Eskimo languages
The Eskimo languages or Eskimo are, in addition to Aleut, a subfamily of the Eskimo-Aleut languages spoken by the Eskimos in northeast Siberia, Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland.
In general, the Eskimo languages are divided into two large groups: Yupik or Western Eskimo in East Alaska, on some islands of the Bering Strait and in Northeast Asia, and Inuit or Eastern Eskimo from northern Alaska to East Greenland.
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Eskimo
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Inuit or Inupiaq-Inuktitut
- Greenlandic or Kalaallisut (Greenland, 58,000)
- Inuktitut (Eastern Canada, 40,000)
- Inuinnaqtun (Western Canada, 14,000)
- Inupiaq (Northern Alaska, 10,000)
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Yupik
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Alaska Yupik
- Central Alaska Yupik (17,000)
dialects: General Central Yupik including Yukon-Kuskokwim, Egegik, Hooper-Bay-Chevak, Nunivak, Norton Sound - Pacific Gulf Yupik ( Alutiiq , Suk, Sugpiaq) (100)
Dialects: Chugach, Koniag
- Central Alaska Yupik (17,000)
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Siberian Yupik or Yuit
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Chaplino-Naukan
- Chaplino (Central Siberian Yupik) (1,100)
Dialects: Chaplinski, St Lawrence Isld. - Naukan (Naukanski) (75)
- Chaplino (Central Siberian Yupik) (1,100)
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Sirenik
- Sirenik (Sirenikski) † extinct since 1997
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Chaplino-Naukan
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Alaska Yupik
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Inuit or Inupiaq-Inuktitut
While the distinction between Western Eskimo and Eastern Eskimo has structural reasons, the subdivision into the various dialect groups is not to be understood as a strict distinction between different languages, but is often based on the area of occurrence and the local names.
Eskimo and the Yupik languages each form a dialect continuum .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elke Nowak: Introduction to Inuktitut (PDF; 603 kB), accessed on December 23, 2015
- ↑ Elke Nowak: Introduction to Inuktitut (PDF; 603 kB), accessed on December 23, 2015