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82-619: Their autonym Sugpiaq derives from suk , meaning "person" and - piaq , meaning "real." The term Alutiiq derives from the Russian term for the Aleut people. According to Ethnologue , earlier terms for the Chugach such as Chugach Eskimo, South Alaska Eskimo, Sugpiak Eskimo, and Sugpiaq Eskimo, are pejorative. Chugach villages include Chenega Bay , Eyak , Nanwalek (English Bay), Port Graham , and Tatitlek . The Chugach people have lived in

164-590: A small-numbered Indigenous people . In the Aleut language , they are known by the endonyms Unangan (eastern dialect) and Unangas (western dialect); both terms mean "people". The Russian term "Aleut" was a general term used for both the native population of the Aleutian Islands and their neighbors to the east in the Kodiak Archipelago , who were also referred to as "Pacific Eskimos" or Sugpiat/Alutiit. Aleut people speak Unangam Tunuu,

246-432: A uvular , /i/ is lowered to [e] , /a/ is backed to [ɑ] , and /u/ is lowered to [o] . In contact with a coronal , /a/ is raised to [e] or [ɛ] , and /u/ is fronted to [ʉ] . The mid-vowels [ɔ] and [ɛ] occur only in family names like Nevzorof and very recently introduced Russian loanwords. (C)(C)V(V) ± {C(C)(C)V(V)} ± C An Aleut word may contain one to about a dozen syllables, all syllables with

328-409: A harpoon because all its pieces are fixed and immovable. A lance was a weapon of war and it was also used to kill large marine animals after it has already been harpooned. The throwing lance usually consisted of three parts: a wooden shaft, a bone ring or belt, and the compound head that was made with a barbed bonehead and a stone tip. The length of the compound head was equivalent to the distance between

410-470: A laminal articulation. The voiced dental fricative is pronounced interdentally. The pronunciation of the sibilant /s/ varies from an alveolar articulation to a retracted articulation like a palato-alveolar consonant. There is no contrast between / s / and ʃ in Aleut. Many Aleut speakers experience difficulties with this distinction while learning English. Aleut has a basic three-vowel system including

492-881: A mixture of berries, fat, and fish. The boiled skin and blubber of a whale is a delicacy, as is that of walrus. Today, many Aleut continue to eat customary and locally sourced foods but also buy processed foods from abroad, which is expensive in Alaska. A full list of their ethnobotany has been compiled, with 65 documented plant uses. Customary arts of the Aleuts include weapon-making, building of baidarkas (special hunting boats), weaving , figurines, clothing, carving, and mask making. Men as well as women often carved ivory and wood. Nineteenth century craftsmen were famed for their ornate wooden hunting hats, which feature elaborate and colorful designs and may be trimmed with sea lion whiskers , feathers, and walrus ivory . Andrew Gronholdt of

574-524: A period of cultural affinity with southeastern Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast, which may explain linguistic features that Aleut shares with neighboring non-Eskimo languages, such as rules of plural formation. Due to colonization by Russian colonizers and traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, Aleut has a large portion of Russian loanwords. However, they do not affect the basic vocabulary and thus do not suggest undue influence on

656-425: A specific style to signify their origin. Jewelry ornaments were made for piercing lips (labrum), nose, and ears, as well as for necklaces. Each woman had her own sewing needles, which she made, and that often had detailed end of animal heads. The main Aleut method of basketry was false embroidery (overlay). Strands of grasses or reeds were overlaid upon the basic weaving surface, to obtain a plastic effect. Basketry

738-457: A thread. The women grew their thumbnail extra long and sharpened it. They could split threads to make them as fine as a hair. They used vermilion paint, hematite, the ink bag of the octopus, and the root of a kind of grass or vine to color the threads. Russian travelers making early contact with the Aleuts mention traditional tales of two-spirits or third and fourth gender people, known as ayagigux̂ (male-bodied, 'man transformed into

820-559: A trophy of his expertise as a hunter. Worn for decorative reasons, and sometimes to signify social standing, reputation, and the age of the wearer, Aleuts would pierce their lower lips with walrus ivory and wear beads or bones. The individual with the most piercings held the highest respect. Tattooing for women began when they reached physical maturity, after menstruation, at about age 20. Historically, men received their first tattoo after killing their first animal, an important rite of passage. Sometimes tattoos signaled social class. For example,

