From threatened to thriving: Using technology to preserve Arctic Indigenous languages

How an online platform could revitalize Arctic languages threatened with extinction.

Most Gwich’in children living in the Northwest Territories in Canada and Northern Alaska will never learn to speak their native language. Of the 6,000 Gwich’in people in the Arctic, fewer than 400 of them speak the language fluently. The language is rarely spoken in homes anymore and most of the remaining speakers are grandparents. With speakers of the language rapidly disappearing, Gwich’in children no longer have access to generations of cultural heritage and folklore. The strong cultural link that binds the community together is gone.