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CNN Live Saturday
A Tongue Forever Silenced
Aired December 28, 2002 - 17:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In a native community in Alaska, an elderly woman is preparing to take a painful regret to her grave. When she dies, her people's language will die with her. CNN's Richard Roth tells us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIE SMITH, CHIEF, EYAK NATION: It hurts when people come up and ask me how does it feel to be the last one? That's a hard question to answer.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marie Smith is the last living speaker of her language.
SMITH: I am the chief of the Eyak Nation.
ROTH: A nation now without its native language. Chief Smith's Eyak tribe is scattered throughout Alaska. After one long journey to a special gathering, the chief gave tribal members Eyak names though she had to explain their meaning. At a tree planting ceremony, they asked the chief to offer a prayer in their native Eyak tongue, even though they would not be able to understand.
The Eyak language had been around for some 3,000 years. At age 84, Marie Smith deeply regrets that it comes to an end with her. It is too late for Marie to teach a new generation.
SMITH: I waited for my children to ask me to teach them my language and I done that the wrong way. I should have started speaking to them in my language so they'd learn like my parents done with me.
ROTH: Linguist Michael Krauss has spent decades working with Marie to document Eyak.
MICHAEL KRAUSS, LINGUIST: She's the last speaker of Eyak but she has lots of company, I'm afraid, when it comes to being the last speaker of many languages on earth which are disappearing now at an unprecedented and horrifying rate.
ROTH: There are more than 6,000 languages spoken on earth. Experts estimate by the next century, 90 percent of languages could become extinct.
KRAUSS: If people do not wake up, we're sure to lose 90 percent of our intellectual, cultural, linguistic diversity. ROTH: In the jungles and the remote villages of the world, languages are falling silent. Historically disease, natural disaster, and political oppression are the causes. The Eyak language and others are now being drowned out by dominant languages such as English through television. As a child, Marie spoke Eyak at home with her parents. At school, she found her native language was not welcome. Chief Smith hopes other languages won't share the same fate.
SMITH: It's too bad when you only have a linguist to talk to. When I'm home I talk to the TV. I talk to things. They don't answer me back.
ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 28, 2002 - 17:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In a native community in Alaska, an elderly woman is preparing to take a painful regret to her grave. When she dies, her people's language will die with her. CNN's Richard Roth tells us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIE SMITH, CHIEF, EYAK NATION: It hurts when people come up and ask me how does it feel to be the last one? That's a hard question to answer.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marie Smith is the last living speaker of her language.
SMITH: I am the chief of the Eyak Nation.
ROTH: A nation now without its native language. Chief Smith's Eyak tribe is scattered throughout Alaska. After one long journey to a special gathering, the chief gave tribal members Eyak names though she had to explain their meaning. At a tree planting ceremony, they asked the chief to offer a prayer in their native Eyak tongue, even though they would not be able to understand.
The Eyak language had been around for some 3,000 years. At age 84, Marie Smith deeply regrets that it comes to an end with her. It is too late for Marie to teach a new generation.
SMITH: I waited for my children to ask me to teach them my language and I done that the wrong way. I should have started speaking to them in my language so they'd learn like my parents done with me.
ROTH: Linguist Michael Krauss has spent decades working with Marie to document Eyak.
MICHAEL KRAUSS, LINGUIST: She's the last speaker of Eyak but she has lots of company, I'm afraid, when it comes to being the last speaker of many languages on earth which are disappearing now at an unprecedented and horrifying rate.
ROTH: There are more than 6,000 languages spoken on earth. Experts estimate by the next century, 90 percent of languages could become extinct.
KRAUSS: If people do not wake up, we're sure to lose 90 percent of our intellectual, cultural, linguistic diversity. ROTH: In the jungles and the remote villages of the world, languages are falling silent. Historically disease, natural disaster, and political oppression are the causes. The Eyak language and others are now being drowned out by dominant languages such as English through television. As a child, Marie spoke Eyak at home with her parents. At school, she found her native language was not welcome. Chief Smith hopes other languages won't share the same fate.
SMITH: It's too bad when you only have a linguist to talk to. When I'm home I talk to the TV. I talk to things. They don't answer me back.
ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
