Yellowknife, N.W.T. - A linguist who has dedicated the last 30 years to the study of the Slavey language has been awarded the Molson Prize by the Canadian Council for the Arts.

Keren Rice has written the only dictionary dedicated to the North Slavey language and she sees it as an award that recognizes those that speak the language. 

"I think for me, the thing that's really important is the way it speaks to the value of the languages and the people who speak those languages, and who have worked hard, especially in recent years, to keep speaking the languages even when there's so much English and French surrounding them."

The award recognizes outstanding lifetime achievements in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Rice said getting such an award for the study of indigenous languages would have been unlikely 20 years ago, but there has been a growing awareness of how much languages mean.

"People in communities that have dedicated themselves to working on languages, I think are received very differently today than they were twenty years ago."

The prize also comes with a $50,000 award. 

CJCD Mix 100 News