Alutiiq | |
---|---|
Pacific Gulf Yupik | |
Sugt’stun, Alutiit’stun | |
Native to | United States |
Region | coastal Alaska (Alaska Peninsula to Prince William Sound) |
Ethnicity | 3,500 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 |
![]() 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:
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]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||
Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | ŋ̊ | ||||
voiced | m | n | ŋ | |||||
Stop/Affricate | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | kʷ | q | ||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | x | xʷ | χ | χʷ [lower-alpha 1] | |
voiced | ɣ | ɣʷ | ʁ | ʁʷ | ||||
lateral | ɬ | |||||||
Approximant | l | j | w [lower-alpha 2] |
Consonants may be double and have geminated sounds (e.g. kk; [kː]). More consonants /ɾ~r,lʲ,rʲ/ can only be found in loanwords.
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]
After voiceless consonants, the voiceless nasals are written without h-.
The comparison of number terms and month names in the two dialects:
English | Koniag Alutiiq [11] | Chugach Alutiiq [12] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nanwalek & Port Graham | Chenega | |||
1 | allringuq / allriluq | allringuq | all'inguq | |
2 | mal'uk | malruk / mall'uk | atel'ek | |
3 | pingayun | pinga'an | ||
4 | staaman | |||
5 | talliman | |||
6 | arwilgen | arwinlen | ||
7 | mallrungin | mallruungin | maquungwin | |
8 | inglulgen | inglulen | ||
9 | qulnguyan | qulnguan | ||
10 | qulen | |||
English | Koniag Alutiiq [11] | Chugach Alutiiq [12] | ||
January | Cuqllirpaaq Iraluq | |||
February | Nanicqaaq Iraluq | Yaʼalungia'aq | ||
March | Kaignasqaq Iraluq | Ya'alullraaq | ||
April | Uqna'isurt'sqaaq Iraluq | Saqulegciq | ||
May | Nikllit Iraluat | Maniit Ya'allua | ||
June | Naut'staat Iraluat | Iqallugciq | ||
July | Amartut Iraluat | . | . | |
August | Alaganat Iraluat | Uksuam Ya'allua | ||
September | Qakiiyat Iraluat | Alusastuam Ya'allua | ||
October | Kakegllum Iralua | . | ||
November | Quyawim Iralua | Kapkaanam Ya'allua | ||
December | Qanim Iralua | . | ||
English | Koniag Alutiiq [11] | Chugach Alutiiq [12] |
Eskimo is an exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the family of Eskaleut languages.
The Yupik are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:
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.
The Eskaleut, Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada including Nunavut, Northwest Territories, northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East. The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, Eskaleutic or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan.
Aleut or Unangam Tunuu is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula. Aleut is the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo–Aleut language family. The Aleut language consists of three dialects, including Unalaska, Atka/Atkan, and Attu/Attuan.
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:
The Alutiiq people, also called by their ancestral name Sugpiaq, as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are one of eight groups of Alaska Natives that inhabit the southern-central coast of the region.
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.
The Yupik languages are a family of languages spoken by the Yupik peoples of western and south-central Alaska and Chukotka. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that they are not mutually intelligible, although speakers of one of the languages may understand the general idea of a conversation of speakers of another of the languages. One of them, Sirenik, has been extinct since 1997.
Iñupiaq or Inupiaq, also known as Iñupiat, Inupiat, Iñupiatun or Alaskan Inuit, is an Inuit language, or perhaps group of languages, spoken by the Iñupiat people in northern and northwestern Alaska, as well as a small adjacent part of the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Iñupiat language is a member of the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family, and is closely related and, to varying degrees, mutually intelligible with other Inuit languages of Canada and Greenland. There are roughly 2,000 speakers. Iñupiaq is considered to be a threatened language, with most speakers at or above the age of 40. Iñupiaq is an official language of the State of Alaska, along with several other indigenous languages.
Ahtna or Ahtena is the Na-Dené language of the Ahtna ethnic group of the Copper River area of Alaska. The language is also known as Copper River or Mednovskiy.
Deg Xinag is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Deg Hitʼan peoples of the GASH region. The GASH region consists of the villages of Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross along the lower Yukon River in Interior Alaska. The language is severely endangered; out of an ethnic population of approximately 250 people, only 2 people still speak the language.
The Denaʼina, or formerly Tanaina, are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people. They are the original inhabitants of the south central Alaska region ranging from Seldovia in the south to Chickaloon in the northeast, Talkeetna in the north, Lime Village in the northwest and Pedro Bay in the southwest. The Denaʼina homeland is more than 41,000 sq mi (110,000 km2) in area. They arrived in the south-central Alaska sometime between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago. They were the only Alaskan Athabaskan group to live on the coast. The Denaʼina have a hunter-gatherer culture and a matrilineal system. The Iditarod Trail's antecedents were the native trails of the Denaʼina and Deg Hitʼan Athabaskan Native Alaskans and the Inupiaq Inuit.
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.
A barabara or barabora (Russian); ulax̂, ulaagamax, ulaq, or ulas (plural) (Aleut); and ciqlluaq were the traditional, main or communal dwelling used by the Alutiiq people and Aleuts, the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands. They lay partially underground like an earth lodge or pit-house, and most of the house was excavated from the dirt so as to withstand the high forces of wind in the Aleutian chain of islands. Barabaras are no longer used, as present-day Aleuts live in modern houses and apartment buildings.
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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.
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.
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.