r/BeAmazed • u/Key_Performer_3645 • 4h ago

Miscellaneous / Others Marie Wilcox realized she was the last person on Earth who could speak the Wukchumni language fluently, so at 82, she taught herself to use a computer and spent seven years typing a 6,000-word Wukchumni dictionary, the first written record of the language in history, to save it from extinction.

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2.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

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50

u/scattywampus 3h ago

H..E...R...O. ❤️

11

u/IFoundSelf 2h ago

Yes, these are the heroes we should be hearing, reading, writing and talking about!

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u/bernpfenn 3h ago

cool. that was a worthwhile project.

18

u/Responsible-Folds 3h ago

Brilliant if her. But I can't help think the sadness she must gave been feeling too

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u/PhireKitten 2h ago

Xiaomanyc would have a field day with this. Hey, man, if you’re on here, next video?

14

u/FrontLifeguard1962 2h ago

I hope they got recordings of her speaking it too. Maybe they can use AI to reconstruct it

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u/hayashikin 2h ago

That's what I thought too, with all her hard work, you could teach an AI to speak the language, maybe even have it make conversation with her.

If extinction is the inevitable option, she may be happy to know that it will exist forever after her.

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u/CalligrapherBasic523 3h ago

💕💕💕💕🙌🙌🙌🙌🤔🤔🤔💕💕💕🥰🥰

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u/thepotatois 2h ago

Id love to read her translations

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u/Curious_Bike_4292 2h ago

It’s always a woman! What an awe inspiring woman.

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u/Pac_Eddy 47m ago

That's an odd thing to say

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u/Practical_Nature369 22m ago

No it's not

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u/Pac_Eddy 18m ago

Would you think it's fine for someone to say "It's always a man! What an awe inspiring man!"

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u/Jupitersd2017 2h ago

Sigh I can barely function to go to the grocery store, she’s amazing.

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u/whatsthebeesknees 2h ago

What a phenomenal woman!!!

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u/[deleted] 2h ago

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1

u/MEWilliams 25m ago

Warrior