Alutiiq language

Last updated
Alutiiq
Pacific Gulf Yupik
Sugt’stun, Alutiit’stun
Native to United States
Regioncoastal Alaska (Alaska Peninsula to Prince William Sound)
Ethnicity3,500 Alutiiq people (2010)
Native speakers
80 (2020) [1]
Early forms
Latin
Official status
Official language in
Alaska [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ems
Glottolog paci1278
ELP Alutiiq
Lang Status 40-SE.svg
Pacific Gulf Yupik is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

The Alutiiq language (also called Sugpiak, Sugpiaq, [3] Sugcestun, [4] Suk, [4] Supik, [3] [4] Pacific Gulf Yupik, Gulf Yupik, [4] Koniag-Chugach) is a close relative to the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language spoken in the western and southwestern Alaska, but is considered a distinct language. It has two major dialects:

Contents

The ethnonyms of the Sugpiaq-Alutiiq are a predicament. [5] Aleut, Alutiiq, Sugpiaq, Russian, Pacific Eskimo, Unegkuhmiut, and Chugach Eskimo are among the terms that have been used to identify this group of Native people living on the Lower Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.

About 400 of the Alutiiq population of 3,000 still speak the Alutiiq language. Alutiiq communities are currently in the process of revitalizing their language. In 2010 the high school in Kodiak responded to requests from students and agreed to teach the Alutiiq language. The Kodiak dialect of the language was spoken by only about 50 persons, all of them elderly, and the dialect was in danger of being lost entirely. [6] As of 2014, Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage is offering classes using the "Where Are Your Keys?" technique. [7]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular
plain lab. plain lab.
Nasal voiceless ŋ̊
voiced m n ŋ
Stop/Affricate p t t͡ʃ k q
Fricative voiceless f s x χ χʷ [lower-alpha 1]
voiced ɣ ɣʷ ʁ ʁʷ
lateral ɬ
Approximant l j w [lower-alpha 2]
  1. A /χʷ/ sound sometimes occurs, and is either written as ur, or occurs as a sound of a syllable-final rw; /ʁʷ/, and occurs as an allophone of /ʁʷ/ after consonants like /q/.
  2. [ w ] is an allophone of /ɣʷ/, when at syllable-final and elsewhere.

Consonants may be double and have geminated sounds (e.g. kk; [kː]). More consonants /ɾ~r,lʲ,rʲ/ can only be found in loanwords.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ə
Open a

All vowels except for /ə/, are considered as full vowels, distinguished with vowel length. /ə/ does not lengthen, nor occurs into vowel clusters, but may tend to be devoiced as /ə̥/ next to other consonants. [8]

Orthography

After voiceless consonants, the voiceless nasals are written without h-.

Other letters

Vocabulary comparison

The comparison of number terms and month names in the two dialects:

EnglishKoniag Alutiiq [11] Chugach Alutiiq [12]
Nanwalek &
Port Graham
Chenega
1allringuq / allriluqallringuqall'inguq
2mal'ukmalruk / mall'ukatel'ek
3pingayunpinga'an
4staaman
5talliman
6arwilgenarwinlen
7mallrunginmallruunginmaquungwin
8inglulgeninglulen
9qulnguyanqulnguan
10qulen
EnglishKoniag Alutiiq [11] Chugach Alutiiq [12]
JanuaryCuqllirpaaq Iraluq
FebruaryNanicqaaq IraluqYaʼalungia'aq
MarchKaignasqaq IraluqYa'alullraaq
AprilUqna'isurt'sqaaq IraluqSaqulegciq
MayNikllit IraluatManiit Ya'allua
JuneNaut'staat IraluatIqallugciq
JulyAmartut Iraluat..
AugustAlaganat IraluatUksuam Ya'allua
SeptemberQakiiyat IraluatAlusastuam Ya'allua
OctoberKakegllum Iralua.
NovemberQuyawim IraluaKapkaanam Ya'allua
DecemberQanim Iralua.
EnglishKoniag Alutiiq [11] Chugach Alutiiq [12]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chugach</span> Indigenous Alaskan people

Chugach, Chugach Sugpiaq or Chugachigmiut is the name of an Alaska Native people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound on the southern coast of Alaska. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq people who speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiiq language.

