MultiTree:

Name: Sirenik Alternate Names: Yupik, Sirenik; Sirenikski; Old Sirenik; Vuteen; Yupik (Sirenik); Old Sirinek Once Spoken in: Russia Code: ysr Code Authority: ISO 639-3 Code Standard: SIL Families: Eskimo-Aleut Parent Subgroup: Western Eskimo; Yupik; Yup'ik; Yuit (yupi) Brief Description: Sirenik - also called Old Sirenik to differentiate it from the Sirenik dialect of Central Siberian Yupik - is a recently extinct language of the Western Eskimo group, formerly spoken in the village of Sireniki, Provideniya County, Chukchi Autonomous District, Russia. Quite divergent from the Yupik languages, Sirenik shows influence from Chukchi. It is sometimes considered a third branch of Eskimo, alongside Inuit and Yupik. At the beginning of the twentieth century there were 130 speakers, dwindling to approximately 30 by the early 1950s. Beginning in the 1950s, the indigenous population of Sireniki shifted first to Central Siberian Yupik, the language of more numerous forced immigrants, and then largely to Russian. The last speaker died in 1997. (Most of this information derives from Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 22)

Endangerment Status

---

Linguist List Status: Extinct UNESCO Status: Extinct Ethnologue Status: Extinct Sutherland's Red List: Not listed