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Chenega Culture Preservation Program

The Chenega Dictionary Project

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On April 20th, 2014 the Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed a bill that recognizes twenty Alaska Native languages as official state languages. Among this list is our Alutiiq language.

Just as practicing our faith unites us as a community, learning our language ties us to our past. With less than ten fluent Alutiiq/Sugcestun language speakers remaining among our People, Chenega Corporation and Chenega Future, Inc., in collaboration with the Chenega Culture Preservation Program committee of Elders and youth are pleased to publish this first edition of the Chenega Dictionary.

The dictionary includes over 200 conversational phrases and words with 17 additional chapters of commonly used words. While certain phrases may seem uncommon to many, they speak to the core of who we are and the life we have embraced for hundreds of years. With the publishing of this book we offer each of you the opportunity to become a bigger part of our history, connecting you to our past and to each other with the hope it will further inspire you to pass on this important part of who we are for generations to come.

Top left to right: Paul Kompkoff, Jr., Pete Kompkoff, Jr., Paul Selanoff, Henry Makarka, Andrew Selanoff, Donald Kompkoff Sr., & Charles W. Totemoff
Bottom left to right: Margaret Borodkin, Maggie Totemoff, Karen Katelnikoff, Shirley Totemoff, Mary Kompkoff & Gail Kompkoff

Produced and published by Chenega Future, Inc. and the Chenega Culture Preservation Program.

In appreciation of those who shared their words so that others might learn to speak, we are grateful to the Chenega Culture Preservation Program members whose dedication to keeping our Alutiiq Sugcestun language alive will forever help us to retain our identity and prevent us from losing our way.

About the Alutiiq Sugt’stun Language

An excerpt from the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks website *

Alaska is home to at least twenty distinct indigenous languages. More than just dialectal variants, these different languages refect the diverse cultural heritage of Alaska’s Native peoples.

Alutiiq (Sugpiaq, Sugcestun) is a Pacific Gulf variety of Yupik Eskimo spoken in two dialects from the Alaska Peninsula to Prince William Sound, including Kodiak Island. Of a total population of about 3,000 Alutiiq people, about 400 still speak the language.

Although traditionally the people called themselves Sugpiaq (Suk [meaning person] and piaq [meaning real]) the name Alutiiq was adopted from a Russian plural form of Aleut, which Russian trappers and traders applied to the Native people they encountered from Attu to Kodiak.

Closely related to Central Alaskan Yup’ik, the Alutiiq language is divided into the Koniag and the Chugach dialects (Sugcestun). Koniag Alutiiq is spoken on the upper part of the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island (and Afognak Island before it was deserted following the 1964 earthquake). Chugach Alutiiq is spoken on the Kenai Peninsula from Nanwalek and Port Graham to Prince William Sound where it meets Eyak.

The first work on Alutiiq literacy was done by Russian Orthodox monks Herman and Gideon and the talented student Chumovitski, although their progress continued only until about 1807 and almost none of their work survives. After that, a few others — notably Tyzhnov, Uchilishchev, and Zyrianov — worked on the language during the Russian period, producing a translation of Matthew, a Catechism, and primer, but they achieved less success than those who worked in Aleut.

The first modern linguistic work on Alutiiq was done by Irene Reed in the early 1960s and by Jeff Leer beginning in 1973. Leer has produced both a grammar and a dictionary of Koniag Alutiiq for classroom use.

* For more information on the Alaska Native Language Center, visit www.uaf.edu/anlc.

* For culturally relavent links, videos and much more please visit