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Central Siberian Yupik, (also known as Siberian Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, Yuit, Yoit, "St. Lawrence Island Yupik", and in Russia "Chaplinski Yupik" or Yuk) is an endangered
Yupik language The Yupik languages () are a family of languages spoken by the Yupik peoples of western and south-central Alaska and Chukotka. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that they are not mutually intelligible, although speakers of one ...
spoken by the indigenous
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 ...
people along the coast of Chukotka in the
Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...
and in the villages of Savoonga and Gambell on
St. Lawrence Island St. Lawrence Island ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Остров Святого Лаврентия, Ostrov Svyatogo Lavrentiya) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on t ...
. The language is part of the
Eskimo-Aleut 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 ...
family. In
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, it is estimated that fewer than 1000 of the 1200 residents of
St. Lawrence Island St. Lawrence Island ( ess, Sivuqaq, russian: Остров Святого Лаврентия, Ostrov Svyatogo Lavrentiya) is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on t ...
speak the language, while, in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, approximately 200 speakers remain out of an ethnic population of 1,200.


Dialects and subgroups

Siberian Yupik has two dialects: Chaplino (Chaplinski) Yupik (Uŋazigmit) is spoken on the shores of
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukotka (russian: Чуко́тка), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,, ''Čukotkakèn avtonomnykèn okrug'', is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian ...
in the
Russian Far North The Extreme North or Far North (russian: Крайний Север, Дальний Север) is a large part of Russia located mainly north of the Arctic Circle and boasting enormous mineral and natural resources. Its total area is about , ...
, and St. Lawrence Island Yupik (Sivuqaghmiistun) is spoken on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Chaplino, or ''Uŋazigmit'', is the largest Yupik language of Siberia (the second one is Naukan Yupik), and is named after the settlement of ''Уӈазиӄ'' (Ungaziq; or ''Old Chaplino'' in
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 ...
). The word ''Ungazighmii'' / Уңазиӷмӣ (plural ''Ungazighmiit'' / Уңазиӷмӣт Menovshchikov 1962:1) means "Ungaziq inhabitant(s)". People speaking this language live in several settlements in the southeastern
Chukchi Peninsula The Chukchi Peninsula (also Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula; russian: Чуко́тский полуо́стров, ''Chukotskiy poluostrov'', short form russian: Чуко́тка, ''Chukotka''), at about 66° N 172° W, is the eastern ...
Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka
by Nikolai Vakhtin
(including
Novoye Chaplino Novoye Chaplino (russian: Новое Чаплино, Siberian Yupik: ''Ungaziq'') is a village ('' selo'') in Providensky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. Population: Municipally, Novoye Chapli ...
,
Provideniya Provideniya ( rus, Провиде́ния, p=prəvʲɪˈdʲenʲɪjə; Chukchi language, Chukchi: ) is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Providensky District of Ch ...
, and
Sireniki Sireniki (russian: Сиреники; Yupik language, Yupik: Сиӷинык, literally ''Mountain of Horns''; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Vutèèn''; Sirenik Eskimo language, Sirenik: ''Sigheneg'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
),
Uelkal Uelkal (russian: Уэлькаль; Yupik: Валъӄалыӄ, lit. ''Whale Jaw''; Chukchi: , ''Valḳalḷʼan'') is a village ('' selo'') in Iultinsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Population: a slight reduction on a 2003 estim ...
,
Wrangel Island Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...
, and
Anadyr Anadyr may refer to: *Anadyr (town), a town and the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia *Anadyr District *Anadyr Estuary *Anadyr (river), a river in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia *Anadyr Highlands *Anadyr Lowlands *Operati ...
.Asian Eskimo Language
by Endangered languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia
The majority of Chaplino Yupik speakers live in the villages of
Novoye Chaplino Novoye Chaplino (russian: Новое Чаплино, Siberian Yupik: ''Ungaziq'') is a village ('' selo'') in Providensky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. Population: Municipally, Novoye Chapli ...
and
Sireniki Sireniki (russian: Сиреники; Yupik language, Yupik: Сиӷинык, literally ''Mountain of Horns''; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Vutèèn''; Sirenik Eskimo language, Sirenik: ''Sigheneg'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
. In another terminology, these people speak Chaplino, and Ungazighmiit people speak one of its dialects, along with other dialects spoken by Avatmit, Imtugmit, Kigwagmit, which can be divided further into even smaller dialects. The second dialect, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, is believed to be an offspring of Chaplino with only minor phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical differences, and the two dialects are virtually identical.Daria Morgounova (2004)
Language contact on both sides of the Bering Strait: a comparative study of Central Siberian Yupik-Russian and Central Alaskan Yupik-English language contact
Københavns Universitet, Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Engelsk Institut.