902-480: A vocalic nucleus. In Atkan and Attuan, there is a word-final CC due to apocopation . There also exist word initial CCC in loanwords. A word may begin or end in a vowel, both short and long, with few exceptions. Due to apocopation, short /u/ is not found in the final position. The same is true for short /i/ , except in some obsolete suffixes, such as -chi 'your' (pl.) which is realized as -chin and -chix in modern Eastern and Atkan Aleut. Vowels within

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984-493: A woman') and tayagigux̂ (female-bodied, 'woman transformed into a man'), but it is unclear whether these tales are about historical individuals or spirits. The interior regions of the rough, mountainous Aleutian Islands provided little in terms of natural resources for the Aleutian people. They collected stones for weapons, tools, stoves or lamps. They collected and dried grasses for their woven baskets. For everything else,

1066-532: A word are separated by at least one consonant. All single consonants can appear in an intervocalic position, with the following exceptions: Words begin with any consonant except / θ / and preaspirated consonants (with the exception of the preaspirated / ŋ̥ / in Atkan Aleut). Only in loanwords do / v / , / z / , and the borrowed consonants ( p, b, f, d, g, ɹ / ɾ ) appear word-initially. The word-initial CC can take many forms, with various restrictions on

1148-457: A year for all the labor to make one parka. Each lasted two years with proper care. All parkas were decorated with bird feathers, beard bristles of seal and sea-lion, beaks of sea parrots, bird claws, sea otter fur, dyed leather, and caribou hair sewn in the seams. Women made needles from the wing bones of seabirds. They made thread from the sinews of different animals and fish guts. A thin strip of seal intestine could also be used, twisted to form

1230-420: Is done by both genders. Most commonly the carvings of walrus ivory and driftwood originated as part of making hunting weapons. Sculptural carvings depict local animals, such as seals and whales. Aleut sculptors also have carved human figures. Aleuts also carve walrus ivory for other uses, such as jewelry and sewing needles. Jewelry is made with designs specific to the region of each people. Each clan would have

1312-421: Is fastened to a length of braided twine meanwhile; the hunter held the other end of the twine in his hand. The compound harpoon was the most prevalent weapon of the Aleuts. Also known as the toggle-head spear, it was about the same size as the simple harpoon and used to hunt the same animals, however, this harpoon provided a more efficient and lethal weapon. This harpoon separated into four parts. The longest part

1394-425: Is indeterminate and often difficult to define. Stress varies based on the relation to the beginning or end of the word form, the length of the vowels, the sonority of the consonants, open- or closeness of the syllables, or the number of syllables in sentential rhythm and intonation. Stress affects the length of both vowels and consonants. Stress underlies the distinctive syncopation characteristics of Eastern Aleut. In

1476-426: Is pronounced voiced or devoiced. Voiceless approximants and devoiced nasals are preaspirated . The preaspiration of approximants causes very little friction and may pronounced more as a breathy voice. The preaspiration of devoiced nasals starts with a voiceless airstream through the nose and may end voiced before a vowel. The preaspiration feature is represented orthographically with an ⟨h⟩ preceding

1558-609: Is rare, but attested, such as hux̂xix 'rain pants', aliĝngix̂ 'wolf', asliming 'fit for me', iistalix 'to say; to tell; to call'. In CCC clusters, the middle consonant is either / t / , / tʃ / , / s / . For example, taxtxix̂ 'pulse', huxsx̂ilix 'to wrap up', chamchxix̂ 'short fishline'. The most common single consonants to appear word-final are / x / , / χ / , / m / , / n / , / ŋ / , and / j / . Through apocopation, word-final single consonants / l / and / s / occur, and word-final consonant clusters ending with / t / or / s / . The details of

