New Eyak recordings available

Although the last speaker of Eyak passed away four years ago, the language continues to live on through the efforts of groups like the Eyak Language Project. These efforts will be aided by the recent discovery of eight new recordings of Eyak made more than 50 years ago.

The recordings were made by Robert Austerlitz in 1961 as part of a National Science Foundation grant to Michael Krauss. Following Austerlitz' death in 1994 the recordings passed to his executor, Prof. Daniel Abondolo of University College London. But the the recordings were buried among a wealth of materials collected during Austerlitz' prolific and distinguished career in linguistics. In January Abondolo donated the recordings to the Alaska Native Language Archive. Last weekend they were digitized by the good folks at Surreal Studios in Anchorage. And now they are finally, for the first time in more than 50 years, available.

The technical quality of the recordings is far from outstanding, and many of the recordings are devoted to elicitation of individual words. Still, these are some of the earliest recordings of Eyak language, and they do include several stories and songs. Speakers recorded include Marie Smith, Lena Nacktan, and Anna Nelson Harry.

Somewhat mysteriously, the recordings are labeled EY2 through EY9, leaving us to wonder what might have happened to tape number 1.

The recordings are available for download at the Alaska Native Language Archive.