Dictionary Introduction

 

This is a dictionary of Ninilchik Russian, a distinctive and unique dialect of the Russian language. This dialect evolved during one century - between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s in the village of Ninilchik, Alaska. Ninilchik Russian bears traits of different Russian dialects and even neighboring Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian and Belorussian. Also it incorporated words of Chuchchee, Eskimo-Aleut and Athabaskan origin. But first and foremost, it is the Russian language, and there is full intelligibility between the speakers of Ninilchik Russian and Moscow Russian

 

Ninilchik Russian alphabets

 

In this dictionary Ninilchik words are written with two different alphabets: (1) the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, and (2) English letters. The English alphabet for writing Russian words is commonly used around the world to make it easier for English speakers to pronounce Russian words. This is the alphabet that used in this dictionary to write Ninilchik Russian words.

 

Ninilchik people have sometimes used different letters for some of the sounds. Here is how some letters in this dictionary line up with other ways of writing Ninilchik words. Ninilchik people have often written the word for 'wild celery' (actually cow parsnip) as poochka. In this dictionary the "oo" sound is written as "u", the long "u" sound as in the English word "rude." Sometimes the word for fish or meat pie has been written as “peerok” or "peerock." In this dictionary it is written as "pirak." The long "i" sound of English, as in the word "bite," is written in this dictionary as "ay", as in layda, the word for ‘beach.’ Ninilchik Russian "a" is sometimes pronounced as in English "father" and sometimes close to English "u" as in the English word "gum." Ninilchik Russian "e" is sometimes pronounced as the "a" in English "bake" and sometimes like "e" in English "let."

 

The apostrophe (') after a consonant indicates that it is palatalized or "soft", as it is called in Russian. A soft consonant sounds similar to having a "y" after it. For instance, the Russian word meaning 'you' is written in this dictionary as "t'i", basically the same as if we wrote it as "tyi.'

 

The letter "x" in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, as well as the Americanized alphabet used in this dictionary, is similar to the letter "h". In fact, sometimes Ninilchik people pronounce this letter the same as "h". However, when they pronounce the actual "x" sound, it is harsher, raspier than "h". Linguists call it a voiceless velar fricative. Children sometimes pretend to make the sound of a gun going off by saying something like "kxx". If we take off that "k" sound we are left with the Russian "x" sound. This sound can be heard the way some Ninilchik speakers say the word for 'rooster,' pitúx (others say it as pitúh), or the word for 'shirt', rubáxa.

 

The letters "zh" have the same sound as the letter "z" in the English word "azure."

 

If you compare Ninilchik Russian words written with English letters with their Cyrllic spellings, you will often see that the Ninilchik "a" letter corresponds to Cryllic "o." This is not unique to Ninilchik Russian. It is a regular sound rule of many dialects of Russian, including Moscow Russian. So the word for "dog" is written in this dictionary as "sabaka," which is how it is pronounced in Ninichik as well as in Moscow, even though the first vowel is written in Cryllic with the Russian letter "o." Similarly, the word for "thank you" is written with English letters as "spasiba," because that is how it is pronounced in Ninilchik and Moscow, even though the last letter is written in Moscow with the Cyrillic letter "o."

 

For further information, see "The Sound System of Ninilchik Russian" at the end of this dictionary.

 

The Ninilchik Russian dialect

 

English, Spanish, German, and many other languages have different dialects, the same language spoken in different ways in different places. The Russian language also has different dialects. Russian as spoken in Moscow is different from the Russian spoken in far away rural areas of Russia. Each dialect is special and makes a person who speaks that dialect feel at home when they hear their own dialect. Ninilchik Russian is a unique dialect of Russian. People from Ninilchik have visited Russia and can speak to people there just fine. Occasionally there is a word or pronunciation which is a little different. In Ninilchik a few words are used, such as nuzhnik 'toilet, outhouse,' which are not used today in most of Russia (but this word has been used in some parts of Russia and is still understood by many Russian speakers). This dictionary will be a valuable resource for people who study Russian dialects. It shows how the Ninilchik people kept the Russian language alive for more than 150 years, even though there was little contact during that time between Russia and Ninilchik. It is natural for people who speak the same language but who are separated for a long time to develop different words or pronunciations. Ninilchik people should never be feel that their dialect of Russian is inferior even if someone from Russia tells them that they speak Russian differently from how people in Russia speak today. Each dialect is special and good.

 

 

Dictionary format

 

Here is how words are filed in this dictionary. Each entry of the dictionary has a word with its Ninilchik pronunciation written with English letters. Many entries also have the equivalent Cyrillic spelling. The part of speech (such as "n" for noun and "v" for verb) is given for the word. The word is translated to English. For many entries there is additional information, such as a different pronunciation, the plural of the word, an example sentence or phrase, words that mean the same, or background information. In the computer version of this dictionary there is also often an English word that tells what semantic category the Ninilchik word is a part of. For instance, sahat 'moose' and sabaka 'dog' would be in the class of animals. Usha 'ear' and yaz'ík 'tongue' are in the body category. Babushka 'grandma' and sistra 'sister' are in the relatives category. If you are using the Lexique Pro computer program to view this dictionary, either on your computer or online at the Ninilchik Language website, you can click on tabs which will allow you to locate words by their Ninilchik Russian spellings with English letters, by Cyrillic spellings, by English translations, or by semantic categories.

 

 

 

Abbreviations

 

adj = adjective

adv = adverb

conj = conjunction

n = noun

v = verb

pro = pronoun

prep = preposition

sg = singular

pl = plural

masc = masculine

fem = feminine

dim = diminutive

non-dim = non-dimutive

nom = nominative

gen = genitive

dat = dative

instr = instrumental

acc = accusative

syn = synonym

ant = antonym