Nunivak Island Cup'ig Gospel Songs
Language Preservation Project

​Nunivak Island is isolated in the Bering Sea, the residents speak Cup’ig, a rare sub-dialect of the Central Yup’ik that is in danger of extinction. The Cup’ig dialect is a unique language, no one on earth speaks the language except the people from Nunivak Island. The uniqueness of the language interests people of different ethnicity for the spoken dialect and its culture. Ultimately, once the language is no longer used it will be lost forever. Preserving the language and actively passing on traditions is key to cultural vibrancy, sustainability, and the overall mental, spiritual, and physical health of current residents and future generations.

The sound-tracks of Cup’ig gospel hymns on cassette audiotapes were recorded by Nona Amos who was encouraged by her brother Harry Mike in the early 1990’s. Although there may be indifferences documenting religious songs, the songs were translated by Cup’ig people of Nunivak in the mid 1930’s when the Cup’ig language was hardly influenced by other mainland communities. This will connect the elders and youth to strengthen the Cup’ig language.
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To be unique in any form is well worth the effort to document, publish and revitalize. This is one method for documenting words that no longer exists and/or rarely used in the Cup’ig language. To preserve and revitalize the Cup’ig language is our due responsibility to ensure documentation of rarely used Cup’ig words and to share the songs to the next generation of our Indigenous people.

The images in the slideshow are of pictographs that correspond to some of the gospel songs. These pictographs are a testament to the innovation and deep understanding of concepts that intersect across cultures.  These are only a sample of the hundreds pf pictographs that have now been preserved as part of this project.