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Article: The day a language died
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- January 20, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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This week another language died: Carlos Westez, more widely
known as Red Thunder Cloud, the last speaker of the Native American
language Catawba, died of a stroke at the age of 76. With him
passed away the Catawba language.
Anyone who wants to hear the war songs, the hunting songs and
the religious chants of the Catawba can apply to the Smithsonian
Museum, where, back in the Forties, Red Thunder Cloud recorded a
series of them for posterity. Some earnest folk might even take
the trouble to learn some of them by heart. But Catawba as
something that lived and breathed and developed organically is gone
for good. Of the creatures alive on the planet, only Red Thunder
Cloud's dog, which ...