Chukchi language
Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHU : Chukchi language
The Chukchi language (лыгъоравэтлъан йилйил) also known as Luoravetlan, Chukot and Chukcha is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by circa 10,400 people (2001) (Chukchi) in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in the region of Chukotka. It is closely related to Koryak, which is spoken by about half that number. The language together with Koryak, Kerek, Alutor and Itelmen forms the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family.
The Chukchi and Koryaks form a cultural unit with an economy based on reindeer herding and both have autonomy within the Russian Federation.
The ethnonym Chukchi (also spelled Chukchee) is an anglicized form of the Russian ethnonym (singular 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 /ʧawʧəw/, which in Chukchi means "a man who is rich in reindeer". The Chukchis' term for themselves is /ɬəɣʔorawətɬʔat/ (singular /ɬəɣʔorawətɬʔan/), "the real people".
In the UNESCO Red Book the language is on the list of endangered languages.
The Chukchi language is written using the Russian alphabet with two additional letters: Ӄӄ and Ӈӈ, plus the sign ʼ.
External links
Bibliography
- The languages of the Soview Union, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Language Surveys) 1981. ISBN 0-521-23230-9 (hard covers) and ISBN 0-521-29877-6 (paperback)
- Nedjalkov, V. P. 1976. Diathesen und Satzstruktur im Tschuktschischen. In Studia Gramatika 13, Berlin (G.D.R) (in German language)
- Skorik, P. Ja. (1961). Grammatika čukotskogo jazyka: Fonetika i morfologija imennyx častej reči (2 Volumes). Leningrad: Nauka.
- Bogoras, W. 1922. Chukchee. In Handbook of American Indian languages II, e. F. Boas, Washington, D.C.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.