To speak the language is a great way to learn the language.  Irene Katchatag and her son, Sheldon, worked tirelessly to begin the process of preserving one of the dialects.  It is a beginning, but one that would fade and be lost if we do not work together to preserve our language and tradition.

In phase II of the project, Willa Towarak Eckenweiler worked tirelessly with her mother Guerie Towarak to document 15 pages of conversational Inupiaq (both Malimiut and Qawairaq).  Assistance was obtained from University of Alaska, Fairbanks Professor Larry Kaplan.  Please note the a sample of the translators’ work is given below and that both languages (dialects) use the same phrase when not denoted with an (M) for Malimuit and (Q) for Qawairaq.

Greetings
1. How are you?  Qanuqitpit?
2. I am fine.  (M)Illuaqtunga.  (Q)Nakurunga.
3. How about you?  Illvit aa’siin?
4. I’m fine, too.  (M)Illuaqtunga tauq.
5. Are you fine?  (M)Illuaqpi’it?
I’m not good.  Illuangillanga.
6. He is fine.  (M)Illuaqtuq.
7. We are fine.  Illuaqtu’ut.
8. We are all fine.  Illug’gata illuaqtu’ut.
9. You are fine.  Illuaqtusi.
10. You be good.  Illuagumautin.
11. You be good.  Illuagumausi.

People
1. Who is this?  Kitu’uva una? (Which UNKNOWN person)
Kina’una?  (‘Which’ of the people I know)
2. Who is this person?  Kitu’uva una? (UNKNOWN person)
Kina’una? (‘Which’ of the people I know)
3. This is a man.  Angutauruq una.
4. This is a woman.  Agnauruq una.
5. This is a boy.  Angutai’yauruq una.
6. This is a girl.  Agnai’yauruq una.
7. This is a child.  Miklairauruq una.
8. This is a baby.  Ilil’ga’aguruq una.

Construction of Fish Rack
preparing salmon with Oscar & Mae Koutchak
picking alluyak with Frances Charles
picking surra with Lorena Paniptchuk
preparing sourdock with Nita Towarak
listening to Lorena Paniptchuk with preparing elephant ears

For ease of transportation and handling of long logs, it is best to gather your post logs in the wintertime.  In this case, our constructor gathered his logs from a place close by a lake called, appropriately, Big Lake in the wintertime, hauling them with a snowmachine and a sled on which to transport them.  He chose a site that was close to his house, did preparatory work like clearing the area, leveling the ground, and cutting the grasses. After the snow melted, he then marked and spaced the holes where the posts would go into and preparatory work began. When the ground thawed sufficiently enough to dig into the ground, he dug about two-three feet into the ground with a shovel.  In the past it was usually done with a tool called a sikhlaqchiklaq, roughly an l-shaped tool used primarily for digging.

1.  Gather post logs, called the napagiat, depending on how large you want your naligaq, six for a small one, eight for a larger one.  The larger one would have the corner posts plus one in the center of the length and width of the corner posts for stability and support. The length of the logs would be evened out using an uluun, a bow saw. The post logs would be about nine to ten feet long, with a girth of about 24 to 30 inches. The height of the logs should be to where dogs cannot jump up and reach for the fish and high enough to be breezy at the apex of the naligaq.  Usually there are two levels in a naligaq, one at the level of the top of the post logs and the other about halfway from the post logs to the apex.  The center logs that will hold the support beam at the top can be from a log that can be a continuous 14 to sixteen feet high or a length can be added to the center supporting post log to what ever height is desired.

2. Place across the napagiat, four poles, desirably of equal dimensions, or piavik piavit for plural. These would be attached by an aghlunaaq, or raamin, rope that was made from an bearded seal that had been de-haired through a process of fermentation and then cut into ½ to ¾ inch width and a continuous length, then wrapped around the width of the naligaq until dried.

3.  Thinner poles will be added from the support beam down to the piavik.  The wider end of the poles is placed at the top along the support beam.  In order to place the thinner poles, you will need a crosspiece, called an ikaaqsaagutit, at the center of the length of the naligaq.  Another movable ikaaqsaaguti can be made when you need to move drying fish or strips from the lower level to the top.

