Siberian Yupik
Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (Russian: Юиты), are a Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik (also known as Yuit), a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.
Юпик, йупигыт | |
|---|---|
A Siberian Yupik woman holding walrus tusks, photo by Nabogatova | |
| Total population | |
| c. 2,828 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Chukotka in the Russian Far East, St. Lawrence Island in Alaska | |
Russia:
| 1,728 |
United States:
| 1,100 |
| Languages | |
| Siberian Yupik, Russian, English | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism Christianity (Moravian church and Russian Orthodox Church) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Alutiiq, Central Alaskan Yup'ik | |
They are also known as Siberian or Eskimo (Russian: эскимосы). The name Yuit (юит, plural: юиты) was officially assigned to them in 1931, at the brief time of the campaign of support of Indigenous cultures in the Soviet Union. Their self-designation is Yupighyt (йупигыт) meaning "true people".
Sirenik Eskimos also live in that area, but their extinct language, Sireniki Eskimo, shows many peculiarities among Eskimo languages and is mutually unintelligible with the neighboring Siberian Yupik languages.