Phonology


Consonants

Unlike the Central Alaskan Yupik languages, Siberian Yupik has a series of retroflex fricatives, more similar to the Alaskan Inuit dialects.


Vowels


Morphosyntax

Morphosyntax is the study of grammatical categories or linguistic units that have both morphological and syntactic properties. Central Siberian Yupik’s structure most resembles this category. In addition, CSY can be described as using both internal and external syntax. Internal syntax is used here to describe the way that postbases are added to a base or added to one another, contrasted with external syntax, which refers to the order of independent words. Central Siberian Yupik is a
polysynthetic language In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages, formerly holophrastic languages, are highly synthetic languages, i.e. languages in which words are composed of many morphemes (word parts that have independent meaning but may or may not be able t ...
, meaning it is made up of long, structured words containing many separate meaningful parts (morphemes). In fact, a single word can be an entire sentence. CSY is also an ergative-absolutive language, in contrast to the nominative-accusative structure of English and many Indo-European languages. Most Siberian Yupik words consist of a "base" or "stem", followed by zero or more "postbases", followed by one "ending", followed by zero or more "enclitics": Generally, the “base” or “stem” contains the root meaning of the word , while the “postbases,” which are suffixing morphemes, provide additional components of the sentence (see example above). As shown, postbases include items with adjectival and verbal qualities, among other elements. The “ending” (Woodbury’s term) is an inflectional suffix to the right of the postbase that contains grammatical information such as number, person, case, or mood. Enclitics are bound suffixes that follow the inflectional ending of a word. An attached enclitic affects the meaning of the entire sentence, not just the element to which it is attached. The exception is the enclitic ‘llu,’ shown above, which has a basic meaning of ‘and.’


Bases

The base forms the lexical core of the word and belongs to one of three main classes: noun bases, verb bases and particle bases. * Noun bases (N) ** Ordinary noun bases (intransitive, transitive) ** Independent pronoun bases (intransitive) ** Demonstrative bases (D) (intransitive) ** Adjectival noun bases *** Inflecting as ordinary noun bases (intransitive, transitive) *** Independent relative bases *** Quantificational bases (Q) **** Numeral (NM) bases: cardinal (intransitive); ordinal (transitive) **** Specifier (SP) bases: cardinal (intransitive); partitive (transitive) ** Locational bases *** Demonstrative adverb (DA) bases (intransitive) *** Positional (PS) bases (transitive) ** Temporal bases *** Temporal noun bases (intransitive, transitive) *** Temporal particle bases * Verb bases (V) ** Exclusively intransitive (Vi) ** Exclusively transitive (Vt) ** Ambivalent * Particles ** Independent particles ** Sentence particles ** Phrasal participles ** Enclitics Noun endings indicate number (singular, dual, or plural), case, and whether or not the noun is possessed. If the noun is possessed, the ending indicates the number and person of the possessor. Siberian Yupik has seven noun cases: #
absolutive In grammar, the absolutive case (abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative– ...
# relative ( ergative-
genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
) #
ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. T ...
-modalis #
localis Localis is an independent think tank that promotes neo-localist ideas. It was founded in 2001 and is currently based in Westminster, United Kingdom. Its research programme is guided by the concept of neo-localism which it describes as giving plac ...
# terminalis # vialis # aequalis


Absolutive Case Noun Endings

As in other ergative-absolutive languages, absolutive case is used to mark nouns that are generally the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs. ''Note the column on the far left in the chart above and the following charts indicates the person and number of the possessor; the top row indicates the singular, plural, or dual state of the noun. Note also the abbreviation ‘R’ indicates the third person reflective form.''


