Sirenik people
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Sirenik or ''Sireniki'' are former speakers of a divergent
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
language in
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 ...
, before its
extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
. The total
language death In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the deat ...
of this language means that now the
cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
of Sirenik Eskimos is maintained through other aspects: slight
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
ical difference in the adopted
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
language; sense of place,Binns n.d.
1
including appreciation of the antiquity of their settlement Sirenik.


Location

At the beginning of the 20th century, speakers of the Sirenik Eskimo language inhabited the settlements of
Sirenik Sirenik Yupik, Sireniki Yupik (also Old Sirenik or Vuteen), Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, ...
, Imtuk, and some small villages stretching to the west from Sirenik along south-eastern coasts of the Chukchi Peninsula. As early as in 1895, Imtuk was already a settlement with mixed population of Sirenik Eskimos and Ungazigmit (the latter belonging to
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
).


Language

The
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
population of settlement of Сиреники (Sireniki, plural of Sirenik) formerly spoke an
Eskimo language The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...
with several unique traits. For example, dual number is not known in Sirenik Eskimo, while most
Eskimo–Aleut languages The Eskaleut (), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of w ...
have dual,Меновщиков 1964: 38 including the neighboring
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
relatives.Меновщиков 1964: 81 These differences amounted to mutual unintelligibility with Siberian Yupik and Sirenik Eskimo's nearest language relatives. The language is now extinct. Language differences (even from its neighboring Eskimo relatives) meant Sirenik Eskimos had to speak either Siberian Yupik or Chukchi, an unrelated language, to communicate with the neighboring (linguistically related)
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
.Menovshchikov 1990
70
These were distinct, mutually unintelligible languages. The linguistic classification of Sirenik Eskimo language is still under debate.Vakhtin 1998
161
It is sometimes regarded as a third branch of Eskimo (along with
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
and Yupik), but is also sometimes classified as a Yupik language.Ethnologue Report for Eskimo–Aleut
/ref>Kaplan 1990
136
The last native speaker of Sirenink Eskimo, Vyie (Valentina Wye) (russian: Выйе) died in January 1997.Vakhtin 1998
162
Linguist List's description abou
Nikolai Vakhtin
s book
''The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes''
The author's untransliterated (original) name is

".
Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири)
– see th
section on Eskimos
Thus, the language is extinct, and today Sirenik Eskimos speak Siberian Yupik language and/or Russian.


History

Little is known about Sirineki history, besides some conjectures based on linguistical consideration. Sirenik Eskimo culture has been influenced by that of Chukchi (witnessed also by folktale motifsМеновщиков 1964: 132).


Location

Sireniki is an old settlement; it has existed at least for 2500 years. It is the only Eskimo village in Siberia that has not been relocated, even during the assimilation policy. This fact is a part of establishing recent
cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
of Sireniki Eskimos.


Diachronic linguistics

Little is known about the history of the
Sirenik Eskimo language Sirenik Yupik, Sireniki Yupik (also Old Sirenik or Vuteen), Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, ...
. The uniqueness of the Sirenik language may be the result of a supposed long isolation from other
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
groups, and contact with speakers of unrelated languages for many centuries. Influence by
Chukchi language Chukchi , also known as Chukot, is a Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages, 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 ...
is clear. There are evidences that this small language had at least two territorial
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
s in the past, although the number of its speakers was very few even at the end of the nineteenth century.


Cultural identity

The total
language death In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the deat ...
of Sirenik Eskimo language means that now the
cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
of Sirenik Eskimos is maintained through other aspects: * Some of these factors are still of linguistic nature. Although during the
language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...
the language of Ungazigmit (a dialect of the Siberian Yupik language) has been adopted, they speak it with some variation, making a
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
. * Younger generations do not speak any Eskimo language (neither that of Ungazigmit), they speak Russian. But the cultural identity is maintained not only through linguistic factors, there is also a "sense of place" concerning their village. Sirenik is the only Eskimo settlement in Siberia that has not been relocated, thus it has preserved its 2500-year-long anciency. The cultural identity of other ethnic groups living in Sirenik settlement has been researched as well.


