It really is hard for an Alaskan to convey what is on her mind with a tightly controlled sentence. We have a different form of syntax. It is related to the nature of how we speak and act.

I can tell you that Alaskans often have elements of the indigenious languages of that Alaskan Natives involved in their speaking patterns. Many Alaskans pick up elements of speaking in a musical style(sing song) that places an emphasis on the quanitative rather than the qualitative elements of the argument.

Palin demonstrates this. She does't end a statement quickly but circles around an idea several times. This is because she says exactly what is on her mind. This was most apparent in the KC interviews.

Subconsiously Alaskans worry little about the grammatical sentences of their responses. This is different from an East Coaster like Sen. Joe Biden.

Gov. Palin will overcome this in time. It is interesting that the students from my high school classes understand what she was trying to say and understood when she started hemoraging during the Supreme Court decision question.

For example: Gov. Palin's response on Russia makes perfect sense to Alaskans. Recently, Russia has been testing our responses to aerial treks over Alaskan waters.

Alaskans view the entire state as our home. She correctly pointed out-in her frame of reference- what she felt about Russia.

I hope that this makes sense. She will get more lucid and succinct with experience. She does have the understanding that images more than words matter in today's contemporaneous society. She took a piece out of Ronald Reagan's playbook and has made it her mantra.

Sincerely,

Thomas Kennedy

Chitina, Alaska

You may live in one of the most spectacular venues in the state (I hope to retire to the Copper River Valley), but your placement is not necessarily the best for generalizing about the speech, or thought, patterns of Alaskans.

It is quite true that Alaska Natives have not only accents, but cultural speech habits and conventions, and that non-Natives pick these up--if they live long enough in a predominantly Native community. But that is true of relatively few people. Alaska Natives comprised, last time I looked, somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent of Alaska's population.

The population center of gravity is Southcentral, where the great majority of people are not Native, are rather unfamiliar with Natives, and live a fairly standard West Coast urban sort of life. That means a mixture of regional (and foreign) accents, which in the young tend to mush into a kind of Standard Youth Mumble. They don't speak in complete sentences, but that isn't because they're being influenced by Alaskan customs or linguistic habits. It's because they are no longer trained and expected even to try for complete sentences.

As for Palin's "Russia" remark, I've only heard it ridiculed as a typical wild Palin grab at something that sounds relevant to the question. But then, as an urban Alaskan (who did live for several years in the Bush, by the way), I'm less likely to think she's qualified to be vice president of the United States, and therefore more likely to find fault with her.