Alaska Native Languages Research Articles

A culturally sustaining and valid Alaska Native Language (Yugtun) assessment for school children

Assessment tool development which includes the learning of Alaska Native languages by school children in Alaska is limited. A situation shared with First Nations internationally. Even rarer is the development of such tools which include the wishes and aspirations of the children’s communities. The Yupiit Piciryaraitnek Qaneryaranek-llu Cuqyun (aka, Yup’ik Culture and Language Measurement) is being developed by expert Yup’ik native language teachers for kindergarten to Grade 6 students in the Lower Kuskokwim School District, Alaska. The assessment is administered in the Yugtun language. After previous attempts at developing assessment tools had excluded key Yup’ik cultural and Yugtun language features, school district officials and a group of Yup’ik expert native language teachers – the Yup’ik Expert Group (YEG) – decided that they needed to develop their own Yugtun language assessment infused with Yup’ik culture. The district officials then sought the assistance of language assessment researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to ensure that the assessment would be regarded as high quality, valued not only by Yup’ik community members, and also met U.S. and State governments’ requirements for funding. Community-based, participatory and collaborative research principles and practices are being used to support co-designed development of a linguistically and culturally sustaining assessment. This paper provides a project overview and focusses on the Yup’ik Cultural Awareness subtest, a foundational component of the assessment. The assessment project is the first of its kind in Alaska and significant for including community aspirations in a recognized, high quality assessment tool, thereby supporting teachers’ efforts and the achievements of school children learning their community language.

Engaging Indigenous Communities in Higher Education: An Analysis of Collaboration and Ownership in Alaska Native Teacher Preparation

In 2008, our institution was awarded an Office of Indian Education pre-service teacher preparation grant intended to increase the number of Alaska Native/ American Indian teachers in Alaska. Our research examines grant objectives and outcomes, specifically related to the institution’s stated focus on “culturally responsive teacher preparation” and “preserving and advancing” Alaska Native languages and cultures. We also explore challenges and opportunities encountered during the development of a cultural mentoring community for Alaska Native pre-service teachers, facilitated through collaboration with two Alaska Native teacher community organizations. Our work is informed by foundational literature in Indigenous culture-based pedagogy (Demmert & Towner, 2003), Indigenous higher education (Brayboy, 2012), and culturally responsive/ culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Decolonizing methodologies and TribalCrit (Castagno, 2012) are particularly significant in our analysis, as the institution’s mission, vision, and strategic directions initiatives appear to be at odds with outcomes that suggest a continuation of top-down, colonized practices that perpetuate marginalization of Alaska Native students.

“Why Should I Go Vote Without Understanding What I Am Going to Vote For?” The Impact of First Generation Voting Barriers on Alaska Natives

This article explores the many forms of discrimination that have persisted in Alaska, the resulting first generation voting barriers faced by Alaska Native voters, and the two contested lawsuits it took to attain a measure of equality for those voters in four regions of Alaska: Nick v. Bethel and Toyukak v. Treadwell. In the end, the court’s decision in Toyukak came down to a comparison of just two pieces of evidence: (1) the Official Election Pamphlet that English-speaking voters received that was often more than 100 pages long; and (2) the single sheet of paper that Alaska Native language speakers received, containing only the date, time, and location of the election, along with a notice that they could request language assistance. Those two pieces of evidence, when set side by side, showed the fundamental unequal access to the ballot. The lessons learned from Nick and Toyukak detailed below are similarly simple: (1) first generation voting barriers still exist in the United States; and (2) Section 203 of the VRA does not permit American Indian and Alaska Native language speaking voters to receive less information than their English-speaking counterparts. The voters in these cases had been entitled to equality for 40 years, but they had to fight for nearly a decade in two federal court cases to get it.

