MACY, Neb. (AP) – Two sisters from the Omaha Tribe keep a list of the people who still speak their language.

There are 12 names left.

Glenna Slater and Octa Keen are among the few certified to teach the Omaha tribe’s language, Umónhon. None of the fluent speakers are under 70.

The single leaf of notebook paper is filled with names scribbled out. The sisters fear a day may come when the last name is scratched out, the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/1zniB8d ) reports.

“It just tears part of your heart out,” Keen said, “because you know it’s never coming back.”

The tribe, which is centered in Macy, Nebraska, just south of Sioux City, Iowa, has more than 7,000 members. The tribal council estimates fewer than 150 know parts of the language, but elders and teachers say only a few handfuls are fluent.

The “Encyclopedia of the World’s Endangered Languages” says one-third of surviving world languages are “severely endangered,” meaning there are between 10 and 100 speakers. About one-fourth of the 250 or so languages that survived past 1930 have gone silent.

On average, about one endangered language is lost each year. A few in the Omaha Tribe are fighting to keep theirs alive. More.

See: The Washington Times

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