UAF to offer two new Athabascan language courses this fall
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Photo provided by Bruce Ervin
Bruce Ervin will teach Upper Tanana Dene/Athabascan.

The Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will offer two new Native language courses for the fall 2024 semester.

The center will offer Lower Tanana-Benhti...
https://alaska-native-news.com/uaf-to-offer-two-new-athabascan-language-courses-this-fall/74151/
#athabaskan #language #courses #uaf

' “Learning language is really scary, right? It’s frightening! People will tell stories like ‘I’m learning to speak, people are laughing at me’ which makes them not want to do it.

“But here we have an offering where you can listen and get some basics in the privacy of your home.” '

#IndigenousLanguages #learning #Canada #Haudenosaunee #Cree #Athabaskan #Anishinaabe #Inuktitut #NativeAmerican

https://globalnews.ca/news/10273315/indigenous-language-radio-series/

Why #Navajo is the world’s hardest language to learn
The tonal #NativeAmerican #language differentiates words based on #pitch and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play.

by Tim Brinkhof, November 27, 2023

"Concentrated in #Arizona and #NewMexico, the Navajo are one of the largest Native American groups in the United States. Consisting of up to 400,000 tribal members, they are thought to have originated from northwestern #Canada and were forcibly moved to their present location by the federal government in the 1860s during #TheLongWalk.

"Traditional Navajo families live in circular mud-and-log homes called hogans, create intricate ceremonial paintings made of sand, and hold four-day runs (a ritual called kinaalda) to celebrate young girls turning into adult women.

"Arguably, the most important aspect of Navajo culture is their language. Also known as #Diné #Bizaad (the “people’s language”), Navajo is similar to #Apache, from which it separated between 1300 and 1525 AD. Both Navajo and Apache belong to a language family called #Athabaskan, which, providing evidence for their geographic origin, is also spoken by native tribes in #Yukon, #Alaska, and #BritishColumbia. As with other Native American languages, #globalization and #discrimination threaten Navajo’s survival. In 2017, the number of fluent speakers was estimated at 170,000, less than half of the tribe’s population.

"Learning Navajo isn’t easy. Compared to other complicated but more widely spoken languages, like Korean or Arabic, there are limited resources available to non-speakers. Mastery of Navajo language also requires a level of familiarity with Navajo customs, something even some Indigenous people no longer have access to.

"That said, the most daunting aspect of learning Navajo is the language itself. Described by linguists Robert W. Young and William Morgan as a 'hopeless maze of irregularities,' its unique grammar, syntax, and tonal pronunciation are so indecipherable to outsiders that, during the Second World War, the American army used Navajo as a form of military code."

https://bigthink.com/high-culture/navajo-language/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#CulturalPreservation #IndigenousLanguages #IndigenousCulture #Linguistics #Anthropology #Codetalkers

Early digital photos were so small. These were produced from prints, they'd come back from developing on Floppy Disk, with the prints.

Taken by me, waiting for the ship to dock on the opposite side, so we could go ashore and waste some money. .

#Curacao #HMCS #Athabaskan #RCN #Navy #Tropical #Visit #Travel

#INDIGENOUS #MONSTERS!

#Cree #Anishinaabe #Inuit #Seneca #Lakota #Iroquois #Abenaki #Lenape #Athabaskan #Nahua #Tlingit #Shoshone #Wampanoag #TTRPG #OSR