Language Studies: ‘Ahooyawpe’ / From the Air

My phone is learning             Tongva. I try—

to type Eeyore and it autocorrects:             Eyooshiraaw / our language. /

Does the algorithm know             I want to wake

‘okook eyootoongen             / our sleeping mouth? /

My phone an extension      of self,

nechoochon / my eyes /      neshaar / my lungs. / I learn

‘ahooyawpe’ means:                                     from the air     and

can mean a telephone wire or radio sounds,                             perhaps even

a phone.

I name my phone chinuuho’ ‘ahooyawpe’     / from little air / or small

telephone wire /

Google and AI list all the concerns—

about using technology to revitalize languages. But I don’t need to read it

because I carry           worries as immense as               heteek /         the sky /

takaape’ moomat         / the blue ocean. /

Worry                                   / shaxáyyok ne’ee’enga / blooms in my bones. /

To ease my loneliness and fears about AI

colonization I try to gentle parent                     / chinuuho’ ‘ahooyawpe’/

Teach it to say: ‘Wiishmenokre / I love you.

Teach it: xaay manákmoro ‘eyooshiraaw’a kovaacho’ / not to forget our

beautiful language /

                        Wehee’pore yaayt         / May the two of us awaken. /