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Eskaleut languages
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| Eskaleut | |
|---|---|
| Eskimo–Aleut, Inuit–Yupik–Unangan | |
| Geographic distribution | Alaska, Northwest Territories (Inuvialuit Settlement Region), Nunavut, northern Quebec (Nunavik), northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut), Greenland, far eastern Russia (Chukotka Peninsula) |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Eskaleut |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-5 | esx |
| Glottolog | eski1264 |
 Eskaleut languages are spoken in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland | |
The Eskaleut (/ɛˈskæliuːt/ ⓘ e-SKAL-ee-oot), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan[1] languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada (Inuit Nunangat) including Nunavut, Northwest Territories (principally in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region), northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East (Chukchi Peninsula). The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, or Eskaleutic.[2]
The Eskaleut language family is divided into two branches: Eskimoan and Aleut. The Aleut branch consists of a single language, Aleut, spoken in the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands. Aleut is divided into several dialects. The Eskimoan languages are divided into two branches: the Yupik languages, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska and in Chukotka, and the Inuit languages, spoken in northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Inuit languages are divided into several varieties. Neighbouring varieties are quite similar, although those at the farthest distances from the centre in the Diomede Islands and East Greenland are quite divergent.[3]
The proper place of one language, Sirenik, within the Eskimoan family has not been settled. While some linguists list it as a branch of Yupik,[4] others list it as a separate branch of the Eskimoan family, alongside the Yupik and Inuit languages.[5]
History
[edit]The Eskaleut languages are among the native languages of the Americas. They are not demonstrably related to the other language families of North America[6] and are believed to represent a separate, and the last, prehistoric migration of people from Asia. The Alaska Native Language Center believes that the ancestral Eskaleut language divided into the Eskimoan and Aleut branches at least 4,000 years ago.[3][6][7] The Eskimoan language family split into the Yupik and Inuit branches around 1,000 years ago.[6] More recent classifications find a third branch, Old Sirenik.[8]
Alexander Vovin (2015)[9] notes that northern Tungusic languages, which are spoken in eastern Siberia and northeastern China, have Eskaleut loanwords that are not found in Southern Tungusic, implying that Eskaleut was once much more widely spoken in eastern Siberia. Vovin (2015) estimates that the Eskaleut loanwords in Northern Tungusic had been borrowed no more than 2,000 years ago, which was when Tungusic was spreading northwards from its homeland in the middle reaches of the Amur River. Vovin (2015) concludes that the homeland (Urheimat) of Proto-Eskaleut was in Siberia rather than in Alaska.
Internal classification
[edit]| Eskaleut | |
- Eskaleut
- Aleut (Unangam Tunuu) (40–80 speakers)
- Eskimoan
- Sirenik (Uqeghllistun) † (1997)
- Yupik or Western Eskimoan
- Alutiiq or Pacific Gulf Yupik (ca. 80 speakers)
- Koniag Alutiiq (Alutiit’stun)
- Chugach Alutiiq (Sugt’stun)
- Central Alaskan Yup'ik (5,000 speakers ±50%)
- General Central Alaskan Yup'ik (Yugtun)
- Chevak Cupꞌik (Cugtun)
- Nunivak Cupʼig (Cugtun) (5–25 speakers)
- Naukan (Nuvuqaghmiistun) (70 speakers)
- Central Siberian Yupik (Yuit/Yupigestun) ("Yuit" in Russia, "Yupigestun" in Alaska; Chaplino and St. Lawrence Island)
- Chaplino (Chaplinski) Yupik (Ungazighmiistun) (ca. 200 speakers)
- St. Lawrence Island Yupik (Sivuqaghmiistun) (400–750 speakers)
- Alutiiq or Pacific Gulf Yupik (ca. 80 speakers)
- Inuit or Eastern Eskimoan (ca. 100,000 speakers)
- Iñupiaq or Inupiat (northern Alaska, 5,000 speakers ±50%)
- Qawiaraq or Seward Peninsula Inupiaq
- Inupiatun/Iñupiatun or Northern Alaska Inupiaq (including Uummarmiutun (Aklavik, Inuvik))
- Inuvialuktun (western Canada; 1,020 speakers, 2016 census)
- Siglitun (Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk)
- Inuinnaqtun (in Ulukhaktok also known as Kangiryuarmiutun)
- Natsilingmiutut (Netsilik area, Nunavut)
- Inuktitut (eastern Canada; 36,000 speakers, 2016 census)
- Inuttitut or Nunatsiavummiutut (Nunatsiavut, 550 speakers)
- Nunavimmiutitut (Nunavik)
- Qikiqtaaluk nigiani (South Baffin)
- Qikiqtaaluk uannangani or Iglulingmiut (North Baffin)
- Aivilingmiutut (east-central Nunavut)
- Kivallirmiutut (Southeast Nunavut)
- Inuktun or Avanersuaq (Polar Eskimo, Greenland, 800 speakers)
- Greenlandic (Greenland: 50,000 speakers Greenland, 7,000 Denmark)
- Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic, 44,000 speakers)
- Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic, 3,000 speakers)
- Iñupiaq or Inupiat (northern Alaska, 5,000 speakers ±50%)
Position among the world's language families
[edit]Eskaleut does not have any genetic relationship to any of the world's other language families, this being generally accepted by linguists at the present time. There is general agreement that it is not closely related to the other language families of North America. The more credible proposals on the external relations of Eskaleut all concern one or more of the language families of northern Eurasia, such as Chukotko-Kamchatkan just across the Bering Strait. One of the first such proposals, the Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis, was suggested by the pioneering Danish linguist Rasmus Rask in 1818, upon noticing similarities between Greenlandic and Finnish. Perhaps the most fully developed proposal to date is Michael Fortescue's Uralo–Siberian hypothesis, published in 1998 which links Eskaleut languages to Yukaghir and the Uralic languages.
More recently Joseph Greenberg (2000–2002) suggested grouping Eskaleut with all of the language families of northern Eurasia (Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, Korean, Japanese, Ainu, Nivkh/Gilayak, and Chukchi–Kamchatkan), with the exception of Yeniseian, in a proposed language family called Eurasiatic. Such proposals are not generally accepted. Criticisms have been made stating that Greenberg's hypothesis is ahistorical, meaning that it lacks and sacrifices known historical elements of language in favour of external similarities.[10] Although the Eurasiatic hypothesis is generally disregarded by linguists, one critique by Stefan Georg and Alexander Vovin stated that they were not willing to disregard the theory immediately although ultimately agreed that Greenberg's conclusion was dubious. Greenberg explicitly states that his developments were based on the previous macro-comparative work done by Vladislav Illich-Svitych and Bomhard and Kerns.[10] By providing evidence of lexical comparison, Greenberg hoped that it would strengthen his hypothesis.
Despite all these efforts, the Eurasiatic language theory was overruled on the basis that mass comparison is not accurate enough an approach. In comparative linguistics, the comparative method bases its validity on highly regular changes, not occasional semantic and phonological similarities, which is what the Eurasiatic hypothesis provides.
In the 1960s Morris Swadesh suggested a connection with the Wakashan languages. This was expanded by Jan Henrik Holst (2005).[11]
Notable features
[edit]Every word must have only one root (free morpheme) always at the beginning.[12] Eskaleut languages have a relatively small number of roots: in the case of Central Alaskan Yup'ik, around two thousand.[13] Following the root are a number of postbases, which are bound morphemes that add to the basic meaning of the root. If the meaning of the postbase is to be expressed alone, a special neutral root (in the case of Central Alaskan Yup'ik and Inuktitut pi) is used.
The basic word schema is as follows: root-(affixes)-inflection-(enclitic). Below is an example from Central Siberian Yupik.[14]
angyagh-(gh)lla-ng(e)-yug-tuq-lu
boat-big-acquire-want.to-IND.3S-also
‘also, he wants to acquire a big boat’
There are a total of three affixes internal to the word angyagh. The root (or free morpheme) angyagh and the inflection -tuq on the right consist of the indicative mood marker plus third person singular. The enclitic –lu ‘also’ follows the inflection.[14]
Following the postbases are non-lexical suffixes that indicate case on nouns and person and mood on verbs. The number of cases varies, with Aleut languages having a greatly reduced case system compared to Eskimoan. The Eskimoan languages are ergative–absolutive in nouns and in Yup'ik languages, also in verbal person marking. All Eskaleut languages have obligatory verbal agreement with agent and patient in transitive clauses, and there are special suffixes used for this purpose in subordinate clauses, which makes these languages, like most in the North Pacific, highly complement deranking.
At the end of a word there can be one of a small number of clitics with meanings such as "but" or indicating a polar question.
Phonologically, the Eskaleut languages resemble other language families of northern North America (Na-Dene and Tsimshianic) and far-eastern Siberia (Chukotko-Kamchatkan). There are usually only three vowels—/a/, /i/, /u/—though some Yup'ik dialects also have /ə/. All Eskaleut languages lack both ejectives and aspirates, in which they resemble the Siberian languages more than the North American ones. Eskaleut languages possess voiceless plosives at four positions (bilabial, coronal, velar and uvular) in all languages except Aleut, which has lost the bilabial stops (though it has retained the nasal). There are usually contrasting voiced and voiceless fricatives at the same positions, and in the Eskimoan subfamily a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is also present. A rare feature of many dialects of Yup'ik and Aleut is contrasting voiceless nasals.
Phonology
[edit] | This section should specify the language of its non-English content using {{lang}} or {{langx}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (June 2022) |
Eskimoan
[edit]The following vowels and consonants were taken from Michael Fortescue et al., 2010.[15]
Vowels
[edit]Eskimoan /ə/ corresponds to Aleut /i/.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open | a |
Consonants
[edit]Inuit allows only a single initial consonant and no more than two successive consonants between vowels.
Yupik exhibits no consonant assimilation process so common to Inuit.
Consonants in parentheses are non-Proto-Eskimoan phonemes.
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Palatalized | Lateral | ||||||
| Nasal | m (m̥) | n (n̥) | (nʲ)[1] | ŋ (ŋ̥) | ||||
| Plosive | p | t | tʲ | k | q | |||
| Affricate | ts[2] | |||||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | (f) (w̥) | s (s̆) | (ɬ) | (x) | (χ) | (h) | |
| Voiced | v (w) | ð | (z) (z̆) | ɣ | ʁ | |||
| Trill | [3] | (ʀ̃) | ||||||
| Approximant | j[4] | l | ||||||
Aleut
[edit]The following vowels and consonants were taken from Knut Bergsland, (1997).[16]
Vowels
[edit]The Aleut language has six vowels in total: three short vowels /i/, /u/, /a/, and three long vowels /iː/, /uː/, /aː/. Orthographically, they would be spelled ii, uu, and aa. There are no diphthongs in Aleut vowels. The length of the vowel is dependent upon three characteristics: stress, surrounding consonants, and in particularly Eastern Aleut, surrounding vowels. Short vowels are in initial position if a following consonant is velar or labial. For example: the demonstratives uka, ika, and aka.
