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CNN Saturday Morning News
Last Living Speaker of Eyak
Aired December 28, 2002 - 09:54 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.
CATHERINE CALLOWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine being a tribal chief, and no one in the tribe speaks your native language.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Feel like that all the time. That's the case of an Alaska woman. Her native language will die with her.
CNN's Richard Roth introduces us.
(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 UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marie Smith is the last living speaker of her language.
SMITH: (Speaks in Eyak) 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.
SMITH: (speaks in Eyak)
ROTH: 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 teach them my language. 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.
MICHAEL KRAUSS, LINGUIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA: (speaks in Eyak) This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) name is Lena.
ROTH: Linguist Michael Krauss has spent decades working with Marie to document Eyak.
KRAUSS: She's the last speaker of Eyak, but she is in 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 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 hurts too bad when you only have a linguist to talk to. When I'm home I talk to the TV, I talk (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 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
CATHERINE CALLOWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine being a tribal chief, and no one in the tribe speaks your native language.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Feel like that all the time. That's the case of an Alaska woman. Her native language will die with her.>
Aired December 28, 2002 - 09:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLOWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine being a tribal chief, and no one in the tribe speaks your native language.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Feel like that all the time. That's the case of an Alaska woman. Her native language will die with her.
CNN's Richard Roth introduces us.
(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 UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marie Smith is the last living speaker of her language.
SMITH: (Speaks in Eyak) 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.
SMITH: (speaks in Eyak)
ROTH: 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 teach them my language. 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.
MICHAEL KRAUSS, LINGUIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA: (speaks in Eyak) This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) name is Lena.
ROTH: Linguist Michael Krauss has spent decades working with Marie to document Eyak.
KRAUSS: She's the last speaker of Eyak, but she is in 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 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 hurts too bad when you only have a linguist to talk to. When I'm home I talk to the TV, I talk (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 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
CATHERINE CALLOWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Imagine being a tribal chief, and no one in the tribe speaks your native language.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Feel like that all the time. That's the case of an Alaska woman. Her native language will die with her.>
