Eyak language dies with its last speaker
Tue, January 22, 2008
Posted in Alaska News, Top Stories
Chief Marie Smith Jones in 2004
The last traditional speaker of the Eyak language died yesterday, making the language extinct. Eyak Chief Marie Smith Jones was 89 years old. She was the last person to have learned the language the traditional way, taught as a child from her parents.
Her long-time language documentarian, linguist Dr. Michael Krauss began working with her in 1962. He says Chief Marie kept the language going for many years after her older sister died in the early 1990s.
Chief Marie had 9 children; 7 are still living. Her funeral will be held in Anchorage on Friday at the St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Viewing is at 11:00 a.m. and services are at 1:00 p.m.
Lori Townsend, APRN - Anchorage
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16 Comments to “Eyak language dies with its last speaker”
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[...] Goodbye Chief Marie Smith Jones, and goodbye Eyak. [...]
I am curious about Chief Marie’s children. Didn’t they learn the Eayk language from her? Couldn’t her pass her language along to the next generation?
IS there somewhere on the web we can hear spoken Eyak?
Braulio: She was the last *native* speaker, the last one to grow up with it. If she has any children, they may well speak it, but if they grew up speaking English, they are not native speakers. A language cannot survive without them.
Language Log put it quite well: Let me remind you what is necessary for a language to be living: there must be little kids who speak the language with each other because it is their only language or else their favorite. Little kids who would speak it even if they were told not to… Ask around the village and find the age of the youngest people using a language every day for all their normal conversational interaction. If the answer is a number larger than 5, the language is probably dying. If the answer is a number larger than 10, it is very probably doomed. If the answer is a number larger than 20, you can kiss it goodbye right now…
@Larry… There’s a bit of Eyak in the story audio, but it’s just samples of Chief Marie speaking.
Otherwise I’d recommend a Google search, or try starting with this Wikipedia entry…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyak_language
~May her memory be eternal~
marie jones was a good friend of mine…years ago back in the ’80’s I was down and out and she gave me a place to live with her and never ask anything from me except to play crib…i didn’t know how so she taught me…I remember a man coming to her house once a week or so and write her stories and I think he was learning her language. To her sons and daughters I know them also. They all showed her the utmost respect and helped her out whenever they could. ITs been many years now since I seen or heard from them…our paths went in different ways..but she and her family was always with me…Marie was a good woman and will be missed….
I am Marie Smith’s eldest daughter. She has seven living children. Some of us were taught a few words of Eyak as children. Thank you all for all of the kind words and interest in our Mother’s life. Mom lived a good life and we will all miss her tremendously, both as a Mom and as a friend. I have some audio tapes of my Mother speaking Eyak which at some point I will find a way to share them. Thanks for caring.
I, too, spent time listening to Marie’s insights. She told me some truths I am still seeking ways to express through my stories. As Dr. Krauss could explain to us, the language died with her because she was unable to learn enough of it to pass it on in a usable form to her children. It passes away in scraps of what it once was.
[...] Foto tomada de aquí [...]
it is very sad that a special person died and with her a language too, but that is part of the life; my feelings are with her family. Just keep preserving your traditions and the other languages in danger of dissapear too.
Actually, my Mom was quite fluent in Eyak. She learned it as a child from her family and spoke it as an adult with her remaining native speaking family.
The Eyak Preservation Council in association with Dr. Krauss and Ms. Spaan, through an ANA grant with the Native Village of Eyak, documented all that is known about the Eyak language and people, and have put together several comprehensive DVD’s containing taped Eyak conversation between Dr. Krauss and Marie. There is also an Eyak dictionary compiled by Dr. Krauss with the help of Eyak speakers that has been scanned. We are working now to complete a “package” that will be made available to those serious students, Eyaks, linguists, and all people interested in learning about the Eyak language and people.
I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chief Marie Smith Jones and the Eyak language. My heart goes out to Bernice Galloway and the rest of Chief Marie’s family and friends.
Thanks to all who have worked to preserve some knowledge of the Eyak language. While some aspects of our global community are good, I worry about the ways in which we each lose unique parts of our cultures, such as language.
Rest in Peace, Chief Marie.
Natives protest Indian country fight By Danielle Stanton Daily News reporter Published: January 23rd, 2008 02:30 AM Last Modified: January 23rd, 2008 02:30 AM (Originally published April 19, 1997)
ADN opened their archive.
[...] Alaska Native Languages — Eyak.News of Chief Jones’s passing was carried in