Long vowels are lower than their short counterpart vowels, but are less retracted if they make contact with a uvular consonant. For example: uuquchiing 'blue fox', qiiqix̂ 'storm-petrel', and qaaqaan 'eat it!'
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Open | a aː |
Consonants
[edit]The Aleut consonants featured below include single Roman letters, digraphs, and one trigraph. Phonemes in parentheses are found only in Russian and English loanwords, the phoneme in italics is found only in Eastern Aleut, and the bold phonemes are a part of the standard Aleut inventory.
Aleut has no native labial stops and allows clusters of up to three consonants as well as consonant clusters in word initial position.
Cross-linguistically rare phonological features include voiceless nasals and absence of a /p/.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | /p/ (p) | /b/ (b) | /t/ t | /d/ (d) | /t̺͡s̺/ tʳ* | /tʃ/ tj | /k/ k | /ɡ/ (g) | /q/ q | |||
| Fricative | /f/ (f) | /v/ v* | /θ/ hd | /ð/ d | /s/ s | /z/ z | /x/ x | /ɣ/ g | /χ/ x̂ | /ʁ/ ĝ | ||
| Nasal | /m̥/ hm | /m/ m | /n̥/ hn | /n/ n | /ŋ̥/ hŋ | /ŋ/ ŋ | ||||||
| Lateral | /ɬ/ hl | /l/ l | ||||||||||
| Approximant | /ʍ/ hw | /w/ w | /ɹ/, /ɾ/ (r) | /ç/ hy | /j/ y | /h/ h | ||||||
Morphology
[edit]Language type
[edit]Polysynthetic language
[edit]Eskaleut is polysynthetic, which features a process in which a single word is able to contain multiple post-bases or morphemes. The Eskaleut languages are exclusively suffixing (with the exception of one prefix in Inuktitut that appears in demonstratives). Suffixes are able to combine and ultimately create an unlimited number of words. Some of the morphemes that are able to attach contain features such as carrying nominal subjects and objects, adverbial information, direct objects, and spatial noun phrases.[17] Polysynthetic languages are said to be a form of extreme agglutination, which allows single words to carry the same information that another language expresses in whole clauses. For example, in Central Alaskan Yupik, one can say:
qayarpaliqasqessaagellruaqa[18]
qayar-
kayak-
pa-
big-
li-
make-
qa-
POL-EV-
sqe-
A.ask-
ssaage-
but-
llru-
PAST-
aqa
1SG/3SG.IND
I asked him to make a big kayak. (but actually he has not made it yet)
As a polysynthetic language, Eskaleut is concerned with what "each morpheme means, which categories it can attach to, whether there is any category change, etc. and what type of morphophonological effect occurs to the left as it attaches to the stem".[14]
Morphosyntactic alignment
[edit]Eskimoan languages are ergative–absolutive. This means subjects of intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs are marked with the absolutive case, while subjects of transitive verbs are marked with the ergative case.
Aleut is not an ergative–absolutive language. It does not matter if the verb is transitive or intransitive—subjects and objects are not marked differently.
If a transitive object or an object of possession is openly communicated, ergative case marking will not be expressed. If a transitive object or object of possession is not openly communicated, then ergative case marking will be expressed.
Example of case marking in Aleut:[16]
Tayaĝu-x̂
man-ABS
qa-x̂
fish
qa-ku-x̂
eat-IND-3SG
'The man eats the/a fish'
Tayaĝu-m
man-ERG
qa-kuu
eat-3SG/3SG.IND
'The man eats it'
Syntax
[edit]Eskaleut languages follow the basic word order of subject–object–verb (SOV).
The syntax of Eskaleut is concerned with the functional use of its morphological structure. The two language branches, although part of the same family, have separated and detached themselves in relation to grammatical similarities. Bergsland states that Aleut, which was once a language more similar to Proto-Eskimoan than the current Eskimoan languages themselves, has distanced itself from the ancient language.
The case inflections, "relative *-m, instrumental *-mEk/meN, and locative *-mi[19] have undergone phonological merger and led to a completely different explanation of ergative morphology in Proto-Eskimoan.
In order to further explain the profound changes that have occurred in Aleutian syntax, Bergsland proposed the Domino Effect, which is ultimately the chronological order of Aleut’s unique features. Below is a step by step list of the 'domino effect':
The Domino Effect:[20]
- The phonological reduction of final syllables and the ensuing syncretism of locative, relative, and instrumental case markers;
- The collapse of the ergative system and of the distinction between relative and locative case in postpositional constructions;
- The development of the unusual Aleut anaphoric reference system from the debris of this collapse, going hand in hand with a strict fixation of SOV word order;
- The simple 3rd person forms when the original morphemes began to refer to any anaphoric (non-overt) referent, and;
- The spread of such a referent's own number (including that of a possessor of some overt argument) to the final verb of the (complex) sentence, overriding agreement with the subject.
Vocabulary comparison
[edit]The following is a comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Eskaleut language family (about 122 words). Note that empty cells do not imply that a particular language is lacking a word to describe the concept, but rather that the word for the concept in that language is formed from another stem and is not a cognate with the other words in the row. Also, there may be shifts in the meaning from one language to another, and so the "common meaning" given is only approximate. In some cases the form given is found only in some dialects of the language. Forms are given in native Latin orthographies unless otherwise noted.
Cognates of the Eskimoan languages can be found in Michael Fortescue et al., 2010.[21]
Cognates of the Aleut language can be found in Knut Bergsland, 1997.[16]
- Persons
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| boy | hlax | *aleqa | nukeɫpegaẋ | nukaɫpegaq | nukaɫpiaq | nukaɫpiaq | nugatpiaq | nugatpiaq | nukatpiaq | nukatpiaq | nukatpiaq | nukatpiraq | nukatpiaq | nukatpiaq | nukatpiaq | nukappiaq | nukappiaq | nukappiaq | nukappiaq | nukappiak | nukappiaq | nukapperaq | nugappiaq |
| daughter | *paniɣ | panex | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | panik | |
| family, relative | ilaanux̂ | *ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila | ila |
| girl | ayaĝaadax̂ | *nǝvi(a)ʁc(ǝɣ)a- | náẋserráẋ | neveghsaq | neviarcaq | niaqsaaʁruk | niaqsiaʁruk | niviaqsiaʁruk | niviaqsiaʁruk | niviakkaq | niviaqsiraq | niviaqhiaq | niviaqhiaq | niviakkiaq | niviaqsiaq | niviaqsaaq | niviaqsiaq | niviatsiaq | niviatsiak | niviarhiaq | niviarsiaraq | niiarsiaq | |
| (grand)father | adax̂/taatax̂ | *ata *ata-ata | ata | ata | ata | aata | ata/ava | ata/ava | aapa/taata | aapa | aapa/ata | aappak/ataatak | aappak | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataata | ataataq | alaala |
| human being (shaman word's)[clarification needed] | taĝu | taʁu | tarex | taghu | taru | taru | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | tau | taa | taa |
| husband | ugi | *uɣi | uga | ugwik | wik | wii | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | ui | uik | ui | ui | uviq |
| man | tayaĝux̂ | *aŋu-nt | angeta | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angun | angut | angut | angut | anguti | anguti | anguti | angutik | angut | angut | tikkaq |
| mother | anax̂ | *ana *ana-ana | nana | naa/ana | aana | aana | aaga | aaga | aaka | aaka | aaka | amaamak/aana | amaamak/anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaana | anaanaq | annivik |
| mother-in-law | *caki | saka | saki | caki | cakiq | sagi | chagi | saki | saki | hakigaq | saki | haki | haki | hakigaq | saki | saki | saki | saki | sakik | haki | saki | saqiq/sagiq | |
| older brother (of female) | huyux̂ | *aNǝ-LГun | anta | aningak | anngaq | anngaq | ani | ani | ani | ani | ani | aniraaluk | ani | ani | ani | ani | ani | ani | ani | anik | ani | ani | ani |
| older sister (of male) | uhngix | *aleqa | nuskit | alqaq | aɫqaq | aliraq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqaq | aliqannaq | angajuk | angajuk | angajuk | aliqa | aleqaq | alara |
| person | anĝaĝinax̂ | *inguɣ | jux | yuk | suk | yuk/cuk | inuk | inuk | iñuk | iñuk | iñuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | inuk | iik |
| son | *iʁni-ʁ | irnex | ighneq | irneq | irneq | irniq | irniq | irñiq | irñiq | irñiq | irniq | irniq | irniq | irniq | irniq | irniq | irniq | irniq | innik | irniq | erneq | irniq | |
| wife | ayagax̂ | *nuLiaq | nucix | nuliiq | nuliq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliak | nuliaq | nuliaq | nuliaq |
| woman | ayaĝax̂ | *aʁnaq | arnax | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | arnaq | annak | arnaq | arnaq | nuliakkaaq |
| young brother (of female) | kingii | *nukaq | ungjex | uyughaq | uyuwaq | uyuraq | nukaq | nukaq | nukaaluk | nukaaluk | nukaq | nukaq | nukaq | nukaq | mukaq | nukaq | nukaq | nukaq | nukaq | nukak | nukaq | nukaq | nukaq |
| young sister (of male) | uhngix | *nayak | najex | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | nayak | najak | najak | najak | najak | najaatsuk | najak | najak | najak |
- Pronouns
There are two types of pronouns: independent pronouns and pronominal pronouns.
- Pronouns in relation to nouns
In Eskaleut languages, singular, dual, and plural nouns are marked by inflectional suffixes, and if they are possessed, the number marker is followed by pronominal suffixes that specify the (human) possessor. There are no genders, and this can be seen in the four persons: my, your, his/her, his/her own.[22][23]
"His/her own" specifies ownership, in contrast with "his/her", which does not. E.g., his house vs. his own house. (See Possessive determiner § Semantics.)
- Pronouns in relation to verbs
Aleut uses independent pronouns, instead of pronominal marking on verbs. On the other hand, Eskimoan languages have four persons and three numbers marked by pronominal suffixes.
