Doyon is one of Alaska's regional corporation and runs more than
a dozen companiess. The 12.5 million acres of land in Alaska's
interior they own is home to 10 ancestral languages, including nine
Athabascan languages plus Inupiaq, and represents half of the 20
Native languages spoken in the state of Alaska.
According to the Doyon Foundation, all of the Doyon region
languages are severely to critically endangered and will be lost
within the span of a few generations if no action is taken. The
loss is attributed to the rapidly decreasing health of fluent
Native language speakers which prevents the languages from being
passed on quickly enough to ensure their survival.
In 2009, the Doyon Foundation, with support from Doyon, Limited,
established a
language revitalization program to ensure the cultures and
languages of the Doyon region are taught, documented and easily
accessible.
$900,000 Language Grant
Early in September 2016, the language revitalization program
received great news when the Administration for Native Americans
(ANA) announced that the Doyon Foundation was selected to receive a
Native American Language Reservation and Maintenance grant of
$900,000 over a three-year period.
The grant will help fund the Doyon Languages Online project, a partnership
with 7000 Languages, which is a non-profit organization that makes
leading technology available to language teams working with
lesser-known and under-resourced languages.
While the Foundation aims to create online courses for all the
Doyon region languages over time, during the three-year grant
project, 280 introductory online lessons will be created for five
of the Doyon languages: Holikachuk, Denaakk'e, Benhti Kenaga', Hän,
and Dinjii Zhuh K'yaa.
Doris Miller, Foundation Executive Director said: "As Native
people, our languages are part of our identity and are very
precious to us. Our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
deserve to have the opportunity to learn their language."
Image: Doyon
Region Languages. Source: Doyonfoundation.com
To read more, please see: The Doyon Foundation Receives $900,000 Grant
for Language Revitalization.
Further Resources from GPI
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