Gov. Sean Parnell has signed into law a bill creating an Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council.
Senate Bill 130, which passed nearly unanimously, was sponsored by Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, and Rep. Alan Dick, R-Stony River, with Juneau’s Sen. Dennis Egan and Reps. Cathy Muñoz and Beth Kerttula all signing on as co-sponsors.
Muñoz had been a prime sponsor of similar House legislation as well.
The council will assess the state of Alaska Native languages, re-evaluate the programs, and make recommendations to establish new programs or reorganize existing programs.
“Without language preservation, a culture dies,” Parnell said. “As Alaskans, we honor and celebrate our traditional cultures. The state will join with Alaskans to make sure these languages live on.”
Parnell signed the bill on Memorial Day, while in Dillingham attending a rural providers conference.
“If we lose our Native languages, I think we lose a big part of who we are as a people whether we are Native or not,” Muñoz said during the session.
The volunteer panel of language experts set up by the legislation would look at successful language programs, such as those in Juneau schools or at the University of Alaska Southeast that might be expanded locally or copied elsewhere, Muñoz said.
The council is expected to cost between $500,000 and $600,000 a year to operate, with money already budgeted for that cost.
Expenses would include travel for the seven council members to meetings around the state, along with two staff people, a committee administrator and research analyst.
Council members would come from various geographic areas of the state, including two from Anchorage, and one each from Fairbanks, Juneau, Kotzebue, Barrow and Bethel.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (8)
Add comment$500,000 - $600,000
Why is the state funding something Sealaska Heritage Foundation should be/may already be doing?
Cause Sealaska has a really
Cause Sealaska has a really good lobbyist! And its the right thing to do...
Jo
There are or were, about twenty different "languages" spoken in the past in Alaska. Linguists distinguish "languages" from "dialects" by noting if they are "mutually unintelligible", that means people can't understand each other, even though their languages are similar or "of the same family."
It is not up to Sealaska to help preserve all the languages, but should be, and apparently are, doing that for the indigenous languages spoken in Southeastern Alaska.
I support efforts to preserve the indigenous languages of Alaska, knowing full well the benefits and limitations of those programs.
I am also an advocate for letting students in our school system have access to learning various modern languages, used by millions and billions of people in the world. Like it or not, we are in a globalized world where people from many lands, cultures, traditions and economies are in daily communication. The young people today, if they want to be part of the real world around them, would benefit by becoming fluent -that is being able to read, write and speak - more than just English.
In my life, I have studied some languages that I can "handle fairly well" , and several in which I can "survive" that is find breakfast, the bathroom and the airport.
What has kind of amazed me in my travels to Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, and especially Europe, has been the number of people who are fluent in two or three languages.
I had two students from Switzerland, both of whom spoke and wrote English very well - and I found out that they were able to do the same in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
We need to support programs to preserve indigenous languages and linguistics. We need to give the same support to students who want to learn modern, global languages such as Russian, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish.
Of course, that's just my opinion.
Two stories for Jo
Jo,
When I was teaching, students seemed to enjoy "stories" so here are two.
In 1968, having studied Norwegian for two semesters, I visited Norway. One morning, trying to figure out the local Oslo bus schedule, I asked an elderly, man, well dressed and distinguished -looking "Vil du vere so snil a hjelpe me?" (Which is not a good way of writing Norwegian, but means "will you be so good as to help me?") In perfect English he replied, "Yes, what bus are you looking for"? I found in Norway, and Scandinavia nearly everyone spoke their own language and English as well.
At the airport in Copenhagen, waiting in line to get a reservation and ticket, I listened as the attendant spoke to those ahead of me in line - in German, then in French. She spoke to me in perfect English. But as I looked at her, and her physical features, I asked "Are you possibly an Innuit from Greenland ?" She said, in perfect Inupiaq "Yes I am."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if more young Alaskans had the linguistic skills she had??
The expenditure is justified
because representatives of white political dominance in the federal and territorial governments did all they could, in the past, to extinguish Alaska Native language and culture, in an intentional effort to strip Alaska Natives of their identity and, by obvious extension, their dignity. If those past authorities had had their way, Alaska Natives would be extinct by now(or be living exactly like people of European descent, which would effectively be the same thing, since Alaska Natives wouldn't really be alive at all if forced to give up all of their past).
This is a small, actually insufficient price to pay for the consequences of importing the colonial mindset to "The Last Frontier".
Perhaps we will someday learn the lesson...the best world is the world in which all people are allowed to be the best parts of themselves, and are allowed to preserve those things that make them what they are...which, in most of the world, includes one's culture, heritage, and traditions.
Would a world like that really be so terrible?
Ken I agree
I agree that spending money to preserve the languages of Alaskan Native peoples is rather small compared to what our State government spends for many other things.
For those of us who have spent years studying the history of Alaska, the injustices that have taken place, the things done to "eradicate" the "savage" Native cultures, languages, arts and traditions, it is time to admit that what was done in the past was unjust and unfair and try to do what can be done to preserve what remains.
But there is another side to all this: we need to do the same for our young people now, before they are deprived of an opportunity to be active and beneficial participants in a whole new world. Like it or not, some languages are emerging as global languages, not because they are superior or better than others, but simply because millions and billions of people use them in everyday communications. We have to do what we can to allow and encourage young people today to learn not only their local languages, but languages that will be useful to them in the future.
In the past, those speaking their Native languages were left out of the changes taking place in Alaska, simply because they did not "speak English." Their languages, equal to English in every respect, were not acceptable at the time.
We have to allow people to speak, read and write in their own traditional languages. At the same time, we have to accept the real, modern, current, global world and try to make sure that present and future Alaskans are not left out of what are emerging a future global languages.
If one wants to debate the cost of language instruction, then one needs to accept the fact that learning some languages are good for the preservation of what we have, and other languages may be good for the future. Perhaps the cost of both should be weighed.
This is a total waste
The only reason Europeans are so successful at speaking multiple languages is that they use them daily in business and at home. There is a reason few people in the world are fluent in ancient Greek and Latin. Their time has passed.
Native languages will never make a comeback to daily use. No one is stopping anyone from speaking, reading and writing in any language they choose. Taxpayers already fund millions of grants to allow people to learn dying languages.
With our Native corps raking in billions; why aren't they spending a few million on this narrow focus special interest project they claim will "save their culture"?
Do The Right Thing Makes some good points
I am in support of preservation of Native Languages to the extent they can be saved but I believe as several others do that Native Corps can and should control and fund these efforts. So many state programs are starving or can be made effective but for lack of funding. The 'choose respect' program for example can use some teeth and financial support instead of being a nice sound bite.
Sorry to anyone I offend here...but I think this is simply political pandering to the native voter and a nice little paid travel assignment for the council. Plus...I doubt it will make any real difference in the demise of the Native languages. As Do The Right Thing says:
"There is a reason few people in the world are fluent in ancient Greek and Latin. Their time has passed."
Unless the languages are spoken in every day dealings and business I fear we are only postponing the inevitable and the money wasted.