Cheyenne-Arapaho culture and language recalled and revived (fwd link)

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Cheyenne-Arapaho culture and language recalled and revived

By Carol Berry, Today correspondent
Story Published: Apr 13, 2009

DENVER – Language as the lifeblood of the people was a key theme in the 2009
Cheyenne-Arapaho Studies Conference held March 19.

The conference was part of the second annual “Cheyenne-Arapaho Revisited”
reunion of members of northern and southern bands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho
tribal nations in Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere.

Language learning has “got to be oral,” said Dr. Richard Littlebear, president
of Chief Dull Knife College, Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Lame Deer, Mont., a
key presenter.

Too many times Native people intent on language revitalization have “totally
bought into the English way of learning the language,” he said, referring to an
emphasis on grammar rather than a “coherent cultural context.”

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