1640-1145: Is the language spoken by the Aleut living in the Aleutian Islands , Pribilof Islands , Commander Islands , and the Alaska Peninsula (in Aleut Alaxsxa , the origin of the state name Alaska). Aleut is the sole language in the Aleut branch of the Eskimo–Aleut language family . The Aleut language consists of three dialects , including Unalaska (Eastern Aleut), Atka / Atkan (Atka Aleut), and Attu / Attuan (Western Aleut, now extinct). Various sources estimate there are fewer than 100 to 150 remaining active Aleut speakers. Because of this, Eastern and Atkan Aleut are classified as "critically endangered and extinct" and have an Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) rating of 7. The task of revitalizing Aleut has largely been left to local government and community organizations. The overwhelming majority of schools in

1722-633: The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, also derives its name from the Chugach people, many of whom are shareholders of the corporation. Aleut Aleuts ( / ˌ æ . l iː ˈ uː t / A -lee- OOT ; Russian : Алеуты , romanized :  Aleuty ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands , which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and

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1804-646: The Aleut language , as well as English and Russian in the United States and Russia respectively. An estimated 150 people in the United States and five people in Russia speak Aleut. The language belongs to the Eskaleut language family and includes three dialects: Eastern Aleut, spoken on the Eastern Aleutian, Shumagin , Fox and Pribilof Islands ; Atkan , spoken on Atka and Bering islands; and

1886-683: The Bering Sea . Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai . This group is also known as the Unangax̂ in Unangam Tunuu, the Aleut language. There are 13 federally recognized Aleut tribes in the Aleut Region of Alaska. In 2000, Aleuts in Russia were recognized by government decree as

1968-735: The Good Friday earthquake destroyed the Chugach village of Chenega, Alaska . The fishing-based Chugach economy was badly affected by the environmental damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Chugach people speak one of two dialects of the Pacific Gulf Yupik language ; the other being Koniag . These Central Yupik languages belong to the Alaskan Yupik language family. Once written in Cyrillic script ,

2050-526: The Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology , a 200-ton otter hunting ship named Il’mena with a mixed-nationality crew, including a majority Aleut contingent, was involved in conflict resulting in a massacre of the indigenous natives of San Nicolas Island . In 1814, to obtain more of the commercially valuable otter pelts, a Russian company brought a party of conscripted Aleut hunters to

2132-816: The fur trade . They resettled many Aleut families to the Commander Islands (within the Aleutsky District of the Kamchatka Krai in Russia) and to the Pribilof Islands (in Alaska ). These continue to have majority-Aleut communities. According to the 2000 census, 11,941 people identified as being Aleut, while 17,000 identified as having partial Aleut ancestry. Prior to sustained European contact, approximately 25,000 Aleut lived in

2214-425: The 19th century, piercings and tattoos were very common among Aleuts, especially among women. Piercings, such as the nose pin, were common among both men and women and were usually performed a few days after birth. The ornament was made of various materials, a piece of bark or bone, or an eagle's feather shaft. From time to time, adult women decorated the nose pins by hanging pieces of amber and coral from strings on it;

2296-457: The 2000 Census, 11,941 people identified as being Aleut; nearly 17,000 said Aleuts were among their ancestors. Aleuts constructed partially underground houses called barabara . According to Lillie McGarvey , a 20th-century Aleut leader, barabara s keep "occupants dry from the frequent rains, warm at all times, and snugly sheltered from the high winds common to the area". Aleuts traditionally built houses by digging an oblong square pit in

2378-468: The Aleuts demonstrated accomplishments as well as their religious views. They believed their body art would please the spirits of the animals and make any evil go away. The body orifices were believed to be pathways for the entry of evil entities. By piercing their orifices: the nose, the mouth, and ears, they would stop evil entities, khoughkh , from entering their bodies. Body art also enhanced their beauty, social status, and spiritual authority. Before

2460-439: The Aleuts had learned to use the fish and mammals they caught and processed to satisfy their needs. To hunt sea mammals and to travel between islands, the Aleuts became experts of sailing and navigation. While hunting, they used small watercraft called baidarkas . For regular travel, they used their large baidara s . The baidara was a large, open, walrus-skin-covered boat. Aleut families used it when traveling among

