Central Siberian Yupik
[aka St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, чаплинский ...]Classification: Eskimo-Aleut
·threatened
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Threatened
80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
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1,700
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2,300
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Central Siberian Yupik is spoken in Alaska in 2 villages on St. Lawrence Island, Gambell and Savoonga. Almost the entire adult population (1200 on the island, about 200 more in Nome and Anchorage) speaks the language, although a decreasing number of children acquire it as their first language. The St. Lawrence Island dialect is nearly identical to the Yupik spoken on the Chukotka Peninsula on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, largely concentrated in the villages of Novoye Chaplino, Sireniki, Provideniya, and Uel’kal’. There are about 300 Russian speakers of Central Siberian Yupik in a population of about 900, none under 30.
- SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
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- TRANSMISSION
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- LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS
Central Siberian Yupik is spoken in Alaska in 2 villages on St. Lawrence Island, Gambell and Savoonga. Almost the entire adult population (1,200 on the island, about 200 more in Nome and Anchorage) speaks the language, although a decreasing number of children acquire it as their first language. The St. Lawrence Island dialect is nearly identical to the Yupik spoken on the Chukotka Peninsula on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, largely concentrated in the villages of Novoye Chaplino, Sireniki, Rovideniya, and Uel’kal’. There are about 300 Russian speakers of Central Siberian Yupik in a population of about 900, none under 30.
- PLACES
- USA, Alaska; Russia
- LOCATION DESCRIPTION
St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; Chukotka Peninsula, Russia
- ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
In two villages on St. Lawrence Island, Gambell and Savoonga, others Nome and Anchorage. Chukotka Peninsula on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, in the villages of Novoye Chaplino, Sireniki, Provideniya, and Uel’kal’.