Changing the Conversation: Promise and Vulnerability in Alaska Native Language Revitalization

Changing the Conversation: Promise and Vulnerability in Alaska Native Language Revitalization

The Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Edited By James Kari and Ben A. Potter. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, n.s., 5, nos. 1–2. A Special Joint Publication of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology and Alaska Native Language Center, 2010. Pp. vi + 363. $40.00 (individuals); $100.00 (institutions) (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewThe Dene–Yeniseian Connection. Edited By James Kari and Ben A. Potter. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, n.s., 5, nos. 1–2. A Special Joint Publication of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology and Alaska Native Language Center, 2010. Pp. vi + 363. $40.00 (individuals); $100.00 (institutions) (paper).Lyle CampbellLyle CampbellUniversity of Hawai’i at Manoa Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by International Journal of American Linguistics Volume 77, Number 3July 2011 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/660977 Views: 35Total views on this site Citations: 9Citations are reported from Crossref © 2011 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Lars Johanson Turkic, 51 (Aug 2021).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139016704Eske Willerslev, David J. Meltzer Peopling of the Americas as inferred from ancient genomics, Nature 594, no.78637863 (Jun 2021): 356–364.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03499-yCharles Stépanoff Shamanic Ritual and Ancient Circumpolar Migrations: The Spread of the Dark Tent Tradition through North Asia and North America, Current Anthropology 62, no.22 (Mar 2021): 239–246.https://doi.org/10.1086/713536 Erreseina. Advances in Proto-Basque Reconstruction with Evidence for the Proto-Indo- uropean-Euskarian Hypothesis, Fontes Linguae Vasconum , no.130130 (Dec 2020).https://doi.org/10.35462/flv.130.8Igor Yanovich Phylogenetic linguistic evidence and the Dene-Yeniseian homeland, Diachronica 37, no.33 (Jul 2020): 410–446.https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.17038.yanMargaret E. Winters Historical Linguistics, 7 (Apr 2020).https://doi.org/10.1075/z.227Svetlana Gural, Alexandra Kim-Maloney, Galina Petrova Siberian-American cognitive and cultural interface through eco-ethnic lexicon, Pragmatics & Cognition 26, no.11 (Mar 2020): 39–60.https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.19007.kimEdward Vajda Dene-Yeniseian, Diachronica 35, no.22 (Jul 2018): 277–295.https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.18001.vajMark Aronoff Thoughts on Morphology and Cultural Evolution, (Jan 2015): 277–288.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14102-2_13

Dena’ina Topical Dictionary. Compiled by James Kari. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 2007. Pp. xxix + 366. $49.00 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessDena’ina Topical Dictionary. Compiled by James Kari. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 2007. Pp. xxix + 366. $49.00 (paper).Keren RiceKeren RiceUniversity of Toronto Search for more articles by this author University of TorontoPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by International Journal of American Linguistics Volume 75, Number 1January 2009 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/598210 Views: 11Total views on this site Book reviews in this section ©2009 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Prevalence and predictors of cancer screening among American Indian and Alaska native people: the EARTH study

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence rates for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer screening among American Indian and Alaska Native people living in Alaska and in the Southwest US, and to investigate predictive factors associated with receiving each of the cancer screening tests. We used the Education and Research Towards Health (EARTH) Study to measure self-reported cancer screening prevalence rates among 11,358 study participants enrolled in 2004-2007. We used prevalence odds ratios to examine demographic, lifestyle and medical factors associated with receiving age- and sex-appropriate cancer screening tests. The prevalence rates of all the screening tests were higher in Alaska than in the Southwest. Pap test in the past 3 years was reported by 75.1% of women in Alaska and 64.6% of women in the Southwest. Mammography in the past 2 years was reported by 64.6% of women aged 40 years and older in Alaska and 44.0% of those in the Southwest. Colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy in the past 5 years was reported by 41.1% of study participants aged 50 years and older in Alaska and by 11.7% of those in the Southwest US. Multivariate analysis found that location (Alaska versus the Southwest), higher educational status, income and the presence of one or more chronic medical condition predicted each of the three screening tests. Additional predictors of Pap test were age (women aged 25-39 years more likely to be screened than older or younger women), marital status (ever married more likely to be screened), and language spoken at home (speakers of American Indian Alaska Native language only less likely to be screened). Additional predictors of mammography were age (women aged 50 years and older were more likely to be screened than those aged 40-49 years), positive family history of breast cancer, use of smokeless tobacco (never users more likely to be screened), and urban/rural residency (urban residents more likely to be screened). Additional predictors of colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy were age (men and women aged 60 years and older slightly more likely to be screened than those aged 50-59 years), family history of any cancer, family history of colorectal cancer, former smoking, language spoken at home (speakers of American Indian Alaska Native language less likely to be screened), and urban/rural residence (urban residents more likely to be screened). Programs to improve screening among American Indian and Alaska Native people should include efforts to reach individuals of lower socioeconomic status and who do not have regular contact with the medical care system. Special attention should be made to identify and provide needed services to those who live in rural areas, and to those living in the Southwest US.

