Students, both young and old, filled the Athabascan ceremonial house at the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Monday, with one goal in mind: breathing new life into an almost-forgotten language.
Eliza Jones, an expert on the Denaakke language and author of a Koyukon Athabascan dictionary, said the language camp gives her hope for the future of her native tongue.
"There was a time that I thought the language was just going to die with us, because we were the last speakers," Jones said. "But now, there are young people learning and teaching others."
A variety of methods will be used to introduce languages over the six-day camp.
Susan Paskvan, a language instructor and Jones' daughter, said immersion techniques were being used to give students little pieces of language at a time.
Paskvan said they used sign language paired with Denaakke phrases, traditional belief stories and conversations with peers and instructors.
"When they're learning in small bites, it allows them to be able to ask questions and answer it," Paskvan said. "With language learning, a lot of them are learning it for the first time so no matter if you're a little one to a grandma that's learning your language; we're all on the same level."
"It gives me hope," Jones said. "Language is so important to a person's identity; it connects them to the native people, to the land."
Contact Sarah Evans