Eyak is a moribund
Na-Dené language that was historically spoken in southcentral
Alaska, near the mouth of the
Copper River.
Marie Smith (born
1918) of
Cordova is the language's last speaker. She was also the last full blooded Eyak. Because of the dying off of its native speakers, Eyak has become a
poster child for the fight against
language extinction.It should be noted that the spread of
English and suppression of aboriginal languages by American authorities are not the only reason for the decline of the Eyak language. The northward migration of the
Tlingit people around
Yakutat in precontact times encouraged the use of
Tlingit rather than Eyak along much of the
Pacific Coast of Alaska. Eyak was also under pressure from its neighbors to the west, the
Alutiiq people of
Prince William Sound, as well as some pressure from the people of the Copper River valley. Eyak and Tlingit culture began to merge along the Gulf Coast, and a number of Eyak speaking groups were absorbed by the Gulf Coast Tlingit populations. This resulted in the replacement of Eyak by Tlingit among most of the mixed groups after a few generations, as reported in Tlingit oral histories of the area. This process was however entirely voluntary, in stark contrast to the coercive efforts of the U.S. government during the
territorial era.
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