Seven hundred million to one: Personal action in reversing language shift

The paper considers what influence a single person can have on language survival and transmission of knowledge, comparing and contrasting the situation of large languages such as Putonghua (traditionally called Mandarin Chinese, with 700 million speakers) and small languages such as Eyak with as few speakers as one. It examines the delights and dilemmas of such work, the practical results (such as texts and documents) and the spiritual rewards (mostly satisfaction), drawing examples from our own work of the last 35 years with Tlingit, and from the work of colleagues, especially Michael Krauss, in the context of a volume celebrating his 70th birthday and 45 years of work on behalf of Alaska Native languages and endangered indigenous languages around the world, especially in the circumpolar north. The paper is by design an informal and non-technical address to the general reader, especially members of communities whose indigenous languages are endangered.

History of the Naukan Yupik Eskimo dictionary with implications for a future Siberian Yupik dictionary

Naukan is a Yupik Eskimo language spoken now by only a few people on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, but with strong Alaskan affinities. Naukan speaker Dobrieva of Lavrentiya, linguist Golovko of St. Petersburg, and linguists Jacobson and Krauss of Fairbanks have compiled a Naukan dictionary in two parallel volumes: Naukan in a latin-letter orthography to English, and Naukan in the modified Cyrillic alphabet used for Chukotkan Eskimo languages to Russian. It was both appropriate and beneficial that this project involved people from Alaska, European Russia, and Chukotka. The dictionary was recently published by the Alaska Native Language Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The Naukan dictionary in two parallel volumes can serve as a model for a new dictionary of (Central) Siberian Yupik, a language spoken, at least ancestrally, by roughly equal numbers on St. Lawrence Island Alaska and in the New Chaplino-Sirenik area of Chukotka, Russia. Such a dictionary could help to reinvigorate that language and allow it better to serve as a bridge between the two halves of a single people and culture divided only in recent decades by a boundary not of their own making.

Lectures on Endangered Languages 2: From Kyoto Conference 2000. Edited by Osamu Saiyama and Fubito Endo. Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Series C002. Suita, Japan: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University, 2001. Pp. [iii] + 344.

Previous article No AccessLectures on Endangered Languages 2: From Kyoto Conference 2000. Edited by Osamu Saiyama and Fubito Endo. Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Series C002. Suita, Japan: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University, 2001. Pp. [iii] + 344.Anna BergeAnna BergeAlaska Native Language Center Search for more articles by this author Alaska Native Language CenterPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by International Journal of American Linguistics Volume 69, Number 4October 2003 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/382742 Views: 5Total views on this site Permission to reprint a review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author(s).PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Cultural Reassertion of Alaska Native Languages and Cultures: Libraries' Responses

SUMMARY During the past thirty years, scholars in many fields have written voluminously on the maintenance and significance of Native languages among ethnic minorities. Language endangerment and erosion is viewed as a tragic phenomenon on a global level. Yet, it is in the circum-polar North that these losses have been especially poignantly felt. This essay will address those aspects of the history of Alaska Native languages and language loss as it has unfolded within the broad spectrum of socio-cultural forces affecting Alaska Native cultures. Evidence suggests that the legacy of language loss has been substantial. Throughout the spectrum of Alaska Native cultures, this tragedy is felt profoundly as it has brought about a sense of irreplaceable loss and left many questions unanswered. Have the outside forces working within been the primary causes of this erosion or, perhaps, have the victims of this tragedy also played a role of enablers in this process? The recognition of this condition has triggered strong, positive reactions throughout the state of Alaska and its Native communities. These culturally integrated responses indicate tenacity, courage, wisdom and hope for a renaissance. How can libraries become more sensitive and culturally responsive in this emerging milieu? We do not want to be perceived, as libraries often are, as a component of a white, European imperialist institution but rather as supportive partners in this process of cultural reassertion. Thus, our methodologies of selection, preservation, classification, access, and dissemination may need to be refashioned and explained in terms that fit into the vision and philosophy of connectivity to Alaska Native cultures.

Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon ed. by James Ruppert, John W. Bernet

WAL 3 8 .1 S P R IN G 2 0 0 3 for us to take it back” (247). Alongside his claims for sovereignty, Womack also maps a historical space for gay identity in Drowning in Fire with the characters of Tarbie and Seborn— contemporaries of turn-of-the-century Muscogee activist Chitto Harjo— whose love for each other is equaled by their love for the Muscogee Nation. Tarbie and Seborn help Josh understand his place in Muscogee culture, show­ ing him that he is not aberrant because of his sexuality, as the rampant homo­ phobia of Christian discourse has led him to believe, but is, instead, part of a grounded and culturally specific tribal continuum that includes men who might today call themselves gay or two-spirit. In a literary era where gay iden­ tity, especially in the case of gay men, is often still cast as “disease” (see texts like Leslie Silko’s Almanac of the Dead [1991] and James Welch’s The Heartsong of Charging Elk [2000]), Craig Womack breaks new ground by depicting gay Native characters whose sexual identities tie them to, rather than separate them from, both their tribal histories and their present-day tribal cultures. Even while finding Drowning in Fire impressive, I initially questioned Womack’s decision to have a central gay character with a promiscuous history contract HIV/AIDS, given the long literary tradition of gay characters who, if depicted at all, go mad and/or die tragic deaths. While such a death is not rep­ resented in the text and is not, by any means, the destiny of all people with AIDS, the odds are undoubtedly not in the character’s favor. Reading Wom­ ack’s 1998 essay “Politicizing HIV Prevention in Indian Country,” however, in which he addresses the importance of bringing positive tribally specific AIDSprevention messages into Native communities, sheds light on Womack’s larger project, which includes the hope that “sovereign nations can make part of their concern homophobia and the lack of AIDS services in their own home­ lands” (215). In this context, Drowning in Fire can be recognized not merely as a groundbreaking novel depicting the multifaceted nature of Muscogee life, but also as an activist text that highlights the connections between tribal sovereignty and sexual identities. Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon. Edited by James Ruppert and John W. Bernet. L in coln : U n iversity o f N ebrask a Press, 2001. 394 pages, $25.00. Reviewed by Susan Kollin M on tana State University, Bozeman In their collection of Athabaskan stories from the Yukon as well as south central and interior Alaska, editors James Ruppert and John W. Bemet provide a rich gathering of narratives by both well-known figures and newly emergent storytellers and writers. Over the past twenty-five years, Athabaskans across the region have produced a large body of work, much of it in collaboration with local linguists, individual school districts, and community organizers such as BO O K REVIEW S 9 7 those associated with the Alaska Native Language Center and the Yukon Native Language Centre. Ten years in the making, the volume is intended as a corrective to dominant understandings of the North. As the editors explain, in the popular imagination the region is largely understood as an inviting site for Euro-American adventurers, a “place of awesome wonder, scenic splendor, hos­ tile nature, and vast white space.” As a result, the region’s native inhabitants often become consigned to being mere “supporting players” or “expendable extras” in the larger drama of U.S. expansion (ix). In their efforts to dismantle popular images of the North, Ruppert and Bemet take care to provide a liter­ ary, historical, and cultural overview of Athabaskan oral traditions. Organized geographically, the selections in the volume coincide with the major rivers in Alaska and the Yukon, thus mirroring the manner in which these waterways likewise organize the lives of the people who inhabit the land (2). The editors outline the social functions of Athabaskan storytelling, ex­ plaining that oral narratives may be seen as “individual performances that engage cultural conversations, ongoing discourses, and group values” (6). They also identify...

