Aleut Semaphore Signals

Author(s): Jay Ellis Ransom

Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 43, No. 3, Part 1 (Jul. - Sep., 1941), pp.
422-427
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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ALEUT SEMAPHORE SIGNALS By JAY ELLIS RANSOM

ABOUT 1900 Afenogen Ermeloff, Fox Island Aleut native of Umnak,

Alaska, was trapping on one of the Islands of the Four Mountains at
roughly 170 degrees west longitude and 53 degrees north latitude in the Ber-
ing Sea. He and his partner were trapping on adjacent islands separated by
a narrow, tide-rip channel over which verbal communication was possible by
raising the voice.
Sometime during the course of the winter's operations a terrific gale
arose at a time when Afenogen wanted very much to effect communication
with his partner. Standing on opposite sides of the channel, both natives ges-
ticulated and shouted, but the sound of their voices was carried away by the
force of the storm.
Realizing that in cases of emergency, or when conditions prevented easy
access between two communicants, a means of effecting favorable communi-
cation might prove of value, Afenogen decided to develop some sort of sema-
phore wig-wag series which could be used to spell out messages in his native
Aleut language.
Two things enabled him to reach this conclusion. First, in 1828 Bishop
Ivan Veniaminoff began the study of the Aleut language and reduced it to
writing by adapting Russian symbols to Aleut phonetics. In his ten years of
labors among the Aleuts he erected schools and churches and, besides teach-
ing the speaking, reading and writing of Russian to the natives, taught them
to use their own language in its written form. No rules of spelling were de-
vised, except in Veniaminoff's private consistency of transcription, nor
needed where the script was wholly phonetic. Religious books were pub-
lished in Russia and distributed through the islands, and via the agencies of
the Russian church the Aleut written language spread rapidly to common
use.
Second, it is probable that Afenogen received his idea for a semaphore
code from observation of the United States Coast Guard at Unalaska, and
on tour, at Umnak. Especially at the latter place where all ships must an-
chor a half mile out from shore, it is likely that at various times wig-wag
conversations were carried on between ship and shore. It is conceivable, but
doubtful, that Afenogen evolved the semaphore-code concept independently
of any extraneous stimuli, simply because he possessed a written language.
Where the Coast Guardsmen were familiar to the native population, the
observations by keen Aleut minds would undoubtedly have solved the com-
munication problem.
From whatever source Afenogen received the stimulus for reducing his
422

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RANSOM] ALEUT SEMAPHORE SIGNALS 423

written language to code symbols, it is obvious that his signs were independ-
ently invented and bear no relationship to the American semaphore.
After returning home to Umnak Village from his winter's sojourn on his
trapping grounds, Afenogen devoted approximately two weeks, according
to my informant, to working out, perfecting, and practicing with his partner
a wig-wag code. This is no easy task, as anyone who has mastered the use of
the American Boy Scout wig-wag knows. Compared with the American code
his signals are awkward to produce and not capable of the speed of the
former.
It is very probable that Kroeber's theory of stimulus diffusion finds cor-
roboration here. The idea of code communication reached the Aleuts with-
out any of the American symbols. Furthermore the construction of the code
is on a radically different principle. The American semaphore is built on a
regular succession of arm movements which, taken in order, were assigned
alphabetical equivalents from A to Z. No attempt was made to form the
signals upon the configuration of the letters themselves. But Afenogen, pos-
sessed of a written language and the stimulus for reducing it to signals,
utilized the simple scheme of coordinating arm movements with the most
characteristic lines that make up the letters of Aleut script. As far as possi-
ble Afenogen attempted to reproduce his letters by arm position leaving the
uncertain letters v, 6, i, q, c, ya, and x to inverse arm positions of some other
letter, or to independent invention of a recognizable position.
Once having arrived at a satisfactory complex of symbols he taught oth-
ers the new means of communication. Within a surprisingly short time the
entire male population, youths and adults, were using the code for all sorts
of communication. Even today it is not infrequent that two men at opposite
ends of the village can be seen wig-wagging back and forth, communicating
without the necessity of verbal contact.
The informant who gave me the code also stated that in recent years the
American Morse code was being put in use for night communication by
means of flashlights. The language used, however, is English and principally
by the younger generation who may have picked up the code from a Boy
Scout Handbook in the government school library. The concept of night
communication was, obviously, an outgrowth of the daylight semaphore and
came, seemingly, at a later date when there was no necessity for the use of the
Aleut language. As far as my informant knows, no formal instruction by any
white person introduced the Morse.
The native Aleuts took up the written language with great enthusiasm,
more so than any other Alaskan native people with whom the early mission-
aries came into contact, and the written language is used widely today.

