Alaska Native Languages

About Yupigestun

St. Lawrence Island Yupik (or Central Siberian Yupik) is spoken by about 1,000 people on St. Lawrence Island (Sivuqaq in Yupik). About 90 percent of St. Lawrence Island Yupik people still speak the language, and most children still speak it as a first language. The language is also spoken in Russia, where it is spoken by 300 Yupik people in Eastern Russia. Yuit in Siberia and Alaska have had strong cultural and linguistic ties for centuries. Although those links were strained during the Cold War, Siberian Yupik in Alaska and Russia have been able to reconnect in recent years.