Native American Loanwords in American English

In 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed proclamation admitting Alaska to union as first new state in forty-seven years. The last frontier-a region almost fifth as large as all other states combined-began absorbing settlers from the lower 48 in manner reminiscent of seventeenth-century expansion of Plymouth Colony. Today, almost forty years after Alaska's statehood, towns and villages with curious spellings-Quinhagak, Tuntatuliak, Unalakleetcontinue to greet cheechako (Chinook word for newcomer). Mastering nuances of meaning between words like mukluk (a high boot made of sealskin) and muktuk (whale skin used as food), or subtle sound s differences in place names such as Chugiak (a small community north of Anchorage) and Chugach (a mountain range) presents an ongoing challenge to those unacquainted with Alaska Native languages. The majority of immigrants to Alaska have been English-speaking, and their o vocabulary, like that of America's earliest European settlers, has lacked words for unfamiliar rivers, lakes, birds, fish, plants, and animals 5 189 that they have encountered in Great Land. Hence, words borrowed from languages of Alaska Natives have become, in words of Charles Cutler, a colorful and indispensable part of modern English language.' As Cutler is quick to observe, however, borrowing of English loanwords from Eskimo and Aleut has declined sharply in this century-a phenomenon that has traditionally paralleled shifts in White-Indian relationships in America. The purpose of this study,

"Symbolic Ethnicity" and Alaska Natives of Mixed Ancestry Living in Anchorage: Enduring Group or a Sign of Impending Assimilation?

Although significant intermingling of Alaska Natives with outsiders has occurred since Russian colonization from the mid-1700s, relatively little literature addresses the effect of population admixture on ethnic identity of Alaska's indigenous people. The straight-line theory of assimilation purports that intermarriage and loss of mother tongue herald the demise of a distinct socio-cultural group. Loss of usage of most of Alaska's Native languages and the high rate of Native-non-Native intermarriage, particularly following World War 11, conform to conditions suggestive of assimilation. The dearth of research on this subject in urban Alaska seems to point to tacit agreement with the straight-line theory by social scientists. This article juxtaposes content areas for inquiry from two recent studies of ethnicity with data from a pilot study of 12 Alaska Natives in Anchorage to provide a broader context for the study's results and as a means to ponder more fruitful areas for future research. The Anchorage d...

Ethno-Linguistic Misrepresentations of the Alaskan Native Languages as Mirrored in the Library of Congress System of Cataloging and Classification

This study evaluates the classification patterns established by the Library of Congress for the "Hyperborean languages of America and the kindred languages of Asia." The current analysis examines the treatment, bibliographic access, and retrieval limitations in the current LC classification system as applied to the Alaska Native languages. In addition, it offers a tested, applicable, and LC-compatible resolution for the numerous difficulties associated with applying the LC (PM) classification schedule to the Alaska Native languages. In view of the importance of these languages to Alaska, the development of such a resolution was indeed mandatory.

Notes

References Brooks, A.H. 1911. The Mount McKinley Region, Alaska. USGS Professional Paper 70. Washington. Brooks, A.H. 1953. Blazing Alaska's Trails. College, Alaska: University of Alaska and Artie Institute of North America. Dickey, William A. 1897. The Sushitna River, Alaska. National Geographic Magazine 8: 322–27. Kari, James. 1985. Can Native Place Names be Preserved? Alaska Native News (July): 8–12. Kari, James, and Priscilla Russell Kari. 1982. Dena'ina Elnena, Tanaina Country. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Kari, James, and Priscilla Russell Kari., ed. (forthcoming). Shem Pete's Alaska. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Moore, Terris. 1981. Mt. McKinley, the Pioneer Climbs. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. Orth, Donald J. 1980. Report on the Proposal to Change the Name of the Alaska Mountain from Mount McKinley to Denali (typescript). United States Board of Geographic Names. Orth, Donald J. 1985. The Story of the Naming of Mt. Ranier and other Domestic Names Activities of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Names 32.4:428–34. YanStone, James W. 1959. Russian Exploration in Interior Alaska, an Extract from the Journal of Andrei Glazunov. Pacific Northwest Quarterly 50 (no.2):37–42. Wrangell, Ferdinand Petrovich. 1980 [1839]. Russian America, Statistical and Ethnographic Information. Translated from the German edition of 1839 by Mary Sadouski, and edited by Richard Pierce. Kingston: the Limestone Press.

