the Eyak language

This language had been spoken by hundred of Eyak people . They were living near the Copper River on the Pacific coast of Alaska until the end of the twentieth century.

They were indigenous of the southcentral of Alaska . Eyak people are still alive but nobody among them is able to speak a fluent and native  Eyak language.

The last person   who was able to speak this language as native is dead two years ago, her name was Marie Smith Jones .

This language has gradually disappeared under the pressure of migrations of people coming from other regions of Alaska  as Tlingit or others states and speaking English .

This language is still spoken by a few people and some of its words have been inserted in the Tlingit which is the language of Eyak people now.

The article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/native-eyak-language-may-_n_628265.html) describes how a young French linguist tried to learn Eyak language with the help of a documentary on DVD about Marie Smith Jones . The meeting he had later with her daughter was full of emotion.