Dying Tongues

Follow the story of the three tribes over the span of more than 1,000 years, up to the present day. open

Listen to common words spoken in the native tongues of Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan. open

Taught Mandan as a child, Edwin Benson passes on his knowledge in classrooms on the Fort Berthold Reservation. open

A special report published on In-Forum and in The Forum on Sept. 14, 15, 17 and 20, 2003

About the series

Edwin Benson Interview (flash)

Language Lesson (flash)

"Language has a spirit" (flash)

Audio Clips

Clancey Lone Fight: Sees Hidatsa language changing

Alex Gwin: Recalls boarding school life

Lyle Gwin: Remembers his grandmother's vow

Lyle Gwin: Worries about younger generation

Edwin Benson: Reads excerpt of "Coyote Turns Buffalo" in Mandan

Video Clips

Alex Gwin: Describes Hidatsa as a precise language

Duane Robert Bear: Hopes other children learn and pass on Arikara

Along the River of Time

Photo Gallery
Early Recordings

Graphics

About the Fort Berthold Reservation
Native language speakers dwindling
Language family trees
The art of translation

The languages of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes are fading into silence, one voice at a time, as fluent elderly speakers die.

     Those languages, embedded in a native Plains Indian culture thousands of years old, welcomed Lewis and Clark on their epic trip west.

     But most children today on the Fort Berthold Reservation in west-central North Dakota grow up in homes where English is the language of daily life.

     The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, today jointly known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are fighting to save their languages -- and culture -- from extinction.

     Choose a tribe from the menu on the left to learn about their struggles ... and hear what is lost when a language dies.

�The language and the culture, you can't have one without the other. It's like trying to have life without water or life without air. It just can't be done.�

-- Lyle Gwin, Hidatsa language teacher