Chukchi
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A language of Russian Federation
5,100 (2010 census). Ethnic population: 15,900 (2010 census).
Chukotka autonomous district, Kamchatka krai, and Sakha (Yakutia) republic.
6b (Threatened).
Uellanskij, Pevekskij, Enmylinskij, Nunligranskij, Xatyrskij, Chaun, Enurmin, Yanrakinot. Closely related to Alutor [alr], Kerek [krk] and Koryak [kpy]. Itelmen [itl] is more distantly related. Chukchi may be mutually intelligible with some varieties of Koryak (1988 B. Comrie). Literary dialect and gender dialects also exist. Gender differences largely phonological. Women’s dialect largely ignored in language development.
SOV/SVO; postpositions; no articles; case-marking (8 cases); verb affixes mark person, number, object; ergativity; 14 consonant and 6 vowel phonemes; non-tonal; vowel harmony.
60% of the population. Few domains but extensive use in reindeer herding brigades. Some young people, all adults. Very few children speak it (Salminen 2007). Positive attitudes. Also use Even [eve], Northern Yukaghir [ykg], Yakut [sah]. Also use Russian [rus]. Less than 50 speakers of Russian with varying proficiency, but nomadic groups resist Russian language and culture. Used as L2 by Northern Yukaghir [ykg].
Cyrillic script [Cyrl].
School at Anadyr. Chukchi in Magadan area are nomadic. Traditional religion.