Spiritual culture

At one time, traditional spiritual practices were prohibited by authorities, still, some knowledge about these ways survived.Berte n.d.
2
The last shaman in Sireniki died around 1990. Since then there has been no shaman in the village.
/ref> Scholars observed shamanic practices among the Sireniki in the early 20th century.Menovščikov 1968: 68 A folklore tale text mentions a feast that could possibly include shamanic features.


Folklore


Animals

In their folklore, we can find the
motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...
of the benevolent
spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
: * In many tales, the spider saves the protagonist from peril with its cobweb, capable of lifting the endangered hero up to the sky. The same motif is present also in
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
folklore.Menovščikov 1968: 440–441 * The spider is a benevolent creature also in another Sirenik Eskimo tale, where she (personified as an old woman) desires the gift of eternal life for people: old age followed by rejuvenation. In this question, the spider is standing in debate with the
beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
: the latter proposes, that human life should end in death. Also some other animals can be presented in folklore as helpers of people:
loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...
,
fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
,
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
,
mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
,
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
. As for malevolent powers,
devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
s () belong to such dangers, they can feature in the shape of human, animal or fantastic beings. As mentioned,
beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
can be presented as malevolent for people. Folklore can feature man fighting with a big
worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...
.Меновщиков 1964: № 12 (39)–(43), (64)


Space and time

Mythology of this culture can reveal some beliefs about time and space.Меновщиков 1964: 153


= Temporal dilation motif

= There is a
motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...
in some Paleoasiatic cultures: wandering people, after a long absence, observe that they have remained young compared to their children who remained at home. Sirenik Eskimos have such a tale as well: the protagonist, returning home after a long travel, must face with the fact that his son has become an old man (while he himself remained young). More familiar examples of folklore from the world presenting such kind of temporal dilation motifs:
Urashima Taro Urashima may refer to: *Urashima Tarō is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who in a typical modern version is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) b ...
and (without remaining young) Rip Van Winkle.


Celestial motifs

Another tale presents the sky as an upper world where people can get to and return from, and experience adventures there: communicate with people living there, kill a big
worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...
, observe the earth from up there through a hole, descend back to the earth.


Magic

Several Eskimo peoples had beliefs in usage of
amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s, formulae (spells, charms). Furthermore, several peoples living in more or less isolated groups (including many Eskimo ones) understand natural phenomena on a personal level: there are imagined beings resembling to human but differing as well. As for Sirenik Eskimos, in one of their tales, we find the motif of the effective calling of natural phenomena for help in danger: an
eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
is pursuing people on the ice, and a woman begins to talk about calling wind and frost, then at once the river freezes in, and the eagle freezes onto the ice.


Some tale examples

Only their short summaries follow. Quotation marks refer not to literate citation, they just separate remarks from tale summaries.


= Cormorants

= An animal tale, taking place on a cliff near the so-called '' fast-ice edge'', narrating a conflict between a
cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...
and a
raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
family. The raven wants to steal and eat a child of the a cormorant pair by deceit, but one of the cormorants notices the trick and turns it against the raven so that the robber eats its own child unknowing.Меновщиков 1964: 109–111 (= № 1, titled i.e. "cormorants")


= Yari

= :''The sample of a
loon Loons (North American English) or divers (British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family Gaviidae and order Gavi ...
's cry is just an illustration. It is not linked to any ethnographic record, it is only of ethological relevance.'' This tale shows Chukchi people influence, moreover, it may be a direct borrowing. It is an example of the " omesticatedreindeer"
genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
, presenting conflicts among different groups for seizing reindeer herds. The tale features also magical animal helpers (the
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
and the diver).Меновщиков 1964: 132 (= № 6 , footnote)


