Prosody, Grammar and Discourse in Central Alaskan Yup'ik

Central Alaskan Yup'ik (CAY) is a language of the Eskimo-Aleut family, spoken by around 10,000 people in southwestern Alaska. It is still being learned by children, but fewer are acquiring it every year. The dialect under discussion here is part of what is termed General Central Alaskan Yup'ik, comprising the speech of the Yukon, the Kuskokwim, the upper Kuskokwim, Nelson Island, Bristol Bay, the Nushagak River, and Lake lliamna (Jacobson 1984:28-37). Other Central Alaskan Yup'ik dialects are those of Norton Sound (Unaliq), Hooper Bay-Chevak, and Nunivak Island. Central Yup'ik is most closely related to Siberian Yupik (Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yupik, Naukanski) and Alutiiq (also called Sugpiak, Suk, or Pacific Gulf Yupik). The Yupik languages are related as a group to Inupiaq-Inuit a dialect chain that stretches from Alaska across northern Canada to Greenland. These languages, which comprise the Eskimoan branch of the family, are in turn related to Aleut, spoken on the Aleutian and the Pribilof Islands.