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424 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 43, 1941

Essentially it is male property although a few women are able to read it.
All village bulletins and church orders are posted on a central bulletin
board. Today adult Aleuts keep comprehensive diaries, especially when
away trapping. They are excellent letter writers, maintaining constant com-
munication with their distant friends and relatives, not a few of whom jour-
ney as far distant as Seattle, more generally ranging from Attu to the Pribo-
loffs, Bristol Bay, and Kodiak. The older natives write entirely in the Aleut
language, sometimes in Russian, less frequently in English. The youngsters,
through the recent influence of the United States Government schools write
most of their letters in English although among themselves, that is, among
the boys, they may, and frequently do, write the script taught them by their
parents without the sanction of the Federal schools.
Following is a description of the Aleut semaphore code. The Russian let-
ters are followed by their phonetic equivalents.

Russian Phonetic
Letter Equivalent

A a Left hand extended horizontally at side, right hand

over left chest at shoulder.
B v *Left arm extended horizontally at side, right finger
tips on right ear tip.
F, 1 'y,'Y Left arm extended horizontally at side. (This is ob-
viously equal to the written Russian symbol in which
the body represents the vertical stroke and the arm
the horizontal.)
A Left arm horizontal at side, right fingers on right hip.
H i Both arms horizontal at side, right elbow bent down
at a 90 degree angle.
K k Right hand across body down at 45 degrees; left
hand extended up to side at 45 degrees. (The posi-
tions represent the two oblique strokes of the letter
K. See Boy Scout letter I.)
K** q Both arms horizontal at sides; left elbow bent up at
90 degrees, right bent down at 90 degrees.
JI 1, 1 Right hand down at side, extended at 45 degrees.
The position of arm and body is almost identical
with the ordinary strokes of the Slavonic L.)
* Russian letters which do not occur in Aleut
proper but are used to spell words of Russian
or English derivation. ** "Barred" K.

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 Y a:Satar
SK
CATXA •
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-Ntc

*
c a i"O boat s

ALEUTr SEMAPHORE TEATS

i~-i -._!
:.-I:::::_iii
:--i-ii:-ii:-iiiiii-iSiiiii
i~r r~ L ."
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ALEUT
toE MA/APH&/

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RANSOM] ALEUT SEMAPHORESIGNALS 425

M m Both arms extended downward at sides at 45 de-

grees. (Arms plus body represent the strokes of the
capital M. See Boy Scout letter N.)
H n Both arms at fullest extension above head. (Prob-
ably represent the vertical strokes of the letter.)
Hr 13 Right arm fully extended above head. (Either arm
may be used depending on which is easiest to make
from the preceding letter. Probably represents the
upward curl stroke which Veniaminoff diacritically
attached to the ordinary N to distinguish it pho-
netically.
O,y o,u *Fingertips each hand meet above head, arms de-
limiting a circle.
II p, b *Right arm extended horizontally at side. (Probably
that part of the Russian II which is characteristic and
different from the I.)
P r *Left, or right, finger tips to cranium above left, or
right, ear. (Either arm may be used as there is no
distinction except ease of formation. Obviously rep-
resents the Russian P.)
C s Both arms extended horizontally at sides, elbows
bent up at 90 degrees. This signal may represent the
Russian sh (III), considering both arms in relation
to the head. Aleut S is intermediate between pho-
netic c and s, the former being equivalent to the Rus-
sian m.)
T t Both arms extended horizontally at sides. (Boy
Scout letter R. The code representation is close to
the actual T.)
"I tc Right arm horizontal, elbow bent up at 90 degrees.
(Unmistakably the Russian 'cha'.)
D f *Both hands to hips, palms up, finger tips touching.
(The body represents the vertical stroke through the
circle delimited by the arms.)
8, IO w, yu Left finger tips to cranium above left ear, right hand
palm up to right hip, finger tips touching. (This is
very close to the script appearance of a figure eight
which is the old form mostly used. The 8 alternates
today with y in Aleut for this phonetic and is of
Slavonic antiquity.)

