sƛ̓aʔƛ̓ʔam tә spax̌ax̌t (Research Road) and nwist snmaʔmayaʔtn (University Way)

way̓. x̌ast sx̌l̓x̌ʕal̓t. isumáʔ iskwist Kim Kosik. kn tl stqáʔtkʷɬniw̓t.

Hello good day, my English name is Kim Kosik. I am a Westbank First Nation member and I currently live in Westbank.

As a part of the Bachelor of nsyilxcən Language Fluency degree program at UBCO, I recorded audio of me saying the following words from around the campus:

• nwist snmaʔmayaʔtn (University Way) Street Sign audio recorded by: Kim Kosik, tl stqáʔtkʷɬniw̓t , nsyilxcən learner.

• sƛ̓aʔƛ̓ʔam tә spax̌ax̌t (Research Road) Street Sign audio recorded by: Kim Kosik, tl stqáʔtkʷɬniw̓t , nsyilxcən learner.

• sntw̓mistn k̓l scaʔum (Bookstore)
• sƛ̓aʔƛ̓aʔsmypnwíɬn tә spax̌páx̌t (Research Lab)

There was no real reason why I chose these QR code recordings. I think that since the university campus is located on Okanagan territory, it is very important to have as much nsyilxcən incorporated around the campus as possible to allow students and faculty with as many learning opportunities as possible.

Audio for the street signs and other nsyilxcən signage around the campus is very important because there are many students and faculty who will not know how to pronounce the words by just looking at the signs. The nsyilxcən language uses sounds that are unknown to English speakers and so being able to scan the QR code and listen to the audio as many times as you’d like and practice pronouncing the words is important.

I hope that the QR codes are shared amongst students (and beyond) to bring visibility to the language and who knows, maybe in the future, everyone will be greeting each other in nsyilxcən instead of English around campus! That is the dream.