Yupik languages facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yupik |
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| Ethnicity: | Yupik people |
| Geographic distribution: |
Alaska, Chukotka |
| Linguistic classification: | Eskimo–Aleut
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| Subdivisions: |
Sirenik †
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| ISO 639-2 and 639-5: | ypk |
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The Yupik languages are a group of languages spoken by the Yupik people. These people live in western and south-central Alaska and in Chukotka, Russia. Even though they are all Yupik languages, they are different enough that speakers of one language might not fully understand speakers of another. However, they can often get the main idea of a conversation. Sadly, one of these languages, Sirenik, is no longer spoken; it became extinct in 1997.
The Yupik languages belong to a larger group called Eskimo–Aleut languages. The Aleut and Eskimo languages started to become different from each other around 2000 BC. Within the Eskimo group, the Yupik languages and the Inuit language began to separate around 1000 AD.
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Meet the Yupik Languages
There are several Yupik languages, each spoken in different areas. Here are the main ones:
Naukan Yupik Language
This language is also known as Naukanski. About 100 people speak it. They live in places like Lavrentiya, Lorino, and Uelen on the Chukotka Peninsula in Eastern Siberia.
Central Siberian Yupik Language
You might also hear this language called Yupigestun or St. Lawrence Island Yupik. It is spoken by most Yupik people in the Russian Far East. It is also spoken by people on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Most of the 1,100 Yupik people on St. Lawrence Island still speak this language. In Russia, about 300 of the 1,000 Siberian Yupik people still speak a version of this language called Chaplino.
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Language
This language is also known as Yugtun or just Yup'ik. It is spoken on the Alaska mainland, from Norton Sound down to the Alaska Peninsula. It is also spoken on some islands, like Nunivak. The name of this language is spelled with an apostrophe, Yup'ik. This apostrophe shows a special way the 'p' sound is made. All the other Yupik languages are spelled without the apostrophe. In 2013, about 20,000 of the 21,000 Central Alaskan Yup'ik people still spoke this language at home.
There are different ways of speaking Central Alaskan Yup'ik, called dialects. The biggest dialect is General Central Yup'ik, or Yugtun. It is spoken in the Yukon River, Nelson Island, Kuskokwim River, and Bristol Bay areas. There are three other dialects: Norton Sound, Hooper Bay/Chevak, and Nunivak Island. The Nunivak Island dialect is called Cup’ik or Cup'ig. These dialects have different pronunciations and words.
Alutiiq Language
This language is also known as Alutiit’stun or Sugt'stun. It is spoken from the Alaska Peninsula all the way east to Prince William Sound. There are about 3,000 Alutiiq people, but only 500 to 1,000 of them still speak the language. The Koniag dialect is spoken on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula and on Kodiak Island. The Chugach dialect is spoken on the Kenai Peninsula and in Prince William Sound.
Sirenik Language
This language was once spoken on the Chukchi Peninsula. As mentioned before, it is now extinct, meaning no one speaks it anymore.
Sounds of Yupik Languages
Yupik languages have a special set of sounds.
Consonants
Central Yup'ik has many consonant sounds. Some letters might sound different than in English. For example, 'c' can sound like 'ts' or 'ch', and 'q' is a sound made further back in your throat. Some letters like 'm', 'n', and 'ng' can also be spoken without using your voice.
Vowels
Yupik languages usually have four main vowel sounds: 'a', 'i', 'u', and a special sound called a schwa (like the 'a' in 'about'). They have between 13 and 27 different consonant sounds.
How Yupik Words Are Built
Yupik languages are very interesting because of how their words are put together. They are called polysynthetic languages. This means you can build very long words that act like whole sentences!
Every Yupik word starts with one main part, called a root. Then, many small pieces, called suffixes, are added to the end of the root. These suffixes change the meaning of the word. For example, you might add suffixes to say "to be hungry" and then add more to say "I am hungry" all in one long word.
The order of these suffixes can change the meaning. The only suffixes that always stay at the very end are those that show who is doing the action (like "I" or "you") or how a noun is used in a sentence (like "to me" or "from him").
Writing Yupik Languages
For a long time, Yupik languages were only spoken. They were not written down until Europeans arrived in the early 1800s.
Early Writing Efforts
The first people to write Yupik were missionaries. They worked with Yupik speakers to translate the Bible and other religious books. Important people like Saint Innocent of Alaska and Reverend John Hinz helped with this. Their main goal was to share religious ideas in writing.
Different Alphabets
The Yupik people in Alaska and Siberia started using an alphabet based on Latin letters. This alphabet was first created by missionaries in Greenland in the 1760s.
After the United States bought Alaska, Yupik children learned to write English in school. They also learned the Yupik writing system developed by Rev. Hinz, which used Latin letters. In Russia, most Yupik people learned to read and write Russian. However, some scholars wrote Yupik using Cyrillic letters, which are used for Russian.
Modern Yupik Script
In the 1960s, the University of Alaska brought together experts and native Yupik speakers. They created a new writing system to replace the older one. They wanted a system that could be typed easily on an English keyboard, without needing special symbols. They also wanted each unique sound in the language to have its own letter. For example, the letter 'q' is used for a 'k' sound made further back in the throat. A consonant followed by an apostrophe (like 't) means the consonant sound is held longer.
de:Yupik
See also
In Spanish: Lenguas yupik para niños
