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When people are spread out over a landscape,
their separation over time will lead do differences in how they speak.
The Eskimoan languages are related to eachother from the Alutiiq region
all the way to Greenland, but are more similar the closer they are together,
since neighbors have more opportunity to interact. This pattern is true
on a smaller scale as well within the Alutiiq Nation.
Kodiak Alutiiq and Alaska Peninsula
Alutiiq are part of the Koniag Alutiiq dialect of the Alutiiq language.
Kodiak Alutiiq could be considered a sub dialect because there are some
words used on the Kodiak Archipelago that are not used on the Alaska Peninsula,
and vice versa. On an even smaller scale, there are sub-sub dialects within
the Kodiak Archapelago. It is well known among speakers that people from
Afognak and Karluk have a slightly different way of speaking than those
from the southern part of the island. Speakers can actually tell what
village someone is from by the way they speak Alutiiq. Though all of these
"micro dialects" are part of the greater Alutiiq Language, it
is important to preserve them as well. These regional variations are part
of what makes our language beautiful.
Because of prolonged Russian
contact on Kodiak Island, hundreds of Russian words have been integrated
into our language (Leer 1978). This influence is particularly pronounced
on Afognak island.
Example word:
umneq (fog; Southern Kodiak
dialect)
Example word:
tumanaq - (fog; Afognak
- from Russian)
Some of the word differences
between areas on the archapelago can simply because of subdialectical
variation within Kodiak Alutiiq.
Example word:
piugta (dog; used throughout
Kodiak)
Example word:
aikuq (dog; Afognak, Karluk,
and Ouzinkie)
- According to Jeff Leer, this word may be borrowed from
Aleut, or the Aleut peoples may have borrowed it from us.
Example word:
utguiq (octopus; Southern
Kodiak)
Example word:
amikuq (octopus: Northern
Kodiak)
The Alutiiq Language has been
influenced by English words as well as Russian. Usually a borrowed word
will be influenced by English or Russian, but in the examples below, the
word was borrowed differently between the northern and southern regions
of the island.
Example word:
fruuktaaq (fruit; Afognak
- from Russian fruckt)
Example word:
fruutkaaq (fruit; Akhiok
- from English fruit)
Another regional difference
within the Kodiak Archapelago is in word pronunciation. On Afognak and
in Karluk, the s sounds like a sh, while in other areas of Kodiak, the
s sounds like English s. For more examples, see Sounds
We Already Know.
Example word:
Saqul'aq (duck; Afognak/Karluk
style)
Example word:
Saqul'aq (duck; Akhiok/Old
Harbor style)
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Alutiiq Language 
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