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KnowledgeBases > The American Indian Education KnowledgeBase > Element 4 > Activity 4 > Task 2: Discover How American Indian and Indigenous Languages Around the World Are Endangered

Guideline: About every two weeks, another of the world's languages dies, and is no longer spoken by anyone.  The United States is one of the areas where this is happening, especially in Oklahoma and California, where the last speakers of many American Indian languages are very old.  These languages represent vital links to the culture and identity of native peoples, and there is increasing interest in ensuring that native children continue to speak their heritage language.
References Cultural Survival vs. Forced Assimilation: The Renewed War on Diversity _EXTERNAL_LINK

This 2001 article from the Cultural Survival Quarterly notes "that of the more than two million people who identify themselves as American Indians in the United States, only 361, 978 still speak one of the remaining 154 indigenous languages, and many of those are only spoken by the very old."

References Enduring Voices: Saving Disappearing Languages _EXTERNAL_LINK

This National Geographic website explores disappearing languages. The website notes, "nearly 80 percent of the world's population speaks only one percent of its languages. When the last speaker of a language dies, the world loses the knowledge that was contained in that language. The goal of the Enduring Voices Project is to document endangered languages and prevent language extinction by identifying the most crucial areas where languages are endangered and embarking on expeditions to understand the geographic dimensions of language distribution, determine how linguistic diversity is linked to biodiversity, and bring wide attention to the issue of language loss."

Presentations When It's Gone It's Gone

This documentary was filmed and produced by the Norman (Oklahoma) High School Native American Club. As stated by the club, "it examines the dying languages of Native Americans through the eyes of our Elders." The video runs seventeen minutes.

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Next: Task 3: Know About Efforts to Revitalize and Teach American Indian and Other Indigenous Languages Previous: Task 1: Be Aware of U.S. American Indian Language Policy


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