She's The Last Person Left Who Can Speak This Language, And She's Fighting To Save It

80-year-old Marie Wilcox is a Native American fighting to save her language from extinction. She is the last known fluent speaker of a language called Wukchumni.

Check out Marie's story...

Credit: Global Oneness Project

 
Inspiring, right? I love how she describes her process, tap-tap-typing every letter of every Wukchumni word to her dictionary.

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It took her seven years, with the help of her daughter and grandson, to complete the Wukchumni dictionary.

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She and her daughter Jennife teach weekly Wukchumni classes to members of their tribe. Pretty impressive!

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According to TED-Ed, "Indigenous languages around the world are vanishing at a rapid rate." For us to further understand the significance of Marie's dedication to her cause, here are three facts about language that we need to know.

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H/t Upworthy