University of Texas-Austin helps Native Americans learn to save own languages

[The Northerner]

ARLINGTON, Texas Hutke Fields pictures a time when younger generations of Natchez people use his tribe's native tongue at ceremonies, while sharing oral histories and during everyday talk at home.

But Field's vision is complicated by the fact that only six people, out of about 10,000 members of the Natchez tribe in Oklahoma, still speak the language.

"We'll lose it if we don't use it," said Fields, who received assistance last year during a workshop dedicated to helping American Indian communities in Oklahoma to bring back disappearing languages.

Fields is a participant in the Breath of Life project - a joint effort by experts from the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Oklahoma - in which linguists mentor American Indians so they can better recover endangered languages.

Read more: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/06/09/2051807/university-of-texas-austin-helps.html

[Redd817]

1. UT Arlington, not Austin

The only reason I care is I'm an alumni and like to see my school doing cool stuff.