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Chaplino Eskimo

Total population of the ethnic group is about 3 000 people. The group is spread over the northern coast of the Bering sea. Approximately 1200 Chaplino speakers live on the Chukchi Peninsula, mainly in three villages: Novoe Chaplino, Sireniki, and Uelkal, as well as in Anadyr and Provideniya. A further estimated 1500 people live in two villages on the St. Lawrence Island (USA), and another 350 Chaplino speakers reside in mainland Alaska, mostly in Nome and Anchorage (Alaska USA) (see additional data in Morgounova Schwalbe 2017).

 

 

The Naukan language

Only elderly people can speak Naukan proficiently, while middle-aged generation mainly consists of so-called semi-speakers (people who have no complete mastery of the language and know it passively: they can understand the language, but do not use it themselves). Young people and children do not know Naukan.