Jodi Archambault: “As COVID-19 takes a fearsome toll on our people, it also threatens the progress we have made to save our languages. The average age of our speakers — our treasured elders who have the greatest knowledge and depth of the language — is 70. They are also those who are at most risk of dying from COVID-19.” Three native speakers who taught the Lakota language on the Standing Rock Reservation have died in the pandemic so far — out of only 230 native speakers there in total; their average age is 70. – The New York Times
