Tribes draw knowledge from monolingual speakers (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

April 4, 2014Tribes draw knowledge from monolingual
speakers<http://www.joplinglobe.com/national/x493450032/Tribes-draw-knowledge-from-monolingual-speakers>

>From The Associated Press <http://www.joplinglobe.com/>

BRIGGS, Okla. — Mack Vann sits in the living room of his single-story home
in rural Oklahoma with the television blaring, a news reporter giving
details of the latest grisly crime to hit the state.

But the 83-year-old Vann doesn’t understand most of what the reporter is
saying. Vann, who speaks only Cherokee, instead focuses on the visitors to
his home, many of whom know only a few simple words of Vann’s Native
American language.

“Osiyo,” he says to his new visitors, the Cherokee word for hello.

Vann is part of a fading population of American Indians in Oklahoma who
speak only their Native American language, no English. Though Oklahoma was
once known as Indian Country and ranks second in the nation in the number
of Native American residents, many of the tribal languages are endangered
or vulnerable to falling out of use.

Access full article below:
http://www.joplinglobe.com/national/x493450032/Tribes-draw-knowledge-from-monolingual-speakers
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