Check it out. After a long day of yard work, I’ve created a short video with Edwin Benson, the last man alive born into speaking Mandan as a first language. Benson, 78, lives in Twin Buttes, N.D., my home community on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Mandan, or Nu’eta, is one of the endangered languages of the world. Benson has been working with community members to revitalize the language. I’m honored to share those recordings.
In this video, listen to the word of the day: I don’t know. Íwahaaxikosh
Thanks for being a part of the Twin Buttes Community language revitalization project. And thanks to Cory Spotted Bear and Lanny Real Bird for recording the Mandan language. In this video, Benson is pictured with Tribal Chairman Marcus Levings of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.
Jodi Rave