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It is generally believed that if the languages of indigenous peoples of Siberia are preserved anywhere, it would be within the spheres of traditional environmental management: reindeer husbandry, hunting, fishing, etc. However, among Yupik communities in coastal Chukotka, another domain where the Yupik language remains in use is the religious (ritual) sphere—in particular, in various practices for communicating with the spirits of ancestors. This article focuses on Yupik spells, and, more broadly, the Yupik language in a modern ritual context. This allows us to identify and reflect on some characteristic features of the indigenous ritual space that are often insufficiently discussed in ethnographic literature: secrecy and indeterminacy. In addition, the article raises key issues surrounding family memory and heritage as well as the (dis)continuity of ritual knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chaplinski Yupik (also often referred to as Siberian Yupik), a critically endangered Eskimo language spoken on the Bering coast in the north-eastern Siberia, shows numerous traces of language contact with Chukchi. A striking example is Chaplinski Yupik personal names, a significant part of which have Chukchi origin. In this study Chaplinski Yupik names are analyzed based on the genealogies of Chaplinski Yupik people compiled in 1970–1980s. The article focuses on phonological and grammatical adaptation of Chukchi names in Chaplinski Yupik. The case of personal names clearly reflects the history of Chukchi-Yupik language contact in the area – from an asymmetrical contact situation (the knowledge of Chukchi was common among Yupik speakers but not vice versa) and regarding Chukchi as a more prestigious language to a gradual loss of Chukchi-Yupik bilingualism by the end of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to canonical noun incorporation, Chukchi exhibits other kinds of incorporating morphology that are consistent with polysynthesis but have seldom been considered as part of a unified morphological phenomenon. This paper examines different patterns of incorporation in Chukchi across time and asks: what are the useful loci of variation for typological comparison, how do these distinct patterns emerge diachronically, and how do these features spread in contact? I consider the existing documentation of Chukchi from the early 20th century through the present, including modern data which exhibits some novel patterns. Consistent with previous investigations of Chukchi in contact (Bogoras, 1922; de Reuse, 1994; Pupynina and Aralova, 2021), I demonstrate that the effects Chukchi has had on other languages is greater than the reverse: many morphological phenomena in Chukchi are internally-motivated and emerge from speakers' reliance on incorporation as a discourse strategy. Specifically, I provide a unified analysis of incorporation across the nominal and verbal domains, valency-changing derivational morphology, and inflectional morphology built on the morpheme - in(e) , which I argue functions as a generic underspecified noun in the language. In the realm of language contact, I propose a cline to model patterns in the borrowing of derivational phenomena like incorporation, and present shared patterns in Chukchi, Central Siberian Yupik, and Even which support this cline. Finally, I examine data from Chukchi as it is spoken today and argue that the historical linguistic ecology of northeastern Siberia has made it possible for incorporation to remain highly productive even with significant shift to Russian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review of the traditional narratives of the indigenous people of the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas identifies major genres, motifs, plots, and subjects found in Siberian Yupik, Chukchi, Kerek, Koryak, and Itelmen narrative folklore, as well as specific features of the folklore of each of the peoples of the Chukotka-Kamchatka region. In addition to discussing the subjects and motifs found in the narrative tales from Chukotka and Kamchatka, the article reviews developments surrounding the typology and classification of oral traditions of the indigenous cultures of the region and the overall value of the tales as a prehistoric and ethnographic source. This survey will be of interest to those fond of traditional narratives of the Russian Far East, as well as to specialists interested in comparative-typological research of oral narratives in anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is on different adaptations of Christianity by the northern indigenous peoples of Russia in the early Soviet period. We shall examine the community of Yup'ik Eskimo maritime hunters who experimented with Christian ritual forms in order to overcome the crisis caused by the intrusion of the Soviets. Naukan Yup'ik developed a Christian-influenced ritualistic practice to fight back against growing pressure from the Soviets. We propose that the spiritual developments of this community on the edge of Siberia were tightly related to changing economic, social and political conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Études Inuit Studies is the property of Centre interuniversitaire d'etudes et de recherches autochtones (CIERA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Études Inuit Studies is the property of Centre interuniversitaire d'etudes et de recherches autochtones (CIERA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)