Yukaghir, Northern
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A language of Russian Federation
Sakha (Yakutiya), lower Kolyma county, Andryushkino and Kolymskoye.
8b (Nearly extinct).
None known. Distinct from Southern Yukaghir (Kolyma) [yux].
SOV; postpositions; genitives, articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives before noun heads; question word not initial or final; 2 prefixes, 6 suffixes; word order focus preverbal, subjects and topics tend to be initial; affixes indicate case of noun phrases; person and number of subject indicated by obligatory verb phrases; split-intransitivity: intransitive subjects encoded as transitive when nonfocus; focus marked the same way for intransitive subjects and direct objects, and only those, otherwise accusative; resultative; reflexive; reciprocal; causative; comparative; CV, CVCCVV; nontonal.
In Andryushkino there may be a few younger speakers (Salminen 2007). Home. Older adults. Mixed attitudes, from neutral to mildly positive. No sense of shared ethnic identity between the two Yukaghir varieties, Southern Yukaghir [yux] and Northern Yukaghir [ykg]. Also use Chukchi [ckt], Russian [rus], Yakut [sah]. Also use Even [eve], especially reindeer herdsmen and some others. Used as L2 by Chukchi [ckt].
Cyrillic script [Cyrl].
In 19th century their territory shrank due to merging clans, military clashes, assimilation with the Even [eve], and later, collectivization. From 1950s–1980s the state sent children to boarding school. Christian, traditional religion.