(Note: Pending review and approval by the UArctic Indigenous Advisory Board.)
There are over 20 Indigenous languages spread across 4 distinct language families in what is now known as the state of Alaska, including the second-most spoken Indigenous language in the United States, Yup’ik.
The history of Alaska Native language education in the western sense can be said to have started in the first half of the 19th century, during the Russian colonial period and in connection with the presence of the Russian Orthodox church; this resulted in the publication of several religious texts and the development of orthographies for some languages over the years. Following the purchase of Alaska by the United States from the Russian Empire, Indigenous languages were suppressed in religious schooling contexts as part of the overarching effort to assimilate Native Alaskan children into the American way of life, this being led by Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson who was first to hold the position of Commissioner of Education for Alaska. Students in these schooling environments were often physically abused for using languages other than English, leading not only to language loss but also difficulties in communication between the older and younger generations within families and lifelong struggles with trauma. This English-only educational policy would continue into the 1960s.
Regarding Alaska Native languages in higher education, Central Yup’ik was the first to be taught, with courses being introduced in 1961 at the University of Alaska. Linguistic research started decades earlier, likely at the beginning of the 19th century by linguists from the Russian Empire.
Today, several higher education institutions offer courses and programs taught in and about Alaska Native languages, including around a dozen across five of UArctic’s members. Find below a collection of these.
Krauss, Michael, Gary Holton, Jim Kerr, and Colin T. West. 2011. Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska. Fairbanks and Anchorage: Alaska Native Language Center and UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research. Online map
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Alaska Southeast
University of Alaska Southeast
University of Alaska Southeast
University of Alaska Anchorage
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Berez-Kroeker, A.L. (2016). Contact and semantic shift in extreme language endangerment: Ahtna riverine directionals in a cardinal world. https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.173.06kro?locatt=mode:legacy. (PDF)
Krauss, Michael E. (1980). Alaska native languages: Past, present, and future. Fairbanks, AK: Alaska Native Language Center. (PDF)
Twitchell, X.L. (2018). HAA DACHX̱ÁNXʼI SÁANI KAGÉIYI YÍS: HAA YOO X̱ʼATÁNGI KEI NALTSEEN / FOR OUR LITTLE GRANDCHILDREN: LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION AMONG THE TLINGIT. (PDF)
Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States: 2006–2010
Alaska Federation of Natives Guidelines for Research
Research with Indigenous Peoples – University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center – Established by the state of Alaska in 1972 to research and document the Native languages of Alaska, and located at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council
Native American Language Resource Center Act of 2022 – Appropriates $3,000,000 USD per fiscal year to promote the use of Native American languages in higher education contexts and to develop teacher training programs for Native American language teaching, among other things.
