Aleut
Aleut Aleut is a member of the Eskimo-Aleut language family and is spoken by about 300 people in Alsaka and Siberian CommanderIslands. Most of speakers live on the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands of Alaska. There are two main groups of Aleut dialects: Eastern Aleut and Atkan.
During the 19th century, when Alaska was part of Russia, Aleut was written with a version of the Cyrillic alphabet by a Russian Orthodox priest, Ioann Veniaminov (1797-1879), who was later made a saint - Saint Innocent of Alaska. Veniaminov started working with the Aleut in 1824, translated parts of the bible and other religious works into Aleut, and in 1846 he published a grammar of Eastern Aleut.
The Latin orthography for Aleut was developed during the second half of the 20th century by Knut Bergsland who worked with William Dirks Sr., Moses Dirks, and other Aleut speakers. Bergsland produced a comprehensive Aleut dictionary in 1994, and a detailed grammar in 1997.
