Chuvan (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Чуванский язык) is an extinct
Yukaghir language
The Yukaghir languages (; also ''Yukagir, Jukagir'') are a small family of two closely related languages—Tundra and Kolyma Yukaghir—spoken by the Yukaghir in the Russian Far East living in the basin of the Kolyma River. At the 2002 Russian c ...
of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
, part of a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
with the two surviving languages. It was most likely last spoken in the 18th century. Chuvan was widespread in the lower region of the
Anadyr River
The Anadyr (russian: Ана́дырь; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ckt, Йъаайваам) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous ...
(near
Chuvanskoye
Chuvanskoye (russian: Чуванское) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Anadyrsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Russia, located west of Markovo on the banks of the Yeropol river (a tributary of the Anadyr River meaning "place of ...
), spoken by
Chuvans
Chuvans (russian: чуванцы) are one of the forty or so "Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East" recognized by the Russian government. Most Chuvans today live within Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the far n ...
. The translations of 22 sentences, recorded in
1781 by I. Benzig, and 210 words written by
Fyodor Matyushkin
Fyodor Fyodorovich Matyushkin (russian: Матюшкин, Федор Федорович; - ) was a Russian navigator, Admiral (1867), and a close friend of Aleksandr Pushkin, who studied with him at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. ''Сло ...
have been preserved.
[Matyushkin FF, Collection of the words of the Chuvansky and Omok languages, in: Vrangel F.P., Journey through the northern shores of Siberia and along the Arctic Ocean, accomplished in 1820-1824, Part 2, Additions, St. Petersburg, 1841 ;]
References
{{Paleosiberian languages
Yukaghir languages
Extinct languages of Asia
Languages extinct in the 18th century
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