) and Jordan Lachler (co-founder, INSTILS)

Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Description: In this Models Talk, we will be presenting on our new research network called INSTILS, the International Network for Skills Training in Intergenerational Language Sustainability. INSTILS was founded in 2024 by the members of DRAGONS Lab at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Our focus is on helping members of endangered language communities worldwide acquire the skills they need to carry out ILS on their own terms.

The goals of INSTILS are to:

Create opportunities for communication and collaboration between ILS skills trainers and organizations.
Carry out research on best practices in ILS skills training
Support the development of new ILS skills training programs to reach underserved communities worldwide

In this presentation, we will:

highlight outcomes from our recent weeklong international conference in May
discuss our research priorities for the coming year
explain how individuals and organizations can get involved in the network

Poliki-Poliki: Basque Revitalization in the U.S. and the NABO Euskara Program

Speaker: Oihana Villanueva

Date/time: Monday, June 29, 2026, at 1-2 p.m.

Location: John Tulloch Business Building, Room 100

Description: Euskara, the Basque language, is regarded as having one of the most successful, ongoing stories of language revitalization amongst minoritized languages throughout the world. This talk gives an overview of the multiple stages of language shift that Euskara has undergone and the continuing efforts being taken to promote its transmission and active usage, with a special focus on those efforts aimed at revitalization amongst the American diaspora. The speaker, a member of the Reno Basque community and local Euskara teacher, will share an insider perspective on the successes and challenges of the North American Basque Organizations' Euskara Program and its expanding role in the international project of Euskara revitalization.

Akwesasne Freedom School: A Study in Self-Determination

Speakers: Konwanahktotha Alvera Sargen (Akwesasne Freedom School) and Debra Harry (Department of Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno)

Date/time: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 1-2 p.m.

Location: John Tulloch Business Building, Room 100

Description: This talk will showcase the long journey of the Akwesasne Freedom School (AFS). The AFS was founded in 1979 by Mohawk parents concerned with the lack of cultural and linguistic services available in local public schools. In 1985, the parents who administer the school made a historic decision to adopt a total Mohawk immersion curriculum. It was a historic decision. AFS was the first to implement this curriculum and did so without approval or funding from state, federal or provincial governments. As an independent and sovereign elementary school, AFS has existed for over 47 years on local support and contributions. As such, the AFS represents an inspirational study in the exercise of self-determination. By focusing on their young people, they reverse the assimilation process and ensure that the Mohawk people do not lose their language, culture and identity. The talk will also feature a screening of The Opening Address, a film developed by The Akwesasne Freedom School.

About Konwanahktotha Alvera Sargeant: Konwanahktotha Alvera Sargeant is a Snipe Clan member of the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne located on the international border between the United States and Canada. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Friends of Akwesasne Freedom School. Much of her career has been dedicated to her Mohawk language and culture and working for grassroots causes. Her first language was Kanien'kéha, Mohawk, and it has remained an important piece of my identity, shaping the work I would be a part of.

About Debra Harry: Debra Harry, Ph.D., is Numu/Kooyooe Tukadu from Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Harry serves as an associate professor in Indigenous Studies for the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno. Debra Harry’s research analyzes the linkages between biotechnology, intellectual property and globalization in relation to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Harry earned her Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland, under the supervision of renowned Māori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Ph.D.

Documenting Hiaki Grammar, 2001-2026: 25 years of partnership

Speaker: Heidi Harley

Date/time: Thursday, July 3, 2026 at 1-2 p.m.

In this talk, I review the history and accomplishments of the work that language teacher Maria Leyva and I have undertaken over the past quarter-century, including pedagogical grammatical materials, in-depth papers analyzing particular grammatical phenomena, a large collection of narrative texts, and a storybook project. Our research has been funded by federal, private and university-internal granting organizations, and has relied on the work of several generations of students and learners. I’ll touch on each of our major types of work. First, in our grammatical documentation work, we have investigated both linguists’ and learners’ questions. I will give three examples of each type of question and describe the work that went into answering them. Second, I’ll go over the creation of Mrs. Leyva’s volume of historical narratives, a multi-decade project which was finalized only last year, with the help of the University of Arizona Press; I will play a short sample recording and tell some of the story of the book. Third, I’ll describe our most recent project, an illustrated storybook of Hiaki children’s stories.

About Heidi Harley: Heidi Harley is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, where she has worked since 1999. She works with members of the Pascua Yaqui tribe of Arizona to document and understand their Hiaki language, focusing on word and sentence structure. She and Hiaki language teacher Maria Leyva have published several articles and books, ranging from technical investigations of aspects of Hiaki grammar to narrative accounts of important historical events in the history of the Hiaki people to teaching materials aimed at adult learners. She is also a theoretical linguist helping to develop models of syntax, morphology and lexical semantics. She was President of the Linguistic Society of America in 2025.