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426 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N.s., 43, 1941

HI ya Both arms horizontal at sides, elbows bent down at

90 degrees. (Represents no script letter.)
X x Left arm up at side extended at 45 degrees, right arm
down at side at 45 degrees. (Boy Scout letter L.
Arms represent the cross in relation to the body of
ordinary X.)
X*** x Both arms horizontal at sides; right elbow up at 90
degrees, left down at 90 degrees. (Represents no
script letter but is the inverse of q.)
r completion Both hands passed back and forth several times im-
mediately in front of the breast. This sign concludes
every message, and also represents the final Russian
hard sign, r, which is silent but written after every
final consonant of Aleut words. This sign is not used
in modern Russian spelling having been discarded
when the script was modernized but is retained in
all church books still using the Slavonic script. Hence
its use in Aleut since the most recent Aleut books
date back to 1906 and the church books prior to
1898. In normal text Aleut words are rarely sepa-
rated from each other, and this sign serves to dis-
tinguish between words. Words ending on vowels are
separated by one space.
The enclosed series of photographs were made of Ardelion Ermeloff, a
relative of Afenogen, who has been convalescing in the Marine Hospital in
Seattle, Washington, from tuberculosis. Artie, as he is familiarly known,
knew Jochelson, who used his father as one of his principal informants at
Umnak. He himself was my most valued informant in 1936 when I first be-
gan the study of Aleut at Nikolski, Umnak Island, Alaska. He is much inter-
ested in his own language and the preservation of ethnologic values, and like
many of the older natives reads and writes Russian, Aleut, and English. The
latter language he has taught himself.
A study of these photographs discloses certain fundamental differences
in Artie's hand positions from those employed by users of the American
semaphore code. These differences may be of cultural significance and there-
fore I wish to draw attention to them.
It will be noted in the majority of positions that Artie has his hands palm
up. Users of the American system normally run through their signals palm
down. In letters m and t where a choice of palm position might have been
***X with invertedbrevity mark.

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RANSOM] ALEUT SEMAPHORE SIGNALS 427

made either way, Artie placed his hands palm down, but upon other occa-
sions in forming the signal t, he held his hands palm up.
The position and use of the fingers is interesting for the delicate touch
made by the finger tips against those portions of the body where contact is
called for by the signal. In letter f Artie touches his hip only with the tips of
his fingers on hands held palm up whereas the average American loosely
doubles his fists and plants them firmly on his hips.
Certain words have become conventionalized by use in a rapid shifting
of the arms through their positions without recourse to the normal slight
pause following each letter. Aleut yam, meaning yesterday, is produced vir-
tually in one motion. Such conventionalizations are comparable to the
American semaphore signaled 'turn' which may be performed by one con-
tinuous motion. Needless to say these patterns are the result of a complex of
signals which flow easily one into the other and play no important part in
the code language.
A strict adherence to phonetic spelling is not attempted. It is of linguistic
interest to note that a single signal is used to represent the medial and velar
gamma while two distinct signs are used for the corresponding surd phonet-
ics, which leads one to postulate that a semantic association is more impor-
tant in the latter case.
In summarizing the development of the Aleut Semaphore Code three
factors contributed to its origin. First there had arisen in historic times a
written language which the Aleuts took up enthusiastically to fill some unex-
plained felt want in their daily lives. Secondly, the basic idea of code com-
munication serving as a stimulus to set off the inventive ingenuity reached
the Aleuts by probable diffusion through the Coast Guard within the twen-
tieth century. And third, and very likely the most important single cause of
development, was the economic and environmental necessity which demand-
ed solution of a problem in communication. This problem may have existed
prior to the arrival of the appropriate stimulus, probably as a felt but non-
verbalized need, in which case the arrival of the stimulus served to set off the
resultant reaction leading to a solution.
For nearly two centuries the Aleuts have been in continuous association
with white civilization, not always of the highest type, and their present
culture is a curious blending of elements from widely divergent sources. It is
therefore safest to assume that this form of communication is the direct re-
sult of stimulus diffusion rather than independent evolution although the
form which the resulting product took may be attributed to the latter ori-
gin.
SEATTLE. WASHINGTON

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