Alaskan Russian
Old Russian
The flag of Alaska.
Native toAlaska
RegionKodiak Island (Afognak), Ninilchik
EthnicityAlaskan Creole
Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
ELPKodiak Russian Creole
IETFru-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.

Ninilchik, Alaska.

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

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Michael Kraus (2016). "IPY-Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages".
  3. ^ Russian language's most isolated dialect found in Alaska. Russia Beyond, 2013 May 13.
  4. ^ a b Ninilchik Russian (with dictionary)


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