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 , which in Chukchi means "a man who is rich in reindeer". The Chukchis' term for themselves is (singular ), "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: and , plus the sign ʼ.

External links

• Ethnologue report
• Chukchee Homepage

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.

Languages of Russia | Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages | Vowel harmony languages | polysynthetic languages

Txuktxi | Tschuktschische Sprache | Idioma chucoto | Ĉukĉa lingvo | 축치어 | Tsjoektsjisch | チュクチ語 | Język czukocki | Чукотский язык | Čukotščina | Tšuktši | 楚科奇语