Yugh ( ; Yug) is a Yeniseian language, closely related to Ket, formerly spoken by the Yugh people, one of the southern groups along the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

in central

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. It went extinct by 1972. It was once regarded as a dialect of the Ket language, which was considered to be a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

, and was therefore called ''Sym Ket'' or ''Southern Ket''; however, the Ket considered it to be a distinct language. By the early 1990s there were only two or three nonfluent speakers remaining, and the language was virtually

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. The 2002 census recorded 19 ethnic Yugh in all of Russia.2002 Russian census data
/ref> In the 2010 census, only one ethnic Yugh was counted, also stating their proficiency in Yugh,2010 Russian census data
/ref> while in the 2020 census, 7 ethnic Yugh were counted,Том 5. «Национальный состав и владение языками». Таблица 1. Национальный состав населения
/ref> 2 of them stating that they were speakers of Yugh.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Notes

References

External links

Yugh basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Yugh at the Vanishing Peoples / Languages database
Extinct languages of Asia Indigenous languages of Siberia Yeniseian languages Languages extinct in the 20th century {{Yeniseian languages stub