Indigenous Languages Of Alaska
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Indigenous Languages Of Alaska
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. However, by the time that Alaska joined the union in 1959, the number dwindled to only 20 spoken within the boundaries of the state. These can be divided into four separate families; the Eskimo–Aleut languages, Athabaskan, Haida, and Tsimshian. They all share similar characteristics, but have distinctive processes. Through the years after the colonization by the Russians, the importance of native languages subsided until the age of reformation occurred. ...
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Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and various Northern Athabaskan, as well as Russian Creoles. These groups are often categorized by their distinct language families. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, which are members of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations responsible for managing land and financial claims. The migration of Alaska Natives' ancestors into the Alaskan region occurred thousands of years ago, likely in more than one wave. Some present-day groups descend from a later migration event that also led to settlement across northern North America, with these populations generally not migrating further south. Genetic evidence indicates that these groups are not closely related to the ...
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Alaska Native Language Center
The Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972 in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a research center focusing on the research and documentation of the Native languages of Alaska. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research materials, as well as hosting an extensive archive of written materials relating to Eskimo–Aleut languages, Eskimo, Northern Athabaskan languages, North Athabaskan and related languages. The Center provides training, materials and consultation for educators, researchers and others working with Alaska Native languages. The closely affiliated Alaska Native Language Program offers degrees in Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Central Yup'ik and Inupiat language, Inupiaq at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and works toward the documentation and preservation of these languages. Language map In 1974, Michael E. Krauss, Michael Krauss published a language map of Alaska, which he later updated in 1982. It has remained the standard since then. ...
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Central Siberian Yupik Language
Central Siberian Yupik (also known as Siberian Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, Yuit, Yoit, "St. Lawrence Island Yupik", and in Russia "Chaplinski Yupik" or Yuk) 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. In the United States, the Alaska Native Language Center identified about 400-750 Yupigestun speakers, considering “ dormant speakers” who understand but cannot converse. In Russia in 2021, 172 people indicated that they speak the language, while only 92 of them use it in everyday life. Thus, the total number of speakers is no more than 550-900 people. Dialects and subgroups Siberian Yupik has two dialects: Chaplino (Chaplinski) Yupik (Uŋazigmit) is spoken on the shores of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far North, and St. Lawrence Island Yupik (Sivuqa ...
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Nunivak Cupʼig Language
Nunivak Cup'ig or just Cup'ig (own name Cugtun) is a language or separate dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska at the Nunivak Island by Nunivak Cup'ig people (own name Cup'it or Nuniwarmiut). The letter "c" in the Yup’ik alphabet is equivalent to the English alphabet "ch". The Central Alaskan Yupik who live on Nunivak Island (''Nuniwar'' in Nunivak Cup'ig, ''Nunivaaq'' in Central Yup'ik) call themselves ''Cup'ig'' (plural ''Cup'it''). Those who live in the village of Chevak call themselves ''Cup'ik'' (plural ''Cup'it''). The name Cup'ig (with g) is used for the Nunivak Island Yup'ik dialect and the name Cup'ik (with k) is used for Hooper Bay-Chevak Yup'ik dialect. The Cup'ig dialect is threatened. This fact was documented by Dr. Michael E. Krauss of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska and is illustrated on the map. In 1975, Krauss indicated, "Some of the children speak the language". Krauss documented continued decline and do ...
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Chevak Cupꞌik Dialect
Chevak Cupʼik or just Cupʼik (and sometimes Cugtun) is a subdialect of the Hooper Bay–Chevak dialect of Yupʼik spoken in southwestern Alaska in the Chevak (Cupʼik, Cevʼaq) by Chevak Cupʼik Eskimos (own name Cupʼit or Cevʼallrarmuit).Woodbury, Anthony Cabot (2002). "The word in Cupʼik". In Dixon, R. M. W. and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.) ''Word: A cross-linguistic typology'', 79-99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Woodbury, Anthony Cabot (2004). Morphological Orthodoxy in Yupik-Inuit'. University of Texas, Austin Speakers of the Chevak subdialect refer to themselves as ''Cupʼik'' (as opposed to ''Yupʼik''), while speakers of the Hooper Bay subdialect refer to themselves as ''Yupʼik'' (not ''Cupʼik''), as in the Yukon-Kuskokwim dialect. The Central Alaskan Yupik who live in the village of Chevak call themselves ''Cupʼik'' (plural ''Cupʼit''), whereas those who live on Nunivak Island (''Nuniwar'' in Nunivak Cupʼig, ''Nunivaaq'' in Central Yupʼik) call t ...
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Central Alaskan Yup'ik Language
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as Middle Africa * Central America, a region in the centre of America continent * Central Asia, a region in the centre of Eurasian continent * Central Australia, a region of the Australian continent * Central Belt, an area in the centre of Scotland * Central Europe, a region of the European continent * Central London, the centre of London * Central Region (other) * Central United States, a region of the United States of America Specific locations Countries * Central African Republic, a country in Africa States and provinces * Blue Nile (state) or Central, a state in Sudan * Central Department, Paraguay * Central Province (Kenya) * Central Province (Papua New Guinea) * Central Province (Solomon Islands) * Central Provinc ...
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Alutiiq Language
The Alutiiq language (also called Sugpiak, Sugpiaq, Sugcestun,Language in the USA
Cambridge University Press, 1981
Suk, Supik, Pacific Gulf Yupik, Gulf Yupik, Koniag-Chugach) is a close relative to the spoken in the western and southwestern , but is considered a distinct language. The

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Aleut Language
Aleut ( ) or is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Commander Islands, and the Alaska Peninsula (in Aleut , the origin of the state name Alaska). Aleut is the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, Eskimo–Aleut language family. The Aleut language consists of three dialects, including (Eastern Aleut), / (Atka Aleut), and / (Western Aleut, now extinct). Various sources estimate there are fewer than 100 to 150 remaining active Aleut speakers. Because of this, Eastern and Atkan Aleut are classified as "critically endangered and extinct" and have an Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) rating of 7. The task of revitalizing Aleut has largely been left to local government and community organizations. The overwhelming majority of schools in the historically Aleut-speaking regions lack any language/culture courses in their curriculum, and those that do fail to produce fluent or even profi ...
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Oral Tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Pre-history", 1990, ''UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a G ...
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Culture Of The Tlingit
The culture of the Tlingit people, Tlingit, an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people from Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon, is multifaceted, a characteristic of Northwest Coast peoples with access to easily exploited rich resources. In Tlingit culture a heavy emphasis is placed upon family and kinship, and on a rich tradition of oratory. Wealth and economic power are important indicators of status, but so is generosity and proper behavior, all signs of "good breeding" and ties to aristocracy. Art and spirituality are incorporated in nearly all areas of Tlingit culture, with even everyday objects such as spoons and storage boxes decorated and imbued with spiritual power and historical associations. Kinship The Tlingit kinship system, like most Northwest Coast societies, is based on a matrilineal structure, and describes a family roughly according to Morgan's Crow kinship, Crow system of kinship. The society is wholly divided into two distinct K ...
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Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenland are full Danish nationality law, citizens of Denmark and European Union citizenship, of the European Union. Greenland is one of the Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Overseas countries and territories, Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union and is part of the Council of Europe. It is the List of islands by area, world's largest island, and lies between the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Arctic Archipelago, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the location of the northernmost point of land in the world; Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast is the world's Northernmost point of land, northernmost undisputed point of land—Cape Morris Jesup on the mainland was thought to ...
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