Dakotah language will be honored (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Posted on Thu, Aug. 26, 2004

Dakotah language will be honored
Governor declares Friday appreciation day; college, association plan
events

>From staff reports
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/9501502.htm

Gov. Mike Rounds has declared Friday "Dakotah Language Revitalization
and Appreciation Day," and Sisseton-Wahpeton College and the
Association of American Indian Affairs will celebrate the occasion.

The college and the association will host an event "to promote the
preservation of the precious and invaluable Dakotah Language."

"The language of the Dakotah people is a cultural heritage that is in
danger of vanishing as the elders pass on," according to a release from
the college. "Sisseton-Wahpeton College, in collaboration with the
Association of American Indian Affairs, has begun a Dakotah language
immersion program with our young children, which is already bearing
fruit as they speak the words of their ancestors."

The program begins at 11 a.m. at the library of the college near
Sisseton. According to the release, activities include:

• A public reading of the book "The Cat in the Hat" in Dakotah language.

• A premiere showing of the animated short "Mary Tahca Skana Cistina
Yuke" ("Mary had a Little Lamb"). The cartoon was recreated in the
Dakotah language at SWC.

• Speakers will include SWC President Bill Lone Fight; Jerry Flute, a
member of the board of directors of the Association of American Indian
Affairs; and Solomon Derby, a former SWC faculty member, who will talk
about the children's book he wrote as part of a class he took at the
college.

• If time allows, a video version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"
will be shown. Narrated by staff member Bea Christopherson, the video
was recorded and edited on campus.

For more information, contact Tammy Decoteau, language project
coordinator, or T.J. Just, public relations committee chairperson, at
(605) 698-3966.