Eskimo-Aleut Languages

Eskimo-Aleut Languages, family of at least six languages spoken across the Arctic from Siberia eastwards across Alaska and Canada to Greenland. Aleut and Eskimo constitute major branches, and Eskimo comprises Inuit and Yupik branches. Inuit, considered by some a single language spoken from Alaska to Greenland, is in reality a continuum of around five dialects (classified as languages by some) with no clear language boundaries and includes Inupiaq in Alaska, Inuktitut in Canada, and Greenlandic in Greenland. Yupik includes four languages, with Pacific Gulf Yupik (Sugpiaq) and Central Alaskan Yupik in Alaska, Central Siberian Yupik in both Alaska and on the nearby Siberian coast, and Naukan Yupik on the western shore of the Bering Strait in Russia. Sirenik, now extinct, was spoken on the Chukchi Peninsula and may be a Yupik language or else a third branch of Eskimo. Aleut is spoken in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands of Alaska, and the Commander Islands of Russia.

Of about 140,000 Eskimo-Aleut people worldwide, some 90,000 speak an Eskimo-Aleut language. The language of Greenland, called Greenlandic or Kalaallisut, is very vital, with nearly the entire population speaking it. Inuktitut in eastern Canada is also quite strong. Language endangerment is characteristic in the west; in Alaska, Siberia, and Western Canada, the languages are threatened to varying degrees. Several proposals exist which would link Eskimo-Aleut languages with distant language families, particularly Indo-European, Chukotko-Kamchatkan (a small Russian language family), and Uralic.

The name Eskimo is in disfavour in Canada and Greenland but not particularly in the west. Canadians use the term Inuit, and the people of Greenland prefer to be called Kalaallit in their language or Greenlanders in English. In Alaska and Siberia, Eskimo is used along with local designations, primarily Yupik and Inupiaq. Pacific Gulf Yupik speakers use Alutiiq or Sugpiaq and not Eskimo. Some Aleuts now prefer to be called Unangan or Unangas.

Eskimo-Aleut languages are polysynthetic, and their multi-morphemic words can become quite long, often equivalent to entire sentences in analytic languages such as English (see Morphology: Classification by Form). A noun or verb stem is usually followed by one or more suffixes and an inflectional ending. Word order is originally subject-object-verb, although influence from European languages causes some speakers to prefer subject-verb-object. Word order is not fixed, and syntactic functions of nouns are distinguished through case-marking. Eskimo languages are ergative (see Native American Languages: Ergative Typology), with an absolutive and a relative (ergative) case, the latter also used to mark possessor nouns. Possessed nouns also carry inflectional endings. Oblique cases are postpositions expressing to, from, like, through, in/at/on, and instrument for. Number may be singular, dual, or plural, and transitive verb endings are marked for person and number of both subject and object. Intransitive verb endings indicate subject only. Pronouns do not show gender. Adjectival and adverbial functions are typically performed by suffixes or verbs. 'Big' for instance may be expressed by a nominal suffix or by a verb stem meaning 'to be big'. Complex systems of demonstratives characterize all Eskimo-Aleut languages.

Language contact has resulted in lexical borrowing. Aleut, Pacific Gulf Yupik, and Central Alaskan Yupik contain older Russian loans as well as more recent English ones. Siberian Yupik languages as well as Bering Strait Inupiaq contain loans from Siberian languages, notably Chukchi (see Chukchi [people]). Influence from Athabascan languages is remarkably minor, given the proximity with Eskimo. Eastern Arctic contact languages include French, German, and Scandinavian languages, in addition to English.