Alaskan Russian
{{Short description|Russian of southwestern Alaska}}
{{For|the extinct Aleut-Russian language formerly spoken by Alaskan Creoles|Mednyj Aleut language}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Alaskan Russian
| altname = Old Russian
| state = Alaska
| region = Kodiak Island (Afognak), Ninilchik
| ethnicity = Alaskan Creoles
| image = File:Flag_of_Alaska.svg
| imagecaption = The flag of Alaska.
| date = 2016
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = Balto-Slavic
| fam3 = Slavic
| fam4 = East Slavic
| fam5 = Russian
| isoexception = dialect
| glotto = kodi1252
| glottoname = Kodiak Creole Russian
| ELP = 2090
| ELPname = Kodiak Russian Creole
| ietf = ru-u-sd-usak
| dia1 = Kodiak
| dia2 = Ninilchik
| glotto2 = nini1236
| glottoname2 = Ninilchik
}}
Alaskan Russian, known locally as Old Russian, is a dialect of Russian, influenced by Eskimo–Aleut languages, spoken in what is now the U.S. state Alaska since the Russian colonial period. Today it is prevalent on Kodiak Island and in Ninilchik (Kenai Peninsula), Alaska; it has been isolated from other varieties of Russian for over a century.Evgeny Golovko (2010) [http://www.ninilchikrussian.com/documents/Golovko.pdf 143 Years after Russian America: the Russian language without Russians.] Paper read at the 2010 Conference on Russian America, Sitka, August 20, 2010.
Dialects
Kodiak Russian was natively spoken on Afognak Strait until the Great Alaskan earthquake and tsunami of 1964. It is now moribund, spoken by only a handful of elderly people, and is virtually undocumented.{{cite web |author= Michael Kraus |title= IPY-Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages |date= 2016 |url= https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0732787}}
Ninilchik Russian is better studied and more vibrant; it developed from the Russian colonial settlement of Ninilchik in 1847.[https://www.rbth.com/society/2013/05/29/russian_languages_most_isolated_dialect_found_in_alaska_26519.html Russian language's most isolated dialect found in Alaska.] Russia Beyond, 2013 May 13.
[http://www.ninilchikrussian.com/index.html Ninilchik Russian] (with dictionary)
Vocabulary
Ninilchik Russian vocabulary is clearly Russian with a few borrowings from English and Alaskan native languages.
File:Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ninilchik.jpg.]]
Below are some examples of Alaskan Russian from the village of Ninilchik. All of them are identical to modern Russian, except from two words from the last one:
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|Éta moy dom}}. 'This is my house'. (Modern Russian: Это мой дом.)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|Aná óchin krasíwaya}}. 'She is very pretty'. (Она очень красивая.)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|Aná nas lúbit}}. 'She loves us'. (Она нас любит.)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|Éta moy mush}}. 'This is my husband'. (Это мой муж.)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|Bózhi moy!}} 'My God!' (Боже мой!)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|On moy brat}}. 'He is my brother'. (Он мой брат.)
:{{lang|ru-Latn-US|U miné nimnóshka Rúskay krof}}. 'I have a little Russian blood'. (У меня немного русской крови.)
References
{{reflist}}
{{Interlanguage varieties}}
{{Russian language}}