PANU HALLAMAA: University of Helsinki

TThis paper is a report of the author's sociolinguistic fieldwork on two Alaskan languages during 1993-1995. The objectives of the fieldwork were (1) to find out the current status of the two languages in question and, if possible, attempt to explain why their speakers are more and more commonly using English, and, at the same time, (2) to develop a method whereby it would be easy to demonstrate the fact that a rapid language shift is in progress.