Alaskan Russian
| Alaskan Russian | |
|---|---|
| Old Russian | |
 The flag of Alaska. | |
| Native to | Alaska |
| Region | Kodiak Island (Afognak), Ninilchik |
| Ethnicity | Alaskan Creole |
Indo-European
| |
| Cyrillic, Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | kodi1252 Kodiak Creole Russian |
| ELP | Kodiak Russian Creole |
| IETF | ru-u-sd-usak |
Alaskan Russian, known locally as Old Russian, is a dialect of Russian, influenced by Eskimo–Aleut languages, spoken by Alaskan Creoles. Today it is prevalent on Kodiak Island and in Ninilchik (Kenai Peninsula), Alaska; it has been isolated from other varieties of Russian for over a century.[1]
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 virtually undocumented.[2]
Ninilchik Russian is better studied and more vibrant; it developed from the Russian colonial settlement of Ninilchik in 1847.[3][4]
Vocabulary
Ninilchik Russian vocabulary is clearly Russian with a few borrowings from English and Alaskan native languages.
Here are some examples of Alaskan Russian from the village of Ninilchik:[4]
- Éta moy dom. 'This is my house'.
- Aná óchin krasíwaya. 'She is very pretty'.
- Aná nas lúbit. 'She loves us'.
- Éta moy mush. 'This is my husband'.
- Bózhi moy! 'My God!'.
- On moy brat. 'He is my brother'.
- U miné nimnóshka Rúskay krof. 'I have a little Russian blood'.
References
- ^ Evgeny Golovko (2010) 143 Years after Russian America: the Russian language without Russians. Paper read at the 2010 Conference on Russian America, Sitka, August 20, 2010.
- ^ Michael Kraus (2016). "IPY-Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages".
- ^ Russian language's most isolated dialect found in Alaska. Russia Beyond, 2013 May 13.
- ^ a b Ninilchik Russian (with dictionary)