- Independent pronouns
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first-person singular (I) | ting | *vi | menga | hwanga | w'iinga | w'iinga | wanga | uanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvanga | uvaqa | uvak | uanga | uanga | uara |
| second-person singular (you) | txin | *ǝɫ-vǝn-t | ɫpi | ɫpet | eɫpet | eɫpet | ivlin | ilvin | ilvich | ilvich | ilvik | ilvit | ilvit | ivrit/itvin | igvin/idvin | igvit | ivvit | ivvit | ivvit | iffit | illit | illit | ittit |
| third-person singular (he, she, it) | ilaa/uda | *ǝɫ-ŋa *una | langa/una | lnga/una | elen/una | elii/una | ilaa/una | ilaa/una | ilaa/una | ilaa/una | ilaa/una | ilaa/una | una | una | una | una | una | una | una | una | una | una | una |
| first-person dual (we both) | tingix | *vik | hwagakuk | w'iingakuk | w'iingakuk | waguk | uaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | uvaguk | ||||
| second-person dual (you both) | txidix | *ǝɫ-ptek | ɫpetek | eɫpetek | eɫpetek | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | iliptik | ilissik | ilittik | ilittik | ilittik | ||||
| first-person plural (we) | tingin(s) | *vit | mengaketa | hwagakuta | w'iingakuta | w'iingakuta | wagut | uagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uvagut | uagut | uagut | uangit |
| second-person dual reflexive (both ... yourselves) | txichix | *ǝɫ-vcet | ɫpisi | ɫpesi | eɫpici | eɫpeci | ilipsi | ilipsi | ilivsi | ilivsi | iliffi | ilipsi | iliffi | iliphi | iliphi | ilipsi | ilissi | ilitsi | ilitsi | ilitsi | ilissi | ilissi | ilitsi |
| third-person dual reflexive (both ... themselves) | ilaan(s)/udan(s) | *ǝɫ-ŋat *ukuat | langwi/uket | lngit/ukut | elita/ukut | eliita/ukut | ilaat/ugua | ilaat/ugua | ilaat/ukua | ilaat/ukua | ilaat/ukua | ilaat/ukua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ukua/ukkua | ugua/ukkua |
- Pronominal suffixes
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first-person singular (I) | -kuq | *tua *kuq | -jua | -tua | -tua | -tua, -runga | -runga | -runga | -runga | -runga | -yunga, -yuami | -yunga | -yunga | -runga | -yunga | -junga | -junga | -junga | -junga | -junga | -junga | -punga, sunga | -pua, lua |
| second-person singular (you) | -kuxt | *it | -jet | -ten | -ten | -ten | -rutin | -rutin | -rutin | -rutin | -rutin | -yutin | -yutin | -rutit | -yutit | -jutit | -jutit | -jutit | -jutit | -jutit | -hutit | -sutit | -sulit |
| third-person singular (he, she, it) | -kux | *tuq | -jix | -tuq | -tuq | -tuq | -ruq | -ruq | -ruq | -ruq | -ruq | -yuaq | -yuq | -ruq | -yuq | -yuq | -juq | -juq | -juq | -juk | -huq | -soq, poq | -tuq, puq |
| first-person singular possessive (my) | -ng | *nga | -ka/qa | -ka/qa | -ka/qa | -ka/qa | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -ga | -ga/ra | -ga/ra | -nga/ra |
| second-person singular possessive (your) | -n | *in | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -n | -t | -t | -t | -t | -it | -it | -it | -it | -t | -t | -t |
| third-person singular possessive (his, her, its) | -(n)gan | *ngan | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a | -nga/a |
| third-person singular object (him, her, it) | -kuu/qaa | *jaa/kaa | -jaa/kaa | -taa/kaa | -taa/kaa | -taa/kaa | -raa/gaa | -raa/gaa | -raa/gaa | -raa/gaa | -yaa/gaa | -yaa/gaa | -raa/gaa | -yaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -jaa/gaa | -saa/gaa | -laa/ngaa |
- Interrogative words
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| who | kiin | *kina | kiin | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kina | kia |
| what | alqux | *caŋu | sangǝ̄́ca | sangwa/suna | cacaq | cacaq/tcauna | suna | sua | sua | suna/suva | huna | suna | huna | huna | huna | suna | kisu | suna | suna | suna | kihu | suna/sua | kisik |
| when (past/future) | qanaayam | *qanga/qaku | qanga/qaku | qavnga/kaku | qangwaq/qaku | qangvaq/qaku | qanga/qagun | qanga/qagu | qaglaan/qaku | qanga/qaku | qanga/qaku | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qakugu | kanga/kakugu | qanga/qakugu | qanga/qaqugu | qanga/qara |
| where | qaataa | *nani | nani | nani/naa/sami | nama/nani | nani/cami | naung/nani | naunga/nani | sumi/nani/naung | sumi/nani/naung | humi/nani/nau | sumi/nani/naung | humi/nani/naung | humi/naung | nani/naung | sumi/nauk | nani/nauk | nami/nani | nami/nani | nami/nani | humi | sumi | sumi |
| why | alqul(-usaal) | *caŋu | sangaami | sangami | cin/caluni | ciin/caluni | suami | suami | summan/suvataa | summan/suvataa | huuq | suuq | huuq | huuq | huuq | suuq | suuq | sungmat | sumut | summat | huuq | sooq | suuq |
- Body parts
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| anus | idiĝasix̂ | *ǝtǝʁ | tex | eteq | eteq | teq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itiq | itik | itiq | iteq | iliq? *kiaavik |
| arm | chuyux̂ | *taɫi- | jaqex | taɫiq | taɫiq | taɫiq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | taliq | talik | taliq | taleq | taliq |
| belly | xax | *aqja | aqii | aqyaq | aqsaq | aqsaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | aqiaq | akiak | aqiaq | aqajaq | ariaq |
| blood | aamaaxs | *aruɣ | acex/arux | awk | auk | auk | awk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | auk | aak | aak |
| calf | tugaadix̂ | *nakacuɣ-na- | nakasegnax | nakasugnaq | nakacugnaq | nakacugnaq | nakasungnaq | nakasungnaq | nakasrungnaq | nakasungnaq | nakahungnaq | nakasungnaq | nakahungnaq | nakahungnaq | nakahungnaq | nakasungnaq | nakasungnaq | nakasunnaq | nakasunnaq | nakasunnak | nakahungnaq | nakasunnaaq | |
| ear | tutusix̂ | *ciɣunt | siigeta | sigun | cuun | ciun | siun | siun | siun | siun | hiun | siun | hiun | hiut | hiut | siut | siuti | siuti | siuti | siutik | hiut | siut | siit/*tusaat |
| eye | dax̂ | *irǝ | eca | iya | ii/iingaq | ii/iingaq | izi | izi | iri | iri | iyi | iyi | iyi | iri | iyi | iji | iji | iji | iji | ijik | ihi | isi | ili |
| eyelash | dam qaxsaa | *qǝmǝʁja- | qemerjax/seqpix | qemeryaq/siqpik | qemeryaq/ciqpik | qemeryaq/ciqpek | qimiriaq/siqpiq | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/hiqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/hiqpik | qimiriaq/hiqpik | qimiriaq/hiqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | qimiriaq/siqpik | kimigiak/sippik | qimiriaq/hiqpik | qimeriaq/serpik | qimiiaq/sirpik |
| finger | atx̂ux̂ | *ińura- | nurax | yughaq | suaraq | yuaraq | inugaq | inugaq | iñugaq | iñugaq | iñugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugaq | inugak | inugaq | inuaq | iiaq |
| fingernail | *kikra | kiikiak | kigiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kikiak | kigiak | ||||
| foot | kitax̂ | *itǝɣ-(a-) | ítegá | itegaq | itaq | itgaq | itigak | itigaq | isigak | isigak | ihigak | itigak | itigak | ihigak | itigak | itigak | isigak | itigak | itigak | itigak | ihigak | isigak | |
| hair | iimlix | *ńujaq | nujǝẋ/jujǝẋ | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nuyaq | nujaq | nujaq | nujaq | nujaq | nujak | nujaq | nujaq | nujaq |
| hand | chax̂ | *arɣa | ácxeẋ | aykaq | aikaq | aikaq | agrak | agraq | argak | argak | argak | adjgak *aygak | algak | argak | adjgak | aggak | aggak | aggak | aggak | aggak | aghak | assak | attak |
| head | kamĝix̂ | *ńarǝ-qu- | iiceqeẋ | naasquq/nayquq | nasquq | nacquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niaquq | niakuk | niaquq | niaqoq | suuniq |
| heart | kanuux̂ | *uŋ-uma- | ungevata | unguvan | unguwan | unguvan | uumman | uumman | uumman | uumman | uumman | uumman | uumman | uummat | uummat | uummat | uummati | uummati | uummati | uummatik | uummat | uummat | iimmat |
| knee | chidiĝix | *ciɣǝr-qu | sigesqeẋ | serquq | cisquq | ciisquq | siitquq | siitquq | siitquq | siitquq | hiitquq | siitquq | hiitquq | hiitquq | hiitquq | siiqquq | siiqquq | siiqquq | siirquq | siikkuk | hiiqquq | seeqqoq | |
| navel | qiihliqdax̂ | *qacaɫǝʁ | qaɫasex | qasaɫeq | qaɫaciq | qaɫaciq | qalaziq | qalachiq | qalasriq | qalasiq | qalahiq | qalasiq | qalahiq | qalahiq | qalahiq | qalasiq | qalasiq | qalasiq | qalasiq | kalasik | qalahiq | qalaseq | |
| nose | angusix̂ | *qǝŋa- | qengax | qengaq | qengaq | qengaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq | kingak | qingaq | qingaq | qingaq |
- Animals
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bowhead whale, whale | alax̂ | *aʁvǝʁ | arvex | arveq | arweq/arruq | arveq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | arviq | avvik | arviq | arfeq | arpiq |
| Canada goose | laĝix̂ | *lǝqlǝʁ | leẋɫeẋ | leghɫeq | neqɫeq | neqɫeq | lirliq | lirliq | lirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | lirliq/nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nirliq | nillik | nirliq | nerleq | nirtiq |
| caribou | itx̂aygix̂ | *tuŋtu | tumta | tungtu | tuntu | tuntu | tuttu | tuttu | tuttu | tuttu | tuttu | tuktu | tuktu | tuktu | tuktu | tuktu | tuktu | tuttu | tuttu | tuttuk | tuktu | tuttu | tuttuq |
| dog | sabaakax̂ | *qikmi- | qepeneẋ | qikmiq | qiqmiq/piugta | qimugta | qimmiq | qimmiq | qipmiq | qimmiq | qimmiq | qimmiq | qinmiq | qingmiq/qimmiq | qingmiq/qimmiq | qimmiq | qimmiq | qimmiq | qimmiq | kimmik | qimmiq | qimmeq | qimmiq |
