The Yupik languages are the several distinct languages of the several Yupik (юпик) peoples of western and southcentral Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that speakers of different ones cannot understand each other, although they may understand the general idea of a conversation of speakers of another of the languages. One of them, Sirenik, has been a dead language since 1997.
The Yupik languages are in the family of Eskimo–Aleut languages. The Aleut and Eskimo languages diverged about 2000 BC; within the Eskimo classification, the Yupik languages diverged from each other and from the Inuit language about 1000 AD.
Read more about Yupik Languages: Geographic Distribution of Yupik Languages, Grammar, Writing Systems
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)