Chukotkan languages
Encyclopedia
Chukotkan is a dialect cluster that forms one branch of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family
. It is spoken in two autonomous regions
which lie at the extreme northeast of Russia
, bounded on the east by the Pacific and on the north by the Arctic.
Traditionally, Chukotkan was considered two languages, Chukchi and Koryak, due to a sharp ethnic division between the Chukchi
and Koryak people. However, the Kerek and Alyutor dialects, spoken by ethnic Chukchi and Koryak, are as different from those varieties as they are from each other. Thus Chukotkan is currently generally classified as four languages, but it could as easily be considered one language with significant dialectical variation.
The term Luorawetlan (Luoravetlan), used for Chukchi in the 1930s, is actually the ethnonym of both the Chukchi and Koryak.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
. It is spoken in two autonomous regions
Autonomous area
An autonomous area or autonomous entity is an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or freedom from an external authority. Typically it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority. Countries that include autonomous areas are often...
which lie at the extreme northeast of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, bounded on the east by the Pacific and on the north by the Arctic.
Traditionally, Chukotkan was considered two languages, Chukchi and Koryak, due to a sharp ethnic division between the Chukchi
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
and Koryak people. However, the Kerek and Alyutor dialects, spoken by ethnic Chukchi and Koryak, are as different from those varieties as they are from each other. Thus Chukotkan is currently generally classified as four languages, but it could as easily be considered one language with significant dialectical variation.
The term Luorawetlan (Luoravetlan), used for Chukchi in the 1930s, is actually the ethnonym of both the Chukchi and Koryak.
Varieties
- ChukchiChukchi languageThe Chukchi language is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug...
, spoken mostly within Chukotka Autonomous OkrugChukotka Autonomous OkrugChukotka Autonomous Okrug , or Chukotka , is a federal subject of Russia located in the Russian Far East.Chukotka has a population of 53,824 according to the 2002 Census, and a surface area of . The principal town and the administrative center is Anadyr...
. - KoryakKoryak languageKoryak is a Chukotko-Kamchatkan language spoken by circa 3,000 people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Koryak Okrug. It is mostly a language spoken by Koryaks. Its close relative, the Chukchi language, is spoken by about twice that number. The language together with Chukchi,...
, also called Nymylan, spoken in Koryak Okrug of Kamchatka Krai. The main dialect is known as Chavchuven Koryak. - Alyutor (Alutor, Aliutor), also spoken in Koryakia. According to Michael FortescueMichael FortescueMichael David Fortescue is a British-born linguist specializing in Arctic and native North American languages, including Kalaallisut, Inuktun, Chukchi and Nitinaht. He is professor of General Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen and chairman of the Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen...
(2005), Palana Koryak and Alutor should be considered dialects of a single language. - KerekKerek languageKerek was a language of Russia that belongs to the northern branch of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. On historical linguistic grounds it is most closely related to Koryak...
, spoken along the southern coast of Chukotka. In 1997 two elderly speakers remained, but now the language is extinct, with the ethnic group assimilated into the Chukchi (Fortescue 2005: 1).