Sireniki Eskimo | |
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Сиӷы́ных | |
Pronunciation | [siˈʁənəx] |
Native to | Russia |
Region | Bering Strait region, mixed populations in settlements Sireniki and Imtuk |
Ethnicity | Sirenik Eskimos |
Extinct | 1997 with the death of Valentina Wye |
Eskimo–Aleut
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Transcribed with Cyrillic in old monographs (extended with diacritics), but new publications may appear also romanized | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
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Glottolog | sire1246 |
Sirenik Yupik,Sireniki Yupik (also Old Sirenik or Vuteen), Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The language shift has been a long process, ending in total language death. In January 1997, the last native speaker of the language, a woman named Vyie (Valentina Wye) (Russian: Выйе), died. Ever since that point, the language has been extinct; nowadays, all Sirenik Eskimos speak Siberian Yupik or Russian.
Сиӷы́ных [siˈʁənəx] is the endonym for the eponymous settlement of Sireniki. The endonym for the people itself is сиӷы́ныгмы̄́ӷий [siˈʁənəɣˈməːʁij] "Sirenikites"; the singular form is сиӷы́ныгмы̄́ӷа [siˈʁənəɣˈməːʁa]).
This article is based on Menovschikov (1964), with cited examples transliterated from Cyrillic transcription to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Some argue that the Sirenik language is a remnant of a third group of Eskimo languages, in addition to Yupik and Inuit groups, see online a visual representation by tree and an argumentation based on comparative linguistics in. In fact, the exact genealogical classification of Sireniki language is not settled yet, and some others regard it belonging to the Yupik branch.