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62-693: The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands ; Aleut : Amiq , Russian : Острова Прибылова , romanized :  Ostrova Pribylova ) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska , in the Bering Sea , about 200 miles (320 km) north of Unalaska and 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Cape Newenham . The islands are part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge . The Siberian coast

124-432: 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

186-469: A consequence of these conflicts have been recorded, though the males themselves are rarely seriously injured. Young males unable to acquire and maintain a territory of a harem typically aggregate in neighboring " haulouts ", occasionally making incursions into the reproductive sections of the rookery in an attempt to displace an older male. After remaining with their pups for the first eight to ten days of their lives, females begin foraging trips lasting up to

248-470: 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

310-524: 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

372-555: A station on the island, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a presence. St. George has a population of 102. Its economy is similar to that of St. Paul. The Pribilof Islands are a birdwatching attraction, home to many species that do not fly in North America beyond Alaska. More than 210 species have been identified, and an estimated two million seabirds nest there annually. St. Paul

434-480: 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

496-560: A week. These trips last for about four months before weaning, which happens abruptly, typically in October. Most of the animals on a rookery enter the water and disperse towards the end of November, typically migrating southward. Breeding site fidelity is generally high for fur seal females, though young males might disperse to other existing rookeries, or occasionally find new haulouts. Peak mating occurs somewhat later than peak birthing from late June to late July. As with many other otariids,

558-485: A wider variety of stress patterns. Stress may be attracted to another syllable by a long vowel or relatively sonorant consonant, or by a closed syllable. It is possible the stress can be determined by rhythmic factors so that one word will have different stress in different contexts, such as áĝadax̂ compared to àĝádax̂ , both meaning 'arrow'. Northern fur seal Phoca ursina Linnaeus, 1758 The northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus )

620-532: 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

682-599: Is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean , the Bering Sea , and the Sea of Okhotsk . It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily ( Arctocephalinae ) and the only living species in the genus Callorhinus . A single fossil species, Callorhinus gilmorei , is known from the Pliocene of Japan and western North America. Northern fur seals have extreme sexual dimorphism , with males being 30–40% longer and more than 4.5 times heavier than adult females. The head

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744-634: Is common with carnivorous marine mammals adapted to tearing fish flesh. As with most caniforms, the upper canines are prominent. The dental formula of the adult is 3.1.4.2 2.1.4.1 Like other otariids, northern fur seals are built for efficient terrestrial locomotion. Their hind limbs are in a plantigrade stance and are able to rotate under the body for quadrupedal locomotion and support. When swimming, there are two different types of movement: locomotion and diving. These seals swim primarily with forelimb propulsion due to their physiology. They have flexible joints between vertebrae for better maneuverability in

806-427: Is foreshortened in both sexes because of the very short, down-curved muzzle, and small nose, which extends slightly beyond the mouth in females and moderately in males. The pelage is thick and luxuriant, with a dense underfur in a creamy color. The underfur is obscured by the longer guard hairs, although it is partially visible when the animals are wet. Features of both fore and hind flippers are unique and diagnostic of

868-425: 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

930-700: Is particularly popular, having a high cliff wall, known as Ridge Wall, above the Bering Sea. 56°50′N 170°00′W  /  56.833°N 170.000°W  / 56.833; -170.000 Aleut language 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

992-460: Is primarily solitary. Northern fur seals are preyed upon primarily by sharks and killer whales . Occasionally, very young animals are eaten by Steller sea lions. Occasional predation on live pups by Arctic foxes has also been observed. Due to very high densities of pups on reproductive rookeries and the early age at which mothers begin their foraging trips, mortality can be relatively high. Consequently, pup carcasses are important in enriching

1054-426: 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

1116-609: 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

1178-526: Is roughly 500 miles (800 km) northwest. About 77 square miles (200 km) in total area, they are mostly rocky and are covered with tundra , with a population of 572 as of the 2010 census . The principal islands are Saint Paul and Saint George . The former was named for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul , on the day of which the island was first encountered by the Russian explorer Gavriil Pribylov ;

1240-699: The Alaska Purchase sovereignty was passed to the United States in 1867. From 1870 to 1890, the U.S. government leased them to the Alaska Commercial Company . From 1890 through 1910, the North American Commercial Company held the monopoly on seal-hunting there, but the industry shrank considerably owing to seal-hunting on the open sea. The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 was signed by

1302-770: The maritime fur trade , it was more common for these animals to breed at local rookeries in British Columbia, California, and likely along much of the northwest coast of North America. During the winter, northern fur seals display a net movement southward, with animals from Russian rookeries regularly entering Japanese and Korean waters in the Sea of Japan and Alaskan animals moving along the central and eastern Pacific to British Columbia, Canada and as far south as Baja California. The northern fur seal's range overlaps almost exactly with that of Steller sea lions ; occasional cohabitation occurs at reproductive rookeries, notably in