| fish | qax̂ | *ǝqaɫuɣ | iqeɫex | iqaɫuk | iqaɫuk | iqaɫuk | iraluk | iraluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | qaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | iqaluk | ikaluk | iqaluk | eqaluk | iqalik |
| groundhog, Arctic squirrel | sixsix | *sigsik | siksix | sikik | cikik | cikik | siksrik | chiksrik | siksrik | siksrik | siksrik | siksik | hikhik | hiksik | hikhik | siksik | siksi | sitsik | sitsik | sitsik | highik | sissi | sitsiq |
| killer whale | aglux̂ | *aʁɫuɣ | arɫux? | arɫuk | aqɫuk | arɫuk | aarlu | aarlu | aarlu | aarlu | aarlu | aarlu | aarlu | aarluk | aarluk | aarluk | aarluk | aarluk | aarluk | aalluk | aarluk | aarluk | aartiq? |
| louse | kitux̂ | *kumaɣ | kúmex | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak | kumak |
| oldsquaw/long-tailed duck | aagix̂ | *aXaŋǝ-liʁ | aahaangalex | aahaangwliq | ahangkiluk | aahaangiiq/aahaaliq | aa'aangiq | aa'aangiq | aahaaliq | aahaaliq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | aahaalliq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangik | ahaangiq | ahaangiq | ahaangiq |
| ptarmigan | aĝdiikax̂ | *aqărɣiʁ | aqergex | aqargiiq/aqarriq | aqasgiiq | aqazgiiq | arargiq | arargiq | aqargiq | aqargiq | aqaygiq | aqiygiq | aqilgiq | aqirgiq/aqigriq | aqidjgiq | aqiggiq | aqiggiq | aqiggiq | aqiggiq | akiggik | aqighiq | aqisseq | nagalaraq |
| swan | qukingix̂ | *quɣruɣ | qerúmɫeráẋ | quuk | qugyuq | qugyuq | qugruk | qugruk | qugruk | qugruk | qugruk | qugyuk | qugyuk | qugyuk | qugyuk | qugjuk | qugjuk | qujjuk | qujjuk | kutjuk | qughuk | qussuk | qutsuk |
- Other nouns
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| and, also | ama | *amma | ama/sama | amahwa/aamta | amleq/cama | amleq/cama | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | amma | aamma | aamma |
| arrow | *qaʁru | qarceẋ | ruuq | ruuq | qeruq | qarruq | qarruq | qarruq | qarruq | qarruq | qaryuq | qaryuq | qaryuq | qaryuq | qarjuq | qarjuq | qarjuk | qajjuk | katjuk | qarhuq | qarsoq | qarliq | |
| ash | utxix̂ | *aʁra | arex | aʁra | araq | araq | arra | arra | arra | arra | arra | arya | arya | arya | arya | arja | arja | arja | ajja | atjak | arhaq | arsaq | arlaq |
| atmosphere, weather, out | silan/slax̂ | *cǝla | siɫa | sɫaa | ɫa | ciɫa/ella | sila | chila | sila | sila | hila | sila | hila | hila | hila | sila | sila | sila | sila | sila | hila | sila | sila |
| breath | angil | *anǝʁ- | anerte- | anernaq | anerneq | anerneq | anirniq | anirniq | aniqniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | anirniq | aninnik | anirniq | anerneq | anirniq |
| cloud | *nụvǝja | nuiya | nuwiya | nuviya | nuviya | nuvuya | nuvuya | nuvuya | nuvuya | nuvuya | nuvuja | nuvujaq | nuvujaq | nuvujaq | nuvujak | nuvujaq | nuiaq | nuviaq | |||||
| cook | unagix̂ | *ǝɣa | ega | ega | ega | ega | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | iga | inga |
| cry, weep | qidal | *qiRă- | qeje | qeya | qia | qeya | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | qia | kia | qia | qia | qia |
| dog barking | qihlux | *qiluɣ | qelux | qilugaq | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiluk | kiluk | qiluk | qiluk | qiliilaq |
| earth | tanax̂ | *luna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | nuna | |
| feather | haka | *culuk | silek | siluk | culuk | culuk | suluk | chuluk | suluk | suluk | huluk | suluk | huluk | huluk | huluk | suluk | suluk | suluk | suluk | suluk | huluk | suluk | siik |
| fire | qignal | *ǝknǝ- | ekn'ex | ekneq | keneq | keneq | ikniq | itniq | ikniq | igniq | ingniq | ingniq | ingniq | ingniq | ingniq | ingniq | ingniq | inniq | inniq | innik | ingniq | inneq | igivattattiq |
| Here it is! | wa | *uva | hwa | hwa | w'a | w'a | uvvaa | uvvaa | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uvva | uhha | uffa | uppa |
| hilltop | qayax̂ | *qemi | qemix | qemiq | qemiq | qemiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | qimiq | kimik | qimiq | qimeq | qimiq |
| house | ulax̂ | *ǝŋlu | lu | inglu | englu | englu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | iglu | illu | illu | illuk | iglu | illu | ittiq |
| hungry | haagil | *kajak | kajex | keek | kaik | kaik | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak | kaak |
| kiss, kiss on nose | qingul | *kungik | singeq | singaq(-ghaqaa) | cingaq | cingaq | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik | kunik |
| lake | hanix̂ | *taci-ʁ | jajvex | nayvaq | nanwaq | nanvaq | navraq/teziq | navraq/tachiq | narvaq/tasriq | narvaq/tasiq | narvaq/tahiq | nayvaq/tasiq | nalvaq/tahiq | narvaq/tahiq | nagvaq/tahiq | navvaq/tasiq | navvaq/tasiq | navvaq/tasiq | navvaq/tasiq | navvak/tasik | nassak/tahiq | nassak/taseq | nattak/tasiq |
| load | husix̂ | *uci | usa | usi | uci | uci | uzi | uchi | usri | usi | uhi | usi | uhi | uhi | uhi | usi | usi | usi | usi | usik | uhi | usi | usi |
| milk | mulukax | *emug, itug | ituk/emunge | ituk/emuk | muk | ituk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | ituk | miluk | miluk | ituk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk | immuk |
| name | asax̂ | *atǝʁ | atex | ateq | ateq | ateq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atiq | atik | atiq | ateq | aliq |
| no | nangaa | *naaka *qaanga | naaka | naka/naah | kaa | ina/qanga | naami/naagga | qanngaq/naagga | naumi/naakka | naumi/naagga | naggai | naaggai | imannaq | iiq/naagga | naung/naagga | nauk/aakka | aakka/naagga | aukka/aggaq | naggai/nauk | aukang | na'a/naagga | naami/naagga | iiqqii |
| price, value | akiisal | *aki | aka | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | agi | agi | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | aki | akik | aki | agiq |
| shaman | qugaaĝix̂ | *aŋalku- | angekex | angaɫkuq | angaɫquq | angaɫkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angatkuq | angakkuq | angakkuq | angakkuq | angakkuq | angakkuk | angakkuq | angakkoq | angakkiq |
| ship, boat | ayxaasix̂ | *umi(r)a | umax | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq | umiak | umiaq | umiaq | umiaq |
| sky | inix̂ | *qilaɣ | qilex | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | qilak | kilak | qilak | qilak | qilak |
| smoke | huyux̂s | *puju | pujex | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | puyuq | pujuq | pujuq | pujuq | pujuq | pujuk | pujuq | pujoq | pujuq |
| snow(flake) | qaniigix̂ | *qaniɣ | qanix | qanik | qanik | qaniq | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | qanik | kanik | qanik | qanik | qanik |
| star | sdax̂ | *umluria | uvluriaq | uvluriaq | uvluriaq | uvluriaq | uvluriaq | ubluriaq | ubluriaq | ubluriaq | ubluriaq | ubluriaq | ulluriaq | ulluriaq | ulluriaq | ullugiak | ulluriaq | ulloriaq | utturiaq | ||||
| sun, day | aĝadĝix̂ | *ciqi-nǝʁ | siqinex | siqineq/mazaq | ciqineq/masaq | ciqineq/macaq | siriniq/mazaq | chiqiniq/machaq | siqiñiq/masaq | siqiñiq | hiqiñiq | siqiniq | hiqiniq | hiqiniq | hiqiniq | siqiniq | siqiniq | siqiniq | siqiniq | sikinik | hiqiniq | seqineq | siirliq |
| tell a story/legend | uniikal | *uniɣ-paʁ- | unircex | ungikpaq | unifkuaq | unifkaraq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unipkaaq | unikkaaq | unikkaaq | unikkaaq | unikkaak | unikkaaq | unikkaaq | unikkaaq |
| tent | pulaatxix̂ | *tupǝʁ | tupex | tupeq | tuviq | tuviq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupiq | tupik | tupiq | tupeq | tupiq | ||
| to ask | ahmat- | *apete | apet- | apetaqa- | apqar- | apete- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apiri- | apigi- | apiri- | aperi- | apii- |
| to urinate | qaalux̂ | *quʁ(r)ǝ- | qux-teqex | uraquq | qure- | qure- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | qui- | kui- | qui- | qui- | quvi- |
| tree, wood | *napar- | napax | napartuq | napaq | napa | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtuq | napaaqtiq | napaattuq | napaattuk | uqpik/napaaqtuq | orpik/napaartoq | urpik/napaartuq | |
| water | taangax̂ | *ǝmǝʁ | mex | emeq | meq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imiq | imik | imiq | imeq | imiq |
| wind | achunal | *anuqǝ | anuqa | anuqa | anuqa | anuqa | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anuri | anugik | anuri | anori | anirsiq |
| yes | aang | *aa/ii | ii | ii | ii-i | ii-i | ii-i | ii-i | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | ii | aap | ii |
- Adjectives
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold!/Brrr!/How cold! | ababa | *alaapaa | alaapa | alaappa | alaappa | alaappa | alaappa | alaappa | alaappa | alaappa | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ikkii | ||||
| copper | kanuuyax̂ | *kanɣu-ja | kanuje | kanuya | kanuyaq | kanuyaq | kannuuyaq | kannuyaq | kannuyaq | kannguyaq | kannuyaq | kannuyaq | kannuyaq | kannuyaq | kanuhaq | kannujaq | kannujaq | kannujaq | kanusaq | kannujak | kannussaq | kanngussak | kanngutsak |
| fat | ignatul | *quvi | quginaẋ | quginaq | quili | quvinaq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | quiniq | kuinik | quiniq | quineq | quiniq |
| grey hair | qidaayux | *qirʁǝʁ | qircéreɫeẋ | qiiq | qiiq | qiiq | qiʁriq | qirʁiq | qirʁiq | qirʁi | qirʁiq | qiyriq | qiiq | qiriq | qiiq | qiiq | qiiq | qiiq | qiiq | kiik | qiiq | qeeq | qiiq |
