WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.910 align:middle line:84% I'd like to start today, also, by acknowledging 00:00:02.910 --> 00:00:04.740 align:middle line:84% the other languages that were here 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:07.590 align:middle line:84% before Spanish, and before English-- 00:00:07.590 --> 00:00:13.110 align:middle line:84% the Tohono O'odham language, Yaqui language, 00:00:13.110 --> 00:00:15.900 align:middle line:90% the Chiricahua Apache language. 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:17.670 align:middle line:84% Further north, the languages spoken 00:00:17.670 --> 00:00:20.850 align:middle line:84% by the Pimas and the Mojaves, the Supais, the Hopi, 00:00:20.850 --> 00:00:22.590 align:middle line:90% the Navajo. 00:00:22.590 --> 00:00:23.970 align:middle line:84% Where I live now in Alaska, there 00:00:23.970 --> 00:00:26.970 align:middle line:84% were 42 languages at the time of contact. 00:00:26.970 --> 00:00:30.330 align:middle line:84% And now there are six that may have enough childhood speakers 00:00:30.330 --> 00:00:32.970 align:middle line:90% to exist outside of archives. 00:00:32.970 --> 00:00:34.530 align:middle line:84% This poem is called "Mother Tongue." 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:37.330 align:middle line:90% 00:00:37.330 --> 00:00:43.920 align:middle line:84% "In a language recently disappeared, god is talking. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.210 align:middle line:84% No one knows anymore how long the leaves stay silent, 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:53.180 align:middle line:84% how deep the stone's truth lies buried, what 00:00:53.180 --> 00:01:00.320 align:middle line:84% silent kinship glints off blond fur where grizzly cubs graze. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.630 align:middle line:84% In the far times, nearly everyone 00:01:02.630 --> 00:01:10.020 align:middle line:84% could speak with salmon, water, clouds, stars. 00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:12.570 align:middle line:90% Every body. 00:01:12.570 --> 00:01:18.980 align:middle line:84% Now no one sees the ocean though it lives in every tear. 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:24.070 align:middle line:84% In a language lost to us god is singing." 00:01:24.070 --> 00:01:28.000 align:middle line:90%