Ida Hildebrand visits archive

Ida Hildebrand of Chugach Regional Resources Commission visited the archive Sept 7-9 to look for material documenting traditional resource use in the Prince William Sound region. Ida worked with archive assistant Wendy Camber to sort through numerous boxes of materials from the collection of Irene Reed. Irene Reed worked on Chugach Alutiiq in the early 1960's and many of the materials she collected have yet to be inventoried or cataloged. This week ANLA will work on cataloging and scanning these materials so that they will be available for download.

Michael Krauss discusses Irene Reed's work with Ida Hildebrand

ANLA Student Positions Fall 2011

ANLA is hiring is hiring undergraduate student assistants for Fall 2011. Apply the the CLA Pool Position (PCN924707). Be sure to mention in your application that you are interested in working for the Alaska Native Language Archive. For more information contact the Archive Director or visit us at the Job and Research Fair, Sept 7-8.

Recent publication on comparative Eskimo-Aleut

Michael Krauss brought my attention to a recent paper on comparative Eskimo-Aleut by José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Alaskans may not be familiar with the work of this Spanish scholar, who has been making an important contribution to Eskimo-Aleut linguistics. The paper is entitled Proto-Eskimo-Aleut */ə/ and the Origin of Aleut Pre-Aspirated Consonants. The abstract follows:

The aim of this paper is to analyze several points of the Aleut historical phonology which up till now had not received enough attention. The programmed agenda comprises: (I) Proto-Eskimo-Aleut */ə/; (II) the pre-aspiration; (III) the Proto-Eskimo-Aleut sequences */-nə-/ and */-ŋə-/, and (IV) Aleut lexicon containing x̣- (γ.-). An ideal understanding of these processes shall help to the reconstruction of the Proto-Aleut language, an issue totally rejected in the specialized literature.

The paper is published in Revista Española de Antropología Americana (40.1, 2010) and can  be downloaded here.

Archive closed August 1-5

Due to staff travel schedules the Archive public reading room will be closed August 1-5. During this closure materials can still be accessed via the online catalog, and Archive staff can be reached by email at uaf-anla-dept [at] alaska.edu. We apologize for this inconvenience and look forward to your visit beginning Monday, August 8.

ANLA now a member of OCLC

Thanks to our continuing partnership with the Rasmuson Library, the Alaska Native Language Archive is now a member of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). This membership will provide ANLA with improved cataloging resources and will eventually provide users with access to ANLA resources via the OCLC WorldCat service.

ANL Map featured in UAF Frontiers

The Alaska Native Language map is the subject of a story in the latest edition of UAF Frontiers magazine.

The new map, Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska, is now available from the ANLC Press.

Native Language Preservation guide

The Administration for Native Americans has produced an excellent guidebook for establishing local language archives. It's called Native Language Preservation: A Reference Guide for Establishing Archives and Repositories. It provides comprehensive information on how to start a language archive, including information about costs. It also has two chapters devoted to locating resources in existing repositories. The book can be downloaded in pdf format from the ANA website.