Notes

References Brooks, Alfred H. 1911. The Mount McKinley Region, Alaska. Washington: USGS Professional Paper 70. Brooks, Alfred H. 1953. Blazing Alaska’s Trails. College: University of Alaska and Arctic Institute of North America. Dickey, William A. 1897. The Sushitna River, Alaska. National Geographic Magazine 8:322–327. Kari, James. 1985. Can Native Place Names Be Preserved? Alaska Native News. July: 8–12. Kari, James. Forthcoming. (Ed.) Shem Pete’s Alaska. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Kari, James, and Priscilla Russell Kari. 1982. Dena’ina Ekiena, Tanaina Country. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Moore, Terris. 1981. Mt McKinley, the Pioneer Climbs. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. Orth, Donald J. 1980. Report on the Proposal to Change the Name of the Alaska Mountain from Mount McKinley to Denali. Typescript. United States Board of Geographic Names. Orth, Donald J. 1985. The Story of the Naming of Mt. Rainier and other Domestic Names Activities of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Names: 32.4:428–434. VanStone, James W. 1959. Russian Exploration in Interior Alaska, an Extract from the Journal of Andrei Glazunov. Pacific Northwest Quarterly 50.2:37–42. Wrangell, Ferdinand Petrovich. 1980 [18391. Russian America, Statistical and Ethnographic Information. Translated from the German edition of 1839 by Mary Sadouski. Edited by Richard Pierce. Kingston: The Limestone Press.

Manokotak: A Study of School Adaptation

A study of the school in Manokotak, Alaska, a Yup'ik Eskimo community, addresses the question of the cultural gap between the school and the minority community. Adaptations in the school evolved over time, and the direction of change was toward integration of the process of schooling into the culture of the local community. EDUCATIONAL CHANGE, MINORITY GROUPS, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH. In her Past President's Address to the Council on Anthropology and Education, Schensul discussed the anthropological notion of cultural gaps between the school and the minority community and the difficulties involved in attempting intervention strategies relating to those gaps (1985). The case of the Manokotak School demonstrates that the cultural gap between the school and the minority community can be lessened, but members of minority communities must play significant roles in the practice of the school and in policy making over extended periods of time if the perception of participants is to be one of success. Policy makers have been acknowledging the need for participation of minority members in the governance of schooling for the past 20 years or so, but few accounts of actual cases are documented in the research literature. Alaska's diverse cultural settings provide educational researchers with unique opportunities for the study of schooling in a variety of contexts. Schools in Alaska serve the children of 20 Alaska-native language groups in circumstances where each school is separated from others by the rugged arctic and subarctic environment. Although many studies have been conducted in these schools, only a few (Cline 1975; Madsen 1983) have attempted holistic descriptions of the school and the community. In the spring of 1984, a case study of the school in Manokotak, Alaska, a Yup'ik Eskimo community, was undertaken. In Manokotak, a high percentage of native adults in the community and certificated teachers in the school described their school as successful. The schoel had adapted to the local setting by altering teaching assignments, curricula, scheduling, communication patterns, and participation by Yup'ik community members in the practice of schooling and in the governance process. The adaptations began to develop in 1948, when the first school was established by the missionary's wife, and

