Yupik
Encyclopedia
The Yupik are a group of indigenous or aboriginal
peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska
and the Russian Far East
. They include the Central Alaskan Yup'ik people of the Yukon
-Kuskokwim
delta, the Kuskokwim River
, and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay
as far east as Nushagak Bay
and the northern Alaska Peninsula
at Naknek River
and Egegik Bay in Alaska; the Alutiiq
(or Sugpiaq) of the Alaska Peninsula
and coastal and island areas of southcentral Alaska; and the Siberian Yupik people
of the Russian Far East
and St. Lawrence Island
in western Alaska. They are Eskimo
and are related to the Inuit
.
They are one of the four Yupik peoples of Alaska and Siberia
, closely related to the Alutiiq
(Pacific Yupik) of southcentral Alaska, the Siberian Yupik
of St. Lawrence Island and Russian Far East, and the Naukan of Russian Far East. The Yupiit speak the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
. The people of Nunivak Island
, speakers of the Nunivak Island dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik, call themselves Cup'ig (plural Cup'it); the people of Hooper Bay
and Chevak
, speakers of the Hooper Bay-Chevak dialect, call themselves Cup'ik (plural Cup'it).
The Central Alaskan Yupik who live on Nunivak Island
call themselves Cup'ig (plural Cup'it). Those who live in the village of Chevak
call themselves Cup'ik (plural Cup'it).
groups and speak the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
, a member of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Yupik population in the United States
numbered over 24,000, of whom over 22,000 lived in Alaska, the vast majority in the seventy or so communities in the traditional Yup'ik territory of western and southwestern Alaska.
The use of an apostrophe in the name “Yup’ik”, compared to Siberian “Yupik,” exemplifies the Central Yup’ik’s orthography, where “the apostrophe represents gemination [or lengthening] of the ‘p’ sound”.
and seal.
The men's communal house, the qasgiq, was the community center for ceremonies and festivals which included singing, dancing, and storytelling
. The qasgiq was used mainly in the winter months, because people would travel in family groups following food sources throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. Aside from ceremonies and festivals, it was also where the men taught the young boys survival and hunting skills, as well as other life lessons. The young boys were also taught how to make tools and qayaqs (kayaks) during the winter months in the qasgiq. The ceremonies involve a shaman.
The women's house, the ena, was traditionally right next door, and in some areas they were connected by a tunnel. Women taught the young girls how to sew, cook, and weave. Boys would live with their mothers until they were about five years old, then they would live in the qasgiq. Each winter, from anywhere between three to six weeks, the young boys and young girls would switch, with the men teaching the girls survival and hunting skills and toolmaking and the women teaching the boys how to sew and cook.
In Yup'ik group dances individuals often remain stationary while moving their upper body and arms rhythmically, their gestures accentuated by hand held dance fans very similar to Cherokee dance fans. The limited motion by no means limits the expressiveness of the dances, which can be gracefully flowing, bursting with energy, or wryly humorous.
The Yup'ik are unique among native peoples of the Americas in that children are named after the last person in the community to have died.
, arriving in the Bering Sea area about 10,000 years ago. Research on blood types suggests that the ancestors of American Indians
reached North America
before the ancestors of the Eskimos and Aleuts, and that there were several waves of migration from Siberia to the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge
. which became exposed between 20,000 and 8,000 years ago during periods of glaciation. By about 3,000 years ago the progenitors of the Yupiit had settled along the coastal areas of what would become western Alaska, with migrations up the coastal rivers—notably the Yukon
and Kuskokwim
—around 1400 C.E., eventually reaching as far upriver as Paimiut on the Yukon and Crow Village
on the Kuskokwim.
s (related to Inuktitut
) are still very widely spoken, with more than 75% of the Yupik/Yup'ik population fluent in the language.
The Alaskan and Siberian Yupik, like the Alaskan Inupiat, adopted the system of writing developed by Moravian Church missionaries during the 1760s in Greenland
. The Alaskan Yupik and Inupiat are the only Northern indigenous peoples to have developed their own system of hieroglyphics, a system that died with its inventors.
Through a confusion among Russian explorers in the 1800s, the Yupik people bordering the territory of the somewhat unrelated Aleuts were erroneously called Aleuts, or Alutiiq
, in Yupik. This term has remained in use to the present day, along with another term, Sugpiaq, which both refer to the Yupik of Southcentral Alaska and Kodiak.
