StoryCorps collects the voices of our time. Recently, Hali and Michael Dardar interviewed each other, but don’t be fooled by their common name — they’re not related. Before coming to StoryCorps, they’d only exchanged emails and phone calls about the Houma Language Project, an oral history project for the Houma Native American community.
Both Hali and Michael are interested in Houma languages, particularly Houma-French: a unique French dialect that’s thought to be mixed with cadences attributed to the Houma.
Michael Dardar is a published historian who writes under the name T. MayheartDardar; he says, "the Houma community that will be here in 50 years will be determined by the choices we make now." HaliDardar leads the Houma Language Project in New Orleans and thinks the Houma will best be served as "a self-sustaining society [that's] able to learn from each other's experience."
Click the link below to hear an excerpt of the Houma’s aboriginal language.
StoryCorps is a national initiative to record and collect stories of everyday people.