Education

Chickasaw Nation turns to technology to keep language alive






Screenshots from the Chickasaw Language Basics mobile device app.

The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma hopes to keep its language alive for future generations.

More than 3,000 people spoke the language in the 1960s. But now that number is down to about 70.

"From that point on, with people leaving Oklahoma for other parts of the US, mandatory schooling and political pressures to be bilingual in English, the number of people dropped, and now, our youngest native speakers are in their 60s," Joshua Hinson, the director of the Chickasaw Nation Language Department, told the International Business Times.

Through the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program, the tribe offers language classes and Chickasaw Language Basics, an iPhone app. Chickasaw.TV features a channel dedicated to the language.

The Chickasaw language is closely related to Choctaw.

Get the Story:
Chickasaw Nation: The Fight to Save a Dying Native American Language (The International Business Times 5/9)

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