Marvel's newest superhero Kahhori speaks Kanien'kha

The translation of the protagonist's name and others in an episode of the Marvel series What If? has sparked some debate online about maintaining the authenticity of a language.

The episode What If... Kahhori Reshaped the World?, which began streaming on Disney Plus inDecember, features a Kanienkeh:ka (Mohawk) character namedKahhori, and is inKanien'kha(Mohawk language).

"People [are] saying online that 'Kahhori' is gibberish. It doesn't mean anything. Well, yes, of course it means something," said Jeremy White, who voices the character Atahraksin the episode.

"Just because it's not spelled the way you would spell it doesn't make it incorrect."

Whitewas born and raised in Kahnaw:ke, a Kanienkeh:ka community south of Montreal. Hegrew up with his grandparents both fluentKanien'kha speakers and attended a Mohawk immersion school until Grade 6.

Whitesaid he was recruited as a linguist supervisor by Deluxe, Disney's dubbing studio, to dub the project in Kanien'kha.

Years in the making

Kawennhere Devery Jacobs, also from Kahnaw:ke, voices Kahhori whose name means "she stirs the forest."White said Jacobs worked closely with a language coach.

The episode is about what would happen if the power-bestowing Tesseract fell to Earth and landed in the territory of theHaudenosaunee Confederacy before the colonization of North America.

White said the episode was years in the making and that thewriter for Disney, Ryan Little, put a lot of "love, care and respect" intothe project.

In an emailed statement to CBC Indigenous, Little said it was important to showcaseMohawk people and that it was essential to present the episode in Kanien'kha to honour and help supportwork in language preservation in Haudenosaunee communities.

Little saidcultural consultants sourcedthe names Kahhori and Atahraksdirectly from an extensive list of Mohawk namesby Charles Cooke, a famous Mohawk scholar.The manuscript was published in 1952.

White said thenames in the manuscriptwere written phoneticallywithout the diacritical markings used in Kanien'kha today.

He said it made sense to use thesamephonetic spelling for the characters in What If?to allow a mainstream audience to pronounce it.

Language and culture evolve over time which is why Kanien'khawent from an oral languageto one that could be written as well, White said. He saidAtahraks is a real turtle clan name, andmeans "he gnaws the earth."

"He sees it as his role to lift others up and help them blossom he's the one that welcomes new people to the Skyworld in the episode. He helps them adjust to the new life," White said.

Although Kanien'kha is not spoken with the same intonation as in English generallythere is no rise and fall in the speech of first-language speakers White said he wanted to embody the excitement Atahraks has for life, to bring his character to life.

Respect for naming conventions

Longhouse naming conventionallows for one traditional name to be used at a time. When the holder of that name dies, the name becomes available.

White said the traditional names used for the characters are not currently in use as far as he knows a fact he said cultural consultants were brought in to confirm.

Cecelia King, 74,from Akwesasne,a Kanienkeh:ka community that straddles the Canada-U.S. border about 75 kilometres southeast of Ottawa,translated the episode.

She grew up speaking Kanien'kha but was discouraged from speaking it while attending St. Regis Mohawk School as a young girl.

She saidthis wasthe first time she's ever translated anything for broadcast despite teaching Kanien'kha for 26 years.

"I'm hearing good responses from some of the community. Their young children really took to it because I think it might help them to learn the language," said King.

King said she had heard about some people being upset over use of the traditional longhouse names and wanted to respect their concernsby not duplicating a child's name.

"We're talking about entertainment here. We're not talking about a documentary," said White.

"We're not trying to change the world. We're trying to change the representation of Natives and Indigenous people in the mainstream entertainment world."