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Article: TRIBAL ELDERS ON QUEST TO PRESERVE ANCESTRAL TONGUE.(NEWS)
- Article from:
- Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
- Article date:
- February 4, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Daily News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Mark Leibovich San Jose Mercury News
Violet Super has begun an urgent mission in her old age: To ensure that her native tongue does not die with her.
At 78, she is one of just 10 fluent speakers of the Karuk Indian language still living. She's in a "race against time" to fill young heads with Karuk words.
It's an awesome challenge, perhaps quixotic, but one Super does not approach casually, or alone. From her Humboldt County outpost, she is part of a statewide language-preservation movement that has coalesced within this shrinking population of native speakers.
California is one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the ...