Tag Archives: Alutiiq language

Alutiiq Museum releases final e-books in Alutiiq

Cover of “Kaugya’angcum Qawangurtuwa” or “Small Fox’s Dream.” (Courtesy of the Alutiiq Museum) Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq Museum in partnership with the Native Village of Afognak just released the last of 12 Alutiiq language books for young people. The project draws on local writers and artists to work together on print and e-books. Most recently, Alutiiq Museum executive director April …

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Linguist Covers Many Meanings of One Alutiiq Word

Julia Fine. Photo by Kayla Desroches / KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT A linguist will dedicate the second installment in the Alutiiq Museum’s fall lecture series to one Alutiiq word. Julia Fine, a graduate student at the University of California Santa Barbara, has been coming to Kodiak for the last few years to help out on the Alutiiq language scene. She’s interned …

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Alutiiq Language Nest School Enters First Full Semester

Students and teachers in classroom in the Afognak building on Near Island during pilot semester. Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT A preschool designed to immerse children in the Alutiiq language is about to enter its first full semester of classes. The Administration for Native Americans granted the Sun’aq tribe roughly $2 million dollars to establish the nest school. It wrapped up …

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Alutiiq Word of the Week Program Turns 20

Kayla Desroches/KMXT This week is the 20th anniversary of a program that helped build Alutiiq language awareness on Kodiak Island. The Alutiiq Museum airs the Alutiiq Word of the Week on KMXT Public Radio in short segments, prints it in the Kodiak Daily Mirror, and posts the podcast to its website. It also archives Alutiiq words, their pronunciations, and their …

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Preschool Uses Language Immersion to Teach Alutiiq

Students and teachers in the Afognak building on Near Island. Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT An Alutiiq language immersion preschool opened in Kodiak last month. The Sun’aq Tribe received a $2 million grant from the Administration for Native Americans to establish the nest school and keep it going over five years. Teachers use song to transition the kids between open play …

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Alutiiq Language Documentary Almost Complete

A screen grab from the “Keep Talking” teaser. Courtesy of Ten Trees Productions Kayla Desroches/KMXT A documentary team just came to Kodiak to screen its Alutiiq language film and get feedback. “Keep Talking” covers the revitalization of the Alutiiq language on the island, and records the effort of passing the language down from elders to the younger generation. Director Karen …

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Workshop Covers Alutiiq Language and its Written Form

Kayla Desroches/KMXT A workshop today will cover the writing system of the Alutiiq language. Alutiiq Museum executive director, April Laktonen Counceller, says the written version of the language only developed after contact with the Western world. “Although the Alutiiq language didn’t have a writing system per se, it did have a lot of different ways that people communicated visually using …

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Sun’aq Tribe to Open Alutiiq Language Immersion School for Children

Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak has just received a grant to begin an Alutiiq language program for preschool-aged children. Candace Branson is the tribe’s Alutiiq heritage educator and says last week Sun’aq learned that it won a five-year, almost $2 million grant from the Administration for Native Americans. Branson explains it’ll enable a whole new generation to be …

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