Abstracts
Abstract
Merck’s statement about four “Sedentary Chukchi” (Eskimo) languages or language varieties along the coast of Chukotka in 1791 is thoroughly remarkable and worthy of careful interpretation. By his statement of their geographical distribution, the first three languages are very easy to identify, as 1) Sirenikski, 2) Central Siberian Yupik, explicitly including St. Lawrence Island, and 3) Naukanski. Merck’s language number four, “Uwelenski” he claims, startlingly, to be spoken along the Arctic Coast of Chukotka from Uelen as far as Shelagski Cape, 600 miles to the northwest. Serendipitously enough, Merck has 70 or so ”Uwelenski” words of cultural interest transcribed throughout his text. Careful studies of these words by this writer and also by Mikhail Chlenov show that “Uwelenski” is in fact a dialect of Central Siberian Yupik, thus part of a language continuum spoken from St. Lawrence Island to the Chaplino corner and the East coast of Chukotka, thence to the North coast of that mainland, treating Naukan as a “third Diomede” rather than as a mainland interruption. However there is no evidence that language number four, “Uwelenski,” actually a dialect of Merck’s language number two, was spoken beyond Kolyuchin Bay. Beyond that point, however, there was indeed a fourth Eskimo language. The second half of the paper concludes, from at least seven independent sources, that that fourth language was in fact none other than North Alaskan Inupiaq, spoken intermittently in pockets between Kolyuchin and Shelagski Cape, at least since the opening of Russian posts at Kolyma and into the nineteenth century, by north Alaskans from the Point Hope area, who also used Wrangel Island as a stopping place.
Résumé
Ce que constate Merck à propos des quatre langues «tchouktches sédentaires» (Eskimo), ou quatre variétés de langue le long de la côte Tchouktche en 1791, est absolument remarquable et mérite d’être interprété avec soin. Par sa description de leur répartition géographique, il est très facile d’identifier les trois premières langues comme étant 1) le sirenikski, 2) le yupik sibérien central, y compris expressément l’île St Laurent et 3) le naukanski. Étonnament, Merck prétend que sa langue numéro 4, le «Uwelenski», était parlée le long de la côte arctique de la Tchoukotka, depuis Ouelen aussi loin que le cap Tchelagsky, à environ 1000 km (600 milles) au nord-ouest. Assez heureusement, Merck, tout au long de son texte, transcrit quelque 70 mots «Uwelenski» d’intérêt culturel. L’étude méticuleuse de ces mots par l’auteur et par Mikhail Chlenov montre que le «Uwelenski » est en fait un dialecte du Yupik sibérien central, par conséquent une langue parlée en continu depuis l’île St Laurent jusqu’à l'avancée de Chaplino et de la côte est de la Tchoukotka, et de là, jusqu’à la côte nord du continent. Ceci amène à considérer Naukan comme une «troisième Diomède» plutôt que comme une interruption du continent. Cependant, il n’y a pas d’indication que la langue numéro quatre «Uwelenski », en fait un dialecte de la langue numéro deux de Merck, n’ait jamais été parlée au-delà de la baie de Kolioutchine. Au-delà de ce point, pourtant, il y avait bien une quatrième langue eskimo. La deuxième moitié de cet article conclut, à partir d’au moins sept sources indépendantes, que cette quatrième langue était en fait nulle autre que l’inupiaq du nord de l’Alaska, parlé de façon intermittente, par poches, entre Kolioutchine et le cap Tchelagsky, au moins depuis l’établissement des postes russes de la Kolyma jusque dans le 19e siècle par des Nord-Alaskiens (ceux de la région de Point Hope), qui utilisaient aussi l’île Wrangel comme point d’étape.
Appendices
References
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