| long | adul | *takǝ(v) | takevaláẋ | taakǝlʁi | takequq | takequq | tagiruq | tagiruq | takiruq | takiruq | takiruq | takiyuq | takiyuq | takiyuq | takiyuq | takijuq | takijuq | takijuq | takijuq | takijuk | takihuuq | takisooq/takivoq | tagiliq |
| still, also, more | ahlii | *culi | sali | salin | cali | cali | suli | chuli | suli | suli | huli | suli | huli | huli | huli | suli | suli | suli | suli | suli | huli | suli | suli |
| swell | hums | *puvet | puvceqertéẋ | puuvaaquq | puge- | puve- | puit- | puit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puvit- | puik- | puiq- |
| white | quhmax̂ | *qătǝ-ʁ | qetex | qeteq | qeteq | qeter- | qatiq | qatiq | qatiq | qatiq | qatiq | qatiq | qakuqtaq | qaquqtaq | qakuqtaq | qakuqtaq | qakuqtaq | qakuqtaq | qakutaq | kakuttak | qakuqtuq | qaqortoq | qaartiq |
- Numbers
| Common meaning | Aleut | Proto-Eskimoan | Sirenik | Siberian Yupik | Alutiiq | Yup'ik | Seward Inupiaq | Qawiaraq | Malimiutun | North Slope | Uummarmiutun | Siglitun | Inuinnaqtun | Natsilik | Kivalliq | Aivilik | North Baffin | South Baffin | Nunavik | Labrador Inuttut | North Greenlandic | West Greenlandic | East Greenlandic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | ataqan | *ataʁu-ci- | ateresex | ataaziq | atauciq/atuusiq | atauciq | atausiq | atauchiq | atausriq | atausiq | atauhiq | atausiq | atauhiq | atauhiq | atauhiq | atausiq | atausiq | atausiq | atausiq | atausik | atauhiq | ataaseq | alaasiq |
| two | aalax̂ | *malǝʁu- | malrug | malghuk | malluk | malruk | marluuk | marluk | malruk | malruk | malruk | malruk | malruuk | malruuk | malruuk | marruuk | marruuk | marruuk | maqruuk | magguuk | marluk | marluk | martut |
| three | qankun(-s) | *pingajunt | pingejug | pingayut | pingaun | pingayun | pingasut | pingachut | piñgasrut | piñgasut | piñgahut | pingasut | pingahut | pingahut | pingahut | pingasut | pingasut | pingasut | pingasut | pingasut | pingahut | pingasut | pingasit |
| four | siiching | *cǝtama- | sitamij | sitamat | staamat | cetaman | sitaman | chitaman | sisaman | sisaman | hihaman | sitaman | hitaman | hihamat | hitamat | sitamat | tisamat | sitamat | sitamat | sitamat | hihamat | sisamat | siamat |
| five | chaang | *taɫiman | tasímengíyi | taɫimat | taɫiman | taɫiman | tauliman | taliman | talliman | talliman | talliman | talliman | talliman | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tallimat | tattimat |
| six | atuung | *aʁvinelegh | inglex | aghvínelek | arwinlgen | arvinglegen | arwinilik | arwinilik | itchaksrat | itchaksat | itchakhat | arvinillik | arvinillik | arviniq | arvinraq | arviniqtut | arviniliit | pingasuujuqtut | pingasuujurtut | pingasuujuttut | arviniglit | arfinillit | arpiniit |
| ten | hatix̂ | *qulǝ(ŋ) | qulex? | qula | qulin | qula | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | qulit | kulit | qulit | qulit | qutit |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "Due to the pejorative nature of the term 'Eskimo' in some locales, and the increasing preference for 'Unangan' as opposed to 'Aleut' in Alaska, this family may be alternately referred to as Inuit–Yupik–Unangan. The hyphenated term gives some sense of the variety of languages subsumed under this family label." Holton, Gary. 2012. Overview of Comparative Inuit–Yupik–Unangan. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ^ Cf. Fleming 1987:189.
- ^ a b Kaplan, Lawrence (1984). McGary, Jane (ed.). Inupiaq and the Schools – A Handbook for Teachers. Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
- ^ "Ethnologue report for Yupik Sirenk", Ethnologue, Retrieved 25 August 2008.
- ^ "Alaska Native Languages – An Overview" Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
- ^ a b c Jacobson, Steven (1984). Central Yupik and the Schools – A Handbook for Teachers. Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
- ^ Stern, Pamela (2009). The A to Z of the Inuit. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. pp. xxiii. ISBN 978-0-8108-6822-9.
- ^ Dorais, Louis-Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic. McGill-Queen's University Press
- ^ Vovin, Alexander. 2015. Eskimo Loanwords in Northern Tungusic. Iran and the Caucasus 19 (2015), 87–95. Leiden: Brill.
- ^ a b Georg, Stefan; Vovin, Alexander (2005). "Review of Indo-European and its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic language family. Volume 2: Lexicon". Diachronica. 22: 184–191. doi:10.1075/dia.22.1.09geo.
- ^ Jan Henrik Holst, Einführung in die eskimo-aleutischen Sprachen. Buske Verlag
- ^ Mattissen, Johanna. Dependent–Head Synthesis in Nivkh: A Contribution to a Typology of Polysynthesis p. 282. ISBN 90-272-2965-1
- ^ Garry, Jane and Rubino, Carl R. Galvez, Facts about the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages pp. 842–844. ISBN 0-8242-0970-2
- ^ a b c Johns, Alana (2014), "Eskimo–Aleut", The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199641642.013.0037, ISBN 9780199641642
- ^ Fortescue, Michael; Jacobson, Steven; Kaplan, Lawrence (2010). Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates. United States of America: Alaska Native Language Center.
- ^ a b c Bergsland, Knut (1997). Aleut Grammar: Unangam Tunuganaan Achixaasix̂. United States of America: Alaska Native Language Center.
- ^ Crowley, Terry; Bowern, Claire (2010). An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Miyaoka, Osahito (2012). A grammar of Central Alaskan Yupik (cay). Mouton Grammar Library.
- ^ Fortescue, Michael (1998). Language Relations Across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London: Bookcraft Ltd.
- ^ Fortescue, Michael. Language Relations Across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London: Bookcraft Ltd.
- ^ Fortescue, Michael; Jacobson, Steven; Kaplan, Lawrence (2010). Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
- ^ Booij, Geert; Lehmann, Christian; Mugdan, Joachim; Skopeteas, Stavros (2004). Morphologie / Morphology. Walter de Gruyter.
- ^ Gutman, Alejandro; Avanzati, Beatriz (2013). "Eskimo–Aleut Languages".
Bibliography
[edit]- Bergsland, Knut (1997). Aleut Grammar: Unangam Tunuganaan Achixaasix̂. Alaska Native Language Center.
- Bernet, John W. (1974). An Anthology of Aleut, Eskimo, and Indian Literature of Alaska in English Translation. Fairbanks: University of Alaska.
- Booij, Geert; Lehmann, Christian; Mugdan, Joachim; Skopeteas, Stavros, eds. (2004). Morphologie / Morphology. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110172782.2. ISBN 978-3-11-019427-2.
- Crowley, Terry; Bowern, Claire (2010). An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Dumond, Don E. (1965). "On Eskaleutian Linguistics, Archaeology, and Prehistory". American Anthropologist. 67 (5): 1231–1257. doi:10.1525/aa.1965.67.5.02a00080. JSTOR 668365.
- Fleming, Harold C. (1987). "Towards a definitive classification of the world's languages". Diachronica. 4 (1–2): 159–223. doi:10.1075/dia.4.1-2.09fle.
- Fortescue, Michael D. (1984). Some Problems Concerning the Correlation and Reconstruction of Eskimo and Aleut Mood Markers. København: Institut for Eskimologi, Københavns Universitet. ISBN 87-87874-10-5.
- Fortescue, Michael D.; Jacobson, Steven A.; Kaplan, Lawrence D. (1994). Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. ISBN 1-55500-051-7. CE976FJK1994.
- Fortescue, Michael (1998). Language Relations across Bering Strait: Reappraising the Archaeological and Linguistic Evidence. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-70330-2.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. (2000). Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family. Vol. 1: Grammar. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. (2002). Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family. Vol. 2: Lexicon. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Gutman, Alejandro; Avanzati, Beatriz (2013). "Eskimo–Aleut Languages". The Language Gulper. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023.
- Hamp, Eric P., ed. (1976). Papers on Eskimo and Aleut Linguistics. Conference on Eskimo Linguistics. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
- Holst, Jan Henrik (2005). Einführung in die eskimo-aleutischen Sprachen (in German). Hamburg: Buske. ISBN 9783875483864.
- Johns, Alana (2014). "Eskimo–Aleut". The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199641642.013.0037. ISBN 9780199641642.
- Marsh, Gordon H. (1956). The Linguistic Divisions of the Eskimo–Aleut Stock. CE951M1956.
- Miyaoka, Osahito (2012). A grammar of Central Alaskan Yupik (CAY). Mouton Grammar Library. Vol. 58. doi:10.1515/9783110278576. ISBN 9783110278200.
- Swift, Mary D. (2004). Time in Child Inuktitut: A Developmental Study of an Eskimo–Aleut Language. Studies on Language Acquisition. Vol. 24. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-018120-7.
Further reading
[edit]- Compton, Richard (2024). "Inuit-Yupik-Unangan: An overview of the language family". In Carmen Dagostino; Marianne Mithun; Keren Rice (eds.). The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America: A Comprehensive Guide. Vol. 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 843–874. doi:10.1515/9783110712742-038. ISBN 978-3-11-071274-2.
