The Alaska Native Linguistic Emergency resolution is ready to move through committee in the state Senate. It has already passed the House.
Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee opened its hearing Tuesday on House Concurrent Resolution 19 with remarks from the measure’s sponsor, Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz, who called Alaska Native culture and language a central part of the state’s cultural identity.
He told the senators that passing it would build on actions already taken by the Legislature.
“Mr. Chairman, the state has moved in the right direction by acknowledging and recognizing the 20 Alaska Native languages as official languages of the state,” Ortiz said. “However, recognition is just the first step.”
Ortiz’s resolution would urge the governor to implement a recommendation put forward by the Alaska Native Language Preservation Advisory Council this year.
“In their 2018 bi-annual report to the governor and Legislature, the advisory council warned that all 20 Alaska Native Languages are in crisis, and most are predicted to become extinct or dormant by the end of the 21st century,” Ortiz said. “The state of Alaska can no longer sustain these rates of language loss unless policy changes are enacted that support people who are learning and speaking Alaska Native languages throughout the state.”
The Community and Regional Affairs Committee resumes discussion of the “linguistic emergency” resolution at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5.
