Michael Krauss receives Denali Award

Yesterday at the closing of the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention linguist Michael Krauss received the Denali Award, an honor given to non-Natives for service to Native peoples and issues. Dr. Krauss is the founder of the Alaska Native Language Center and has been a longtime advocate for Alaska Native languages. He was among the first to alert his profession and the wider public to issues of language endangerment -- in Alaska and across the world. While Krauss and Native leaders have not always seen eye to eye on priorities for language work, this award clearly reflects that on the fundamental issues of importance -- the need for language documentation and the need to develop revitalization programs -- academic linguistics and the Alaska Native communities stand in agreement. Surely this bodes well for future collaboration to preserve a future for Alaska's indigenous languages.

Forcing English in Aboriginal Australia

I've always felt that we Alaskans have much to learn from the Australian language situation. We make regular pilgrimages to Aotearoa to learn about language nests and other revitalization programs, but it is in Australia not New Zealand that the Native language situation similar to Alaska. So it is sad to see the Australian government playing the same language games that the state and federal governments do in Alaska. As described in Jane Simpson's post on the Transient Languages and Cultures Blog, the government of Australia's Northern Territory -- home to many Aboriginal people -- wants to solve all the problems with education in the territory by forcing more teaching of English, at the expense of teaching Aboriginal languages, of course. The irony is that, as described in another recent post, a recent government report just cited the benefits of bilingual education. Go figure. But read about it. We can learn much from the English-only struggle of Australians.

Alaska Native word-of-the-day/week

I was digging around the web the other day and discovered that there are actually quite a few "word-of-the-day" sites for Alaska Native Languages. Here are a few that I know of. Please respond if you know of others.

Dena'ina
Dena'ina Featured Word is announced on a fairly regular basis through an email listserv, and is posted with audio on Qenaga.org. These recordings are mostly taken from archival material. (Last updated Oct 2008)

Unangan
Word of the week includes both audio and text. (Last updated Jan 2007)

Alutiiq
Word of the Week is not only online but can also be heard three times a week on KMXT radio and also appears in the local Kodiak Daily Mirror newspaper. It is available via an email listserv and also via RSS feed.

Iñupiaq
Word of the Week includes video of pronunciation! (requires Windows Media Player plugin if using browsers other than IE) (Last updated April 2008.)

Koyukon and Tanana Athabascan
Athabascan Word of the Week is featured weekly in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and also available as an iTunes podcast. (Last updated online July 2008.)

Tlingit
Phrase of the Week. (Last updated May 2006.)

Aleut (Unangan) / Inupiaq / Yupik/ Tlingit / Tsimshian / "Athabascan"
Many different Alaska Native Languages have been featured on KNBA radio's Native Word of the Day.

Tlingit
Tlingit Time is more than just a word of a day. Each podcast is a mini Tlingit language lessons focusing on a particular topics. Available via RSS feed or as an iTunes podcast.