The whole Eskimo–Aleut family, and also all Alaskan languages are shown. Available online. Here is a wikified version of the mentioned tree (restricted to the Eskimo–Aleut family):
Some differences may exist in the terminology or in the details of the classification in comparison to the main article
.
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
. They include the Central Alaskan Yup'ik people of the Yukon
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
-Kuskokwim
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
delta, the Kuskokwim River
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
, and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...
as far east as Nushagak Bay
Nushagak Bay
Nushagak Bay is a large estuary covering over 100 km2 in southwest part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It opens to Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the eastern Bering Sea north of the Alaska Peninsula....
and the northern Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
at Naknek River
Naknek River
Naknek River is a 56-km-long river in the Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows westward from Naknek Lake, draining it into the Kvichak Bay arm of Bristol Bay...
and Egegik Bay in Alaska; the Alutiiq
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq , also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further...
(or Sugpiaq) of the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
and coastal and island areas of southcentral Alaska; and the Siberian Yupik people
Siberian Yupik
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 , a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.They were also...
of the Russian Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
and St. Lawrence Island
St. Lawrence Island
St. Lawrence Island is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait, at about 63°30' North 173°20' West. The village of Gambell is located on the northwest cape, from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. The island is part of Alaska, but closer to...
in western Alaska. They are Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
and are related to the Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
.
They are one of the four Yupik peoples of Alaska and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, closely related to the Alutiiq
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq , also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further...
(Pacific Yupik) of southcentral Alaska, the Siberian Yupik
Siberian Yupik
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 , a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.They were also...
of St. Lawrence Island and Russian Far East, and the Naukan of Russian Far East. The Yupiit speak the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
Central Alaskan Yup'ik or just Yup'ik is a Yupik language of the Eskimo language family, in turn a member of the Eskimo–Aleut language group, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska. Both in ethnic population and in number of speakers, Central Alaskan Yup'ik is the largest of the languages...
. The people of Nunivak Island
Nunivak Island
Nunivak Island , the second largest island in the Bering Sea, is a permafrost-covered volcanic island lying about 30 miles offshore from the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers in the state of Alaska, at about 60° North latitude...
, speakers of the Nunivak Island dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik, call themselves Cup'ig (plural Cup'it); the people of Hooper Bay
Hooper Bay, Alaska
Hooper Bay or Naparyarmiut is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 1,014. The Boards of Canada EP Hooper Bay was named after the city....
and Chevak
Chevak, Alaska
Chevak is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 765....
, speakers of the Hooper Bay-Chevak dialect, call themselves Cup'ik (plural Cup'it).
The Central Alaskan Yupik who live on Nunivak Island
Nunivak Island
Nunivak Island , the second largest island in the Bering Sea, is a permafrost-covered volcanic island lying about 30 miles offshore from the delta of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers in the state of Alaska, at about 60° North latitude...
call themselves Cup'ig (plural Cup'it). Those who live in the village of Chevak
Chevak, Alaska
Chevak is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 765....
call themselves Cup'ik (plural Cup'it).
Population
The Central Alaskan Yupik are by far the most numerous of the various Alaska NativeAlaska Natives
Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...
groups and speak the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
Central Alaskan Yup'ik or just Yup'ik is a Yupik language of the Eskimo language family, in turn a member of the Eskimo–Aleut language group, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska. Both in ethnic population and in number of speakers, Central Alaskan Yup'ik is the largest of the languages...
, a member of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Yupik population in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
numbered over 24,000, of whom over 22,000 lived in Alaska, the vast majority in the seventy or so communities in the traditional Yup'ik territory of western and southwestern Alaska.
Etymology of name
Yup'ik (plural Yupiit) comes from the Yup'ik word yuk meaning "person" plus the post-base -pik meaning "real" or "genuine." Thus, it means literally "real people." The ethnographic literature sometimes refers to the Yup'ik people or their language as Yuk or Yuit. In the Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunivak dialects of Yup'ik, both the language and the people are given the name Cup'ik.The use of an apostrophe in the name “Yup’ik”, compared to Siberian “Yupik,” exemplifies the Central Yup’ik’s orthography, where “the apostrophe represents gemination [or lengthening] of the ‘p’ sound”.
Culture
Traditionally, families spent the spring and summer at fish camp, then joined with others at village sites for the winter. Many families still harvest the traditional subsistence resources, especially salmonSalmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
and seal.
