Itelmen language

Itelmen
Western Kamchadal, Western Itelmen
итэнмэн
Itənmən
Native toRussia
RegionKamchatka Peninsula
Ethnicity2,596 Itelmens (2021)
Native speakers
808 (2020 census)[1]
Cyrillic script
Language codes
ISO 639-3itl
Glottologitel1242
ELPItelmen
Pre-contact distribution of Itelmen and other Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
Itelmen is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Itelmen (Itelmen: Itənmən[2]) or Western Itelmen, formerly known as Western Kamchadal, is a language of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family spoken on the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Fewer than a hundred native speakers, mostly elderly, in a few settlements in the southwest of Koryak Autonomous Okrug, remained in 1993. The 2021 Census counted 2,596 ethnic Itelmens, virtually all of whom are now monolingual in Russian. However, there are attempts to revive the language,[3] and it is being taught in a number of schools in the region.

(Western) Itelmen is the only surviving Kamchatkan language. It has two dialects, the Southern dialect of Khayryuzovo and the Northern dialect of Sedanka.

  1. ^ Том 5. «Национальный состав и владение языками». Таблица 7. Население наиболее многочисленных национальностей по родному языку
  2. ^ Fortescue, Michael. 2005. Comparative Chukotko–Kamchatkan Dictionary. Trends in Linguistics 23. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  3. ^ "Our Itelmen Language Cannot Be Separated From Our Land | Cultural Survival". www.culturalsurvival.org. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2024-10-05.