Koryak () is a
Chukotko-Kamchatkan
The Chukotko-Kamchatkan or Chukchi–Kamchatkan languages are a language family of extreme northeastern Siberia. Its speakers traditionally were indigenous hunter-gatherers and reindeer-herders. Chukotko-Kamchatkan is endangered. The Kamchatkan ...
language spoken by about 1,700 people as of 2010
in the easternmost extremity 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 ...
, mainly in
Koryak Okrug. It is mostly spoken by
Koryaks
Koryaks () are an indigenous people of the Russian Far East, who live immediately north of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai and inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea. The cultural borders of the Koryaks include Tigilsk in the south ...
. Its close relative, the
Chukchi language
Chukchi , also known as Chukot, is a Chukotko–Kamchatkan language spoken by the Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The language is closely related to Koryak. Chukchi, Koryak, Kerek, A ...
, is spoken by about three times that number. The language together with Chukchi,
Kerek,
Alutor and
Itelmen
The Itelmens ( Itelmen: Итәнмән, russian: Ительмены) are an indigenous ethnic group of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The Itelmen language is distantly related to Chukchi and Koryak, forming the Chukotko-Kamchatkan langu ...
forms the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family. Its native name in Koryak is нымылан ''nymylan'', but variants of the Russian "Koryak" name are most commonly used in English and other languages.
The Chukchi and Koryaks form a cultural unit with an economy based on
reindeer herding and both have autonomy within the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Phonology
may be an
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...
of .
[Zhukova, 1972]
Koryak alphabet
References
Further reading
* Bogoras, Waldemar, and Franz Boas. Koryak Texts. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1917.
* Comrie, Bernard. ''Inverse Verb Forms in Siberia Evidence from Chukchee, Koryak and Kamchadal''. Amsterdam: Bibliotheek v.h. Inst. voor Algemene Taalwetenschap v.d. Univ. van Amsterdam], 1985.
*Zhukova, A. N., 1972. Grammatika Korjakskogo Jazyka: Fonetika, Morfologia. Moscow: Akademia Nauk SSSR. 327pp. (In kyrill. Schrift).
* Zhukova, A. N., and Tokusu Kurebito. ''Basic topical dictionary of the Koryak-Chukchi languages = Basovyĭ tematicheskiĭ slovarʹ kori︠a︡ksko-chukotskikh i︠a︡zykov''. Tokyo, Japan: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2004.
* Campbell, George L. and Gareth King. "Compendium of the World's Languages". 2013.
External links
Endangered Languages of Siberia - The Koryak language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koryak Language
Agglutinative languages
Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
Languages of Russia
stub