2542-999: The Aleuts in basketry. The Aleut term for grass basket is qiigam aygaaxsii . One Aleut leader recognized by the State of Alaska for her work in teaching and reviving Aleut basketry was Anfesia Shapsnikoff . Her life and accomplishments are portrayed in the book Moments Rightly Placed (1998). Masks were created to portray figures of their myths and oral history. The Atka people believed that another people lived in their land before them. They portrayed such ancients in their masks, which show anthropomorphic creatures named in their language. Knut Bergsland says their word means "like those found in caves." Masks were generally carved from wood and were decorated with paints made from berries or other natural products. Feathers were inserted into holes carved out for extra decoration. These masks were used in ceremonies ranging from dances to praises, each with its own meaning and purpose. The tattoos and piercings of

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2624-503: The Aleuts less and less in goods in return for the furs they made. The Japanese learned that the Aleuts felt the situation was at crisis. The leading Aleuts negotiated with the Russians, saying they had failed to deliver enough supplies in return for furs. Nezimov, leader of the Russians, ordered two of his men, Stephanov ( ステッパノ Suteppano ) and Kazhimov ( カジモフ Kazimofu ) to kill his mistress Oniishin ( オニイシン Oniishin ), who

2706-675: The Bible were translated into Aleut. Aleut (Unangan) dialects and tribes: Aleuts historically lived throughout the Aleutian Islands, the Shumagin Islands , and the far western part of the Alaska Peninsula , with an estimated population of around 25,000 prior to European contact. In the 1820s, the Russian-American Company administered a large portion of the North Pacific during a Russian-led expansion of

2788-537: The Eastern Aleutian Islands as early as 4,000 years ago, followed by a gradual expansion westward over the next 1,500 years to the Near Islands . Another westward expansion may have occurred about 1,000 years ago, which may explain the lack of obvious diversification among the Aleut dialects, with Eastern Aleut features having spread westward. This second westward expansion is characterized as

2870-456: The English language. Sea-lions, harbor seals, and sea otters are the most abundant marine mammals. The men brought home the skins and prepared them by soaking them in urine and stretching them. The women undertook the sewing. Preparation of the gut for clothing involved several steps. The prepared intestines were turned inside out. A bone knife was used to remove the muscle tissue and fat from

2952-522: The Russians could have their pelts, and often additionally enslaved Aleut men. In the 18th century, Russia promyshlenniki traders established settlements on the islands. There was high demand for the furs that the Aleuts provided from hunting. In May 1784, local Aleuts revolted on Amchitka against the Russian traders. (The Russians had a small trading post there.) According to the Aleuts, in an account recorded by Japanese castaways and published in 2004, otters were decreasing year by year. The Russians paid

3034-488: The Shumagin Islands has played a vital role in reviving the ancient art of building the chagudax or bentwood hunting visors. Aleut women sewed finely stitched, waterproof parkas from seal gut and wove fine baskets from sea-lyme grass ( Elymus mollis ). Some Aleut women continue to weave ryegrass baskets. Aleut arts are practiced and taught throughout the state of Alaska. As many Aleut have moved out of

3116-467: The animal after penetration, and the throwing-lance used to kill large animals. The simple Aleut harpoon consisted of four main parts: the wooden shaft, the bone foreshaft, and the bonehead (tip) with barbs pointed backward. The barbed head was loosely fitted into the socket of the foreshaft so that when the animal was stabbed, it pulled the head away from the rest of the harpoon. The sharp barbs penetrated with ease, but could not be pulled out. The bone tip

3198-454: The archipelago. The Encyclopædia Britannica Online states that more than 15,000 people have Aleut ancestry in the early 21st century. Aleuts suffered high fatalities in the 19th and early 20th centuries from Eurasian infectious diseases to which they had no immunity . In addition, the population suffered as their customary lifestyles were disrupted. Russian traders, and later Europeans, married Aleut women and had families with them. After

3280-482: The arrival of Russian Orthodox missionaries in the late 18th century, many Aleuts became Christian. Of the numerous Russian Orthodox congregations in Alaska, most are majority Alaska Native or Native Alaskan in ethnicity. One of the earliest Christian martyrs in North America was Saint Peter the Aleut . Russian traders "took Aleut women and children hostage" to force Aleut men to hunt foxes and sea otters so

