Speaking Soulatluk

In partnership with the Wiyot Tribe of Humboldt County, and funded through a National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town” grant, The Ink People has created banners displayed on buses of the Humboldt Transit Authority with sayings in Soulatuk, in an effort to raise awareness of a nearly lost language of the Wiyot people. This project will continue to bring more signs and auditory experiences of Soulatluk language to the community for much of 2024.

Through colonization and genocide, most young people in the Wiyot Tribe no longer understood the native language, and much of the older generation no longer spoke it. The last known fluent speaker, Della Prince, passed away in 1962. Today, the Wiyot Tribe is leading extensive language revitalization efforts. This is only one of many projects that are returning the Soulatluk language to the ears and eyes of inhabitants of the land where the language originated.

The Ink People respects and honors the individuals through whom Soulatluk language was preserved and transmitted. The translations of the phrases chosen for this project were given by Wiyot Tribal member Marnie Atkins and Lynnika Butler, a linguist and Wiyot Tribe staff member with expertise in the Soulatluk language. Historical speaker credits are noted whenever possible.