IU helps revitalize dying language

The IU American Indian Studies Research Institute (AISRI) is leading the way in preserving and halting the decline of usage of the native Lakota language. \nLakota was once the most widely spoken of all native languages on the continent, but it is now in danger of extinction. Wil Meya, an AISRI staffer, is the director of a newly formed Lakota Language Consortium (LLC). The LLC includes 38 school systems that teach over 18,000 native Lakotans.\nThe LLC has met with school officials in the Reservations of Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock and Rosebud in North and South Dakota. \n"Everyone involved has expressed a strong commitment to the consortium concept as the best way to revive the Lakota language," Meya said.\nThe LLC's plan for saving the Lakota language includes standardizing the language, curriculum and materials to teach the language. The long term goals are to set up technical, structural and financial support structures. \nIU Professor Ray DeMallie is the AISRI director and a leading Lakota scholar. He is an anthropologist who has studied the Lakotas for the past 30 years.\n"Lakota speakers of the last fluent generation are becoming elders, and no realistic grassroots effort had emerged to direct the language recovery until the LLC was created," DeMallie said.\nIt's believed that 90 percent of the native Lakotans are not able to speak the language. This disturbed DeMallie because he believes the loss of language will lead to the loss of culture.\n"When the language is lost, many of the cultural elements are lost, such as its greetings, praises, laws, literature, songs, riddles, proverbs, cures, wisdom and prayers. A culture can't be expressed and passed on in any other way," DeMallie said.\nBoth DeMallie and Meya believe IU is a logical leader in the preservation in Native American language. The department of Anthropology has been studying Native American communities for the past 50 years, with researchers working on the language and linguistics. The IU School of Education has numerous specialties in language acquisition and is a national leader in the field.\nAISRI has been a leader in American Indian language documentation, instruction and revitalization. IU is also part of an international partnership developing sophisticated computer software to support American Indian language projects throughout the U.S.