How a CU professor is helping to preserve the Arapaho language

Published April 14, 2026 at 5:34 AM MDT

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CU Boulder linguistics professor Andy Cowell, a man with light brown hair, glasses, and a plaid shirt, holds a brightly colored blanket with a distinct pattern. — CU Boulder linguistics professor Andy Cowell holds a blanket he received at an honoring ceremony for him by the Northern Arapaho Tribe in 2018.

For centuries, the Arapaho have called Colorado and Wyoming home. The tribe gave names to places like the Kawuneeche Valley, the Never Summer Mountains, and Mount Blue Sky.

But the language the Arapaho have spoken for centuries is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned the language.

A team of language experts at the University of Colorado Boulder is working to change that. They’re compiling an online database that includes recordings of the Arapaho language and can be used as a learning and teaching tool.

Andrew Cowell is a linguistics professor at CU, and faculty director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous studies. He helped launch this project more than two decades ago.

He spoke with Erin O’Toole in January about how he hopes the digital database helps future generations learn and continue to speak the Arapaho language. We’re listening back to that conversation today.

You can access the Arapaho Language Project here.