Relative/Ergative Case Noun Endings

Ergative case identifies nouns as a subject of a transitive verb and acts as the
genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
form in ergative-absolutive languages.


Ablative-Modalis Case Noun Endings

The ablative case is used to indicate the agent in passive sentences, or the instrument, manner, or place of the action described by the verb. The endings of the
locative In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
and terminative cases are the same as those of the ablative case except that the locative case has ''-mi'' and ''-ni'' and the terminative case has ''-mun'' and ''-nun'' in place of the ''-meng'' and ''-neng'' at the end of the ablative case endings.


Prolative Case Noun Endings

In grammar, the prolative case, also called the vialis case, is a grammatical case of a noun or pronoun that expresses motion by the referent of the noun it marks.


Equative Noun Case Endings

Equative is a case that expresses the standard of comparison of equal values.


Postbases

Derivation Derivation may refer to: Language * Morphological derivation, a word-formation process * Parse tree or concrete syntax tree, representing a string's syntax in formal grammars Law * Derivative work, in copyright law * Derivation proceeding, a proc ...
is accomplished in CSY by attaching suffixes called postbases. Productivity in the context of CSY is defined as the free addition of a postbase to any base without an unpredictable semantic result; non-productivity implies that said postbases cannot combine freely but are limited to attaching to only a particular set of bases. Postbases are either nominal or verbal and select nominal or verbal bases or expanded bases to attach to (an expanded base is a base followed by one or more postbases). There are four kinds of postbases: # VN: postbases deriving nouns from verbs # # NV: postbases deriving verbs from nouns # # NN: postbases constructing complex nouns # # VV: postbases constructing complex verbs These postbases can indicate a wide variety of meaning, including: For nouns: * quantification, * adjectival modification, * being and becoming, * a type of verbal noun-incorporation For verbs: * changes in transitivity, * adverbial modification, * evidentially, * negation, * tense, * agent noun formation, * relative clause formation, * various types of verbal complementation It is estimated that CSY has approximately 547 postbases: 75 NN, 55 NV, 30 VN, and 387 VV. It appears that in CSY the large majority of NN, NV, and VN postbases are productive; for the VV postbases, there are approximately 190 non-productive ones and 197 productive ones.


Characteristics of polysynthetic postbases

There are no clear morphological position classes in CSY. A position class is the organization of morphemes or a morpheme class into a linear ordering with no apparent connection to syntactic, semantic, or phonological representation. In the example below, it is semantic restrictions that dictate the order. Some postbases can be used recursively, as in the example below. Recursion can also be used for emphasis. There is variability in postbase ordering with no change in semantic outcome. Abbreviations: V, verb; PST, past tense; FRUSTR, frustrative (‘but . . ., in vain’); INFER, inferential evidential (often translatable as ‘it turns out’); INDIC, indicative; 3S.3S, third-person subject acting on third-person object): (de Reuse 2006) Note: postbases noted in bold. Note: there is a general rule in CSY of semantic scope in which the rightmost postbase will have scope over the left. However, there are many exceptions, as in the example above.


Enclitics

Following are a brief list and description of enclitics in CSY. The table is recreated from de Reuse (1988). # -lli: modal function, interrogative # -tuq: modal function, optative # -qa, -sa, -wha: modal function, exhortative or exclamative # -nguq: evidential function # -llu: focus marking or conjunction # -iii: can be interrogative; sometimes marks a perlocutionary act # -ta, -Vy: mark illocutionary acts # -ngam, -qun: mark the “presupposition that the hearer is unaware that the speaker lacks crucial information” # -mi: shifts the attention of the hearer Note: the ‘position’ references above refer to the position of the postbase following the main base.


