Studying Interior Alaska languages
by Annie Pappas & Krista West
The state of Alaska is home to more than 20 unique Native languages, each stemming from a rich culture and each culture possessing a deep connection to the surrounding land. UAF linguists work with Native elders all over Alaska to help them document this invaluable heritage.
Nestled in the heart of Alaska’s Athabascan-speaking region, a small group of linguists at the Alaska Native Language Center in UAF’s College of Liberal Arts leads the world in Alaska Native language studies. Working with Alaska Native elders in village communities, and even in Alaska’s biggest cities, UAF researchers are busy documenting, publishing and understanding the state’s rich linguistic heritage—including what language can teach us about the history of the landscape and land use.
Detecting environmental changes with the Upper Tanana language
Today, only about 100 people speak Upper Tanana Athabascan in the villages of Northway, Tetlin and Scottie Creek in eastern Interior Alaska. As part of International Polar Year, some UAF researchers are documenting the oral histories of Upper Tanana elders. The research focuses on environmental changes, how they impact the communities and how you talk about them in the Native language.
This research was conducted by a former IPY postdoctoral student, Olga Lovick, at ANLC, together with her mentor Siri Tuttle. “The elders of the communities are very interested in talking about their environment,” Lovick says. “They are concerned and have a lot to say about it.” One thread of this research investigates what Upper Tanana place names reveal about modern climate change.
In all Athabascan languages, place names are highly descriptive. For example in Upper Tanana, Łuugn Männ means “Fish Lake” and Tuu Tth’ųų’ Ndiig in Tanacross means “Clear Water River.” But today, the descriptions may no longer match the characteristics of the geographic places. What is known as “Fish Lake” in Upper Tanana may now be a fish-less pond. And what is known as “Clear Water River” may now be muddy due to melting permafrost.
Lovick will compile a book of relevant oral histories in the Upper Tanana language with English translations in 2009.
Publishing Ahtna stories
The Ahtna Athabascan language is spoken along the Copper River Valley and the upper Susitna and Nenana drainages in eight different communities. (The word ’Atna’ itself is one name for the Copper River.) Today, fewer than 80 people still speak Ahtna.
For decades, UAF Professor Emeritus James Kari has recorded historical narratives, traditional tales and teaching stories in Ahtna. Many of these stories, however, have not been published.
UAF Assistant Professor Siri Tuttle meets with Minto elders Neal and Geraldine Charlie in Tuttle’s home in Fairbanks. Tuttle is collecting, recording and translating Minto songs in order to ensure that these songs are available to Lower Tanana youth in the future as they seek to understand their linguistic and cultural heritage. At this meeting, the Charlies explain bats ghwdla’, ‘bracket fungus’ or literally, ‘seagull’s sled,’ for an entry in the pocket dictionary Tuttle is composing.
Alaska Native Basics
Alaska’s Native people do not fit neatly into one cultural box. There are at least 20 distinct Alaska Native languages, many belonging to one of two major language families: Eskimo-Aleut and Athabascan-Eyak.
For More Information
Alaska’s Native Languages
UAF’s Alaska Native Language Center
www.uaf.edu/anlc/
Linguistics Program
UAF College of Liberal Arts Linguistics Program
www.uaf.edu/linguist/
We The People Project
National Endowment for the Humanities
www.wethepeople.gov/