{"id":734065,"date":"2026-08-04T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=734065"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:24:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:24:49","slug":"native-america-calling-when-is-it-ok-to-let-a-native-language-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/08\/04\/native-america-calling-when-is-it-ok-to-let-a-native-language-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Native America Calling: When is it OK to let a Native language die?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"card mb-2\">\r\n  <div class=\"row\">\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-4 align-self-center\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid\" alt=\"native america calling\"\/>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"col-md-8\">\r\n      <div class=\"card-body\">\r\n        <div class=\"h5-responsive card-title\">Native America Calling<\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n           Listen to Native America Calling every weekday at 1pm Eastern.\r\n        <\/div>\r\n        <div>\r\n          <!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\r\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1859-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3\">http:\/\/playerservices.streamtheworld.com\/api\/livestream-redirect\/NV1.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\r\n\t\t\tAlternate Links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nv1.org\/\">Native Voice One<\/a> |\r\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\">NAC<\/a>\r\n\t\t\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\"><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Tuesday, August 4, 2026<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/\"><i class=\"fas fa-link fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling.com<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nativeamericacalling\/\"><i class=\"fab fa-instagram fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nativeamericacalling\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook fa-xs\"><\/i> nativeamericacalling<\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">\r\nWhen is it OK to let a Native language die?\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe   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.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n The Caddo Nation continues its extensive language revitalization efforts more than a year after its last fluent speaker walked on. But it\u2019s an uphill battle for most tribes in the United States to retain their language. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe new book  \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3SasX0k\">How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words<\/a>\u201d examines the global crisis of cultures losing their languages. In a New Yorker review of the book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2026\/07\/27\/how-to-kill-a-language-sophia-smith-galer-book-review\">philosophy instructor Nikhil Krishnan uses the book\u2019s premise to argue that the death of a language<\/a> is sometimes \u201cjust how things go.\u201d \r\n<p><\/P>\r\nThat touched off strong opposition from the language advocacy organization, <a href=\"https:\/\/endangeredlanguages.com\/story\/response-sometimes-its-ok-let-language-die\">The Endangered Languages Project<\/a>. They and other organizations say such fatalistic thinking promotes misleading and harmful narratives and undermines efforts to preserve languages globally. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\nTune into Native America Calling to hear from Indigenous language advocates who argue no expense should be spared to revive languages before we lose them.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/11\/21\/chuck-hoskin-cherokee-nation-keeps-our-language-alive\/durbinfeelinglanguagecenter-4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-29717\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" data-attachment-id=\"29717\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/11\/21\/chuck-hoskin-cherokee-nation-keeps-our-language-alive\/durbinfeelinglanguagecenter-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/21\/DurbinFeelingLanguageCenter-4.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1000,667\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Durbin Feeling Language Center\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Durbin Feeling Language Center&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The Cherokee Nation celebrates the opening of the 52,000-square-foot Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, on November 15, 2022. Photo: &lt;a href=https:\/\/anadisgoi.com\/index.php\/government-stories\/1192-cherokee-nation-celebrates-grand-opening-of-historic-20m-durbin-feeling-language-center&gt;Anadisgoi \/ Cherokee Nation&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/21\/DurbinFeelingLanguageCenter-4.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/21\/DurbinFeelingLanguageCenter-4.jpg\" alt=\"Durbin Feeling Language Center\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-29717\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">The Cherokee Nation celebrates the opening of the 52,000-square-foot Durbin Feeling Language Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, on November 15, 2022. Photo: <a href=https:\/\/anadisgoi.com\/index.php\/government-stories\/1192-cherokee-nation-celebrates-grand-opening-of-historic-20m-durbin-feeling-language-center>Anadisgoi \/ Cherokee Nation<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Guests on Native America Calling<\/div>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhaaliliosolomon.com\/\">N. Ha\u2019alilio Solomon<\/a> (Native Hawaiian), assistant professor of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai\u2019i at M\u0101noa\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nDr. Myrna Cunningham (Miskito), Indigenous Peoples rights activist and educator and First Vice President of <a href=\"http:\/\/filac.org\">Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Ind\u00edgenas de Am\u00e9rica Latina y el Caribe<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/filac.org\/quienes-somos\/\">Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean<\/a> (FILAC)\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nSkyler Kuczaboski (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), grants administration support for the <a href=\"https:\/\/mn.gov\/indian-affairs\/\">Minnesota Indian Affairs Council<\/a>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"232\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">All Episodes on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4RE6juPYr7cl2Zsmb2zjq7?si=2a56e59533534bf9\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativeamericacalling.com\/subscribe-to-podcast\/\">More Options<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<img src=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/nativeamericacalling.jpg width=0 height=0 class=invisible>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indigenous language advocates argue that no expense should be spared to revive languages before we lose them.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,1,23],"tags":[111,7656,834,175,243,381,7653,7655,133,653,134,7654],"class_list":["post-734065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-national","category-world","tag-books","tag-filac","tag-hawaii","tag-languages","tag-media","tag-minnesota","tag-myrna-cunningham","tag-n-haalilio-solomon","tag-native-america-calling","tag-native-hawaiian","tag-radio","tag-skyler-kuczaboski","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-34XL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/21\/DurbinFeelingLanguageCenter-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734065"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734191,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734065\/revisions\/734191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}