User:Angelali98/sandbox

Article Evaluation:

-the writing and the information presented is relevant to the article, but the paragraphs and the way the information is sequenced can use some reorganization -> the article is choppy, where two irrelevant sentences were written next to each other

-the language of the article sounds unbiased, like how a Wikipedia article should be, and in accordance with what was taught in the training modules

-some information is missing -> some parts of the article can clearly be added to (for example: what languages were/are spoken in which areas and by whom, why are some languages dying/died out, why is the ratio between population to native language speakers so low)

-need some clarification on information that would make it easier to understand the article (example: said that there were twenty indigenous languages spoken in Alaska, yet the Tsimshian language arrived in Alaska in 1887, under the leadership of Anglican missionary-> what does it mean for a language to be indigenous?)

-article claims that there were twenty native languages spoken in Alaska, but on the "List of Alaska Native Languages", but I counted 21 of them, so it isn't clear if the listed names are languages or a group in which the languages belong to

-article part of 4 WikiProjects and is rated by all four as start-class

-each of the facts is referenced with relevant and reliable sources and all the links to the sources work

-there are some awkward and unclear wording and grammatical errors

What I plan to possibly contribute (I will pick one of the topics listed):

*what languages were/are spoken in which areas and by whom (which tribes)

*why the ratio between population and native language speakers is so low; what languages do the others speak -> English?

*what were the effects of American colonization on the native languages of Alaska 

*how the languages differ from each other -> did one derive from another

Bibliography:

http://www.akhistorycourse.org/alaskas-cultures/alaska-native-languages-introduction-and-history

https://tla.mpi.nl/resource/alaska-native-language-center-archives-anlc/

https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/

http://alaskool.org/language/languagemap/index.html

https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol/alaska/state-language-or-poetry/english

Outline:

Before colonization, most Alaskan Native groups had their own unique languages, which were used for everyday, business, and intertribal communications. Upon contact with non-Native languages, the usage of native languages and the languages themselves have changed. A large proportion of Native Alaskans became bilingual or multilingual, being able to speak both their native languages and Russian. But still, Native Alaskan languages remained the dominant languages spoken in Alaska. It was only after American colonization when missionary and General Agent of Education of the Alaska Territory Sheldon Jackson arrived in Alaska in 1885 did the use of native Alaska languages started to plummet. Jackson implemented an "English Only" policy within the school, legal, and political systems, and any violation to the rule was met with punishments and abuse, physically and mentally. As a result, the use of Native Alaska languages overall hugely decreased. Today, almost all of the Native Alaska languages are either on the brink of extinction or already extinct.

New article section - Impacts of Colonization

Before colonization, most Alaskan Native groups had their own unique languages, which were used for everyday communications. Many people spoke several different languages in order to facilitate business and rapports among the different native groups. Upon contact with non-Native languages, the usage of native languages and the languages themselves have changed. As Russia was the first country to colonize Alaska (click here to read more on Russian colonization of Alaska), Russian words for goods or objects that were new to Native Alaskans were adopted into their native languages. For example, kofe (coffee) and chay (tea) are Russian words that have been added to the vocabularies of the Unangan (Aleut), Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), and Yup'ik languages. Intermarriages between Russians and Native Alaskans were frequent, giving rise to a large proportion of Native Alaskans being able to speak both their native languages and Russian. Still, Native Alaskan languages remained the dominant languages spoken in Alaska.

It was only after American colonization when missionary and General Agent of Education of the Alaska Territory Sheldon Jackson arrived in Alaska in 1885 did the use of native Alaska languages started to plummet. Jackson implemented an "English Only" policy within the school, legal, and political systems, and any violation to the rule was met with physical and mental punishments and abuse. In 1924, the Alaska Voter's Literacy Act was passed, which demanded native Alaskan citizens to pass an English literacy test before earning the right to vote. The is act further decreased the use of Native Alaska languages. Today, many of the Native Alaska languages are either on the brink of extinction or already extinct.

External Links

• Russian Colonization of Alaska
• American Colonization of Alaska

  Hi Angelali98:

This is a very interesting topic, and you have identified an important area for addition to the existing article. I have copied and pasted your draft below with my suggested revisions for conciseness, syntax, grammar, punctuation, etc.

Before colonization, most Alaskan Native groups had their own unique languages, which were used for everyday communications. Many people THIS PHRASE WOULD SOUND BETTER IF IT WAS MORE SPECIFIC--WHAT PEOPLE? spoke several different languages WHAT DIFFERENT LANGUAGES in order to facilitate business and to build rapport among the different native groups. The contact between non-native languages and native languages has resulted in changes to both the native languages and the non-native languages. As Russia was the first country to colonize Alaska (click here to read more on Russian colonization of Alaska), Russian words for goods or objects that were new to Native Alaskans were adopted into their native languages. For example, kofe (coffee) and chay (tea) are Russian words that have been added to the vocabularies of the Unangan (Aleut), Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), and Yup'ik languages. Intermarriages between Russians and Native Alaskans were common, giving rise to a large proportion of bilingual or multilingual Native Alaskans that spoke both their native languages and Russian, though Native Alaskan languages remained dominant in Alaska.

It was only after American colonization when Sheldon Jackson, missionary and General Agent of Education of the Alaskan Territory, arrived in Alaska in 1885 that the use of native Alaskan languages started to plummet. Jackson implemented an "English Only" policy within the school, legal, and political systems, and violations to the policy were met with physical and emotional punishment and abuse. In 1924, the Alaska Voter's Literacy Act was passed, which demanded native Alaskan citizens to pass an English literacy test before earning the right to vote. This act further decreased the use of Native Alaska languages. Today, many of the Native Alaskan languages are either on the brink of extinction or already extinct.

This is a great start, and you have kept a neutral tone that is very encylopedia-like. I would suggest expanding upon each section and perhaps, making the last sentence: "Today, many of the Native Alaskan languages are either on the brink of extinction or already extinct." the beginning of its own section with its own header, where you can discuss this issue of extinction in more depth. As a reader, I would like to know what other changes, besides lexicons, were found between both native and non-native languages as they were exposed to each other? What native languages still exist? I also like your idea about a section that discusses how the different native languages relate to each other. This would be a really interesting section to add.

I would also suggest using more sources for the information you will add to the existing article, so you can write from a more rounded point of view.

Kgondim

Peer Review

In the overview, it would be good to link out to William Duncan and isolated language. Also, each time there are sentences of the format "The last speaker died in 19XX", these probably could be more direct. It implies that we are referring to the previous sentence, but for example:

"Of these twenty languages, one is now extinct. The last speaker of Eyak died in 2008"

This is a little weird that after reading the first sentence, I felt like I was left hanging. I see that these two are related, but they should probably be one sentence to make it clear Eyak is the one that is now extinct.

I would also recommend putting words like kofe and chay in quotes (maybe single quotes?).

Also you should like out to Yup'ik languages.

This phrase throws me off. Is Sheldon Jackson a missionary and the General Agent of Education?

"...Sheldon Jackson, missionary and General Agent of Education of the Alaskan Territory, arrived in Alaska in 1885..."

I would also like to see some information about phonology. I like when articles have tables in a phonology section.

Overall this looks really good. Your citations were good and you kept a nice, neutral tone. I think the additions to the page were good choices as well.

--Chh8414 Chh8414 (talk) 01:55, 25 July 2017 (UTC)