"Alaska Native Languages"

The class assignment was to write a letter to anyone they wanted. In Lingít. Eechdaa Dave Ketah chose his late grandmother, the person who spoke Lingít to him when he was growing up in Ketchikan. “And I was telling her that it’s hard learning the language at this point in my life, and one thing…

The Molly of Denali project is just one effort of Doyon Foundation’s language revitalization program, which works to preserve the ancestral languages of the Doyon region.

Twitchell says this dark chapter in history has recently pushed into the mainstream consciousness, but he’s heard stories for years.

A Tlingit language scholar said the word “preservation” should be taken out of the council’s name because it is trying to revitalize languages, not just preserve them. 

Dena’ina is a highly endangered language. For years, linguists and local Alaska Native people have been working on language and culture revitalization projects at Kenai Peninsula College and through the Kenaitze Tribe.

The spelling bee took place during the Sharing Our Knowledge Conference held in Juneau last month.