Eskimo-Aleut Language Family
The Eskimo-Aleut language family comprises languages spoken by Indigenous peoples along the coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, specifically from Alaska to Greenland. This language family includes two primary branches: Yupik, found on the Pacific Coast and southern mainland Alaska, and Inupik, spoken in northern Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Greenland. Linguistic evidence suggests a historical connection to languages in Siberia, with the divergence of the original language, Eskaleut, occurring approximately three to six thousand years ago. Despite the geographic spread, speakers of Inupik can generally communicate with one another across vast distances due to the relative consistency in dialects.
The languages within this family faced significant decline as modern technology and European influence disrupted traditional lifestyles and cultural practices. While estimates indicate that at least thirty thousand individuals identified as Eskimos or Aleuts well into the twentieth century, the shift towards modern civilization has contributed to the endangerment of these languages. There is limited archaeological evidence to trace the migration of these peoples via the Bering Strait, but historical records suggest that they once occupied a much larger territory than they currently do. As the Eskimo-Aleut languages continue to face challenges, their cultural and linguistic heritage remains a vital part of the identity of the communities that speak them.
Subject Terms
Eskimo-Aleut Language Family
Culture areas: Arctic, Subarctic
Tribes affected: Aleut, Inuit (Eskimo)
The Eskimo-Aleut family of languages is spoken by people along the coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, from Alaska to Greenland. While there were probably still at least thirty thousand people who considered themselves Eskimos or Aleuts well into the twentieth century, the original language and culture began a rapid process of extinction as soon as modern technology made it possible for people of European ancestry to bring modern civilization to the natives.
Since none of these languages had a written form, and since little archaeological evidence survives, it is impossible to date clearly the migration over the Bering Strait (or Bering land bridge) that brought these people to North America. There is, however, firm linguistic evidence that this language group is related to languages spoken in Siberia. Estimates for when the original language, called Eskaleut, broke into its two branches vary from about three thousand to six thousand years ago.
Some time between eight hundred and eighteen hundred years ago, the Eskimo branch split into two varieties. Yupik is the branch spoken on the Pacific Coast and in south mainland Alaska. Inupik is spoken north of the Yukon River in Alaska and the Yukon, in the Northwest Territories, and in Greenland.
While the Inupik branch covers a huge territory, surprisingly few differences in dialect have arisen. It is possible for an Alaskan Eskimo to communicate with relative ease with one living in Greenland. While the reason for this situation is impossible to prove, as European contact with the tribes is very recent, a major factor may be that Eskimos have a tendency to be migratory, following game according to local abundance or scarcity and moving with the seasons. Thus, the various tribes may have intermixed in previous centuries.
There is some archaeological evidence that in the distant past, the Eskimos occupied a much larger territory than they do now, inhabiting lands far inland. The interior of the Subarctic, however, has been dominated by those in the Athapaskan language family for many centuries. The two cultures and languages are apparently unrelated, and even the physical appearance of the two groups is widely different.