Grants aim to help preserve native languages (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Article published Mar 11, 2007
Grants aim to help preserve native languages

By KIM SKORNOGOSKI
Tribune Staff Writer
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/NEWS01/703110309/1002

Only a handful of people still speak the Mandan language, which was
critical to the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial is offering
grants to fund tribal language educational programs in the community
and schools with the hopes of preserving Mandan and other native
languages.

"American Indian languages are libraries of ancient knowledge," said
Darrell Kipp, founder of the Piegan Institute in Browning, which has a
mission of researching, promoting and preserving language. "When a
language dies, that wisdom is lost forever."

Scholars estimate that 90 percent of the world's languages are spoken by
10 percent of the population. Many Indian ancestral languages have
already been lost and the majority that remain are not being taught to
children.

"There are currently 6,000 languages spoken in the world, and at least
half are projected to disappear in this century," said Douglas Whalen,
founder and president of the Endangered Language Fund.

Proceeds from sales of a Lewis and Clark commemorative coin and a
handmade Indian pouch set bankroll the $1.6 million Endangered Language
Fund.

Using interest off that money, the foundation is offering $2,500 to
$25,000 grants, starting later this year.

Kipp is one of three people on the inaugural advisory committee, which
will guide how grants are allocated and help execute language programs.

"The Native Voices Endowment gives us a chance to make a difference far
beyond the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial," said Robert Archibald,
president of the national bicentennial council and the Missouri
Historical Society.