A. E. Karlson met Nashalook, one of the Malimiut people mentioned in a diary of David Johnson, in St. Michaels Alaska and Nashalook invited him to come to Unalakleet with him.  Thinking that it (the trip to Unalakelet) was on his way to Russia, Karlson took the offer.  Karlson got a ride as far as Unalakleet, as the Malimiut would not continue to escort him to Russia.  This short invitation became a lifelong endeavour for Karlson.  Karlson was given a name by the Malimiuts as Isralik, which interperts as “One-with-glasses”.

Many of Karlson’s and David Johnson’s memoriors were written in Swedish, however some of Johnson’s work is written in English.  It is Johnson’s work that gives more details about their first observations of the people that were living in and around Unalakleet.  The time was 1887 and in September when Karlson came to Unalakleet.  The timing for the Malimiut people in September meant that winter was coming and more for was needed for survival.  Thus, gathering “fall” fish and drying them meant that this was a high priority for the Malimiuts.

The weather can be harsh and cold in the winter, but the short summer brings a vibrant gesture of tundra blooms, migrating fowls, lush greens for human consumption, or a flood of salmon best treated in various fashion.  The ever rich Bering Sea ecosystem gladly welcomes the fresh and clear waters from the Unalakleet watershed and it also is home to many of the marine mammals the the Eskimos have relied on for many years. The thrashing waves from the south and westly winds created a sandy beach rich with driftwood coming mainly from the mighty Yukon River.  The sandy beach extends into a peninsula-type sandspit where permafrost is not evident as in most of the tiaga or tundra biome

Initial method of providing the history of our people came in the form of verbal exchange between family members or another neighboring tribe and a memory that was shared from generation to generation.

One group of pre-western people that first “met” the western culture were called the Unalit.  This group was mainly a Yupik speaking group and lived in the southern section of the Unalakleet River.  Other groups of people were the Malimiut, and Qawiaraqmiut.

Unalakleet is located on Norton Sound and is part of the Bering Sea ecosystem. It is known as the “place where the east wind blows” and means “the most southerly point” in the Inupiaq language. The community lies between three historical and ethnic territories: Inupiaq Eskimos in the north, Yupik Eskimos just south of the river, and the Athabaskan Indian to the east. Unalakleet is located between such diverse peoples and has served as a major trade center between the Athabaskan Indians and the Eskimo peoples.  (Interestingly, the Russian Siberian Yupiks in the westernly side of the Bering Sea has a place meaning “Where the Eastwind blows to.")

The Malimiuts were also known as Kuvunmutes.

Upon inquisitiveness and a spirit-led direction, A.E. Karlson finally met a captain who has made several sailing trips to Alaska and asked to come along to St. Michaels, Alaska.  The captain asked him for what purpose was he going to Alaska.  Karlson’s reply was, “To preach the gospel.” The captain’s immediate response to him was, “Those Natives do not have a soul.”

(St. Michaels had a deep port and it was a port with a semi-safe harbor that allowed the ships to dock near the shore with heavy cargo.  Many of the other parts of Norton Sound did not have a deep port, as the continental shelf was very, very shallow.)

Initial life skills for A.E. Karlson was simply survival.  He would not have survived the life-threats made on his life without persisitant Malimiuts who felt the need for keeping him safe.  The local leaders moved Karlson from home to home to keep him alive.  Eventually and after a few months living with the people, the people accepted him as one who would not threaten their people.  He was different, obviously, as he did not have the liquor as previous sailors had.  In fact, at one poiint, Karlson was approached by three (3) locals who wanted more liquor, but Karlson gained their trust when he offered them food and something “better” to drink.  The men left thinking that this man was not a threat to their people, but a help.

Sergei Ivanoff came to Alaska after the Russian explorers saw the many marine fur animals.  He is believed to dock at the St. Michael port with a younger brother in the 1830s and many other entrepreneurs seeking answers to their curiosity or a new adventure.  Sergei eventually married a Yupik Eskimo from St. Michael and began his family their in St. Michael.