Language

Katharine Whittmore is a journalist whose work has been published in many of the country’s leading magazines. While editing “American Retrospective Series”, she became interested in the loss of Native American cultures and their languages. She was sad and alarmed by the rapid disappearance in this century if indigenous languages not only in America, but worldwide. She believes that 90% of world’s language will become extinct by the century’s close. In “Saving California Languages”, Katharine relate in details how California Advocates are trying to save, teach, and protect indigenous languages. The California Advocates sponsors the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program, which brings together a few dedicated advocates, surviving speakers of scattered, nearly extinct tribal languages and students wishing to learn the languages. The emphasis of participants in these programs is not to record, and analyzes a language, but to learn, absorb, preserve, and pass it on, along with whatever remnants of culture is left.

Carol Korb a graduate of Humboldt and Leanne Hilton a linguistic professor of University of California at Berkeley. T

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But we must know our language to survive forever.

There are about 30 Wukchumne left in the world; they were hit hard by the Gold Rush. The children know their stories and perform dances and skits at tribal meetings.

“Yes, we must know the white language to survive in this world. In advocates-sponsored language immersion camps the teacher never lapses into English to make things easier and because of this many quit out of frustration. The Gold Rush from 1840 to 1850, that 150,000 dropped to about 30,000 because each Indian killed represented $5.

An apprentice of Yowlumni named Matt

The Purpose:

The apprentice will learn the language which takes about 500 hours of intense instruction and then teach it to a group of tribal children. Native Americans moved across North America from west to east, migrating first over a thin blade of land that later slipped under waves of the Bering Strait.

The Masters are usually elder members of a tribe, often one of a handful of speakers left. They won’t utter the name of a deceased relative for a year after his death.

Scholars believe that 200 out of 350 languages survived today. The Gold Rush is the reason why we don’t see tenacious Indian cultures in California.

Approximate Word count = 990
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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