The men's communal house, the qasgiq, was the community center for ceremonies and festivals which included singing, dancing, and storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
. The qasgiq was used mainly in the winter months, because people would travel in family groups following food sources throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. Aside from ceremonies and festivals, it was also where the men taught the young boys survival and hunting skills, as well as other life lessons. The young boys were also taught how to make tools and qayaqs (kayaks) during the winter months in the qasgiq. The ceremonies involve a shaman.
In Yup'ik group dances individuals often remain stationary while moving their upper body and arms rhythmically, their gestures accentuated by hand held dance fans very similar to Cherokee dance fans. The limited motion by no means limits the expressiveness of the dances, which can be gracefully flowing, bursting with energy, or wryly humorous.
The Yup'ik are unique among native peoples of the Americas in that children are named after the last person in the community to have died.
Origins
The common ancestors of Eskimos and Aleuts (as well as various Paleo-Siberian groups) are believed by archaeologists to have their origin in eastern SiberiaSiberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, arriving in the Bering Sea area about 10,000 years ago. Research on blood types suggests that the ancestors of American Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
reached North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
before the ancestors of the Eskimos and Aleuts, and that there were several waves of migration from Siberia to the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge
Bering land bridge
The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles wide at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages. Like most of Siberia and all of Manchuria, Beringia was not glaciated because snowfall was extremely light...
. which became exposed between 20,000 and 8,000 years ago during periods of glaciation. By about 3,000 years ago the progenitors of the Yupiit had settled along the coastal areas of what would become western Alaska, with migrations up the coastal rivers—notably the Yukon
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
and Kuskokwim
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...
—around 1400 C.E., eventually reaching as far upriver as Paimiut on the Yukon and Crow Village
Crow Village, Alaska
Crow Village is an unincorporated village on the Kuskokwim River in the U.S. state of Alaska. There are currently six residents. As of the 2010 census, it will become a Census Designated Place .- Geography :...
on the Kuskokwim.
Languages
The five Yupik languageYupik language
The Yupik languages are the several distinct languages of the several Yupik peoples of western and southcentral Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that speakers of different ones cannot understand each other, although they may understand the general...
s (related to Inuktitut
Inuktitut
Inuktitut or Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, Eastern Canadian Inuit language is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada...
) are still very widely spoken, with more than 75% of the Yupik/Yup'ik population fluent in the language.
The Alaskan and Siberian Yupik, like the Alaskan Inupiat, adopted the system of writing developed by Moravian Church missionaries during the 1760s in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. The Alaskan Yupik and Inupiat are the only Northern indigenous peoples to have developed their own system of hieroglyphics, a system that died with its inventors.
Through a confusion among Russian explorers in the 1800s, the Yupik people bordering the territory of the somewhat unrelated Aleuts were erroneously called Aleuts, or Alutiiq
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq , also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further...
, in Yupik. This term has remained in use to the present day, along with another term, Sugpiaq, which both refer to the Yupik of Southcentral Alaska and Kodiak.
The whole Eskimo–Aleut family, and also all Alaskan languages are shown. Available online. Here is a wikified version of the mentioned tree (restricted to the Eskimo–Aleut family):
- Eskimo–Aleut
- AleutAleut languageAleut is a language of the Eskimo–Aleut language family. It is the heritage language of the Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, and Commander Islands. As of 2007 there were about 150 speakers of Aleut .- Dialects :Aleut is alone with the Eskimo languages in the...
- EskimoEskimoEskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
- (Yupik)
- AlutiiqAlutiiq languageThe Alutiiq language is a close relative to the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language spoken in the western and southwestern Alaska, but is considered a distinct language...
- Central Alaskan Yup'ikCentral Alaskan Yup'ik languageCentral Alaskan Yup'ik or just Yup'ik is a Yupik language of the Eskimo language family, in turn a member of the Eskimo–Aleut language group, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska. Both in ethnic population and in number of speakers, Central Alaskan Yup'ik is the largest of the languages...
- Naukan
- Siberian YupikSiberian Yupik languageSiberian Yupik is one of the four Yupik languages:* Central Siberian Yupik,...
(Yuit)
- Alutiiq
- Sirenik
- InuitInuitThe Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
- (Yupik)
- Aleut
Some differences may exist in the terminology or in the details of the classification in comparison to the main article
Yupik language
The Yupik languages are the several distinct languages of the several Yupik peoples of western and southcentral Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The Yupik languages differ enough from one another that speakers of different ones cannot understand each other, although they may understand the general...
.
External links
- Alaska Native Language Center
- the genealogical tree
- the distribution map of Yupik languages.
- Project Naming, the identification of Inuit portrayed in photographic collections at Library and Archives Canada