Elders of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska are working with a professor to preserve the Umo`nhon language.

In 1994, a survey showed that fewer than 1 percent of the tribe's 7,000 members spoke the language fluently. Of those, only 30 lived on the reservation.

Today, tribal elders say passing on the language is important to the survival of the tribe. Along with University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Mark Awakuni-Swetland, they have developed programs to teach the language to young children and college students.

Awakuni-Swetland is non-Native but was adopted by an Omaha family and, eventually the Omaha Tribe. He learned the language through his adoptive grandmother.

Get the Story:
Keeping alive a language and a culture (The Lincoln Journal Star 8/26)
UNL professor aims to rescue disappearing Omaha language (The Lincoln Journal Star 8/26)