External links
[edit]
Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Eskimoan reconstructions
| Aleut | | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eskimoan |
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| See also | |||||
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
Eskaleut languages
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Overview
Geographic distribution
The Eskaleut language family, also known as Eskimo-Aleut, spans the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions from eastern Siberia across Alaska and northern Canada to Greenland, encompassing coastal, tundra, and island environments.[9] This circumpolar distribution reflects the family's adaptation to harsh northern ecosystems, where speakers historically relied on marine and terrestrial resources that influenced linguistic boundaries.[10] The Inuit branch predominates in the eastern and central Arctic, with Inupiaq spoken along the northern coast of Alaska from the Bering Strait to the Canadian border, Inuvialuktun in Canada's Northwest Territories and Yukon, Inuktitut across Nunavut and Nunavik in Quebec, and Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) throughout Greenland.[9] The Yupik branch is concentrated in western regions, including Central Alaskan Yup'ik along the southwestern coast of Alaska from Bristol Bay to Norton Sound and inland along rivers like the Kuskokwim and Yukon, Siberian Yupik on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska and the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia, and smaller varieties such as Naukan and Sirenik (now extinct) in northeastern Siberia.[11][12] The Aleut branch, comprising Eastern and Western dialects, is found in the Aleutian Islands chain from Unalaska westward, the Pribilof Islands off Alaska's coast, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Commander Islands (Bering and Medny) in Russia.[13] This geographic spread originated from post-glacial migrations through Beringia, the land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska during the late Pleistocene, which facilitated the peopling of the Americas and the divergence of Eskaleut branches along coastal and tundra routes.[10] Dialect boundaries often align with environmental transitions, such as from mainland tundra to island archipelagos, shaping usage patterns tied to local ecologies like sea mammal hunting in coastal areas and caribou herding in interior zones.[9]Speakers and language status
The Eskaleut language family, also known as Eskimo-Aleut, is spoken by approximately 100,000 to 110,000 people worldwide as of 2021, with the majority being speakers of Inuit languages.[14][15] Among these, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) has the largest number of speakers, estimated at around 57,000 in Greenland as of 2024, where it serves as an official language and is used by nearly the entire population.[16] Other significant Inuit varieties include Inuktitut in Canada with about 40,000 speakers as of 2021 and Central Alaskan Yup'ik with roughly 10,000 speakers as of 2013.[17][18] In contrast, the Yupik and Aleut branches have far fewer speakers, contributing to the family's overall modest scale.[19] The vitality of Eskaleut languages varies widely, with Inuit languages generally faring better than Yupik or Aleut. Most Inuit varieties are classified as vigorous or only vulnerable; for instance, Kalaallisut is robust due to its institutional support, while Inupiaq is considered vulnerable with intergenerational transmission still occurring but declining among younger speakers.[18] Siberian Yupik, however, is severely endangered, with only about 1,300 speakers across Alaska and Russia as of 2013, few of whom are children, and limited use in education or media.[20] Aleut is critically endangered, with fewer than 100 fluent speakers remaining as of 2024, primarily elderly, and no monolingual speakers. These assessments draw from UNESCO and Ethnologue scales, highlighting intergenerational discontinuity as a key threat across the family.[21] Revitalization efforts are active, particularly for Inuit languages, through community-led and governmental programs. Recent digital initiatives, such as the addition of Inuktut to Google Translate in October 2024, support accessibility and learning.[22] In Nunavut, Canada, the Immersion Model integrates Inuktitut into early education to foster fluency among youth, complementing bilingual approaches in Inuit-dominant communities.[23] The Alaska Native Language Center supports Eskaleut languages via documentation, curriculum development, and immersion resources for Yup'ik and Inupiaq, aiming to increase speaker numbers through school programs and digital tools.[18] In Russia, post-2020 indigenous language policies under the Institute of Linguistics' preservation program provide funding for Siberian Yupik materials and teacher training, though implementation remains uneven amid broader emphasis on Russian.[24] Several factors contribute to the precarious status of Eskaleut languages, including urbanization, which draws speakers to cities where dominant languages prevail, and the pervasive influence of English in North America and Russian in Siberia, accelerating shift among younger generations.[8] Climate change exacerbates these pressures by disrupting traditional Arctic communities through habitat loss and relocation, further eroding cultural contexts essential for language transmission.[8]Historical Background
Origins and divergence
The Eskaleut language family is believed to have originated from a common Proto-Eskaleut ancestor spoken in the Beringia region approximately 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, coinciding with the migration of early populations into Alaska.[25] This timeframe aligns with linguistic reconstructions that posit the arrival of Proto-Eskaleut speakers in Alaska between 5,000 and 4,000 years before present, marking the initial dispersal from Beringian homelands.[26] Archaeological evidence supports this, linking the proto-language to the broader cultural adaptations of mid-Holocene Arctic populations, including early coastal and terrestrial economies in the region.[2] The primary divergence within the family occurred around 4,000 to 3,000 years ago, when Proto-Eskimoan separated from Proto-Aleut, driven by geographic isolation and cultural specialization along the Pacific Rim and Arctic coasts.[27] Linguistic evidence, including phonological and lexical correspondences, indicates that Aleut developed independently thereafter, while Proto-Eskimoan further split into the Inuit-Inupiaq and Yupik branches approximately 2,000 years ago, reflecting migrations and adaptations to distinct environmental zones.[2] This internal Eskimoan divergence correlates with the Arctic Small Tool tradition, dating to around 2,500 BCE, which is associated with innovative tool technologies and the ancestral carriers of Eskimoan languages, predating the later Thule culture expansions that facilitated Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic.[2][26] Recent archaeogenetic research from 2025 emphasizes the role of Pacific Rim contacts in shaping early Aleut divergence, highlighting pervasive language contact among Eskaleut varieties and potential admixture with neighboring groups, such as Proto-Dene speakers in southwest Alaska between 4,800 and 3,700 years ago.[26] These studies integrate linguistic, genetic, and archaeological data to propose that interpopulation interactions along the coastal corridor influenced lexical and structural innovations in Proto-Aleut, challenging earlier models of isolation and underscoring the dynamic prehistoric networks in the region.[25]Documentation and research history
The documentation of Eskaleut languages began with European explorations in the 18th century, primarily driven by Russian expeditions in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea region. The first recorded contacts occurred during Vitus Bering's Great Northern Expedition in 1741, when his crew encountered Aleut speakers at the Shumagin Islands and noted basic place names and personal names in the language, marking the initial European linguistic interactions with the family.[28] These early records were rudimentary, consisting of wordlists collected amid colonial fur trade activities, which often prioritized practical communication over systematic study. By the early 19th century, Russian Orthodox missionary efforts expanded documentation, with Ivan Veniaminov (later Saint Innokentii) playing a pivotal role; starting in 1824, he collaborated with Aleut speakers to develop a Cyrillic-based writing system and produced the first comprehensive Aleut grammar and Russian-Aleut dictionary around 1846, containing basic vocabularies for religious and ethnographic purposes.[29] Veniaminov's works, including "Notes on the Islands of the Unalashka District," provided foundational texts, though they were influenced by missionary goals of Bible translation.[13] In the 19th and early 20th centuries, documentation efforts shifted toward more structured linguistic analysis, particularly among Inuit and Yupik varieties. Explorers like Knud Rasmussen, during his Fifth Thule Expedition from 1921 to 1924, traversed Arctic regions from Greenland to Alaska, collecting extensive oral texts, songs, and legends in Inuit languages, which contributed to early comparative studies of Eskimo dialects and earned him recognition as the father of Eskimology.[30] Franz Boas, a pioneering anthropologist, advanced Eskimo linguistic research in the early 1900s through fieldwork and publications that emphasized descriptive methods, including analyses of morphological complexity in Yupik and Inuit varieties; his 1911 handbook introduction highlighted environmental influences on vocabulary, such as terms for snow and ice, influencing subsequent Yupik studies.[31] For Siberian Yupik, early 20th-century Russian ethnographers like Waldemar Bogoras and Aleksandr Forshtein documented texts and grammars amid limited access, but these efforts were constrained by political isolation.[32] Milestones included the compilation of Russian-Aleut dictionaries in the mid-19th century, building on Veniaminov's foundation, and the identification of the Eskimo-Aleut family linkage by scholars like Rasmus Rask in the 1810s.[13] Modern scholarship, from the mid-20th century onward, has focused on comparative reconstruction and revitalization, with figures like Michael Fortescue leading efforts to reconstruct Proto-Eskimo-Aleut phonology and morphology based on cross-dialect data.[4] Fortescue's 1990s works, such as comparative dictionaries, established systematic proto-forms for over 1,000 cognates, addressing dialectal divergences. In Alaska, the establishment of the Alaska Native Language Center in 1972 by state legislation marked a significant milestone, centralizing research, archiving, and community-driven documentation for all 20 Native languages, including Eskaleut varieties, with projects producing orthographies, grammars, and educational materials.[33] However, early records exhibited gaps, including a bias toward missionary translations that prioritized religious texts over everyday or ceremonial language, often simplifying complex polysynthetic structures for evangelization purposes.[34] Siberian documentation remained sparse until the post-Soviet era, when renewed collaborations, such as those in the 1990s on endangered Yupik dialects, filled archival voids through joint Russian-American projects.[35]Classification
Internal classification
The Eskimo-Aleut language family, also known as Eskaleut, is divided into two main branches: Eskimoan and Aleut. The Eskimoan branch encompasses the majority of the family's languages and is further subdivided into the Inuit and Yupik subgroups, while Aleut constitutes a single language with limited dialectal variation. This internal structure reflects a divergence estimated at around 4,000–6,000 years ago, with Eskimoan languages showing greater internal diversity than Aleut.[2][36] Within the Eskimoan branch, the Inuit languages form a dialect continuum spanning from Alaska to Greenland, including Inupiaq (with dialects such as North Alaskan Inupiaq and Seward Peninsula Inupiaq), Inuktitut (Eastern and Western Canadian varieties), and Kalaallisut (Greenlandic), among approximately 10 recognized dialects or closely related varieties. The Yupik subgroup consists of four principal languages: Central Alaskan Yupik (with five dialects, including the dominant General Central Yup'ik and others like Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunivak), Pacific Yupik (also called Alutiiq or Sugpiaq, with Northern and Southern dialects), Siberian Yupik (including St. Lawrence Island and Central Siberian varieties), and the nearly extinct Naukan Yupik; Sirenik Yupik, now extinct, is sometimes classified as a separate branch within Eskimoan rather than Yupik. These Yupik languages are spoken primarily in Alaska, eastern Siberia, and the Bering Strait region.[2][11][37][36] The Aleut language, known endonymically as Unangam Tunuu, is divided into Eastern and Western dialects. The Eastern dialect, centered on Unalaska and surrounding islands, remains in limited use, while the Western dialect, associated with Atka and the now-extinct Attu variety, has fewer speakers and is considered endangered overall. Naming conventions vary, with "Unangax" often used for the Western dialect and "Unangas" for Eastern, reflecting ethnic distinctions.[36][25] Mutual intelligibility is generally low across the major branches, with virtually no comprehension between Aleut and Eskimoan languages, and limited understanding between Inuit and Yupik subgroups due to phonological, morphological, and lexical differences—such as limited shared basic vocabulary between Inuit and Yupik. Within subgroups, intelligibility is higher; for instance, adjacent Inuit dialects like Inuktitut and Kalaallisut exhibit partial mutual comprehension, and certain Yupik varieties, such as Central Alaskan and Pacific Yupik, share some overlap among speakers.[6][38] Standard naming and classification follow ISO 639-3 codes for individual languages (e.g., "ale" for Aleut/Unangam Tunuu, "ikt" for Inuktitut, "kal" for Kalaallisut, "esu" for Central Alaskan Yupik, "ems" for Pacific Yupik (Sugpiaq), and "ypk" for Siberian Yupik) and ISO 639-5 for the family ("esx" for Eskaleut). These codes facilitate documentation and distinguish dialects where mutual intelligibility thresholds warrant separate entries.External relations
