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They were also known as '''Siberian [[Eskimo]]''' or '''Yupiks'''. 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]].
They were also known as '''Siberian [[Eskimo]]''' or '''Yupiks'''. 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]].


Also [[Sireniki Eskimos]] live in that area, but the classification of their former language is not settled yet: it is either classified as belonging to the Yupik branch,<ref name=siryup>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91176 Ethnologue Report for Eskimo-Aleut]</ref> or as a standalonere third branch of Eskimo languages.<ref name=tree>Representing genealogical relations of (among others) Eskimo-Aleut languages by tree: [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/groups.html Alaska Native Languages] (found on the site of [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/index.html Alaska Native Language Center])</ref><ref name=complink>[http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/yupik_inuit.html Lawrence Kaplan: Comparative Yupik and Inuit] (found on the site of [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/index.html Alaska Native Language Center])</ref><ref name=Vakh-Sir>Linguist List's description about [http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=5548&RequestTimeout=500 Nikolai Vakhtin]'s book: [http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=938 ''The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes'']. The author's untransliterated (original) name is “[http://www.eu.spb.ru/univ/rector/index.htm Н.Б. Вахтин]”.</ref><ref name=Vakh-End>[http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka] by Nikolai Vakhtin</ref> [[Sireniki Eskimo language]] has recently become [[Extinct language|extinct]], after a long [[language shift]] in favor for [[Russian language|Russian]] and Siberian Yupik, ending in total [[language death]] of their former language.
Also [[Sireniki Eskimos]] live in that area, but their former languge shows many peculiarities, it is even mutually unintelligible with the neighboring Siberian Yupik languages. In the past, Sireniki Eskimos has to resort using [[Chukchi language|Chukchi)]] (an unrelated language) as [[lingua franca]] for communication with their own language relatives.<ref name=linfranc>[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf Menovshchikov 1990]: 70</ref> The mere classification of [[Sireniki Eskimo language]] is not settled yet: it is either classified as belonging to the Yupik branch,<ref name=siryup>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91176 Ethnologue Report for Eskimo-Aleut]</ref> or as a standalonere third branch of Eskimo languages.<ref name=tree>Representing genealogical relations of (among others) Eskimo-Aleut languages by tree: [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/groups.html Alaska Native Languages] (found on the site of [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/index.html Alaska Native Language Center])</ref><ref name=complink>[http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/yupik_inuit.html Lawrence Kaplan: Comparative Yupik and Inuit] (found on the site of [http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/index.html Alaska Native Language Center])</ref><ref name=Vakh-Sir>Linguist List's description about [http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=5548&RequestTimeout=500 Nikolai Vakhtin]'s book: [http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=938 ''The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes'']. The author's untransliterated (original) name is “[http://www.eu.spb.ru/univ/rector/index.htm Н.Б. Вахтин]”.</ref><ref name=Vakh-End>[http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka] by Nikolai Vakhtin</ref> [[Sireniki Eskimo language]] has recently become [[Extinct language|extinct]], after a long [[language shift]] in favor for [[Russian language|Russian]] and Siberian Yupik, ending in total [[language death]] of their former language.


== Material culture ==
== Material culture ==

Revision as of 11:51, 26 November 2007

For the language, see Siberian Yupik language.

Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits, are indigenous 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.

They were also known as Siberian Eskimo or Yupiks. 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.

Also Sireniki Eskimos live in that area, but their former languge shows many peculiarities, it is even mutually unintelligible with the neighboring Siberian Yupik languages. In the past, Sireniki Eskimos has to resort using Chukchi) (an unrelated language) as lingua franca for communication with their own language relatives.[1] The mere classification of Sireniki Eskimo language is not settled yet: it is either classified as belonging to the Yupik branch,[2] or as a standalonere third branch of Eskimo languages.[3][4][5][6] Sireniki Eskimo language has recently become extinct, after a long language shift in favor for Russian and Siberian Yupik, ending in total language death of their former language.

Material culture

Traditional crafts

The Siberian Yupik on St. Lawrence Island live in the villages of Savoonga and Gambell, and are widely known for their skillful carvings of walrus ivory and whale bone, as well as the baleen of bowhead whales. These even include some “moving sculptures” with complicated pulleys animating scenes such as walrus hunting or traditional dances.

Spiritual culture

Shamanism

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Many Eskimo cultures had persons acting as mediator (between human and beings of the belief system, among others) — usually termed as “shamans” in the literature. As Eskimo cultures were far from homogenity (although had some similarities), thus also shamanism among Eskimo peoples had many variants.

Siberian Yupiks had shamans as well.[7][8] Ungazigmit people (the largest of Siberian Yupik variants) had /aˈliɣnalʁi/s, who received presents for the shamanizing, healing. This payment had a special name, /aˈkiliːɕaq/ — in their language, there were many words for the different kinds of presents and payments and this was one of them.[9] (The many kinds of presents and the words designating them were related to the culture: fests, marriage etc.[9]; or made such fine distinctions like “thing, given to someone who has none”, “thing, given, not begged for”, “thing, given to someone as to anybody else”, “thing, given for exchange” etc.[10]).

