Eskimo-Aleut is a language family native to Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and parts of Siberia. Also called Eskaleut (Eskaleutian, Eskaleutic), Eskimoan or Macro-Eskimo,^[1] it consists of the Eskimo languages (including the Inuit languages in the north of Alaska, Canada and Greenland, and the Yupik/Yup'ik languages in western and southwestern Alaska and in Siberia), and the single Aleut language of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands.

Eskimo is an exonym, although within Alaska, the term is used by both indigenous and non-indigenous Alaskans. The most widely accepted academic etymology for the term posits an original meaning of "to net snowshoes."^[2][3] Within Canada, the term is considered derogatory, and "Inuit" is preferred. The terms "Yup'ik", "Yupik", and "Inupiaq" are also used in Alaska to refer to these respective groups.

The Eskimo language family is divided into the Inuit and Yup'ik groups. The proper place of Sirenik within the Eskimo-Aleut language family is debated. Some linguists list it as a branch of Yupik^[4], while others list it as a distinct branch of the language family^[5].

Eskimo-Aleut

Aleut

Western-Central dialects: Atkan, Attuan, Unangan, Bering (60-80 speakers)

Eastern dialects: Unalaskan, Pribilof (400 speakers)

Eskimo

Yupik

Central Alaskan Yup'ik (10,000 speakers)

Alutiiq or Pacific Gulf Yup'ik (400 speakers)

Central Siberian Yupik or Yuit (Chaplinon and St Lawrence Island, 1400 speakers)

Naukanski (70 speakers)

Chaplinski

Sirenik (extinct)

Inuit or Inupik (98,000 speakers)

Inupiaq or Inupiat (northern Alaska, 3,500 speakers)

Inuvialuktun (western Canada, 765 speakers)

Inuktitut (eastern Canada; together with Inuktun and Inuinnaqtun, 40,000 speakers)

Kalaallisut (Greenland, 54,000 speakers)

According to Joseph Greenberg's highly controversial classification of the languages of Native North America, Eskimo-Aleut is one of the three main groups of Native languages spoken in the Americas, and represents a distinct wave of migration from Asia to the Americas. The other two are Na-Dené (which includes Athabaskan and a small number of related tongues) and Amerind (Greenberg's most controversial classification, which includes every language native to the Americas that is not Eskimo-Aleut or Na-Dené).

Notes

1. ↑ Fleming 1987: 189.
2. ↑ Goddard, Ives (1984). "Synonymy." In Arctic, ed. David Damas. Vol. 5 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant, pp. 5-7. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Cited in Campbell 1997
3. ↑ Kaplan, Lawrence. (2002). "Inuit or Eskimo: Which names to use?". Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
4. ↑ "Ethnologue report for Yupik Sirenk." Retrieved 2008-08-25.
5. ↑ "Alaska Native Languages - An Overview". Retrieved 2008-08-25.

Bibliography

See also

• Inuit language
• Yupik language
• Siberian Yupik language
• Aleut language
• Uralo-Siberian languages

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