Legislature(2017 - 2018)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
04/03/2018 03:30 PM Senate COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB215 | |
| HCR19 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 215 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HCR 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HCR 19-GOVERNOR: AK NATIVE LANGUAGES EMERGENCY
3:40:24 PM
CHAIR BISHOP called the meeting back to order and announced
consideration of HCR 19 [CSHCR 19(CRA)am, version 30-LS1402\R.A,
was before the committee].
3:40:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska,
thanked the committee for hearing HCR 19.
JODIE GATTI, staff to Representative Ortiz, Alaska State
Legislature Juneau, Alaska, introduced herself.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ said human occupation of Alaska started
over 10,000 years ago. When the migration occurred, the people
brought their culture and their language with them, which help
to determine a lot about what Alaska culture is today. This
resolution deals with a serious problem, the loss of Native
American languages, that threatens the Alaskan culture today.
He said the state has moved in the right direction by
acknowledging and recognizing the 20 Alaska Native languages as
official languages of the state. However, recognition is just
the first step. The intent of this resolution is to heed the
suggestions put forth by the Alaska Native Language Preservation
Advisory Council (ANLPAC). It strongly urges that the governor
issue an administrative order recognizing that a linguistic
emergency exists in the state and that it is the policy of the
State of Alaska to actively promote the survival and continued
use of all Alaska's 20 Native languages.
In their 2018 biennial report to the Governor and Legislature,
ANLPAC warned that all 20 Alaska Native languages are in crisis;
most are predicted to become extinct or dormant by the end of
the 21st century. 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.
He said the loss of language represents the loss of a critical
piece of Alaska's history, culture, and traditional way of life.
The Eyak language lost its last fluent speaker in the year 2008
and the Tanana language has only one fluent speaker left, and
that person is 96 years old.
3:44:01 PM
CHAIR BISHOP, finding no questions from the committee, opened
public testimony.
3:44:36 PM
ALBERT MINGEULOK, representing himself, elders, and those who
have passed on, Shishmaref, Alaska, spoke Inupiaq in support of
HCR 19.
3:45:44 PM
SENATOR HOFFMAN joined the committee.
3:47:31 PM
SENATOR MACKINNON joined the committee.
3:48:25 PM
DON BREMNER, representing himself, Yakutat, Alaska, supported
HCR 19. To help keep endangered languages from vanishing, bold
statements are needed. He made some comments in the Tlingit
language. He said the Aramaic language was once common
throughout the Middle East and was used for trade, government,
and divine worship. This is their time to join together with the
state in this room, the Beltz Room, on April 3, 2018, to
preserve Alaska Native languages before the last speakers
vanish.
3:52:49 PM
ALICE TAFF, representing herself, Juneau, Alaska, supported HCR
19. She is a linguist, which is a person who is engaged in the
scientific study of language. She is an affiliate professor for
Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast
and at the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of
Alaska Fairbanks. There is no question that this is an
emergency.
Knowing that languages are fading from use causes pain and
suffering, she said. National Public Radio (NPR) had a story
about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people who had
been to war and for a variety of other reasons. They talked
about the Civil War veterans moving West and how violent they
were. She thought it was going to mention Native Americans and
former slaves, but it didn't.
MS. TAFF talked about the transgenerational transmission of
PTSD. They now know that trauma causes stress, and stress causes
chemicals to adhere to the genes that can turning them on or
off. It makes people more prone to diabetes, for instance. These
epi-genetic effects (outside the gene) are inheritable. So, the
trauma of language loss, boarding school, loss of land and the
ability to get your food is transmitted from generation to
generation. The Alaska Native Community is in an unbalanced
conditioned and susceptibility to these.
Studies from Canada have shown that in communities where the
aboriginal and First Nations languages are in use by half the
people, the suicide rate is zero. A study in Alberta found a
similar result for diabetes.
CHAIR BISHOP thanked her for her testimony and finding no
further comments, closed public testimony, and said HCR 19 would
be held in committee.
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