The Ethnic and Linguistic Identity of the Descendants of Alaskan Creoles in Our Days
- Authors: Raskladkina M.K.1
-
Affiliations:
- SCANEX Engineering and Technology Center
- Issue: No 3(122) (2025)
- Pages: 133-147
- Section: FUNCTIONING OF LANGUAGES IN MULTILINGUAL ENVIRONMENT
- URL: https://journal-vniispk.ru/2587-6090/article/view/316139
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.22204/2587-8956-2025-122-03-133-147
- ID: 316139
Cite item
Full Text
Abstract
Russian has been spoken on the North American continent since the middle of the 18th century, when Russia began active trade and fishing, gradually moving eastward along the islands of the Aleutian Ridge to the Alaska peninsula. At first, Russian voyages for marine and fur-bearing animals were irregular, the main idea of industrialists was to gain profit from the resources of New Land. They treated the indigenous people rather harsh, exploiting their hunting and fishing skills. Decades passed before the most ideologically thinking and visionary Russians came up with the idea that they could be hosts here, not guests. Together, they crea ted the Russian-American Company (RAK) in 1799, which solely ruled Alaska until it was ceded to the United States of America. Having left its only overseas colony in 1867, Russia left behind one important thing: the Russian language, which, resulting from contacts with the languages of indigenous peoples, formed a special Russian variety that has survived to date, as well as the Russian Orthodox tradition, followed by many residents of many Alaskan territories. The research is devoted to the preservation of the ethnic and linguistic identity of the descendants of the Russian colonists. It is based on a corpus of sociolinguistic and ethnographic interviews (1980s — 2020s) with residents of areas with a strong Russian presence, supported by archival records. Adhering to the approaches of linguistic and historical anthropology, the author uses both universal scientific methods and special methods of historical research determined by the unique nature of the problem: chronological problem method, comparative analysis method, systematic method, and content analysis.
About the authors
M. K. Raskladkina
SCANEX Engineering and Technology Center
Author for correspondence.
Email: marina.raskladkina@gmail.com
Candidate of Political Sciences, leading specialist
Russian Federation, MoscowReferences
- Fyodorova S.G. Russkaya Amerika: ot pervykh poselenii do prodazhi Alyaski. Konets XVIII veka –
- god. M.: Lomonosov, 2015 (in Russian).
- Piterskaya E. S. Kreoly Alyaski v svete processov mezhkul'turnogo vzaimodejstviya // Etnograficheskoe obozrenie. 2007. № 6. S. 94–104 (in Russian).
- Black L. Russians in Alaska (1732–1867). USA, AK, Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2004.
- Mishler C. Black Ducks, Salmon Bellies: An ethnography of Old Harbor and Ouzinkie. Alaska, USA, AK, Department of Fish and Games, 2003.
- Arndt K. «Released to Reside Forever in the Colonies»: Founding of a Russian Amer-ican Company Retirement Settlement at Ninilchik, Alaska // Adventures through Time: Read-ings in the Anthropology of Cook Inlet, Alaska / Proceedings of a Symposium. Compiled and Edited by N.Y. Davis and W.E. Davis. Cook Inlet Historical Society. 1996. 16 p.
- Orthodox Church in America / Diocese of Alaska — URL: https://www.oca.org/parishes/diocese/AK (дата обращения: 11.09.2023).
- Ratburn R. The Russian Orthodox Church as a Native Institution among the Koniag Eskimo of Kodiak Island, Alaska // Arctic Anthropology. 1981. Vol.18. №1. Pp.12-22.
- Znamenski A. Dena'ina Orthodox Chapels as a Native Institution (1871-1917) // Acta Americana. 2000. №2. Pp. 5-22.
- Bergelson M.B., Kibrik A.A. Russkij yazyk na beregah zaliva Kuka: samoidentif-ikaciya kul'tury v usloviyah izolyacii // Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filologiya. 2018. №54. S.29-41 (in Russian).
- Golovko E.V. Russkij yazyk na Alyaske (Po materialam ekspedicij 2008 i 2009 gg.) // Trudy ob"edinennogo nauchnogo soveta po gumanitarnym problemam i istoriko-kul'turnomu naslediyu. 2010. S. 73-81 (in Russian).
- Raskladkina M. K., Bergelson M. B., Kibrik A. A. Alyaskinskij russkij yazyk: istoriya ekspedicij v byvshuyu zamorskuyu koloniyu Rossii // Yazyki i fol'klor korennyh narodov Sibiri. 2024. №1 (V. 49). S.138‒152. doi: 10.25205/2312-6337-2023-4-138-152 (in Russian).
- Korsun S.A. Russkoe nasledie na Alyaske // Kunstkamera. Etnograficheskie tetradi: zhurnal. 2003. V.13. SPb., 2003. S. 57 (in Russian).
- The Rich History of Ninilchik Alaska / Ninilchik History Timeline. URL: https://ninilchikcnc.com/ninilchik-history-timeline/ (access date: 07.07.2025).
- Raskladkina M.K., Bergel'son M.B. «Chainik keepeet…» («The tea kettle is boiling»). Istoriya zhizni russkogo soobshchestva na Alyaske // Mediachteniya SKFU: sbornik statej po itogam Mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii (Stavropol, 27 oktyabrya 2017 g.), Stavropol': Servisshkola, 2017. S.68-93 (in Russian).
- The Native Village of Afognak: Afognak Village Timeline. URL: https://www.afognak.org/data-recovery/afognak-village-timeline/). (access date: 07.07.2025).
- Bergelson M.B., Kibrik A.A. Alyaskinskij russkij kak pis'mennyj // Slovo i chelovek: k 100-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya akademika Nikity Il'icha Tolstogo / otv. red. S.M. Tolstaya. M.: Indrik. S. 32-48 (in Russian).
- Huggins E. Kodiak and Afognak life, 1868-1870. Canada, Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press, 1981.
- Daly C. Russian Language Death in an Alaskan village // Text of paper read to Uni-versity of California Berkeley Linguistic Colloquium, Oct. 31, 1985 (a copy stored at Alaska Native Language Archive, University of Alaska Fairbanks).
- Bates C., Oleksa M. Conflicting landscapes: American Schooling & Alaska Natives. Anchorage, Alaska, 2008.
- Daly C. Russian Language fieldwork on Kodiak Island. Unpublished manuscript. Oct. 1985. 3 p. (a copy stored at Alaska Native Language Archive, University of Alaska Fair-banks).
- Krauss M. The Russian language in Alaska and in Alaskan native languages // Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific. Asia, and the Americas / eds.: S.A. Wurm, P.Mülhäusler, D.Т. Tryon. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996. P. 1209-1212.
- Kibrik A. Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan: A case of resistance to language contact / Text of paper read to Conference «Language variation: conditions, mechanisms, results». Perm, October 30, 2021).
Supplementary files