3362-413: The caves associated with such burials. For example, a deconstructed boat was found in a burial cave on Kanaga Island. There were no other major finds of grave goods in the vicinity. Throughout the Aleutian Islands, gravesites have been found that are above-ground sarcophagi . These sarcophagi are left exposed, with no attempt to bury the dead in the ground. These burials tend to be isolated and limited to

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3444-501: The coastal island of San Nicolas, near the Alta California-Baja California border. The locally resident Nicoleño nation sought a payment from the Aleut hunters for the large number of otters being killed in the area. Disagreement arose, turning violent; an Aleut was killed, and in retaliation Aleuts killed a number of Nicoleño (the exact amount is unknown). In 1835, the remaining Nicoleños were removed from

3526-421: The daughter of a wealthy, famous ancestor or father would work hard at her tattoos to show the accomplishments of that ancestor or father. They would sew, or prick, different designs on the chin, the side of the face, or under the nose. Aleuts developed in one of the harshest climates in the world, and learned to create and protect warmth. Both men and women wore parkas that extended below the knees. The women wore

3608-490: The dead. They have had four main types of burials: umqan , cave, above-ground sarcophagi, and burials connected to communal houses. Umqan burials are the most widely known type of mortuary practice found in the Aleutian Islands. The people created burial mounds, that tend to be located on the edge of a bluff. They placed stone and earth over the mound to protect and mark it. Such mounds were first excavated by archeologists in 1972 on Southwestern Unmak Island, and dated to

3690-574: The death of the last native speaker in 2022, it became extinct. All dialects show lexical influence from Russian ; Copper Island Aleut has also adopted many Russian inflectional endings. The largest number of Russian loanwords can be seen in the Bering Aleut. The modern practical Aleut orthography was designed in 1972 for the Alaskan school system's bilingual program: The historic Aleut ( Cyrillic ) alphabet found in both Alaska and Russia has

3772-437: The dialects of Atka and Bering Island . Attuan was a distinct dialect showing influence from both Atkan and Eastern Aleut. Copper Island Aleut (also called Medny Aleut ) was a Russian-Attuan mixed language ( Copper Island ( Russian : Медный , Medny , Mednyj ) having been settled by Attuans). Despite the name, after 1969 Copper Island Aleut was spoken only on Bering Island, as Copper Islanders were evacuated there. After

3854-449: The distribution of consonants: Intervocalic CC can occur in normal structure or as the result of syncopation. In CC clusters of two voiced continuants, there is often a short transitional vowel. For example, qilĝix̂ 'umbilical cord' is pronounced [-l ĝ-] similar to qiliĝi-n 'brain'. Almost all possible combinations of coronal and postlingual consonants are attested. The combination of two postlingual or two coronal consonants

3936-438: The early contact period. Researchers have found a prevalence of these umqan burials, and concluded it is a regional mortuary practice. It may be considered a pan-Aleutian mortuary practice. Cave burials have been found throughout the eastern Aleutian Islands. The human remains are buried in shallow graves at the rear of the cave. These caves tend to be next to middens and near villages. Some grave goods have been found in

4018-544: The extensive syncopation characteristic of the Eastern Aleut dialect are described below. In the examples, the syncopated vowel will be shown in parentheses. A word medial short vowel may be syncopated between single consonants, except after an initial open short syllable and/or before a final open short syllable. For example, ìx̂am(a)nákux̂ 'it is good' and alqut(a)maan 'what for?'. The syncopation often creates consonant clusters beyond those prescribed by

4100-528: The following discussion, the acute accent (á) indicates the stronger stress and the grave accent (à) indicates the weaker. In Eastern Aleut, stronger stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable if it is short (has a short vowel), or on the last syllable if it is long (has a long vowel). The weaker stress commonly falls on the first syllable. For example, úlax̂ 'house', tùnúnax̂ 'talked', tùnulákan 'without talking', ìnaqáam 'he himself'. Eastern Aleut words with more than two syllables exhibit

4182-541: The general rules of Aleut phonotactics. The resulting clusters include: In some frequently encountered syncopated forms, which otherwise result in irregular three consonant clusters, the middle uvular fricative is deleted along with the preceding vowel. For example, (h)iis(ax̂)talix 'saying' and (h)iil(ax̂)talix 'being said'. At slower speeds of speech, the syncopation may not be realized. Compare txin saakutikux̂txin 'you are getting skinny' beside ting saak(u)tikuqing 'I am getting skinny'. Aleut stress