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1364-471: The northern fur seal make up the national historic district . Residents are concentrated in the towns of St. Paul and St. George , each on the island of the same name. Many of the residents of the islands are related. St. Paul and St. George each have small airports; air service is provided from the Alaskan mainland. St. Paul has a population of 479 (2010 census), with its economy heavily dependent on

1426-405: The sagittal crests, and thicker fur of the mane on the top of their heads. Canine teeth are much longer and have a greater diameter in adult males than those found on adult females, and this relationship holds to a lesser extent at all ages. Adult females, subadults, and juveniles are moderate in build. Distinguishing the sexes is difficult until about age five. The body is modest in size and

1488-440: The 17th and 18th centuries, first from Russia and later from North America, was followed by a highly extractive commercial fur trade. The commercial fur trade was accelerated in 1786, when Gavriil Pribylov discovered St. George Island , a key rookery of the seals. An estimated 2.5 million seals were killed from 1786 to 1867. This trade led to a decline in fur seal numbers. Restrictions were first placed on fur seal harvest on

1550-548: The 1970s, with a continuing drop of about 6–7% per year. This has caused them to be listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List , and more specifically, the Pribilof Islands / eastern Pacific stock is listed as "depleted" under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act , though to date the species is not yet listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act ). Increasing concern about the species' status, particularly in

1612-537: 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

1674-767: The Kurils, the Commander Islands , and Tyulen'i Islands. The only other fur seal found in the Northern Hemisphere is the Guadalupe fur seal which overlaps slightly with the northern fur seal's range in California. Fur seals are opportunistic feeders, primarily feeding on pelagic fish and squid depending on local availability. Identified fish prey include hake , herring , lantern fish , capelin , pollock , and mackerel . Their feeding behavior

1736-675: The Pribilof Islands by the Russians in 1834. Shortly after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, the U.S. Treasury was authorized to lease sealing privileges on the Pribilofs, which were granted somewhat liberally to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1870 to 1909, pelagic sealing proceeded to take a significant toll on the fur seal population, such that the Pribilof population, historically numbering on

1798-585: The United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, and the United States to restrict hunting in the area. Under the Fur Seal Act of 1966, hunting of the seals was forbidden in the Pribilofs, with the exception of subsistence hunting by native Aleuts . Ambrose Bierce suggested that the island should adopt for its motto 'locus sigilli' ("Place of the Seal (emblem) ") in his The Devil's Dictionary . A post office

1860-579: The annual taking of the snow crab and on subsistence and commercial halibut harvests. Support services to commercial fleets plying the waters of the Bering Sea also contribute to the economy. The balance of economic activity on the island relates to working for the United States Government . The U.S. Coast Guard maintains a base on St. Paul, but no longer maintains a LORAN-C master station, as LORAN technology has been replaced by satellite navigation . The National Weather Service has

1922-400: The color of adult females and subadults. Males can be as large as 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) and 270 kg (600 lb). Females can be up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weigh 50 kg (110 lb) or more. Newborns weigh 5.4–6 kg (12–13 lb), and are 60–65 cm (24–26 in) long. The teeth are haplodont , i.e. sharp, conical and mostly single-rooted, as

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1984-519: 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

2046-437: 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

2108-594: The diet of many scavengers, in particular gulls and Arctic foxes. In 2017, 14 samples of spiny lice were collected off of the nasal passage of fur seal pups. In 2021, these spiny lice were identified as having unique bristle arrangements, and were given the scientific name Antarctophthirus nevelskoyi . They were named after the famous Russian explorer, Admiral Gennady Ivanovich Nevelsky. Seals enter breeding rookeries in May. Generally, older males (10 years and older) return first and compete for prime breeding spots on

2170-449: 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

2232-513: The eastern part of its range, has led to an intensified research program into their behavioral and foraging ecology. Possible causes for recent declines and lack of recovery are increased predation by killer whales, competition with fisheries , and climate change effects, but to date, no scientific consensus has been reached. Northern fur seals have been a staple food of native northeast Asian and Alaska Native peoples for thousands of years. The arrival of Europeans to Kamchatka and Alaska in

2294-544: 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

2356-463: The fertilized egg undergoes delayed implantation: after the blastocyst stage occurs, development halts and implantation occurs four months after fertilization. In total, gestation lasts around a year, such that the pups born in a given summer are the product of the previous year's breeding cycle. Recently, concern about the status of fur seal populations has increased, particularly in the Pribilof Islands, where pup production has decreased about 50% since

2418-528: 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

2480-541: 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

2542-446: 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

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2604-466: 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

2666-545: 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

2728-666: 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

2790-488: The latter was probably named for the ship sailed by Pribylov. The Otter and Walrus islets are near St. Paul. The total land area of all the islands is 75.072 sq mi (194.44 km). The islands are part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge . While oral traditions of the Aleut people maintain the islands were sparingly visited, "no ethnohistoric or archaeological evidence points to

