Abstract
This chapter considers the types of materials available in libraries, archives, special collections, and shoeboxes for studying and understanding Arctic Indigenous languages. Indigenous peoples account for approximately 12.5% of the overall Arctic population and, for centuries, have been in contact with non-Indigenous peoples (e.g., explorers, colonists, traders, and other visitors). Until recently, these ‘outsiders’ were the ones who created most of the records about Arctic languages, documenting language forms and linguistic practices from their own distanced perspectives. There is no single archive or repository for Arctic Indigenous languages, nor is there a centralized catalogue which lists what resources exist and where they are located. The resources are scattered, not only across the Arctic but also many important recordings are in the archives or personal holdings of the people who made them. We map out existing records and provide information about how to work with them, and then provide a close analysis of the holdings in one archive located in Yakutsk, Russia to exemplify the possibilities of finding language materials in regular archives.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
California Language Archive (CLA). (n.d.). History. https://bit.ly/47Q6Gri. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
de Graaf, T. (2009). Das phonogrammarchiv am Institut für Russische Literatur (Pushkinski Dom) der Russischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in St. Petersburg [The phonogram archive at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg]. In E. Kasten (Ed.), Schamanen Sibiriens, Magier-mittler-heiler [Shamans of Siberia: Magicians, mediators, healers] (p. 227). Reimer Verlag.
de Reuse, W. J. (1996). Chukchi, English, and Eskimo: A survey of jargons in the Chukotka peninsula area. In E. Håkon Jahr & I. Broch (Eds.), Language contact in the Arctic: Northern pidgins and contact languages (pp. 47–62). de Gruyter.
Egede, P. H. (1766). Testamente Nutak, eller, det Nye Testament: oversat i det Grönlandske Sprog, med Forklaringer, Paralleler og udförlige Summarier [The New Testament, or the New Testament: Translated into the Greenlandic language, with explanations, parallels texts, and detailed summaries]. Gerhard Giese Salikath.
Evenkiteka. (n.d.). O biblioteke [About the library]. https://bit.ly/47WwB0E. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Finna.fi. (n.d.). Finna—hakupalvelujen kokonaisuus [Finna—Search services as a whole]. https://bit.ly/46U8CxJ. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Forsyth, J. (1992). A history of the peoples of Siberia: Russia’s north Asian colony 1581–1990. Cambridge University Press.
Hoh, A. (2016, November 7). Atuagagdliutit: The first Inuit newspaper published in Greenland (Kalâtdlit-Nunât). http://bit.ly/3WNMxf7. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Kleinschmidt, S. (1871). Den Grønlandske ordbog [The Greenlandic dictionary]. L. Kleins bogtrykkeri. https://bit.ly/3RfGH5A. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Nordenskiöld, A. E. (2012). The voyage of the Vega around Asia and Europe, with a historical review of previous journeys along the north coast of the Old World (A. Leslie, Trans.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1882).
Rasmussen, C. (1873). Supplement til Den Grønlandske ordbog [Supplement to the Greenlandic dictionary]. https://bit.ly/47QTq5B. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Schultz-Lorentzen, C. W. (1926). Den Grønlandske ordbog [The Greenlandic dictionary]. https://bit.ly/3v0VIR1. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Schultz-Lorentzen, C. W. (1927). Dictionary of the West Greenland Eskimo language. https://bit.ly/47SFKXS. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Stefansson, V. (1948). Encyclopedia Arctica. Arctic, 1(1), 44–46.
UNESCO. (2022). Olonkho, Yakut heroic epics. http://bit.ly/3HjppPO. Accessed 10 Dec 2023.
Acknowledgments
This chapter was written within the framework of the project “Preservation of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development of the Arctic and Subarctic of the Russian Federation” via a mega-grant from the Government of the Russian Federation (No. 075-15-2021-616). Author Vanda Ignatieva expresses gratitude to the Centre for Collective Research at the Institute of Humanitarian Research and the Problems of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the opportunity to conduct research on the scientific equipment purchased with the help of grant No. 13.CKK.21.0016.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grenoble, L.A., Ignatieva, V.B. (2024). Tracking and Unlocking the Past: Documentation of Arctic Indigenous Languages. In: Acadia, S. (eds) Library and Information Sciences in Arctic and Northern Studies. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54715-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54715-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-54714-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-54715-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)