Selkup language
Selkup is the language of the Selkups, belonging to the Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken by some 1,570 people (1994 est.) in the region between the Ob and Yenisei Rivers (in Siberia). The language name Selkup comes from the Russian селькуп, based on the native name used in the Taz dialect, шӧльӄумыт әты šöľqumyt әty, lit. 'forest-man language'. Different dialects use different names.
| Selkup | |
|---|---|
| чу́мэл шэ, тюйкуй келл, шё̄шӄуй шэ̄, сӱ̄ссыӷӯй сэ̄, шöйӄумый эты | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug |
| Ethnicity | Selkup people |
Native speakers | 1,600 (2020 census) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | sel |
| ISO 639-3 | sel |
| Glottolog | selk1253 |
| ELP | Southern Selkup |
Traditional (a) and current (b) distribution of Selkup | |
Northern Selkup is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Selkup is fractured in an extensive dialect continuum whose ends are no longer mutually intelligible. The three main varieties are the Taz (Northern) dialect (тазовский диалект, tazovsky dialekt), which became the basis of the Selkup written language in the 1930s, Tym (Central) dialect (тымский диалект, tymsky dialekt), and Ket dialect (кетский диалект, ketsky dialekt). It is not related to the Ket language.