Abstracts
Abstract
Bristol Bay Native Corporation’s (BBNC) Bristol Bay Native Place Names Project is a 20-year initiative dedicated to celebrating the Sugpiaq/Alutiiq, Dena’ina, and Yup’ik Native place names in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. Through this project, BBNC is committed to honoring the land-centered knowledge and environment that has long defined Alaska Native cultures. As traditional place names are increasingly replaced by English equivalents, this project serves to revitalize cultural and linguistic knowledge that connects our communities to the land. The Bristol Bay Native Place Names Project highlights the contributions of Alaska Native cultural workers, educators, community members, and knowledge bearers. It documents approximately 1,500 place names across three Alaska Native languages in the Bristol Bay region. The online publication of these names has received a remarkable response from the community, with growing use of traditional place names in daily life, navigation, search-and-rescue operations, oral histories, and land-based language education in schools. Overall, this initiative represents a form of Indigenous language revitalization driven by Alaska Native people for the benefit of their home communities, ensuring the continued connection to cultural heritage and fostering future generations’ understanding of their ancestral lands.
Keywords:
- Alaskan languages,
- community-driven documentation,
- place names,
- toponymy,
- cultural heritage preservation,
- Yupik languages
Résumé
Le Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) Bristol Bay Native Place Names Project est une initiative sur 20 ans visant à célébrer les noms de lieux Sugpiaq/Alutiiq, Dena’ina et Yup’ik dans la région de Bristol Bay, dans le sud-ouest de l’Alaska. Grâce à ce projet, BBNC s’engage à honorer les connaissances et l’environnement centrés sur les terres qui définissent depuis longtemps les cultures autochtones de l’Alaska. Alors que les noms de lieux traditionnels sont de plus en plus remplacés par des équivalents anglais, ce projet sert à revitaliser les connaissances culturelles et linguistiques qui relient nos communautés à la terre. Le projet sur les noms de lieux autochtones de la baie de Bristol met en lumière les contributions des travailleurs culturels, des éducateurs, des membres des communautés et des détenteurs de savoirs autochtones de l’Alaska. Il documente environ 1 500 noms de lieux dans trois langues autochtones de l’Alaska dans la région de la baie de Bristol. La publication en ligne de ces noms a reçu un accueil remarquable de la part de la communauté, qui utilise de plus en plus les noms de lieux traditionnels dans la vie quotidienne, la navigation, les opérations de recherche et de sauvetage, les récits oraux et l’enseignement des langues autochtones dans les écoles. Dans l’ensemble, cette initiative représente une forme de revitalisation des langues indigènes menée par les Autochtones de l’Alaska au profit de leurs communautés d’origine, garantissant le maintien du lien avec le patrimoine culturel en favorisant la compréhension de leurs terres ancestrales par les générations futures.
Mots-clés :
- Langues alaskiennes,
- documentation communautaire,
- noms de lieux,
- toponymie,
- préservation du patrimoine culturel,
- langues yupik
Appendices
References
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