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earlier in her life, but gave up drinking while in her early 50s; she remained a heavy smoker until her death. She died of natural causes on
January 21, 2008, at age 89 at her home in Anchorage.
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205:, who compiled a dictionary and grammar of it. Her last older sibling died in the 1990s. Afterwards, Jones became politically active, and on two occasions she spoke at the
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Jones married a fisherman, William F. Smith, on May 5, 1948. Although she had nine children with Smith, they did not learn to speak Eyak due to the
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on the issues of peace and indigenous languages. She was also active regarding environmental Indian issues, including
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and the last remaining full-blooded Eyak. In a 2005 interview, Smith Jones explained that her name in Eyak is
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in the 1970s. So that a record of the Eyak language would survive, she worked with linguist
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Marie Smith, the last speaker of the Eyak language, died on
January 21st, aged 89
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139:(May 14, 1918 – January 21, 2008) was an
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183:"a sound that calls people from afar"
367:"Last Alaska language speaker dies"
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331:How Do You Learn a Dead Language?
181:)which, she said, translates as
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122:Last surviving speaker of the
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472:20th-century Native Americans
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175:ʔutət͡ʃ’ k’uqəχəʔaˀt͡ʃ’
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213:. Jones suffered from
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166:'udAch' k'uqAXA'a'ch'
143:national who was the
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153:Southcentral Alaska
69:Territory of Alaska
31:Udach' Kuqax*a'a'ch
333:", Christine Cyr,
260:. February 7, 2008
155:. She was born in
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392:Marie Smith Jones
383:Marie Smith Jones
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295:. January 5, 2008
232:Linguistic rights
203:Michael E. Krauss
137:Marie Smith Jones
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23:Marie Smith Jones
16:Native Eyak Chief
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297:. Retrieved
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262:. Retrieved
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80:(2008-01-21)
62:May 14, 1918
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161:Eyak Nation
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431:Categories
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264:2008-10-25
238:References
215:alcoholism
199:Anchorage
189:Biography
119:Known for
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221:See also
141:American
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