Other Eskimo languages spoken in Chukotka


Other Yupik languages

Naukan, or Nuvuqaghmiistun, the second largest Yupik language spoken in Chukotka, is spoken in settlements including
Uelen Uelen (russian: Уэлéн; Chukchi: , ''Uvèlèn''; Siberian Yupik: Улыӄ, ''Ulyḳ''; Naukan Yupik: Олыӄ, ''Oleq''; also known as Whalen in older English-language sources and Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') ...
, Lorino,
Lavrentiya Lavrentiya (russian: Лавре́нтия, Yupik: Ӄышы; Chukchi: Ӄытрын, ''Ḳytryn''; Naukan: ''Qerre'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, locate ...
, and
Provideniya Provideniya ( rus, Провиде́ния, p=prəvʲɪˈdʲenʲɪjə; Chukchi language, Chukchi: ) is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Providensky District of Ch ...
.


Debated classifications

Additionally, the
Sireniki 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, ...
, locally called Uqeghllistun, was an Eskimo language once spoken in Chukotka. It had many peculiarities. Sometimes it is classified as not belonging to the Yupik branch at all, thus forming (by itself) a stand-alone third branch of the Eskimo languages (alongside Inuit and Yupik). Its peculiarities may be the result of a supposed long isolation from other Eskimo groups in the past.Menovshchikov 1962:11 Sireniki became extinct in early January 1997.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


Notes


References


English

* * de Reuse, Willem J. (1994). ''Siberian Yupik Eskimo: The language and its contacts with Chukchi''. Studies in indigenous languages of the Americas. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. . *Jacobson, Steven A. (1990). ''A Practical Grammar of the St.~Lawrence Island/Siberian Yupik Eskimo Language''. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska. *Jacobson, Steven A. (1979). ''A Grammatical Sketch of Siberian Yupik Eskimo as spoken on St.~Lawrence Island, Alaska''. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska.


Russian

* 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:
Библиография работ по языку азиатских эскимосов


Further reading


English

* Menovshchikov, G.A.: Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary.
Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
, Moscow • Leningrad, 1964. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь. Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания. Москва • Ленинград, 1964 * Menovshchikov, G.A.: Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos. Vol. I.
Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
, Moscow • Leningrad, 1962. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Грамматиκа языка азиатских эскимосов. Часть первая. Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1962. * Rubcova, E. S. (1954). Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimos (Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect). Moscow • Leningrad:
Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
. Original data: Рубцова, Е. С. (1954). Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Москва • Ленинград: Академия Наук СССР.
Yupik: Bibliographical guide


Russian

* Badten, Linda Womkon, Vera Oovi Kaneshiro, Marie Oovi, and Steven A. Jacobson. ''A Dictionary of the St. Lawrence Island/Siberian Yupik Eskimo Language''. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1987. * Bass, Willard P., Edward A. Tennant, and Sharon Pungowiyi Satre. ''Test of Oral Language Dominance Siberian Yupik-English''. Albuquerque, N.M.: Southwest Research Associates, 1973. * * Jacobson, Steven A. ''Reading and Writing the Cyrillic System for Siberian Yupik = Atightuneqlu Iganeqlu Yupigestun Ruuseghmiit Latangitgun''. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, College of Liberal Arts, University of Alaska, 1990. * Collection of stories, originally recorded by Меновщиков among Siberian Yupik, then transliterated so that it can be read by Yupik of St. Lawrence Island. * * Reuse, Willem Joseph de. ''Siberian Yupik Eskimo The Language and Its Contacts with Chukchi''. Studies in indigenous languages of the Americas. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994. * Reuse, Willem Joseph de. ''Studies in Siberian Yupik Eskimo Morphology and Syntax''. 1988.


External links


Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka
by Nikolai Vakhtin * Collection of 27 texts collected by Rubtsova in 1940-1941. Translated into English and edited by Vakhtin. (The English version is the last file at the bottom of the page.) Downloadable from UAF's site licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. * Uelen language — problems of identification . * * {{Eskimo-Aleut languages Agglutinative languages Indigenous languages of the North American Arctic Languages of Russia Indigenous languages of Alaska Yupik languages Endangered Eskaleut languages Siberian Yupik Official languages of Alaska