(Reuters) – The last known native speaker of the Klallam language, which the U.S. government once sought to phase out before funding an effort to preserve it, died in Washington state on Tuesday at age 103, friends and tribal leaders said.
The death of Hazel Sampson, who was taught the Klallam language by her parents before learning English, marks the end of an era, said Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. Sampson died at a hospital in Port Angeles, Washington.
Klallam belongs to the Salish family of Native American languages, spoken in the Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada.
“It’s the final chapter of one of our tribal citizens who grew up in the culture before we were exposed extensively to the non-Indian culture and language,” Allen said. “We lost an elder who kept the culture and language of the S’Klallam people fresh in the younger generation.” More.
See: Reuters
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Well-- the language did not die-- it was preserved--a dictionary was published and some of the members of the tribe speak it. It is also taught in school. so it is not like the langauge has died. I don't know what they meant "by the last native speaker of X"-- there are other tribe members who sp... See more
Well-- the language did not die-- it was preserved--a dictionary was published and some of the members of the tribe speak it. It is also taught in school. so it is not like the langauge has died. I don't know what they meant "by the last native speaker of X"-- there are other tribe members who speak the language. This information has been phrased in a slightly awkward way. Some missing elements of the language can also be easily reconstructed. There is a lot of material available.
[Edited at 2014-02-08 14:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Local time: 20:53
English to Spanish
The only two speakers left of an indigenous language are brothers who are not young any more, but due to differences between them they have not spoken to each other for years.
Different government agencies have intervened in an effort to reconcile them, unsuccessfully so far.
In the meantime, cultural anthropologists and linguists afraid that the language will die soon keep recording both brothers.
I read this so... See more
The only two speakers left of an indigenous language are brothers who are not young any more, but due to differences between them they have not spoken to each other for years.
Different government agencies have intervened in an effort to reconcile them, unsuccessfully so far.
In the meantime, cultural anthropologists and linguists afraid that the language will die soon keep recording both brothers.
I read this some time ago, I do not know whether things have changed. ▲ Collapse
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English to Spanish
Normally the transition from a spoken to an extinct language occurs when a language undergoes language death while being directly replaced by a different one. For example, some Native American languages were replaced by English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, or Dutch as a result of colonization.
By contrast to an extinct language which no longer has any speakers, a dead language may remain in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Old Chur... See more
Normally the transition from a spoken to an extinct language occurs when a language undergoes language death while being directly replaced by a different one. For example, some Native American languages were replaced by English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, or Dutch as a result of colonization.
By contrast to an extinct language which no longer has any speakers, a dead language may remain in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Old Church Slavonic, Avestan, Coptic, Biblical Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Ge'ez, Ardhamagadhi, Pali, Sanskrit and Latin are among the many dead languages used as sacred languages. Courses and active teaching still exist for these, as well as Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Maya script.
For the entire Wikipedia article, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_language ▲ Collapse
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