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4264-446: The given sound. For example, a devoiced, preaspirated labial nasal would be written ⟨hm⟩ . Voiced approximants and nasals may be partly devoiced in contact with a voiceless consonant and at the end of a word. The voiceless glottal approximant / h / functions as an initial aspiration before a vowel. In Atkan and Attuan, the prevocalic / h / aspiration contrasts with an audible but not written glottal stop initiation of

4346-456: The ground, usually 50 by 20 feet (15.2 by 6.1 m) or smaller. The pit was then covered by a roof framed with driftwood, thatched with grass, and then covered with earth for insulation. Inside trenches were dug along the sides, with mats placed on top to keep them clean. The bedrooms were at the back of the lodge, opposite the entrance. Several families would stay in one house, with their own designated areas. Rather than fireplaces or bonfires in

4428-466: The high front /i/ , low /a/ , and high back /u/ . Aleut vowels contrast with their long counterparts /iː/ , /aː/ , and /uː/ . Notably, Aleut /u/ is pronounced slightly lower than /i/ in the vowel space. The long vowel /aː/ is pronounced retracted in the vowel space creating a significant distinction relative to the vowel length of /a/ . The two high vowels are pronounced with the same vowel quality regardless of vowel length. In contact with

4510-545: The historically Aleut-speaking regions lack any language/culture courses in their curriculum, and those that do fail to produce fluent or even proficient speakers. The Eskimo and Aleut peoples were part of a migration from Asia across Beringia , the Bering land bridge between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. During this period, the Proto-Eskimo-Aleut language was spoken, which broke up around 2000 BC. Differentiation of

4592-501: The island, except for one woman and possibly her child, who were left behind. In 1853 that woman, later christened Juana Maria, was found and taken to Santa Barbara. She may have been the last living Nicoleñan, as what happened to the others after they were brought to the mainland is unknown ( Juana Maria , the Lone Woman of San Nicolas ). In June 1942, during World War II , Japanese forces occupied Kiska and Attu Islands in

4674-430: The islands to other parts of the state, they have taken with them the knowledge of their arts. They have also adopted new materials and methods for their art, including serigraphy , video art , and installation art . Aleut carving, distinct in each region, has attracted traders for centuries, including early Europeans and other Alaska Natives. Historically, carving was a male art and leadership attribute whereas today it

4756-431: The islands. It was also used to transport goods for trade, and warriors took them to battle. The baidarka (small skin boat) was a small boat covered in sea lion skin. It was developed and used for hunting because of its sturdiness and maneuverability. Aleut baidarka resembles that of a Yup'ik kayak , but it is hydrodynamically sleeker and faster. They made the baidarka for one or two persons only. The deck

4838-491: The language is now written in the Latin script . There are historical accounts of some androgynous third gender or two spirit individuals among the Chugach, known as aranu'tiq . According to anthropologists writing in the 1950s, these individuals were considered to be male on one side of their bodies and female on the other. Some had descriptive names like "Tyakutyik" ("What Kind Of People Are These Two?"), but this description

4920-600: The language. In March 2021, the last native speaker of the Bering dialect, Vera Timoshenko, died aged 93 in Nikolskoye , Bering Island , Kamchatka. Within the Eastern group are the dialects of the Alaskan Peninsula, Unalaska , Belkofski , Akutan , the Pribilof Islands , Kashega and Nikolski . The Pribilof dialect has more living speakers than any other dialect of Aleut. The Atkan grouping comprises

5002-675: The letter ԟ (Aleut Ka) for the voiceless uvular plosive /q/ in modern Aleut Cyrillic publications. The modern Aleut orthography (for Bering dialect): The consonant phonemes of the various Aleut dialects are represented below. Each cell indicates the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) representation of the phoneme; consonants existing only in loanwords are in parentheses. Some phonemes are unique to specific dialects of Aleut. The palato-alveolar affricate / tʃ / and uvular stop / q / are pronounced with strong aspiration. Attuan labial fricative / v /

