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Native America Calling: When is it OK to let a Native language die?
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
When is it OK to let a Native language die?
The language of the Osage Nation was declared dead in 2005 after its last fluent speaker died, but revitalization efforts since then have built the number of proficient speakers to about 40.
The Caddo Nation continues its extensive language revitalization efforts more than a year after its last fluent speaker walked on. But it’s an uphill battle for most tribes in the United States to retain their language.
The new book “How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words” examines the global crisis of cultures losing their languages. In a New Yorker review of the book, philosophy instructor Nikhil Krishnan uses the book’s premise to argue that the death of a language is sometimes “just how things go.”
That touched off strong opposition from the language advocacy organization, The Endangered Languages Project. They and other organizations say such fatalistic thinking promotes misleading and harmful narratives and undermines efforts to preserve languages globally.
Tune into Native America Calling to hear from Indigenous language advocates who argue no expense should be spared to revive languages before we lose them.
Guests on Native America Calling
N. Ha’alilio Solomon (Native Hawaiian), assistant professor of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Dr. Myrna Cunningham (Miskito), Indigenous Peoples rights activist and educator and First Vice President of Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y el Caribe, or Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC)
Skyler Kuczaboski (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), grants administration support for the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
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