Compiled from Dr. Jeff Leer's Classroom Grammar of Koniag Alutiiq, Kodiak Island Dialect and A Conversational Dictionary of Kodiak Alutiiq, P.H. Knecht's Alutiiq Hypercard Lesson and Alutiiq Language (Sugtestun) Lessons, with input from various Native speakers and Jeff Leer.

Before European attempts to create an Alutiiq alphabet with Cyrillic or English letters, the Alutiiq Language was completely oral, passed along to children only through speaking. The Alutiiq alphabet is an interpretation of the sounds of the Alutiiq Language. The Alutiiq alphabet we use today is designed to be able to be typed with any keypad on any computer - special symbols such as underlines and accent marks have been eliminated.

Although the Alutiiq alphabet uses our English letters, and some of the Alutiiq letters sound the same as English ones, it is important to see the Alutiiq alphabet as its own set of sounds. To read Alutiiq, you must stop trying to sound it out in English!

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