These languages are spoken in a region called the subarctic at the extreme north of the planet on three continents: Asia, North America and Europe, and in four countries: Russia (the eastern coast of Siberia and the Aleutian Islands), the United States (in the State of Alaska), Canada (the provinces of Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Quebec) and Greenland.<\/p>\n
The speakers of Inuit-Yupik-Aleut Languages languages are primarily members of “First Nations” in North America, who inhabited the region long before Europeans arrived and before the creation of the United States and Canada. Some of these speakers do, however, live on the coast and islands of eastern Siberia, Russia.<\/p>\n
Approximately 90 000 according to UNESCO and the site ethnologue.com (SIL)<\/p>\n
Aleut Subfamily<\/p>\n
Aleut<\/strong> (alternate name: Unangan): 20 speakers for the eastern dialects and 500 for the western dialects according to UNESCO and SIL<\/p>\n Eskimo Subfamily<\/span><\/p>\n Yupik Branch<\/p>\n Siberian Yupik (alternate names: Asiatic Eskimo; Yuit<\/em>)<\/p>\n Naukanski<\/strong> (alternate name: Naukan<\/em>): 70 speakers according toUNESCO and SIL<\/p>\n Sirenikski<\/strong>: extinct<\/p>\n Central Siberian Yupik<\/strong>: 200 speakers according to UNESCO<\/p>\n Alaskan Yupik<\/p>\n Central Alaskan Yupik<\/strong>: 10,400 speakers according to UNESCO and SIL<\/p>\n Pacific Gulf Yupik <\/strong>(alternate names: Alutiiq, Suk): 200 speakers according to UNESCO and 400 according to SIL<\/p>\n I\u00f1upiaq-Inuktitut-Kalaallisut branch (Inuit)<\/p>\n Inupiaq-Inuktitut<\/strong>: 75,000 speakers according to SIL<\/p>\n Kalaallisut<\/strong>: approximately 50,000 speakers<\/p>\n This family is divided into two main sub-families:<\/p>\n The Aleut subfamily<\/p>\n The Inuit subfamily (Yupik-Inuktitut)<\/p>\n Aleutian (or Unangan) was originally spoken in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Shumagin Islands and the extreme west of the Alaska Peninsula. But in the 19th century many villages were deported to the Commander Islands off of Kamchatka. During this period the Aleut population was reduced by 90% from an estimated 25,000 to 1491 persons according to the census of 1910!<\/p>\n The Inuit sub-family consists in two main groups, the Yupik languages and I\u00f1upiak-Inuktitut-Kalaallisut. The Yupik languages are spoken on the far end of eastern Siberia and in Alaska \u2013 where Proto-Inuit-Aleut probably originates, while I\u00f1upiak-Inuktitut-Kalaallisut is a huge continuum reaching from Alaska to Greenland. It is made of several variants whose status as either close languages, or dialectal variants of one and the same language, is under dispute.<\/p>\n Inuktitut, the official language of Nunavut, and Kalaallisut, the official language of Greenland, are part of this continuum.<\/p>\n Yes. Sirenenski, for example, became extinct in 1997. Aleut, with only a few hundred elderly speakers, is classified as “critically endangered” by the standards of UNESCO (it will most probably become extinct in the coming years if nothing is done to save it) as are the two surviving languages of the Siberian branch of Yupik languages.<\/p>\n Suk is also “critically endangered “. Only Central Yupik of Alaska seems a little less threatened, but most younger speakers do not learn the language of their parents and speak English as their first language. It is therefore likely to disappear in the near future.<\/p>\n The Inuit set bears a rather different situation. Inuktitut is the official language of the new province of Nunavut (created in 1999), which should somehow protect the language. At this point, however, both Inuktitut and I\u00f1upiak are considered vulnerable by UNESCO. Kalaallisut, in Greenland, is the family\u2019s only non-endangered language.<\/p>\n Campbell, Lyle. American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1997)<\/p>\n Collins, D.R.F., ed. 1990. Arctic Languages: An Awakening<\/em>. Paris: UNESCO.<\/p>\n Dorais, Louis-Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic<\/em>. McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press.<\/p>\n Fortescue, Michael. 1984. West Greenlandic<\/em>. London: Croom Helm.<\/p>\n Mithun, Marianne. The languages of native North America<\/em>. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (1999).<\/p>\n Site devoted to American Indian languages:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.native-languages.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n Section of the Encyclopaedia Britannica online:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.britannica.com\/EBchecked\/topic\/192563\/Eskimo-Aleut-languages<\/a><\/p>\n Sites devoted to the defense of indigenous languages and cultures of Canada:<\/p>\nComments on the classification of Inuit-Yupik-Aleut Languages:<\/h5>\n
Are Inuit-Yupik-Aleut Languages in danger?<\/h5>\n
Sources:<\/h5>\n