Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Qawalangim Tunuu Speaker in Atka
Being asked if he’d worked with Fr. Ishmael Gromoff, Moses shares of the visits Fr. Ishmael would make to Atka for church services and how language spoken would “deepen” to be better understood between speakers of each dialect. He also shares of the beginnings of “The Right Way to Live as an Unangax̂”poster creation, the […]
Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Atkans in the Pribilofs
Moses shares about how men from Atka would go to St. Paul and St. George to work in the commercial fur seal harvesting in summers and the language that would be shared between each community. Books were of great help in learning between the two dialects.
Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Experience Working Between St. Paul and St. George
Upon being asked the similarities and differences in Unangam Tunuu spoken in St. George and St. Paul at the time of his visits in the 1980s, Moses shares of the slight differences in words used in each village. With the 1972 Bilingual Act being passed, Unangam Tunuu began to be taught in schools.
Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Working with Qawalangim Tunuu/Beginnings of Classes in Schools
Moses shares of working with Nick Galaktionoff in Unalaska getting Qawalangim Tunuu language to be used in classrooms. Difficulties of identifying words used in each dialect.
Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Early Work in Unangax̂ Communities
Moses shares of starting work with Knut Bergsland, traveling to communities throughout the Unangax̂ region to check older data and collect new data to put together the Unangam Tunuu dictionary.
Moses Dirks 2023 Story Visit – Origins and Early Life
Moses Qagidax̂ Dirks introduces himself and gives insight of how much Unangam Tunuu of the Niiĝuĝim dialect was spoken in Atka while he was growing up. He shares of meeting speakers of Qawalangim dialect at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, youth from St. Paul and St. George, and learning some words used in their dialect.
Gregory Fratis Sr. 2022 Story Visits – Local Foods
The different kinds of local foods eaten and the importance of them to our health
Gregory Fratis Sr. 2022 Story Visits – Halibut
The excitement of catching halibut and distributing it throughout the village and how it was prepared and eaten.
Gregory Fratis Sr. 2022 Story Visits – Values
Differences and transitions in values from his childhood to now
Gregory Fratis Sr. 2022 Story Visits – Bathing
Bathing in earlier times: from children in pails to elders in steam baths