Alaska Legislature Passes Bill to Protect Alaska Native Languages

In what may well be the most important piece of legislation supporting Alaska Native languages since the bilingual education act of 1972, the Alaska Legislature today passed a bill creating the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council. The bill appropriates approximately $200,000 annually to run the council, which will serve in an advisory capacity to the Lieutenant Governor. The bill now awaits the signatures of Governor Parnell.

The following is the text of a press release from Senator Donald Olson's office.

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Legislature Passes Bill to Protect Alaska Native Languages

Bill establishes advisory council to preserve and restore Alaska’s indigenous languages

JUNEAU-Today, the Alaska State Legislature passed Senate Bill 130, which is intended to protect and restore Alaska Native Languages. The legislation will establish the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council to assess the state of Alaska Native Languages, reevaluate the programs within the state, and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature to establish new programs or reorganize the current programs.

“Alaska Native Languages are the backbone of our culture, but unfortunately some of them are almost extinct,” said Senator Olson. “Senate Bill 130 ensures important Alaska Native customs continue on and be passed from generation to generation.”

According to the University of Alaska’s Language Center’s Population and Speaker Statistics published in 2007, only 22 percent Alaska Natives statewide can speak their native language. More specifically, only 29 percent of the Eskimo Aleut population, less than 2 percent of the Tsimshian and Haida, and less than 5 percent of the Athabascan and Tlingit communities combined are fluent speakers. The Eyak language recently lost its last native fluent speaker.

Of the state's 20 Alaska Native languages, only two (Siberian Yupik in two villages on St. Lawrence Island, and Central Yup'ik in seventeen villages in southwestern Alaska) are spoken by children as the first language of the home.

“My hope is the advisory council will give effective representation for Alaska Native languages at the state level, which would be a monumental event for many elders who still remember being scolded in school for speaking their native language,” said Senator Olson. “This Legislation is the most significant piece of legislation affecting Alaska Native languages since 1972 when laws were passed requiring mandatory bilingual education in state-operated schools where children speak Alaska Native languages.”

The council would be comprised of professional language experts from across the state appointed by the governor, plus two non-voting legislators from the Bush Caucus.

The council is required to produce a report every two years with the first one due by July 1st, 2014.

Senate Bill 130 now heads to Governor Parnell for his signature.

For more information, please contact Loren Peterson in Senator Olson’s office at (907) 465-3707.