Dying words (fwd link)

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Posted on Mon, Jun. 2, 2008

Dying words

As many American Indian languages pass away with their last few elderly
speakers, so do the unusual worldviews phrases can impart.

By Faye Flam
Inquirer Staff Writer

In the Lakota language, a single word expresses the awe and connectedness with
nature that some feel looking at the Northern Lights. In Euchee, the language
makes no distinction between humans and other animals, though it does
differentiate between Euchee people and non-Euchee.

And the Koasati language of Louisiana provides no word for good-bye, since time
is seen as more cyclical than linear. To end a conversation, you would say
something like, "This was good."

More than 300 American Indian languages flourished in North America at the time
of Columbus, each carrying a unique way of understanding the world.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20080602_Dying_words.html