Alaska Native Languages: Past, Present, and Future

Alaska Native Languages: Past, Present, and Future

The National Endowment for the Humanities and its Support for Lexicography

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES AND ITS SUPPORT FOR LEXICOGRAPHY Dorothy Wartenberg The following is a list of dictionary projects and data bases supported, in whole or in part, by the Research Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1967 to date. The dates given are those during which the projects have received funding from NEH. While the Endowment's budget has decreased somewhat since 1 980, there has been no significant reduction in the funds available for research tools and reference works (such as dictionaries), and the Endowment expects to award at least $3 million in outright and matching funds in this area alone in fiscal years 1984. You are invited to look through this list in order, first, to get a sense ofthe variety and range ofprojects that have received funding up to now, and second, to see where there are gaps, particularly in regard to major reference works, for which outside funding may be necessary. The Endowment would appreciate having your comments and suggestions. Prospective applicants should discuss their projects with NEH and ask for staff comments on a preliminary draft before submitting a formal proposal. The next deadline for Research Tools (dictionaries, encyclopedias , data bases) is October 1, 1984. Please write or call: Dorothy Wartenberg, Assistant Director for Reference Works, Research Division, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1 100 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20506 (202-786-0210). 115 1 16NEH and Lexicography DICTIONARIES ARCHAEOLOGY Stillwell, Richard, Princeton University Press, Princeton Dictionary of Classical Archaeology Project, 1 968-70; 1970-76. FILM Eskino, Andrew H., International Museum of Photography , Planning Project for a Biographical Dictionary on Photographers, 1980-81. HISTORY Near and Middle East—Middle East Bonebakker, Seegar, A., University of California at Los Angeles, Computerization ofArabic Biographical Dictionaries for the Onomasticon Arabicum, 1977-84. Herzog, Marvin L, Columbia University, Preparation and Publication of Language and Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry, 1978-83. European—Medieval Worth, Dean S., University of California at Los Angeles, Dictionary of the Novgorod Birchbark Letters (Medieval Russian), 1982-84. Asian Hucker, Charles O., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Historical Dictionary ofChinese Official Titles, 1976-78; 1980-82. Dorothy Wartenberg117 LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS Native American Krauss, Michael E., University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Alaska Native Languages Dictionary Project, 1978-84. Mattina, Anthony, University of Montana, Colville Dictionary , 1980-83. Rhodes, Richard A., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Eastern Ojibwa-Ottawa Dictionary, 1981-84. Rood, David S., University of Colorado, Siouan Languages Archive, 1977-8 1 . Salzmann, Zdenek, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Dictionary of Contemporary Araphano Usage , 1981-83. Siebert, Frank T., Penobscot Nation, Research and Preparation of Penobscot Dictionary Project, 1979-83. Taylor, Allan R., University of Colorado, Gros Ventre Dictionary, 1979-83. Thompson, Laurence, C, Pacific and Asian Linguistic Institute, Salish Indian Lexicography, 1979-83. Thompson, Laurence C, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Salish Indian Dictionaries: Klallam and Tillamook, 1982-84. Yound, Robert W., University of New Mexico, Navajo/ English-English/Navajo Dictionary, 1974-76. Hispanic American Boyd-Bowman, Peter M., Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo, The Linguistic Analysis of Spanish Colonial Documents, 1974-82. Boyd-Bowman, Peter M., Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo, Spanish-American Lexicon of the Nineteenth Century, 1982-84. 1 1 8 NEH and Lexicography American/British Bailey, Richard W., University of Michigan, The Early Modern English Dictionary, 1973-76. Cassidy, Frederic G., University ofWisconsin, Dictionary of American Regional English, 1971-84. Fraser, Russell A., University of Michigan, Early Modern English Dictionary, 1971-72. Nicolaisen, Wilhelm, SUNY at Binghamton, A Concise Dictionary of Scottish Place Names, 1983-86. Robinson, Jay L., University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, The Middle English Dictionary, 1980-85. Sherman, Donald, Unaffiliated, Dictionary ofEarly Modern English Pronunciation 1500-1800 (including a computer version) 1 974-77. European—French Valdman, Albert, Indiana University, Preparation of a Dictionary of Creole French, 1974-81. European—German Lehmann, Winfred P., University of Texas at Austin, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, 1980-84. Lloyd, Albert L., University of Pennsylvania, An Etymological Dictionary of Old High German, 1978-84. Wells, John C, Tufts University, Dictionary of the Old High German Glosses, 1967-73; 1976-81. European—Greek Georgacas, D. J., University of North Dakota at...