Uyaquk
Encyclopedia
Uyaquq was a Yupik Moravian missionary and linguistic
genius
who went from being an illiterate adult to inventing a series of writing systems for his native language and then producing translations of the Bible
and other religious works in a period of five years.
Uyaquk was born in into a family of shamans in the lower Kuskokwim River
valley central Alaska
in the mid 1860s. Even by the standards of the day, Uyaquk was a small man. He became a shaman in early adulthood, but converted to Christianity
after his father converted. Although his father became a Russian Orthodox, Uyaquk became a leader and missionary in the Alaskan Moravian Church. His name means "Neck" in English and he was called that by some English speakers.
As a missionary, Uyaquk is said to have converted whole villages of Yupik in the lower Kuskokwim River
valley to Christianity
. He is said to have had a gentle personality and have been a very erudite speaker.
Uyaquk was fascinated by the idea that the English-speaking Moravians could quote a passage of scripture several times using exactly the same words each time. He discovered that they accomplished this by reading from a written text. Uyaquk became fascinated with the idea of writing and, according to his descendants, received the idea for the first version of the script he used to write his dialect, Yugtun
, in a dream.
Reverend John Hinz, a Moravian missionary in Alaska, and an accomplished linguist, was astonished upon hearing of Uyaquk's invention. Hinz took Uyaquk to the Bethel mission house so that he could continue his linguistic work. Uyaquk is said to have written constantly during the trip, writing as many stories from the Bible as he could in the new script without stopping to sleep. Hinz and the Kilbucks aided Uyaquk by telling him scriptures, but Uyaquk refused to learn to read or write English, as he thought that English literacy would make him lose his identity as a Yupik.
In the next five years, the Uyaquk's Yugtun script
evolved from its original form of pictographs to a syllabary like the Japanese
hiragana
and katakana
. This evolution began when Uyaquk decided that his hieroglyphics were a good memory aid but they did not represent passages with enough accuracy that they could be reproduced verbatim time after time. Uyaquk identified the concept of a syllable
and his script evolved in five stages until he had created a symbol for each syllable in the language. Each of the five steps was documented in several notebooks kept by Uyaquk. He taught his writing system to several of his missionary helpers and they used it in their church work.
Although the system adopted by most people for writing Yupik was the Roman-based script of Reverend Hinz, and, in about 1970, the University of Alaska system, Uyaquk's system has been studied because it may represent the same process of evolution from illiteracy to proto-writing to syllabary taken by many ancient written languages, like Chinese
and Egyptian
, but compressed into a period of 5 years. Uyaquk's notebooks and the writings of those who watched him at work have been the subject of research, beginning with Dr. Alfred Schmitt in the 1930s.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
who went from being an illiterate adult to inventing a series of writing systems for his native language and then producing translations of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and other religious works in a period of five years.
Uyaquk was born in into a family of shamans in the lower Kuskokwim River
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
valley central Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
in the mid 1860s. Even by the standards of the day, Uyaquk was a small man. He became a shaman in early adulthood, but converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
after his father converted. Although his father became a Russian Orthodox, Uyaquk became a leader and missionary in the Alaskan Moravian Church. His name means "Neck" in English and he was called that by some English speakers.
As a missionary, Uyaquk is said to have converted whole villages of Yupik in the lower Kuskokwim River
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
valley to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. He is said to have had a gentle personality and have been a very erudite speaker.
Uyaquk was fascinated by the idea that the English-speaking Moravians could quote a passage of scripture several times using exactly the same words each time. He discovered that they accomplished this by reading from a written text. Uyaquk became fascinated with the idea of writing and, according to his descendants, received the idea for the first version of the script he used to write his dialect, Yugtun
Yugtun
Yugtun is a dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska. A syllabic script, now referred to as the Yugtun script, was invented in the early 1900s by Uyaquk to write the language....
, in a dream.
Reverend John Hinz, a Moravian missionary in Alaska, and an accomplished linguist, was astonished upon hearing of Uyaquk's invention. Hinz took Uyaquk to the Bethel mission house so that he could continue his linguistic work. Uyaquk is said to have written constantly during the trip, writing as many stories from the Bible as he could in the new script without stopping to sleep. Hinz and the Kilbucks aided Uyaquk by telling him scriptures, but Uyaquk refused to learn to read or write English, as he thought that English literacy would make him lose his identity as a Yupik.
In the next five years, the Uyaquk's Yugtun script
Yugtun script
The Yugtun or Alaska script is a syllabary invented around the year 1900 by Uyaquk to write the Yugtun dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik. Uyaquk, who was monolingual in Yup'ik, initially used indigenous pictograms as a form of proto-writing that served as a mnemonic in preaching the Bible...
evolved from its original form of pictographs to a syllabary like the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
. This evolution began when Uyaquk decided that his hieroglyphics were a good memory aid but they did not represent passages with enough accuracy that they could be reproduced verbatim time after time. Uyaquk identified the concept of a syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
and his script evolved in five stages until he had created a symbol for each syllable in the language. Each of the five steps was documented in several notebooks kept by Uyaquk. He taught his writing system to several of his missionary helpers and they used it in their church work.
Although the system adopted by most people for writing Yupik was the Roman-based script of Reverend Hinz, and, in about 1970, the University of Alaska system, Uyaquk's system has been studied because it may represent the same process of evolution from illiteracy to proto-writing to syllabary taken by many ancient written languages, like Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and Egyptian
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
, but compressed into a period of 5 years. Uyaquk's notebooks and the writings of those who watched him at work have been the subject of research, beginning with Dr. Alfred Schmitt in the 1930s.