Excerpt:

"This is a tentative dictionary, designed for practical use by the people of Atka and others interested in the Aleut language. It is based primarily upon information obtained during my first visits to Atka village, in 1950 and 1952, with grants from the Penrose Fund of the American Philosophical Society, and, in 1952, from the Norwegian Research Council for the Science and the Humanities. My principal informants were the late William Henry Dirks Sen. (1882-1967) and his son Larry, and the late Cedor Leonty Snigaroff (1890-19656) and his daughter Vera.

"A few words, checked with William Dirks, were taken from the writings of the first priest of Atka, Iakov Netzvetov, as published in 1840 by Ioann Veniaminov. Later I excerpted the manuscript translations by the Atkan priest Lavernty Salomatov, from about 1860, of the Gospels according to St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, and of the Primer and the Catechism (in the Alaskan Russian Church Archives, Library of Congress). Returning to Atka in 1971, with a grant from the Norwegian Research Council, I had this material checked with Larry Dirks Sen. and others. To translate his Russian texts, Salomatov quite often had to stretch the meaning of the Aleut words considerably, sometimes to distortion. Words or meanings not positively recognized by now living Atkans are marked with an asterisk (*).

"Returning to Atka in 1973 for the Atka Bilingual Bicultural Education Program, then under the Alaska State-Operated School System, I could profit from the discussions with and the writings of the team: Nadesta Golley, Moses Dirks, and Sally Snigaroff, as well as from the continued information furnished by Larry Dirks Sen. and his wife Lydia, Vera Snigaroff, and others. An additional source, supplied by Dr. Michael E. Krauss of the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, was an old manuscript dictionary, probably written by Iakov Netzvetov, partly checked with Sergey and Jennie Golley, now the oldest members of Atka village.

"The first half of the dictionary was written in the spring of 1974 and distributed at a workshop held in the summer of the same year at St. Paul Island by the Alaska Native Language Center, the Alaska State-Operated School System and the Aleut League. Later, in connection with work sponsored by the Division of Rural Educations Affairs' National Bilingual Materials Development Center, University of Alaska, I went over the whole material again with Moses Dirks, in the fall and early winter of 1976 in Oslo, and in the summer of 1977 at Atka. Moses Dirks also read through the final manuscript, making some additional corrections.

"My thanks go to all the Atkan Aleuts for their collaboration, and to the staff of the National Bilingual Materials Development Center for seeing to the printing of the dictionary. The responsibility for the shortcomings rests with me." Knut Bergsland

Information about the resource can be found at:
ANKN Clearinghouse
P.O.Box 756730
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6730

Tel: (907) 474-5897
or email: ANKN Clearinghouse

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