Chukchi language

Chukchi /ˈtʃʊktʃiː/ (Chukchee) is a Chukotko–Kamchatkan spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. According to the Russian Census of 2002, about 7,700 of the 15,700 Chukchi people speak Chukchi; knowledge of the Chukchi language is decreasing, and most Chukchis now speak the Russian language (fewer than 500 report not speaking Russian at all).

The language is closely related to Koryak. Chukchi, Koryak, Kerek, Alutor, and Itelmen, form the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages language family. There are many cultural similarities between the Chukchis and Koryaks, including economies based on reindeer herding. Both peoples refer to themselves by the endonym Luorawetlan ([ɬəɣʔorawetɬʔat]; singular [ɬəɣʔorawetɬʔan]), meaning "the real people". All of these peoples and other, unrelated minorities in and around Kamchatka are known collectively as Kamchadals.

Chukchi or Chukchee are anglicized versions of the Russian exonym Chukcha (plural Chukchi). This came into Russian from Čävča, the term used by the Chukchis' Tungusic-speaking neighbors, itself a rendering of the Chukchi word [tʃawtʃəw], which in Chukchi means "a man who is rich in reindeer".