Helping to save a language from extinction is beyond the reach of most of us. But newly-graduated Dr. Heather Bliss has been doing just that.
Pictured: Blackfoot elder Beatrice Bullshields(l) working with Heather Bliss, PhD, Linguistics, UBC 2014 (r)
As a linguist, Heather has been assisting the Blackfoot community in Alberta to document their endangered language, so it can be preserved for future generations.
Heather became fascinated with the Blackfoot language during her Master’s studies at the University of Calgary. After completing that degree she chose UBC to continue her research at a doctoral level. Her dissertation analyzes several distinct grammatical constructs of the Blackfoot language, and compares it with other Algonquian languages and languages around the world.
In reflecting on her studies, Heather recalls: “Some of my best memories of being a graduate student are of travelling. I visited Alberta regularly to do fieldwork, but in addition I travelled to places like Newfoundland, Georgia, Austria, and the Netherlands, to present at conferences and collaborate with colleagues.” She notes: “I`ll carry with me the experience and knowledge I acquired. A big part of me is defined by my work. I am a linguist, and I have a hard time imagining not being a linguist.”
Asked why she would put so much effort into research, while at the same time raising two small daughters and dealing with numerous life challenges, Dr. Bliss replied: ``I absolutely did it for reason of scholarship and inquiry. I wanted to learn more about this fascinating language, work with the people who speak it, solve some puzzles, and share my findings. `` The doctoral journey in a nutshell.
What career path will Heather pursue now? She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Victoria, and is also working with one of the elders to collect stories from her childhood (in Blackfoot and English) with the goal of publishing them as children’s books. Heather comments: “Since graduating, I`ve been re-envisioning what it means to be a linguist. From a personal standpoint, I feel I`m in a position to define my career path more broadly than I had originally conceived.”
Heather graduated from UBC with many rich experiences and a host of colleagues and life-long friends. But above all, she says: “When I reflect on my program, the most remarkable thing is knowing that I made a contribution: I contributed to the documentation of an endangered First Nations language. I know that the Blackfoot people I worked with feel that the work I did was of benefit to them and their communities.”
During her graduate work at UBC, Heather was a semi-finalist in the 2012 Three Minute Thesis competition
Heather's PhD Dissertation - can be viewed on-line via UBC's Circle repository.
More on UBC's Department of Lingustics.