ARCTIC INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES Aleut Copper Island (Unangam Tunuu) Attuan Creole Aleut (Unangam Tunuu) Itelmen Taz Evenk Ulchi Did you know? Even Nanai Orochi Udege Paleo-Asian family At least 43% of the estimated Orok (Uilta) 6000 languages spoken in the Nanai TELLING THE STORY Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) Alyutor Ulchi world are endangered. Nivkh UNESCO Central Alaskan Yupik Koryak Kerek Negidal Deg Xinag Haida Sirenik Naukan Yupik P Eskimo Chuvan Y Eyak Kuskokwim Evenk A L Ahtna Central Siberian Even L I Holikachuk Kolyma Tsimshianic Dena'ina Yupik Even E M Tlingit Chukchi Yukagir Evenk O A Tsetsaut -A F Tanacross SIAN Chukchi Nisga-Gitksan Tagish Tanana Koyukon Iñupiaq Tutchone Hän Sakha THE REGION Tundra (Yakut) Kaska Yukagir Gwich’in The Arctic is comprised of the northernmost Evenk parts of eight countries: Canada, Denmark, Sakha Athabaskan branch (Yakut) Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the North Slavey Even United States. Eyak branch South Slavey Inuvialuktun Evenk Tlingit branch Indigenous peoples have inhabited the area for tens Turkic branch 7ĄóFKR of thousands of years. Today, there are approx- Evenk Mongolic branch imately four million inhabitants in the circumpolar Arctic, and approximately 10% of the total Chipewyan Inuinnaqtun Tunguso-Manchurian branch N Soyot population is Indigenous. A LY ’DE MI More than 40 Indigenous languages are spoken in N FA Dolgan Ket E Tofa Tuvan the Arctic; even more, if dialects are classified as Evenk Nanai languages of their own. Arctic Indigenous languages Kivallirmiutut A LY belong to the: Na’Dene, Eskaleut, Uralic, Paleo-Asian LT I Natsilingmiutut A M IC FA and Altaic families. Shor Nganasan The Ket, Nivkh, Tsimshianic, Haida, and Yukagir Nenets Chelkan Enets Telengit languages spoken in the region are classified as Aivilingmiutut Teleut Evenk Kumandin language isolates. Selkup Chulym Tuba Qikiqtaaluk uannangani Selkup Indigenous peoples Inuktun Nenets “People in independent countries who are regarded as Indigenous on account of their descent from the Aleut (Unangam-Tunuu) branch populations which inhabited the country, or a geo- Yupik group of Inuit-Yupik branch Khanty graphical region to which the country belongs, at the Qikiqtaaluk nigiani time of conquest or colonization or the Inuit group of Inuit-Yupik branch Mansi establishment of present State boundaries” Nunavimmiutitut Nenets (ILO No. 169) Izhma-Komi E Nunatsiavummiutut S Y Finno-Ugric branch K L Kalaallisut I Skolt Sámi Ter Sámi A Komi Samoyedic branch L AM Kildin Sámi EU F T Inari Sámi Akkala Sámi Iivermiisud Northern Sámi The term Arctic is derived from the Greek arktos (“bear”), referring to the Kemi Sámi Karelian Lule Sámi northern constellation of the Bear. It Pite Sámi has sometimes been used to Ume Sámi Veps designate the area within the Arctic UR LY Circle—a mathematical line that is Southern Sámi AL MI drawn at latitude 66°30′ N, marking IC FA the southern limit of the zone in which there is at least one annual Permanent Participants period of 24 hours during which the “Six non-governmental organizations representing sun does not set and one during which it does not rise. Arctic indigenous peoples have status as Permanent Encyclopaedia Britannica LEGEND Participants in the Arctic Council. Not represented by Permanent Participants Critically endangered or recently extinct languages The Permanent Participants include: the Aleut can also be defined The Arctic region Language isolates* International Association, the Arctic Athabaskan as the area above the northern tree Council, Gwich’in Council International, the Inuit Ket Nivkh Tsimshianic Haida Yukagir line, where the land is frozen and only Circumpolar Council, Russian Association of dotted by shrubs, grass, and lichen. * What is a language isolate? Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Saami Researchers sometimes use average “In the most common view, an isolate is a language which has no relatives, that is, that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other language. It is a language which has not been shown to be the descendent of any ancestral Council. temperature to define the Arctic language which has other descendants (daughters). Thus, language isolates are in effect language families with only one member.” region. Under this definition, the Arctic Campbell, Lyle (2010). "Language Isolates and Their History, or, What's Weird, Anyway?". Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. 36 (1): 16–31. Arctic Council region exists where the average temperatures do not rise above 10 degrees Celsius in the summer. World Atlas Fun fact: Because of the Earth’s tilt, for at least one day a year there’s HELP US IMPROVE THE MAP an entire day of darkness in niversity Library this freezing region — and also Submit improvements, corrections or interesting facts about Arctic indigenous languages or the region to: PHOTOS a full day of sunshine. Eskaleut family: Darling Anderson & Millie McKeown - Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association Temperatures as low as –70°C Paleo-Asian & Altaic families: Svetlana Chernyshova have been recorded in arcticpeoples.org Group of youth: Ørjan Marakatt Bertelsen All other photos: Linnea Nordström northern Greenland. National Geographic DISCLAIMER The map broadly demonstrates Arctic Indigenous languages spoken by members of the Arctic Council Permanent Participant organizations (Indigenous Peoples Secretariat, 2019). The borders between the language families and locations are illustrative and not entirely precise. Most languages are written in English and not in their traditional orthographies. Different dialects are marked in italics to demonstrate diversity within languages. Resources: Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (CAFF, 2013); GRID-Arendal (GRID-Arendal/UN Environment, 2019), W.K. Dallmann (Norwegian Polar © 2019 University of Tromsø The Arctic Norway U Institute, 2012), experts from the Arctic Council Permanent Participant organizations. The language classification for Haida is based on Schoonmaker et al., 1997, for Yukagir on advice from the Institute for the Peoples of the North, 2019..