Amulets

Amulets could be manifested in many forms, and could protect the person wearing them or the entire family, and there were also hunting amulets. Some examples:

  • a head of raven hanging on the entrance of the house, functioning as a familiar amulet[11];
  • figures carved out of stone in shape of walrus head or dog head, worn as individual amulets;[12]
  • hunting amulets were attached to something or worn.[13] About the effige of orca on the tools of the marine hunter[8], see the beliefs concerning this peculiar marine mammal below.

Concepts about the animal world around them

The orca, wolf,[14][15][8] raven, spider,[16] whale,[17][18] were revered animals. Also folklore (e.g. tale) examples show that: for example a spider saves the life of a girl.[16][19] The motif of spider as a benevolent personage, saving people from peril with its cobweb, lifting them up to the sky in danger, is present also in many tales of Sireniki Eskimoss[20] (as mentioned, their exact classification inside Eskimo peoples is not settled yet).

It was thought that the prey of the marine hunt could return to the sea and become a complete animal again. That is why they did not break the bones, only cut them at the joints.[21]

Orca and wolf

In the tales and beliefs of this people, wolf and orca are thought to be identical: orca can become a wolf or vice versa. In winter, they appear in the form of wolf, in summer, in the form of orca.[14][15][8] Orca was believed to help people in hunting on the sea — thus the boat represented the image of this animal, and the orca's wooden representation hang also from the hunter's belt[8]. Also small sacrifices could be given to orcas: tobacco was thrown into the sea for them, because they were thought to help the sea hunter in driving walrus.[22]

Whale

It is thought that during the hunt only those people who have been selected by the spirit of the sea could kill the whale. The hunter has to please the killed whale: it must be treated as a guest. Just like a polite host does not leave a recently arrived dear guest alone, thus similarly, the killed whale should not be left alone by the host (i.e. by the hunter who has killed it). Like a guest, it should not get hurt or feel sad. It must be entertained (e.g. by drum music, good foods). On the next whale migration (whales migrate twice a year, in spring to the north and in the autumn back), the previously killed whale is sent off back to the sea in the course of a farewell ritual. If the killed whale was pleased to (during its being a guest for a half year), then it can be hoped that it will return later, too: thus, also the future whale hunts will succeed.[18][17]

Celestial concepts

In a tale, the sky seems to be imagined arching as a vault. Celestial bodies form holes in it: beyond this vault, there is an especially light space.[23]

References

Latin

  • Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
  • Menovščikov, G. A. (= Меновщиков, the same author as at the Cyrillic part) (1968). "Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes". In Diószegi, Vilmos (ed.). Popular beliefs and folklore tradition in Siberia. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • de Reuse, Willem J. (1994). Siberian Yupik Eskimo: The language and its contacts with Chukchi. Studies in indigenous languages of the Americas. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-397-7.

Cyrillic

  • Меновщиков, Г. А. (1962). Грамматиκа языка азиатских эскимосов. Часть первая. Москва • Ленинград,: Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: Menovshchikov, G. A. (1962). Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos. Vol. I. Moscow • Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
  • Меновщиков, Г. А. (1964). Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь. Москва • Ленинград,: Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: Menovshchikov, G. A. (1964). Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary. Moscow • Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
  • Рубцова, Е. С. (1954). Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Москва • Ленинград,: Академия Наук СССР.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: Rubcova, E. S. (1954). Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Moscow • Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Notes

  1. ^ Menovshchikov 1990: 70
  2. ^ Ethnologue Report for Eskimo-Aleut
  3. ^ Representing genealogical relations of (among others) Eskimo-Aleut languages by tree: Alaska Native Languages (found on the site of Alaska Native Language Center)
  4. ^ Linguist List's description about Nikolai Vakhtin's book: The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes. The author's untransliterated (original) name is “Н.Б. Вахтин”.
  5. ^ Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka by Nikolai Vakhtin
  6. ^ Menovščikov 1968:442
  7. ^ a b c d e Духовная культура (Spiritual culture), subsection of Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири) — see the section on Eskimos
  8. ^ a b Рубцова 1954:173
  9. ^ Рубцова 1954:62
  10. ^ Рубцова 1954:380
  11. ^ Рубцова 1954:380,551–552
  12. ^ Рубцова 1954:380
  13. ^ a b Рубцова 1954:156 (see tale The orphan boy with his sister)
  14. ^ a b Menovščikov 1968:439,441
  15. ^ a b Menovščikov 1968:440–441
  16. ^ a b Menovščikov 1968:439–440
  17. ^ a b Рубцова 1954:218
  18. ^ Рубцова 1954, tale 13, sentences (173)–(235)
  19. ^ Меновщиков 1964: 161–162, 163 (= 165)
  20. ^ Рубцова 1954:379
  21. ^ Template:Ru icon A radio interview with Russian scientists about Asian Eskimos
  22. ^ Рубцова 1954:196

Further reading

  • Krupnik, Igor, and Nikolay Vakhtin. 1997. "Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Culture: Siberian Yupik Ecological Legacy in Transition". Arctic Anthropology. 34, no. 1: 236.

See also

And also Эскимосы (Eskimos) from Russian Wikipedia.

Old photos:

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