Native Languages: Legacy and Lifeline:

“The languages of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes are fading into silence, one voice at a time, as fluent elderly speakers die.

Those languages, embedded in a native Plains Indian culture thousands of years old, welcomed Lewis and Clark on their epic trip west.

But most children today on the Fort Berthold Reservation in west-central North Dakota grow up in homes where English is the language of daily life.

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, today jointly known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are fighting to save their languages — and culture — from extinction.

Choose a tribe from the menu … to learn about their struggles … and hear what is lost when a language dies.” —The Fargo (ND) Forum [via The Media Center]