She is the last person left who can speak this language
but she is not letting it go without a fight.
Can you imagine what feels like
to be the one whose shoulders the language of your people depends on?
We all speak a language. And if you're reading this,
chances are we all speak at least one of the same languages.
FACT:
There are 6,000 - 7,000 languages
spoken in the worl today.
But remember, many of those languages
are only spoken by a few thousand people.
In fact, about 500 of those languages
have fewer than 20,000 speakers left.
FACT:
Half of all existing languages
may be extinct by the year 2100
And unfortunately, when languages go extinct,
we don't just lose the languages themselves —
we lose the culture and age-old knowledge that comes with them
('cause remember, many of them are unwritten and undocumented).
FACT:
More than 130 Native languages
in the US, are endangered.
And y'know what's worse?
Several of the endangered native languages in the U.S.
are on the verge of extinction, with only a handful
of fluent speakers remaining.
STORY:
Marie Wilcox is the last
remaining speaker of the Wukchuhmni language
Because statistics can never really tell the full story,
here's a look at one tenacious woman's fight
to save her language from extinction.
This short documentary tells the story of Marie Wilcox,
the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language
and the dictionary she created in an effort to keep her language alive.
Want to learn more? Check out the accompanying lesson plan to this film: https://www.globalonenessproject.org/
Marie describes typing the Wukchumni dictionary one word — one letter,
even — at a time. It took her seven years to complete.
And despite what Marie said about
not necessarily wanting to teach anyone else the language,
she and her daughter Jennifer now teach weekly Wukchumni classes
to members of their tribe. Pretty dang impressive.
To learn a bit more about endangered languages
and do some exploring on your own,
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