Speakers of Dena'ina race to save their language (fwd link)

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Speakers of Dena'ina race to save their language

by Eric Sowl
Friday, December 4, 2009
USA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Forty years ago, there was very little recorded information
regarding the Dena'ina Athabascan culture. But in the past four decades, Native
leaders and scholars have been making a push to beat the clock in preserving
this endangered Alaska Native language.

There is no word for "computer" in the Dena'ina Athabascan language. But odds
are great that the computer is the only place most of us will ever hear
Dena'ina spoken.

"There may be 40 fluent speakers left of the language," said linguistic
anthropologist Roy Mitchell.

For the past decade, groups like this have been getting together to teach and
record the Dena'ina language. The goal is rescue this ancient tongue and
revitalize its spoken word.

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