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Central Siberian Yupik language facts for kids

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Central Siberian Yupik
Siberian Yupik
Yuit
Юпик
Native to United States, Russian Federation
Region Bering Strait region, St. Lawrence Island
Ethnicity 2,828 Siberian Yupiks
Native speakers 1,000 in United States, 97% of ethnic population  (2010)
200 in Russia (2010), 12% of ethnic population
Language family
Eskimo–Aleut
  • Eskimo
    • Yupik
      • Central Siberian Yupik
Dialects
St. Lawrence Island Yupik
Writing system Latin, Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in  Alaska
Asian Siberian Yupik Eskimo map
Map of the two biggest Yupik dialects in Siberia: Central Siberian Yupik is red, Naukan Yupik is purple.

Central Siberian Yupik is one of four existing Yupik languages. It is also known as Siberian Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, Yuit, Yoit, "St. Lawrence Island Yupik", and in Russia "Chaplinski Yupik" or Yuk. It is spoken by the Yupik people in Siberia, and in two villages on St. Lawrence Island. It is an endangered language: Of the 1,200 residents of St. Lawrence Islands, fewer than 1,000 speak the language. On the Siberian mainland, about 200 of the 1,200 ethnic Yupik speak the language. The second most common Yupik language in Siberia is Naukan Yupik, with about 70 speakers.

There are two dialects: Chaplino Yupik is mainly spoken on the Chukchi Peninsula, Siberia, and St. Lawrence Island Yupik. The differences between the two dialects are small.

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