Yukaghir languages

Yukaghir
EthnicityYukaghirs, Chuvans, Anauls
Geographic
distribution
Russian Far East
Linguistic classification? Uralic–Yukaghir; Otherwise one of the world's primary language families
Proto-languageProto-Yukaghir
Subdivisions
Glottologyuka1259
Extent of Yukaghir languages in the 17th (hatched) and 20th (solid) centuries

The Yukaghir languages (/ˈjkəɡɪər/ YOO-kə-geer or /jkəˈɡɪər/ yoo-kə-GEER; also Yukagir, Jukagir) are a small family of two closely related languages—Tundra and Kolyma Yukaghir—spoken by the Yukaghir in the Russian Far East living in the basin of the Kolyma River. At the 2002 Russian census, both Yukaghir languages taken together had 604 speakers.[1] More recent reports from the field reveal that this number is far too high: Southern Yukaghir had maximum 60 fluent speakers in 2009, while the Tundra Yukaghir language had around 60–70. The entire family is thus to be regarded as moribund.[2] The Yukaghir have experienced a politically imposed language shift in recent times, and a majority also speak Russian and Yakut.

In the Russian 2020-2021 census, 516 people reported speaking a Yukaghir language as their native language.[3]

Distribution of the Yukaghir languages and internal tribal divisions in the 17th century.
  1. ^ "Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года". www.perepis2002.ru. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  2. ^ "Endangered languages in Northeast Asia: report". www.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  3. ^ "Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020". rosstat.gov.ru. Retrieved 2023-01-03.

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