Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, Free University of Berlin (John-F. Kennedy Institut für Nordamerikastudien), course: Linguistic Varieties and Language Practices in the USA, language: English, abstract: When the first Europeans came to America, there existed more than 500 different Native American and Alaska Native languages. Through the contact with the English language and Euro-American cultures, the usage of indigenous languages started to decline. But it had an influence on the way Native Americans started speaking English.