The Locals and the Language

About half of the people on the island are of Aleut descent, mostly from the Qagan Tayagungin tribe. The only other natives have Slavic names (our phonebook has more Bourdukof-

sky's, Kosbruk's, and Pestrikoff's than Smith's, Jones' and Brown's combined). We're learning a few Aleut phrases--our first was the most important: "Txin Yaxtakuq" (I love you). Click here to hear an old Aleut woman's pronunciation of it.