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<h1 class="entry-title">Alaska Native language ‘linguistic emergency’ resolution considered in Senate committee</h1>
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<span class="gmail-meta-author gmail-vcard gmail-author"><span class="gmail-fn">By <a href="http://kyuk.org/post/alaska-native-language-linguistic-emergency-resolution-considered-senate-committee" title="Posts by Christine Trudeau, KYUK-Bethel" rel="author">Christine Trudeau, KYUK-Bethel</a></span></span><span class="gmail-meta-date gmail-date gmail-updated">April 5, 2018</span><span class="gmail-meta-category"><a href="https://www.ktoo.org/category/news/topics/arts-culture/alaska-native-culture/">Alaska Native Arts & Culture</a>, <a href="https://www.ktoo.org/category/news/topics/arts-culture/">Arts & Culture</a>, <a href="https://www.ktoo.org/category/news/topics/government/state-government/">State Government</a></span>
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<article id="gmail-post-163392" class="gmail-regular gmail-post-163392 gmail-post gmail-type-post gmail-status-publish gmail-format-standard gmail-has-post-thumbnail gmail-category-alaska-native-culture gmail-category-arts-culture gmail-category-featured-news gmail-category-state-government gmail-tag-alaska-native gmail-tag-alaska-native-linguistic-emergency gmail-tag-dan-ortiz gmail-tag-hcr-19 gmail-tag-house-concurrent-resolution-10 gmail-tag-senate-community-and-regional-affairs-committee">
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<div id="gmail-attachment_140155" style="width:540px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-aligncenter"><img class="gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-140155" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2016/11/Ortiz-horizontak-530-wide-KRBD.jpg" alt="House District 36 Rep. Dan Ortiz addresses the Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce in 2014. (Photo by KRBD)" width="530" height="447"><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Ketchikan
Rep. Dan Ortiz introduced a resolution last week calling for Gov. Bill
Walker to “issue an administrative order recognizing a ‘linguistic
emergency” for Alaska Native languages. (Photo by KRBD)</p></div>
<p dir="ltr">The Alaska Native Linguistic Emergency resolution is ready
to move through committee in the state Senate. It has already passed the
House.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee opened its hearing Tuesday on <a href="http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/30?Root=hcr%2019">House Concurrent Resolution 19</a>
with remarks from the measure’s sponsor, Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who
called Alaska Native culture and language a central part of the state’s
cultural identity.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He told the senators that passing it would build on actions already taken by the Legislature.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Mr. Chairman, the state has moved in the right direction
by acknowledging and recognizing the 20 Alaska Native languages as
official languages of the state,” Ortiz said. “However, recognition is
just the first step.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ortiz’s resolution would urge the governor to implement a
recommendation put forward by the Alaska Native Language Preservation
Advisory Council this year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“In their 2018 bi-annual report to the governor and
Legislature, the advisory council warned that all 20 Alaska Native
Languages are in crisis, and most are predicted to become extinct or
dormant by the end of the 21st century,” Ortiz said. “The state of
Alaska can no longer sustain these rates of language loss unless policy
changes are enacted that support people who are learning and speaking
Alaska Native languages throughout the state.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Community and Regional Affairs Committee resumes
discussion of the “linguistic emergency” resolution at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 5.</p></div></div></div></article></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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