Cherokee language classes help keep tradition alive (fwd link)

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Cherokee language classes help keep tradition alive

By CLARE HOWARD
Journal Star
Posted Mar 13, 2011 @ 11:55 PM

EAST PEORIA —
America's first languages are dying.

The Rev. Dan Lybarger understands that loss would mean more than
merely words. It would mean the loss of a process of thinking and
understanding that evolved over thousands of years as native people
learned to survive and make sense of a changing and often harsh
environment.

Preserving native languages and evolutionary knowledge are
intertwined. The work of preservation is pursued on Tuesday nights in
Lybarger's church in East Peoria with a little flute music,
storytelling and word repetition.

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