2852-675: 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 /

2914-589: The location, after disobeying orders to retrieve company property in the Kurile Islands . The rookeries Pribylov visited held upwards of four million seals, for which they became famous. The islands became the site of the LLC's first artel in what later became Russian America . With the creation of the Russian-American Company , a monopoly, Russian operations continued on the islands. Under

2976-408: The lower neck to the shoulders. and covers the nape, neck, chest, and upper back. While the skulls of adult males are large and robust for their overall size, their heads appear short because of the combination of a short muzzle, and the backs of the head behind the ear pinnae being obscured by the enlarged necks. Adult males have abrupt foreheads formed by the elevation of the crown from development of

3038-433: The muzzle, chin, and as a "brush stroke" running backwards under the eye. In contrast, adult males are medium gray to black, or reddish to dark brown all over. Their manes can have variable amounts of silver-gray or yellowish tinting on the guard hairs. Pups are blackish at birth, with variable oval areas of buff on the sides, in the axillary area, and on the chin and sides of the muzzle. After three to four months, pups molt to

3100-402: The neck, chest, and shoulders are sized in proportion with the torso. Adult females and subadults have more complex and variable coloration than adult males. They are dark silver-gray to charcoal above. The flanks, chest, sides, and underside of the neck, often forming a chevron pattern in this area, are cream to tan with rusty tones. Variable cream to rust-colored areas are on the sides and top of

3162-499: The order of millions of individuals, reached a low of 216,000 animals in 1912. Significant harvest was more or less arrested with the signing of the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 by Great Britain (on behalf of Canada), Japan, Russia, and the United States. The Convention of 1911 remained in force until the onset of hostilities among the signatories during World War II, and is also notable as

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3224-545: The rookeries. They remain on the rookery, fasting throughout the duration of the breeding season. The females come somewhat later, and give birth shortly thereafter. Like all other otariids, northern fur seals are polygynous, with some males breeding with up to 50 females in a single breeding season. Unlike Steller sea lions, with which they share habitat and some breeding sites, northern fur seals are possessive of individual females in their harem , often aggressively competing with neighboring males for females. Deaths of females as

3286-479: The southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula , the Sea of Okhotsk , and the Bering Sea . An estimated 1.1 million northern fur seals occur across the range, of which roughly half breed on the Pribilof Islands in the east Bering Sea. Another 200–250 thousand breed on the Commander Islands in the west Bering Sea, some 100,000 breed on Tyuleniy Island off the coast of Sakhalin in

3348-601: The southwest Sea of Okhotsk, and another 60–70 thousand in the central Kuril Islands in Russia. Smaller rookeries (around 5,000 animals) are found on Bogoslof Island in the Aleutian Chain , San Miguel Island in the Channel Island group and South Farallon Island off the coast of California . Recent evidence from stable isotope analysis of Holocene fur seal bone collagen (δ C and δ N) indicates that before

3410-418: The species. Fur is absent on the top of the fore flippers and an abrupt "clean line" is seen across the wrist where the fur ends. The hind flippers are proportionately the longest in any otariid because of extremely long, cartilaginous extensions on all of the toes. Small claws are on digits 2–4, well back from the flap-like end of each digit. The ear pinnae are long and conspicuous, and naked of dark fur at

3472-489: 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

3534-540: The tips in older animals. The mystacial vibrissae can be very long, and regularly extend beyond the ears. Adults have all white vibrissae, juveniles and subadults have a mixture of white and black vibrissae, including some that have dark bases and white ends, and pups and yearlings have all black vibrissae. The eyes are proportionately large and conspicuous, especially on females, subadults, and juveniles. Adult males are stocky in build, and have enlarged (thick and wide) necks. A mane of coarse, longer guard hairs extends from

3596-525: 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

3658-618: The use or occupation of the Pribilof Islands... by any native people before the Russian period in Alaska." The seasonal migrations of the northern fur seal became known by the Russians in the 1780s. Swimming north through the Aleutian Islands , the seals returned in the autumn with newly born pups. The unknown northern breeding grounds became a focus of Russian trappers. An employee of the Lebedev-Lastochkin Company , Gavriil Pribylov , sailed in 1786 to discover

3720-402: 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

3782-402: The water as well as "greater muscular leverage" for pectoral strokes. Stroke patterns are different for different dive types and locomotion, and stroke rates vary for individuals since there's a relationship between maximum stroke rate and body size. The northern fur seal is found in the north Pacific – its southernmost reach is a line that runs roughly from the southern tip of Japan to

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3844-402: Was established for the Pribilofs in 1948 at St. Paul, with Mrs. Ruth Anderson as postmistress . Naturalist and paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews visited the islands in 1913 aboard the schooner Adventuress on her maiden voyage with John Borden and crew. His films of fur seals led to efforts to protect the animals. The buildings on St. George and St. Paul Islands related to the hunting of

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