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Denaʼina, also Tanaina, is the Athabaskan language of the region surrounding Cook Inlet. It is geographically unique in Alaska as the only Alaska Athabaskan language to include territory which borders salt water. Four dialects are usually distinguished:

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  2. Outer Inlet, spoken in Kenai, Kustatan, Seldovia
  3. Iliamna, spoken in Pedro Bay, Old Iliamna, Lake Iliamna area
  4. Inland, spoken in Nondalton, Lime Village
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alutiiq</span> Alaska Native ethnic group

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Central Siberian Yupik, is an endangered Yupik language spoken by the Indigenous Siberian Yupik people along the coast of Chukotka in the Russian Far East and in the villages of Savoonga and Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. The language is part of the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahtna language</span> Endangered Athabaskan language of Alaska

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naukan Yupik language</span> Eskimo–Aleut language spoken in Russia

Naukan Yupik language or Naukan Siberian Yupik language is a critically endangered Eskimo language spoken by c. 70 Naukan persons (нывуӄаӷмит) on the Chukotka peninsula. It is one of the four Yupik languages, along with Central Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yup'ik and Pacific Gulf Yupik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barabara</span>

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Central Alaskan Yupʼik is one of the languages of the Yupik family, in turn a member of the Eskimo–Aleut language group, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska. Both in ethnic population and in number of speakers, the Central Alaskan Yupik people form the largest group among Alaska Natives. As of 2010 Yupʼik was, after Navajo, the second most spoken aboriginal language in the United States. Yupʼik should not be confused with the related language Central Siberian Yupik spoken in Chukotka and St. Lawrence Island, nor Naukan Yupik likewise spoken in Chukotka.

Alaska Natives are a group of indigenous people that live in the state of Alaska and trace their heritage back to the last two great migrations that occurred thousands of years ago. The Native community can be separated into six large tribes and a number of smaller tribes, including the Iñupiat, Yup'ik, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and others. Even with just a small number of communities that make up the entire population, there were more than 300 different languages that the Natives used to communicate with one another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awa'uq Massacre</span> 1784 massacre in Alaska

The Awa'uq Massacre or Refuge Rock Massacre, or, more recently, as the Wounded Knee of Alaska, was an attack and massacre of Koniag Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) people in August 1784 at Refuge Rock near Kodiak Island by Russian fur trader Grigory Shelekhov and 130 armed Russian men and cannoneers of his Shelikhov-Golikov Company.

The Alutiiq Museum or Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is a non-profit museum and cultural center dedicated to preserving and sharing the cultural traditions of the Koniag Alutiiq branch of Sugpiaq ~ Alutiiq of the Alaska Native people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Peterson (midwife)</span> Native Alaskan midwife (1927–2020)

Mary Peterson was an Alutiiq midwife and healer in the village of Akhiok, Kodiak Island, Alaska, who was known for her integration of Alutiiq Indigenous and Russian Orthodox traditions into her practice.

References

  1. The Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council (2020). 2020 Biennial Report to the Governor and Legislature (PDF).
  2. "Alaska OKs Bill Making Native Languages Official". NPR.org.
  3. 1 2 "List of Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) language resources". uaf.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-02-17.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Language in the USA, Cambridge University Press, 1981
  5. Medeia Csoba DeHass, What is in a Name?: The Predicament of Ethnonyms in the Sugpiaq-Alutiiq Region of Alaska Archived 2020-05-18 at the Wayback Machine . Arctic Anthropology. January 2012 49:3-17 (= "Aleut," "Alutiiq," "Sugpiaq," "Russian," "Pacific Eskimo," "Unegkuhmiut," and "Chugach Eskimo" are all different names that have been used to identify the group of Native people living on the Lower Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.)
  6. Kodiak High School Adding Alutiiq Language Class Archived 2021-05-05 at the Wayback Machine , Jacob Resneck KMXT/Alaska Public Radio Network 12-17-2010
  7. Friedman, Sam (2014-02-23). "They're speaking Alutiiq in Anchorage". Washington Times / AP. Retrieved 2014-05-03.
  8. Leer, Jeff (1985). Prosody in Alutiiq. Yupik Eskimo Prosodic Systems: Descriptive and Comparative Studies: Alaska Native Language Center.
  9. Counceller, April G. L.; Leer, Jeff (2012). The Alutiiq orthography: Kodiak dialect (PDF) (second ed.). Kodiak, Alaska: Alutiiq Heritage Foundation. ISBN   978-1-929650-09-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2022.
  10. "Alutiiq language, alphabet, and pronunciation". Omniglot. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 "Alutiiq Museum: Alutiiq Word of the Week Archives". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  12. 1 2 3 "John E. Smelcer, Alutiiq Noun Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide, Common Nouns in Prince William Sound and Kenai Peninsula Region Alutiiq (Excluding Kodiak Island)" (PDF).

Further reading