Attu Aleut mother and child, 1941
|
|
Total population | |
---|---|
17,000–18,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States | 17,000 |
Russia | 482 |
Languages | |
English, Russian, Aleut | |
Religion | |
Animism, Russian Orthodoxy | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Inuit, Yupik, Sirenik, Sadlermiut |
The Aleuts (i/ˈæli.uːt/) Russian: Алеу́ты (Aleut'y), who are usually known in the Aleut language by the endonym Unangan Унаңан (lit. "people"), are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands.
Both the Unangan and the islands are divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai.
While English and Russian are the dominant languages used by Aleuts living in the United States and Russia respectively, the Aleut language is still spoken by an estimated 150 people in the United States and 5 people in Russia. The language belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family and includes three dialect groupings: Eastern Aleut, spoken on the Eastern Aleutian, Shumagin, Fox and Pribilof Islands; Atkan, spoken on Atka and Bering islands; and the now extinct Attuan dialect. The Pribilof Islands boast the highest number of active speakers of Aleutian. Most of the Native elders speak Aleut, but it is very rare for an everyday person to speak the language fluently.