Language spoken by only two people dying out

[Indiogene]

I know a few Native American languages exist in the U.S. after 3 centuries of cultural decimation, but they survived to the present day and may be spoken in small numbers in American Indian communities or solely used during tribal ceremonies or rituals.

Despite the English language was imposed on native American tribes to nearly replace their native tongues, my grandpa of Cherokee descent (before he passed away) passed on those words to me and my Mom.

Here are 5 words I know of from the Cherokee Language (I doubt the fullest accuracies, but this is up to my knowledge on the subject):

Osiyo (hello), Dohitsu (greetings), Ahuniywaiyana Tsalagie (principal people), Gaudogi (council leader?) and Wa-do (thank you/thanks-bye).

Edited July 9, 2011 by Makoto Jupiter

[Indiogene]

...to continue (I had to edit the duplicate post, either UM or my PC has serious loading time problems) on the subject, I got myself a copy of the Cherokee Phoenix paper from the time I was there in Oklahoma back in 2006. They had a small feature 'Practice Cherokee' in which I saved. Here are the Cherokee words from the news excert and translations into English.

Greetings

oh-see-yoh = Hello

oh-see-gwoo = I am Fine

oh-sdah = Fine

toh-hee-joo? = How are you?

nee-hah-nah? = How about you?

ne-ho (?) = You (like in 'Wado' for thank you).

Relatives (female)

U-ni-tsi = Mother

U-we-tsi-a-ge-yv = Daughter

E-lo-gi = Aunt

(none for sister)

Edited July 9, 2011 by Makoto Jupiter

[Robert1]

Then let it die,You dont speak it,I dont speak it,Not much of a great loss if noone speaks it.Let it go the way of the Aztecs,If no one speaks it except those two fellows then just let it go and turn to something worth while.It's not like they are going to teach it to anyone or have classes .Not one of the languages that anyone wants to learn anyway.I'm hispanic but I feel it's time for it to pass.

I agree. Let it die out. When a language has been reduced in usage to the point where only two people in the world speak it, then it's time to let it go.

[Lorelei]

I don't follow...Why does having these two men chat with each other do anything to help preserve the language?

Can't they do that seperately?

I thought the same thing. How does the two men talking to one another do anything at all? They should be teaching the language to their children or other relatives, that way it will be passed down to the next generations.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Lorelei