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5084-475: The middle, lanterns were hung in the house. Aleuts survived by hunting and gathering. They fished for salmon, crabs, shellfish, and cod, as well as hunting sea mammals such as seal, walrus , and whales. They processed fish and sea mammals in a variety of ways: dried, smoked, or roasted. Caribou , muskoxen , deer, moose , whale, and other types of game were eaten roasted or preserved for later use. They dried berries. They were also processed as alutiqqutigaq ,

5166-411: The now extinct Attuan dialect. The Pribilof Islands has the highest number of active speakers of Unangam Tunuu. Most native elders speak Aleut, but it is rare for common people to speak the language fluently. Beginning in 1829, Aleut was written in the Cyrillic script . From 1870, the language has been written in the Latin script . An Aleut dictionary and grammar have been published, and portions of

5248-535: The overcrowded dormitories. In total, about 75 died in American internment and 19 as a result of Japanese occupation. The Aleut Restitution Act of 1988 was an attempt by Congress to compensate the survivors. On June 17, 2017, the U.S. Government formally apologized for the internment of the Unangan people and their treatment in the camps. The World War II campaign by the United States to retake Attu and Kiska

5330-497: The planes of a man's chest to his back. The lance would penetrate the chest and pass through the chest cavity and exit from the back. The bone ring was designed to break after impact so that the shaft could be used again for another kill. They buried their dead ancestors near the village. Archeologists have found many different types of burials, dating from a variety of periods, in the Aleutian Islands. Aleuts developed burial styles that were accommodated to local conditions, and honored

5412-399: The pointed head fit loosely into the socket of the foreshaft and the head was able to detach from the harpoon when it penetrated an animal, and remain in the wound. There were three main kinds of harpoon that the Aleuts used: a simple harpoon, with a head that kept its original position in the animal after striking, a compound (toggle-head) harpoon in which the head took a horizontal position in

5494-408: The razor stone head and attached to the lower sub shaft with a small braided twine loop. Once the tip penetrates the animal the upper sub head broke off from the rest of the shaft, however, since it was still connected with the braided loop it rotated the head into a horizontal position inside the animal's body so that it could not get away from the hunter. The throwing lance may be distinguished from

5576-570: The region around Prince William Sound for millennia, according to archaeological finds. They were the first indigenous Alaskans to encounter the Russian explorer Vitus Bering in 1741. The Russians were followed by Spanish, English, and American explorers. The Chugach have at times traded with or fought against neighboring groups, the Eyak , Ahtna , and the Tlingit . In 1964, a tsunami generated by

5658-493: The remains of adult males, which may indicate a specific ritual practice. In the Near Islands, isolated graves have also been found with the remains, and not just the sarcophagus, left exposed on the surface. This way of erecting sarcophagi above ground is not as common as umqan and cave burials, but it is still widespread. Aleut language Aleut ( / ˈ æ l i uː t / AL -ee-oot ) or Unangam Tunuu

5740-414: The semi-precious objects dangled down to their chins. Piercing ears was also common. The Aleuts pierced holes around the rim of their ears with dentalium shells (tooth shells or tusk shells), bone, feathers, dried bird wings or skulls and/or amber. Materials associated with birds were important, as birds were considered to defend animals in the spirit world. A male would wear sea lion whiskers in his ears as

5822-561: The skin of seal or sea-otter, and the men wore bird skin parkas, the feathers turned in or out depending on the weather. When the men were hunting on the water, they wore waterproof parkas made from seal or sea-lion guts, or the entrails of bear, walrus, or whales. Parkas had a hood that could be cinched, as could the wrist openings, so water could not get in. Men wore breeches made from the esophageal skin of seals. Children wore parkas made of downy eagle skin with tanned bird skin caps. They called these parkas kameikas , meaning 'rain gear' in

5904-489: The standard pre-1918 Russian orthography as its basis, although a number of Russian letters were used only in loanwords. In addition, the extended Cyrillic letters г̑ (г with inverted breve), ҟ, ҥ, ў, х̑ (х with inverted breve) were used to represent distinctly Aleut sounds. A total of 24+ letters were used to represent distinctly Aleut words, including 6 vowels (а, и, й, у, ю, я) and 16 consonants (г, г̑, д, з, к, ԟ, л, м, н, ҥ, с, т, ў, х, х̑, ч). The letter ӄ has replaced

