Linguistic Study of 'Eyak' Language Becomes Urgent Project.. .
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divided into Inupik in ttie North
and Yupik in the South. Approxi
mately 12.000 nalives can speak Yu
pik. from Prince William Sound
to Norton Sound. About 4.000 have
a knowledge of Inupik. They live
on the Seward Peninsula and the
Arctic Coast. The Aleut speakers
live on the Aleutian Chain and Pri
bilof Islands.
Most of the dialects of the Atha
bascan language have less than 100
speakers and many of there are of
the older generation which is rapid
ly dying out. Eyak. which is related
to Athabascan and perhaps to Tlin
git and Haida of the “Na-Dene"
group, fits into this category.
“Native groups with a knowledge
of their language are dwindling
rapidly,” Krauss said. "Parents
have switched over tc teaching
English to their children. School
teachers encourage the parents to
teach their children English in
stead of their native tongue.”
Migrated
Three thousand years ago ances
tors of the modern Athapaskans
and Eyaks were concentrated in an
area of Central Alaska and the Yu
kon, perhaps too small to support
their needs. A small group (ances
tors of the Eyaks) estimated by
Krauss at 100 to 1000, left the area
and made the difficult journey
Southward to the coast, where they
settled around Cordova and Yaku
tat. Later, some of the Athapaskans
eventually scattered to southern
Oregon, northern California and
even to the southwest United States,
where they are known today as
Navahos and Apaches.
Russian adventurers discovered
the Eyaks in the early 1800’s and
the scholar-diplomat-aristocrat Re
znnov was the first to document
any of their language. He collected
an interesting vocabulary in 1805
which was published after a long
delay in 1857.
Two other small works, collected
by the Rusian governors Wrangell
and Furuhjelm, were published in
1839 and 1872.
Meanwhile, the United States pur
chased Alaska in 1867. But, Krauss
explained, they lost track of much
cf what the Russians had learned
about Alaska natives and complete
ly lost track of the Eyak.
“As a result we knew little about
the Eyak. They were passed off
simply as "Tlingitized Eskimos,’ he
said.
Second Discovery
The Eyaks were not discovered
again as a separate, unique and in
dependent tribe until 1930 when
Fredricka de Laguna, noted Ameri
can anthropologist, arrived in
Prince William Sound to study the
natives.
De Laguna’s investigation prompt
ed another expedition in 1933 by a
team of Danish and American ex
plorers. Although it was fruitful
! in other areas of research, the ex
| pedition had only limited success
j in the area of linguistics.
In the next 28 years, only two
| linguists did any research on the
I Eyak language.
John Peabody Harrington of the
Smithsonian Institution studied the
language for six weeks in 1940.
However, not all his manuscripts
1 have yet been located. In 1952,
Fang-Kuei Li. a University of Wash
ington professor, spent one-half a
, summer in Southcentral Alaska. Al
though his work is not yet publish
ed, Krauss describes it as very im
portant.
Robert Austerlitz of Columbia
University studied the language for
three months under Krauss’ grant
in 1961.
Limited background material was
only one of the problems Krauss
encountered when he began his
work. Other than Mrs. Smith, Mrs.
Nacktan and Mrs. Harry, he has
also found only three others who
have some knowledge of Eyak. They
are George Johnson of Yakutat, Mrs.
Smith's older sister, Sophie Fields,
and Mike Sewock of Cordova.
Johnson is in his 70's and Mike
Sewock who is in his 80's is near
ly blind and deaf. Neither has spo
ken much Eyak in 50 years, al
though they can still recall the
language. Lena Nacktan spoke Eyak
in her youth, but married out of
her tribe. She relearned the lan
guage from Mrs. Stevens. Sewock
and Johnson are originally from
Katalla, an Eyak-speaking com
munity until around the turn of
the century when it became in
creasingly Tlingit.
Thus, other than a few very old
people in Yakutat who may remem
ber a few words of Eyak from their
youth, these are the only survivors
of the Eyaks.
Miraculous
Dr. Krauss believes it is miracu
lous that even as many as 10 re
main who have a knowledge of the
Eyak language, considering that
pressures from the white man and
other native tribes have crushed
the Eyak culture and nearly exter
minated the people,
j “Assimilation has become a kind
I of ‘final solution’ for the native
i problem in the United States," he
] said. “When two cultures meet, as
I has been the case in Alaska, one
j way to get along is to give the na
| live a chance to learn our ways
I CONSTRUCTION AND
GENERAL LABORERS
Local 942, AF of L
Odmund N. Orbeck, President
Joel Wiegert
Secretary-Treasurer
f05 Noble St
Meetings Every 2nd Frida;,
7:30 P.M.
dal GL 6-4582
so ho can got along in our society.
But this does not mean that we
must stamp out his culture and lan
guage. With a little understanding
on our part, the native could have
been offered what we had without
completely crushing the native cul
ture.”
Dr. Krauss, as a trained linguist,
can devise a fitting alphabet for a
native language by understanding
the working of its sound system.
He hopes to preserve in this way a
reasonably complete vocabulary in
the form of native folklore texts.
Dr. Krauss believes that Eyak
can provide an important key in
solving the mysteries in the rela
tionship of the Na-Dene languages.
Other fields of scholarship will
benefit from this too, including an
thropology. humanities and history.
Art Show Planned
At U-A Commons
An art show, featuring water
colors of the Point Hope, Noatak,
Kotzebue and Koyukuk areas of
Alaska, opened Saturday on the up
per floor of the new University of
Alaska Commons.
The show is a one-man presenta
tion of Fairbanks artist Claire Fe
jes. who has spent part of several
years visiting in outlying villages,
capturing the lives of the people
on canvas.
The show will last through Octo
ber 12.
Mrs. Fejes has lived in Fairbanks
for 17 years wtih her husband Jo
seph, owner of the Hobby House,
which also houses the Alaska Art
Gallery. The couple are from New
York. They have two children,
I Mark and Yola.
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