First Language
(eVideo)

English

Originally released by NC State University, 2014.

Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on May 20, 2020.

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The Cherokee language was spoken in North America thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, and is still used today by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the mountains of North Carolina. However, this fascinating language is now in endangered, with the number of native speakers dwindling. This Emmy award-winning program depicts the efforts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to preserve and revitalize the Cherokee Language. The native languages of North American indigenous peoples are a vessel of subtle knowledge, folkways, and psychology at the heart of Native identity. Most indigenous languages of North America are critically endangered and many are already extinct. Cherokee is an Iroquoian language with an estimated 12,000 speakers living mainly in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Streaming video file.

System requirements: Access Video On Demand playback platform.

Closed-captioned.