Visit Our Mother Tongues, an educational website featuring 12 tribal language communities.

Visit The Language Gathering, our platform to link hundreds of Indigenous language programs.

Of the original Indigenous Peoples and more than 300 languages in North America, nearly 600 tribes and 175 living languages remained in 1997. Of these languages many were spoken primarily by elders, and 125 languages of the 175 were spoken only by middle aged or older adults. Fifty-five languages were spoken by 1 to 6 people, and only 20 were spoken widely by children. As many as 55 languages may have disappeared since 1997 (Indigenous Language Institute). The decline of languages did not occur in a vacuum. It is the result of decades of racist and discriminatory policies towards Native people.

Indigenous languages carry unique philosophies, histories, ceremonies, and irreplaceable environmental knowledge of biodiversity accumulated over millenia. Native languages constitute both the core and the foundations of tribal identities and cultures by mapping ancestors' universes and ties to traditional homelands. 

But in the United States, UNESCO documents only 139 Native languages spoken today. More than 70 could fall silent in the next 5 years unless immediate action is taken to teach them to younger generations of tribal citizens. Upon request, our program has partnered with Native American tribes to help develop the resources they need to do just that: to teach their languages to their children, to keep them a living, spoken heritage. 

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