5986-472: The two branches is thought to have happened in Alaska because of the linguistic diversity found in the Eskimo languages of Alaska relative to the entire geographic area where Eskimo languages are spoken (eastward through Canada to Greenland). After the split between the two branches, their development is thought to have occurred in relative isolation. Evidence suggests a culture associated with Aleut speakers on

6068-402: The vowel. Compare halal ('to turn the head') and alal ('to need'). This contrast has been lost in Eastern Aleut. Modern Eastern Aleut has a much simpler consonant inventory because the voice contrasts among nasals, sibilants and approximants have been lost. Consonants listed in the dental column have varied places of articulation. The stop, nasal, and lateral dentals commonly have

6150-521: The walls of the intestine. The gut was cut and stretched, and fastened to stakes to dry. It was then cut and sewn to make waterproof parkas, bags, and other receptacles. On some hunting trips, the men would take several women with them. They would catch birds and prepare the carcasses and feathers for future use. They caught puffins ( Lunda cirrhata , Fratercula corniculata ), guillemots , and murres . It took 40 skins of tufted puffin and 60 skins of horned puffin to make one parka. A woman would need

6232-520: The western Aleutians. They later transported captive Attu Islanders to Hokkaidō , where they were held as prisoners of war in harsh conditions. Fearing a Japanese attack on other Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska, the U.S. government evacuated hundreds more Aleuts from the western chain and the Pribilofs, placing them in internment camps in southeast Alaska, where many died of measles , influenza and other infectious diseases which spread quickly in

6314-467: Was a significant component of the operations in the American and Pacific theaters . Before their way of life was changed by major influences from the outside world, approximately 25,000 Aleuts were located on the archipelago. Foreign diseases, harsh treatment and disruption of aboriginal society soon reduced the population to less than one-tenth this number. The 1910 Census count showed 1,491 Aleuts. In

6396-399: Was an art reserved for women. Early Aleut women created baskets and woven mats of exceptional technical quality, using only their thumbnail, grown long and then sharpened, as a tool. Today, Aleut weavers continue to produce woven grass pieces of a remarkable cloth-like texture, works of modern art with roots in ancient tradition. Birch bark, puffin feathers, and baleen are also commonly used by

6478-466: Was given to many types of people in the community, and was not related to gender expression. The Chugach people gave their name to Chugach National Forest , the Chugach Mountains , and Alaska 's Chugach State Park , all located in or near the traditional range of the Chugach people in southcentral Alaska . Chugach Alaska Corporation , an Alaska Native regional corporation created under

6560-618: Was made with a sturdy chamber, the sides of the craft were nearly vertical and the bottom was rounded. Most one-man baidarka s were about 16 feet (4.9 m) long and 20 inches (51 cm) wide, whereas a two-man was on average about 20 feet (6.1 m) long and 24 inches (61 cm) wide. It was from the baidarka that Aleut men would stand on the water to hunt from the sea. The Aleuts hunted small sea mammals with barbed darts and harpoons slung from throwing boards. These boards gave precision as well as some extra distance to these weapons. Harpoons were also called throwing-arrows when

6642-581: Was the Aleut chief's daughter, because he doubted that Oniishin had tried to dissuade her father and other leaders from pushing for more goods. After the four leaders had been killed, the Aleuts began to move from Amchitka to neighboring islands. Nezimov, leader of the Russian group, was jailed after the whole incident was reported to Russian officials. (According to Hokusa bunryaku ( Japanese : 北槎聞略 ) , written by Katsuragawa Hoshū after interviewing Daikokuya Kōdayū .) According to Russian American Company (RAC) records which were translated and published in

6724-438: Was the shaft with the thicker stalk closer to the tip of the harpoon. The shaft was fitted into the socket of the fore shaft and a bone ring was then placed over the joint to hold the two pieces together, as well as, protecting the wooden shaft from splitting. Connected to the fore shaft of the harpoon is the toggle head spear tip. This tip was made of two sub shafts that break apart on impact with an animal. The upper sub shaft held

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