= Cousins

= A Chukchi tale contains almost the same series of motifs (except for the incest and the infanticide at the beginning). The Chukchi tale begins with the girl's finding a skull ''incidentally''. Besides that, in the Chukchi tale, the girl, just after having been abandoned by her parents, begins to accuse the skull and push it with her feet rudely. And on the visit of her returning parents, she seemingly forgives them, but kills them by deceit.Bogoraz 1910
28–34
A related tale has been collected also among Ungazighmiit (belonging to
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
). Like the Sirenik variant, also the Ungazighmii one begins with the incest of cousins and the following infanticide, but it is the father of the girl who wants to kill his own daughter, and the father of the boy persuades him to kill the boy instead. At the end of the tale, the girl shows no sign of revenge, and it is the boy who initiates something that petrifies the parents (literally).


= Man with two wives

= The author mentions the time dilation motif (mentioned above), present among several Paleoasian peoples. The text of the tale itself does not contain a direct mentioning of time dilation caused by travel or absence: the protagonist's remaining young seems to be rather the result of a bless, spoken by the old man the protagonist has saved.Меновщиков 1964: № 10 (129) (original Sireniki: p. 150; Russian translation: p. 153)


= Man

= The same or similar motifs can be found also among Ungazigmit, moreover, an Ungazigmi tale extends the story with the further life of the girl after having been pulled up to the sky by the benevolent spider.Рубцова 1954: 196


Taboo

Like several other Eskimo groups, the inhabitants of Sirenik had beliefs prohibiting certain activities, that were thought to be disadvantageous in a magical way. Carrying an uncovered drum on the street was thought to trigger stormy weather. Bad weather was the supposed effect of burning seaweed on campfire, too. A great deal of the
taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s (like several other beliefs) were thought to serve chances of survival and sustenance, securing abundance of game. Several of them restricted the exploitation of resources (game).


Shamanism

Like Eskimo cultures themselves, examples of shamanism among Eskimo peoples can be diverse. During the Stalinist and post-Stalinist periods, shamanism was prohibited by authorities. Nevertheless, some knowledge about shamanistic practices survived. The last shaman in Sirenik died before 2000, and since then there has been no shaman in the village. Earlier in the 20th century, shamanistic practices could be observed by scholars in Sirenik, and also a folklore text mentions a feast that could include shamanistic features.


Recent history and today

The Sirenik Eskimo maintain traditional subsistence skills, such as building large skin boatsCallaway 2003 (Slice I)
6

/ref> similar to the ''angyapik'' among
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
, and
umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲir ...
among many other Eskimo peoples. Poverty, unemployment, and alcoholism challenge their community. Medical care and supplies to the settlement can be inadequate.


References


Latin

* * * * * * * * * * * * * Note that term "Inuit" is used here in an extended sense.


Cyrillic

* The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: * The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: * The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English:


External links

* Rendering in English: ''Sireniki settlement'', Kunstkamera,
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
. * Enlarged versions of the above series, select with the navigation arrows or the form. * Rendering in English: ''Imtuk settlement'', Kunstkamera,
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
. * Enlarged versions of the above series, select with the navigation arrows or the form. * Rendering in English: ''Eskimos and maritime Chukchi about
Greenland whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus ''Balaena''. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, ...
'', Biodiversity Conservation Center. * Note that term "Inuit" is used here in an extended sense. * * * * . Aron Nutawyi is an experienced local elder who initiated the project, assisted by Natalya Rodionova (Наталья Родионова). As the context of the linked annotation suggests, it is not in the old, now extinct Sireniki Eskimo language that the work concerns, but it is the
Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (russian: Юиты), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alask ...
variant that followed it after the language shift (also it being endangered). {{authority control . Eskimos Indigenous peoples in the Arctic Ethnic groups in Siberia Indigenous peoples of North Asia Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East People from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukchi Sea