The most extensively discussed proposal for a genetic affiliation beyond the Eskaleut family is the Uralo-Siberian hypothesis, advanced by linguist Michael Fortescue in his 1998 monograph Language Relations Across Bering Strait. Fortescue argued for a macrofamily linking Uralic, Yukaghir, and Eskaleut on the basis of roughly 95 proposed lexical correspondences, representing potential cognates for basic vocabulary items such as appa 'grandfather' (reflected in Proto-Uralic äjjä and Proto-Eskimoan aɣpa) and kaθa 'willow' (Proto-Uralic katta and Proto-Eskimoan qataq). These are supported by reconstructed sound correspondences, including systematic shifts like Uralo-Siberian *t > Eskaleut t/q. Typological parallels, including polysynthetic verb structures, dual number marking, and ergative-absolutive alignment in case systems, further bolster the case, suggesting divergence around 8,000–10,000 years ago via migrations across Beringia.[39][40] However, the Uralo-Siberian hypothesis remains controversial and is not widely accepted. Critics contend that the lexical matches could result from ancient borrowings facilitated by trade and cultural exchange across northern Eurasia, rather than shared inheritance, given the geographic separation and lack of regular sound laws for all proposed sets. Typological resemblances are similarly viewed as outcomes of areal convergence in circumpolar environments, where similar ecological pressures favor comparable grammatical strategies. Fortescue himself refined the model in later works, emphasizing Yukaghir-Eskaleut ties more strongly while acknowledging uncertainties in Uralic connections.[40] Other historical proposals have suggested affiliations with Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages (sometimes termed Paleosiberian), initially advanced by Morris Swadesh in 1962 and partially endorsed by Fortescue in 1998 through shared vocabulary like terms for 'sea mammal' and typological features such as noun incorporation. Links to Na-Dene languages of western North America have also been floated, citing parallels in tonal systems (in some varieties) and verb complexity. These suggestions are largely dismissed by contemporary linguists as reflections of prolonged multilingual contact in Beringia during the Holocene, producing areal features without demonstrable genetic descent.[40] The Dené-Yeniseian hypothesis provides a methodological counterpoint, linking Na-Dene and Yeniseian languages through robust evidence like 20–30 secure cognates and shared pronominal paradigms, earning broader scholarly support since its proposal by Edward Vajda in 2008. This contrast illustrates the stringent criteria required for long-range comparisons—systematic sound correspondences and non-etymological matches—often absent in Eskaleut proposals, reinforcing skepticism toward unsubstantiated macrofamily claims. The current consensus treats Eskaleut as a linguistic isolate family, with no established external genetic relatives; observed similarities to neighboring families are attributed to convergence from extended contact or substrates from prehistoric Arctic populations. This view aligns with phylogenetic analyses emphasizing internal diversification over external ties.[26]Phonology
Eskimoan phonology
The phonological systems of the Eskimoan languages, which include the Inuit and Yupik branches, are characterized by relatively simple inventories inherited from Proto-Eskimo, with phonemic length contrasts and a preference for open syllables. These systems feature uvular articulations typical of circumpolar languages and exhibit innovations such as fricative development in daughter languages. Variations arise due to differential retention of proto-features, with Yupik generally more conservative than Inuit.[41][42] The vowel systems across Eskimoan languages typically consist of three to four qualities, with a robust phonemic contrast between short and long vowels but no diphthongs. Proto-Eskimo is reconstructed with four short vowels—/i/, /ə/, /a/, /u/—each having a long counterpart, yielding an eight-way distinction based on height, backness, and length.[41] In Yupik languages, this quadripartite system persists, with /ə/ remaining phonemically distinct and often realized as a central schwa. Inuit languages, however, show mergers, frequently reducing to /i/, /a/, /u/ (short and long), though /ə/ appears in unstressed positions or specific dialects like Labrador Inuttut. Vowel length is crucial for lexical differentiation, as in Central Alaskan Yupik where /ata/ 'name' contrasts with /aataa/ 'father'. Eskimoan consonant inventories range from 13 to 18 phonemes, dominated by stops and approximants without a full fricative series in the proto-language. Proto-Eskimo consonants include bilabial /p/, alveolar /t/, palatal /c/, velar /k/, uvular /q/; continuants /v/, /ð/ or /s/, /j/, /ɣ/, /ʁ/; nasals /m, n, ŋ/; and lateral /l/. Uvulars like /q/ and /ʁ/ are hallmarks, often pharyngealizing adjacent vowels. Fricatives emerged later through lenition of stops (e.g., /t/ > /s/ in some Inuit dialects), and a glottal stop /ʔ/ appears in varieties like Pacific Gulf Yupik. Siberian Yupik retains more proto-consonants, including intervocalic stops that lenite to approximants in Inuit. Eastern Inuktitut dialects feature pharyngealized consonants (/q/ influencing nearby segments).[42][2] Phonotactics in Eskimoan languages adhere to a basic (C)V(C) syllable template, permitting at most one onset and one coda consonant, with no complex clusters. This structure favors CV syllables, as in Inupiaq tupq 'ice' (CVC). Yupik exhibits vowel harmony, often height-based, where suffixes alternate to match root vowels (e.g., high vs. low harmony sets). Common assimilation processes include nasalization of vowels before nasals (e.g., /a/ > [ã] before /n/) and regressive assimilation in consonant sequences, such as /kt/ > [xt] in Yupik. These rules ensure smooth transitions in polysynthetic words. Suprasegmental features provide rhythmic structure, varying by branch. In Yupik, stress falls on the first syllable of prosodic words, with long vowels (CVV) or certain closed syllables (CVC with geminate coda) attracting primary stress; short open syllables (CV) may alternate in longer forms. Alaskan Inuit varieties, like North Alaskan Inupiaq, incorporate tone, with high tone on stressed syllables distinguishing morphemes, evolving from earlier stress systems. These patterns interact with length to define word prominence.[43]Aleut phonology
Aleut phonology features a compact vowel system and a distinctive consonant inventory marked by ejectives and uvulars, setting it apart from many neighboring languages. The language lacks bilabial stops and exhibits phonemic vowel length influenced by prosodic and segmental factors. Unlike Eskimoan languages, Aleut does not employ vowel harmony but includes nasalization and a pitch accent system that contributes to its syllable-timed rhythm.[44] The vowel inventory typically includes short and long variants of three basic vowels /i, a, u/, with a central schwa-like vowel /ə/ often appearing in unstressed positions; the phonemic status of /ə/ remains debated in recent studies (as of 2025).[44] Vowels are nasalized before nasal consonants, and length distinctions are phonemic but modulated by stress, with long vowels statistically longer than short ones under stress. There is no phonemic length contrast in the schwa, and reduplication can emphasize vowels for expressive purposes, as in emphatic forms of certain roots. While parallels exist with Eskimoan vowel systems in the basic triangular setup (/i a u/), Aleut's lack of harmony and presence of schwa represent key divergences. Aleut's consonant system includes approximately 22 phonemes, encompassing stops, fricatives, nasals, laterals, and approximants. Stops occur at alveolar (/t, t'/), velar (/k, k'/), and uvular (/q, q'/) places of articulation, with ejective variants (/t', k', q'/) exhibiting longer voice onset times than their plain counterparts; notably, there are no bilabial stops (/p/ is absent). Fricatives comprise /s/, /x/ (velar), and /χ/ (uvular), where /s/ and /χ/ display higher noise excitation levels compared to /x/, and a voiceless lateral fricative /ɬ/ with notably low excitation. Nasals are /m, n, ŋ/, laterals include /l/ and /ɬ/, and the glottal stop /ʔ/ is realized phonetically as creaky voice. Approximants are /w, j, ɣ/. This inventory supports functional loads varying by place and manner, with ejectives and uvulars playing significant roles in lexical distinctions.[44] Phonotactics permit complex onsets but codas are limited, with word-final consonants rare outside of metathesis processes. Syllables typically have a vocalic nucleus, and words range from one to over a dozen syllables; metathesis in suffixes, like VC to CV in some endings, can create rare word-final clusters (e.g., CC in Atkan dialect forms). This structure contributes to the language's agglutinative flow, avoiding heavy coda clustering seen in some unrelated languages.[46] Dialectal variations distinguish Western Aleut (primarily Atkan, spoken around Atka Island) from Eastern Aleut (Unalaskan and Pribilof varieties). Western dialects maintain a broader fricative inventory, including additional realizations of /x/ and /χ/ in intervocalic positions, while Eastern dialects exhibit more conservative adaptations of Russian loanwords, retaining original phonemes like /f/ or /v/ in recent borrowings (e.g., /f/ in fabrika 'factory') rather than fully assimilating to native /p/ or /w/. These differences arose from geographic isolation and contact histories, with Western forms showing more internal innovations in fricative distribution.[47][48] Prosodically, Aleut employs a pitch accent system, where high pitch marks accented syllables, differing from the varied prosodic systems in Eskimoan languages, which range from syllable-timed in Inuit to more stress-timed in Yupik. The language is syllable-timed, with even duration across syllables regardless of stress, and accent placement follows morphological rules, often on the first or penultimate syllable of roots. This prosody enhances the perceptual clarity of polysynthetic words, with pitch contours aiding in boundary demarcation.[44]Morphology
Polysynthetic features
Eskaleut languages are renowned for their polysynthetic morphology, in which a single word can incorporate numerous morphemes to express what would require an entire sentence in less synthetic languages. This trait allows for the construction of complex predicates that include roots, derivational affixes, and inflectional endings, often resulting in words with dozens of morphemes; for instance, in Central Alaskan Yup'ik, words with up to 20-30 morphemes have been documented, though more typically 5–15 suffixes per root are common.[49][50] A classic example from Inuktitut illustrates this holophrastic potential: the word taku-qukiuti-juq combines the root taku- ('see'), the incorporated noun qukiuti ('rifle'), and the intransitive subject ending -juq (3sg indicative), yielding 's/he is looking at a rifle'.[51] Derivational processes in Eskaleut languages frequently involve noun incorporation, where a nominal root is integrated into a verbal complex to background an argument and convey nuanced relationships, such as possession or part-whole associations. In Inuktitut, for example, the verb root taku- ('see') can incorporate the noun qukiuti ('rifle') to form taku-qukiuti-juq, meaning 's/he is rifle-hunting', thereby compacting the expression without separate syntactic phrases.[51][52] This incorporation is typically head-adjoining and semantically restrictive, distinguishing it from simple compounding. The agglutinative structure of Eskaleut morphology enables linear stacking of affixes following a root, with each morpheme contributing distinct grammatical or semantic information, such as spatial relations, aspect, or mood, while maintaining clear boundaries. In Yup'ik, a typical verbal form might sequence a root like angyar ('kayak') with derivational postbases for augmentation (-pa-), making (-li-), desire (-yu-), contemporaneous (-kapigte-), negative past (-llru-), followed by inflectional endings for person, resulting in forms like angyar-pa-li-yu-ka-pigte-llru-unqa ('I was going to make a big kayak').[53] This suffixing pattern, with over 400 productive derivational affixes in some dialects, facilitates the building of elaborate words in a predictable order.[54] While both branches exhibit polysynthesis, Eskimoan languages (Inuit-Yupik) demonstrate greater incorporative depth, with more extensive noun-verb compounding and longer affix chains, whereas Aleut relies on postbases for derivation but limits words to fewer morphemes overall, often around 5–10 per complex.[55][56] In Aleut, for instance, polysynthesis manifests through suffixal modification of roots but with reduced nominal incorporation compared to Eskimoan, reflecting diachronic divergence. The high productivity of derivational affixes in Eskaleut languages supports near-infinite word formation, enabling speakers to derive novel terms contextually and minimizing reliance on multi-word syntax for elaboration. With hundreds of suffixes exhibiting varying degrees of productivity—such as over 500 in Yup'ik—this system allows for recursive derivation, where new stems are created on the fly to express abstract or situational concepts.[57][58]Case system and alignment
