Frenchman helps keep Alaska Native Eyak language alive (fwd link)

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Frenchman helps keep Alaska Native Eyak language alive

Diane Jeantet | The Cordova Times | Aug 26, 2012
USA

CORDOVA, Alaska -- With the gift, sometimes also comes the burden.

Guillaume Leduey remembers the first time the media caught up with
him. He also remembers the email from someone asking why everyone was
suddenly taking interest in him. “The thing is,” he answered, “I never
wanted to be in the spotlight.”

When Leduey first took interest in the dying language of Eyak in his
parents’ house in Le Havre, France, he never could have suspected what
was ahead.

Only 13 years old at the time, Leduey was eager to learn another
language and had thought about Lithuanian after hearing it at
Eurovision, a European annual song contest. “It sounded
so...beautiful!” he recalled, laughing at his younger self.

Then his dad offered him an encyclopedia that contained all of the
world’s languages. He read about the Aida language, spoken in
Southeast Alaska. Intrigued, he did more research and stumbled upon a
map of the state of Alaska, which eventually led him to reading about
the sad tale of the Eyak people and their endangered language.

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