The connection between the language and the Ozette collection is part of this work: the objects in the collection are concrete referents for the words of the language, helping to make the language vivid and meaningful in a contemporary educational context.

A student learning the Makah word for a bentwood box is learning a word that connects to an actual object, an actual form, an actual practice.

The presence of the collection at the Makah Cultural and Research Center makes this connection tangible.

The documentation of the language includes the recording of terminology for material culture as part of the broader effort to capture and preserve the full lexical range of Makah.

Consultants who worked with language documentation teams contributed the specific terms associated with the objects in the collection, as well as the associated knowledge about their use and cultural context.