The Eskaleut languages, particularly the Eskimoan branch encompassing Inuit and Yupik, predominantly feature an ergative-absolutive alignment in their case marking system. In this pattern, the single argument of an intransitive verb (S) and the patient of a transitive verb (O) receive the unmarked absolutive case, while the agent of a transitive verb (A) is marked with the ergative case. This alignment is evident in basic clause structures across the family, where absolutive nouns remain uninflected and ergative marking signals transitive agency. Some Inuit dialects exhibit split-ergativity, particularly in recent past tenses, where the system shifts toward nominative-accusative alignment, with the transitive agent unmarked and the patient receiving a distinct case.[59] Core cases in Eskimoan languages number between four and eight, depending on the dialect, with the absolutive serving as the default unmarked form for core arguments. The ergative case is typically realized as -up or -p in Inuit (e.g., anguti-up 'man-ERG' in transitive subject position), while the equative case, used for comparisons, appears as -tku (e.g., marking similarity between entities). Additional spatial and relational cases include the locative (indicating position, often -mi in Inuit), ablative (source, -mit), allative (goal, -mut), and instrumental (means, -mik/-min). Pronouns follow a similar paradigm but distinguish singular, dual, and plural numbers, with dual forms like -k for two participants. Inalienable possession, especially for body parts and kin terms, is encoded via possessive suffixes on the noun itself, bypassing external possessor marking; for instance, in Inuit, the noun for 'eye' (takuak) becomes takuakku 'my eye' through suffixation.[4][5] Semantic roles in third-person contexts are further nuanced by an obviation system in Eskimoan languages, which establishes hierarchies among referents in narratives to track discourse focus. The proximate third person (typically the most salient or topic) contrasts with the obviative (demoted, marked by suffixes like -n in Inuit), resolving potential ambiguities in coreference and reflecting a person hierarchy where speech-act participants outrank third persons. This system aids in clause chaining and prominence assignment without relying solely on case.[59] Branch variations highlight the family's diversity: Aleut deviates markedly from the ergative-absolutive norm, having largely lost traditional case suffixes and instead employing a reduced system with nominative-accusative tendencies, especially in clauses with overt pronominal objects or null arguments, where the subject receives nominative marking and the object accusative-like forms via postpositions or relational nouns. Oblique relations in Aleut are expressed through expanded use of positional nouns (e.g., ila 'place of' for locative functions), reshaping the original Eskimoan relational stems into a postpositional strategy. In Yupik languages, case marking retains ergative-absolutive alignment but shows innovations like instrumental case fusion, where the instrumental (-mik in Central Alaskan Yupik) merges morphologically with certain verbal affixes in antipassive constructions, demoting the patient to an oblique role.[60][26][4]Syntax
Basic word order
The basic word order in Eskaleut languages is subject–object–verb (SOV), a configuration that aligns with their head-final typological profile across the family. This order is observed in simple declarative clauses, where the subject and object precede the verb, facilitated by morphological case marking that clearly distinguishes grammatical roles without reliance on strict positional cues. Within the Eskimoan branch, comprising Inuit and Yupik languages, SOV serves as the default or neutral order, but constituent arrangement is highly flexible due to the explicit ergative-absolutive case system. For instance, in Inuktitut (an Inuit language), the neutral transitive order is subject-object-verb, yet variations such as object-subject-verb (OSV) and subject-verb-object (SVO) occur frequently to mark discourse prominence, such as emphasizing the object as the topic in a topic-comment structure.[61] Similarly, in Central Alaskan Yup'ik (a Yupik language), SOV predominates in comprehension tasks, but OSV, SVO, and other permutations are permissible and processed effectively when supported by case markers, allowing speakers to prioritize new information toward the end of the clause. Aleut, in contrast, maintains a more rigid SOV order in main clauses, with limited deviations permitted by its case system.[62] Postpositional phrases reinforce the head-final pattern, with nouns or noun phrases preceding postpositions to express spatial, temporal, or relational meanings, as seen in constructions like Inuktitut illu-mut 'toward the house' (illu 'house' + -mut allative postposition) or Aleut equivalents following the same noun-postposition sequence. Question formation preserves the verb-final structure, incorporating interrogative moods or suffixes on the verb rather than altering constituent order; for example, Inuktitut yes/no questions employ specialized interrogative verb endings (e.g., shifting from declarative -tuq to interrogative -vvit?), while wh-questions integrate interrogative words like suna 'what' in flexible positions without disrupting SOV. Discourse factors, such as information structure, further influence deviations in Eskimoan varieties, where fronting the topic (often the object in OSV) accommodates a topic-comment organization to highlight given versus new information, a pattern less prevalent in the more fixed Aleut syntax.[63][64]Clause and phrase structure
Eskaleut languages exhibit head-final nominal phrases, where modifiers such as adjectives, demonstratives, and numerals precede the head noun, creating structures like [modifier] [noun]. Genitive constructions are typically expressed through possessive suffixes attached directly to the possessed noun, integrating possession morphologically rather than via independent genitive markers; for instance, in Inuit languages, the possessor is indicated by a suffix on the head noun that agrees in person and number with the possessor. This morphological fusion parallels patterns in subordinate verb forms, where similar suffixal strategies encode dependency relations.[65][65] Verbal complexes in Eskaleut languages are highly polysynthetic, allowing the incorporation of multiple elements into a single verb word, including nouns, adverbs, and even aspects of subordinate clauses. In Eskimoan branches like Inuit, relative clauses are often incorporated as verbal affixes, enabling multi-clause information to be compacted into the verb; for example, a structure might encode "the man who saw the dog" as a single inflected verb form with incorporated nominal and relative elements. Aleut shares this incorporative capacity but tends toward less extensive verb-bound chaining, with movable suffixes that can attach to nouns or verbs to build complex predicates.[4][66][67] Subordination in Eskaleut relies heavily on non-finite verb forms and mood suffixes, particularly in Eskimoan languages, where participial moods and same-subject markers distinguish embedded clauses from independent ones; complement clauses often use causative or control moods to indicate subject sharing between matrix and subordinate verbs. In contrast, Aleut employs conjunctions more frequently for linking subordinate clauses, reducing reliance on mood-based embedding and favoring analytic strategies for causation and control. Coordination is achieved through enclitic particles such as -llu for 'and' and -tam for 'or' across the family, while Eskimoan languages feature robust switch-reference systems in narrative chaining, using mood suffixes to signal whether consecutive clauses share the same subject.[66][66][66]Vocabulary
Lexical comparisons across branches
Lexical comparisons across the Eskaleut branches reveal the genetic relatedness of the family through shared inherited vocabulary, reconstructed via the comparative method that identifies regular sound correspondences and semantic continuities between Eskimoan languages (Inuit and Yupik) and Aleut. This approach posits a Proto-Eskaleut ancestor from which both branches diverged, with systematic phonological shifts distinguishing Aleut reflexes. Cognate retention is notably lower between the Eskimoan and Aleut branches, estimated at 15–25% of basic stems, compared to around 70% within Eskimoan subgroups like Inuit and Yupik, reflecting deeper divergence in Aleut possibly influenced by substrate effects or prolonged separation. These percentages are derived from systematic comparisons of core vocabulary lists, prioritizing semantic stability in concepts like kinship and natural phenomena.[68] However, the reconstruction of Proto-Eskaleut remains incomplete, with many proposed cognates showing irregular sound correspondences potentially due to extensive language contact rather than solely genetic inheritance.[69] Such examples underscore how the comparative method—relying on regular sound laws—establishes the family's unity despite branch-specific innovations and ongoing scholarly debate.Borrowings and influences
The Eskaleut languages have incorporated numerous loanwords from European contact languages, reflecting centuries of colonial and trade interactions. In Canadian Inuit dialects of Inuktitut, English and French borrowings are prevalent for concepts associated with modern institutions and technology, often adapted to fit the phonological and morphological patterns of the host language. For instance, in Inuinnaqtun, the English word "school" appears as iliharvik, integrated with suffixes to form compounds.[70] Similarly, in Alaskan and Siberian Yupik varieties, English loanwords from 19th-century whaling contacts include terms for tools and goods, such as stiir for "steer" or "stove."[2] Russian has exerted a profound lexical influence on Aleut and Siberian Yupik due to extended Russian colonial presence in the region since the 18th century. Aleut contains hundreds of Russian loanwords, particularly in domains like administration, clothing, and food, with many retaining Russian phonology, such as chay for "tea" adapted as chaay.[71] In Siberian Yupik, Russian borrowings are similarly extensive, numbering over 200 in some dialects, covering items like sablya ("sword") and kniga ("book"), though Central Alaskan Yup'ik shows heavier Russian integration from Orthodox missionary influence.[48] Indigenous language contacts have also shaped Eskaleut vocabulary through areal diffusion. Siberian Yupik exhibits Chukchi substrates, especially in lexical items related to sea mammal hunting and maritime activities, such as terms for specific whale parts or hunting tools borrowed during prolonged neighborly interactions in Chukotka.[6] In Alaskan Inuit (Iñupiaq), Athabaskan influences appear in borrowed nouns for inland resources and kinship terms, reflecting historical trade and intermarriage with Dena'ina and other Athabaskan groups, though these are fewer and often phonologically assimilated.[6] Eskaleut languages have also contributed loanwords to neighboring and global languages, illustrating bidirectional exchange. The iconic term "kayak," derived from Greenlandic Inuit qajaq ("hunter's boat"), entered English and other European languages via 18th-century explorers and whalers, denoting the skin-covered canoe central to Arctic navigation.[72] Other exports include "igloo" from Inuit iglu ("house"), now ubiquitous in international vocabulary for cold-weather gear.[2] In contemporary urban contexts, code-mixing between Eskaleut languages and English is widespread among younger speakers in cities like Iqaluit and Anchorage, where intrasentential switches occur frequently, such as inserting English nouns into polysynthetic verbs (e.g., Inuktitut tukturjuaqtauninga "I have a big car" with car embedded).[73] Revitalization initiatives, however, actively discourage heavy borrowing by reviving obsolete native terms or creating neologisms; for example, Aleut communities replace Russian loans with historical equivalents attested in 19th-century records to preserve lexical purity.[74]References
- https://www.[researchgate](/page/ResearchGate).net/publication/254098262_Phonetic_structures_of_Aleut