CoLang 2024 Scholarships

Elora Cromaty

Elora Cromarty is Cree from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and is a member of Kinoséw Sípí (Norway House Cree Nation), located in Treaty 5 Territory. She is currently a fourth-year student at the University of Manitoba, working towards an Honours BA in Linguistics and a minor in Indigenous Languages, with a focus on Ininímowin (Cree). Elora grew up away from her community and disconnected from her culture and language. As she grew older, and slowly started reconnecting, she realized the importance of learning Ininímowin and how it would bring her closer to her family, community, and reclaiming her Indigenous Identity. Since then, Elora has been committed to the revitalization, documentation, maintenance, and helping others reclaim their Indigenous Languages. Elora has worked with multiple different community organizations as a resource developer, author, editor, and program facilitator, working with the 7 traditional Indigenous languages within Manitoba (Ininímowin, Anishinaabemowin, Anisininemowin, Dene, Dakota, Michif, and Inuktitut). After graduation, Elora plans to continue doing work in Indigenous Language Revitalization, whether that be through community efforts, or by continuing her studies and going into graduate school pursuing Linguistics. Elora is an advocate for language rights and revitalization, and consistently encourages other Indigenous youth to learn their traditional languages.

Colleen R. Billiot

Colleen R. Billiot is a citizen of the United Houma Nation and resident of St. Bernard Parish currently working as the Public Education Coordinator for the American Indian College Fund. She co-founded the Houma Language Project, spear-headed the return of the Houma's traditional Tasso Time gathering, and is working to compile a comprehensive history of her people. She apprenticed under master basket weaver, Janie Luster, and master storyteller, Grayhawk Perkins. Colleen received her Bachelor's in international relations with a minor in German from Tulane University and her Master's in conflict resolution from Georgetown University. She will begin her doctoral studies in linguistic anthropology this fall. Colleen is also a certified instructor of basic self-defense for women with Rape Aggression Defense Systems (RAD) focused pre-dominantly on instructing in Indigenous communities.

Devon Denny

I study Athabaskan syntax with a focus on Navajo structure. I am interested in analyzing overt question markers, negation particles and wh- movement in Navajo. I received my Linguistics B.A. and TESOL certificate at the University of Utah and my Linguistics M.S. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I have also discovered a love of teaching, having taught ESL in Taiwan and Utah and Linguistics in Arizona.

Macario Mendoza-Carrillo

Macario Mendoza-Carrillo is one of two Numu (Paiute) Language teachers at the Washoe County School District. He has worked with tribal communities since 2019. He first started taking classes in the Reno Sparks Indian Colony in 2018 and the became the program assistant for their Language and Culture program in 2019. He also supported the first Paiute language classes at the University of Nevada Reno, first, as a student and then as an unofficial TA to Professor Ralph Burns (a fluent Numu speaking elder). Macario graduated from University of Nevada Reno in 2020.

His original intent was to learn the language to teach his future kids alongside his ex-fiancé who was a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Macario is of Wixarika (Huichol) and Spanish descent. Although his family was unable to learn their mother tongue, they often remember their older relatives and great grandparents actively speaking the language at home. This motivated

Macario to support all efforts of indigenous language preservation and revitalization. He has also built close relationships with several elders of the Numu (Paiute) and Newe (Western Shoshone) community. He believes that we learn a lot about our past by learning the indigenous languages of the areas. He hopes that one day he can use what he has learned from other indigenous languages to learn his own Wixarika language.

Adrienne Matunas

Adrienne Matunas is a PhD student in Linguistics at the University of Victoria on the lands of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. Her focus is on language teaching and learning approaches that contribute to language revitalization. As a non-Indigenous graduate student, Adrienne’s motivation is to honor the work that Indigenous communities are undertaking to reclaim their languages by working on language teaching approaches that fit the structure of Indigenous languages. She is especially interested in how adult learners can acquire second language rhythm and melody, how adults can internalize inverse verb patterns in Algonquian languages, and how music and processing instruction might help learners tap into complex language patterns. Previously, Adrienne lived and worked on Wabanaki homelands in Vermont leading Multilingual Student Services and teaching a first-year seminar on language and power at Castleton University. She earned an MA in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and her undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy from Middlebury College. Adrienne also worked as an English teacher at the National University of Mongolia, Orkhon as a Peace Corps volunteer. She is looking forward to returning to Vermont this summer to participate in the immersive School of Abenaki at Middlebury Language Schools led by Jesse Bowman Bruchac.