Chugach Alutiiq Teachers Preserve Language in Villages

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Two remote learning students just graduated from a Kodiak College Alutiiq language program.

They’re striving to keep the language alive in Port Graham and Tatitlek, two villages where Alutiiq, or Sugpiaq, people speak the regional dialect of Chugach Alutiiq.

Libby Eufemio, who runs the Alutiiq Studies Program, explains the Alutiiq nation covers a large chunk of geography, including the Kodiak archipelago, the southern Kenai Peninsula, and Prince William Sound.

She says the college’s occupational endorsement certificates enable students to teach the Alutiiq language.

“This type of degree is really important in more than just the education level. It’s doing something really concrete that is gonna help preserve an ingenious language.”

One of the graduates, Brandon Moonin, works for Chugachmiut, an organization which brings education and other services to the Chugach region.

He teaches children of different ages in Tatitlek.

“Right now, I think we rated our village right on the brink of extinction for the use of the language in the village. It’s either grandparents or beyond that actually use it in the village, and our elders population is shrinking pretty fast.”

Moonin says he grew up with Alutiiq – his dad and grandparents were fluent speakers.

But he says he was nervous about teaching it.

“‘Cause it’s not really something I’ve ever done or something I’ve actually ever wanted to do, but since I think it was my first week of class, I stepped in, I could just see the kids were excited about what I was teaching. They were able to take it right in, and they started using it around the village. Every time they would see me they would start talking to me in whatever they did pick up in class at all.”

His cousin, Ephimia Moonin-Wilson, is the other graduate and also works for Chugachmiut. She teaches in Port Graham, a village with fewer than 200 people.

Moonin-Wilson believes teachers can bring about a revival of the Alutiiq language, or Sugcestun, through their students.

“With the knowledge of having sentences, they can speak in the community and, hopefully, when they speak with their parents, their family, the elders, eventually the Sugcestun will be a natural medium in the community.”

Moonin-Wilson says she loves her students’ excitement to be in the classroom.

“They are learning and they want to learn more, and that really warms my heart up.”

Chugachmiut held a ceremony in late September to honor the graduates.