House Concurrent Resolution 19, urging Gov. Bill Walker to declare a “linguistic emergency” to help ensure survival of Native languages in Alaska has passed the House and moved to the Senate for consideration.
HCR 19, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, -Ketchikan urges state agencies, the Legislature, Alaska Native organizations and others to strengthen policies to prioritize the continued use of Alaska Native languages.
Ortiz said he strongly believes that a linguistic emergency declaration is warranted because of predictions that many Alaska Native languages will become extinct by the end of the century. “That’s not acceptable, and we should dedicate time and resources to make sure that does not happen,” Ortiz said.
With passage of HCR 19, the House joined the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council in urging the declaration of a “linguistic emergency” by the governor.
Earlier this year, the council warned that most of the 20 recognized indigenous languages in Alaska are predicted to become extinct by the end of the 21st century unless there are policy changes to support the learning and speaking of those languages.
“When a language is lost, so is a huge part of the culture,” said Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, a co=sponsor of HCR 19. It was Kreiss-Tomkins who sponsored legislation signed into law in 2014 making the 20 Native languages in Alaska official state languages. “Alaska Native languages are Alaska’s languages, and this resolution rightly calls attention to the urgency of this issue, he said.
