Budget calls for saving Native American languages

As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Jim Doyle set aside $250,000 a year to help the state’s Native American tribes preserve their endangered languages, the Badger Herald reports. According to the paper, the funding will go toward an existent competitive grant program for school districts and cooperative educational service agencies who work with tribal education authorities to support instruction in Native American languages, said Doyle spokesperson Lee Sensenbrenner. “This [program] is something unique to Wisconsin that the governor saw an opportunity to protect and save,” Sensenbrenner said. Read article.

UW-Green Bay Prof. Cliff Abbott is working with Oneida tribal leaders to preserve the endangered Oneida language. Abbott is helping create an online dictionary with an accompanying audio recording of each Oneida word, which is spoken in native Oneida. Read more.