Alaskan Russian, known locally as Old Russian, is a dialect of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, influenced by

Eskimo–Aleut languages 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 ...

, spoken in what is now the U.S. state

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

since the Russian colonial period. Today it is prevalent on

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

and in

Ninilchik Ninilchik ( Dena'ina: ''Niqnalchint'', , Alaskan Russian: ''N'in'íl'chik'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 883, up from 772 in 2000. It is considered ...

(

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

), Alaska; it has been

isolated Isolation is the near or complete lack of social contact by an individual. Isolation or isolated may also refer to: Sociology and psychology *Social isolation *Isolation (psychology), a defense mechanism in psychoanalytic theory *Emotional iso ...

from other varieties of Russian for over a century.

Dialects

Kodiak Russian was natively spoken on Afognak Strait until the Great Alaskan earthquake and tsunami of 1964. It is now moribund, spoken by only a handful of elderly people, and is virtually undocumented. Ninilchik Russian is better studied and more vibrant; it developed from the Russian colonial settlement of

in 1847.Russian language's most isolated dialect found in Alaska.
''Russia Beyond'', 2013 May 13.
(with dictionary)

Vocabulary

Ninilchik Russian vocabulary is clearly

with a few borrowings from English and Alaskan native languages. Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ninilchik

Below are some examples of Alaskan Russian from the village of Ninilchik. All of them are identical to modern Russian, except from two words from the last one: :. 'This is my house'. (Modern Russian: Это мой дом.) :. 'She is very pretty'. (Она очень красивая.) :. 'She loves us'. (Она нас любит.) :. 'This is my husband'. (Это мой муж.) : 'My God!' (Боже мой!) :. 'He is my brother'. (Он мой брат.) :. 'I have a little Russian blood'. (У меня немного русской крови.)

References

{{Russian language languages of Alaska Russian dialects Slavic languages spoken in North America