Editing Sirenik language (section)

== Classification ==

=== Genealogical ===

==== External ====
Some argue that the Sirenik language is a remnant of a third group of [[Eskimo language]]s, in addition to [[Yupik languages|Yupik]] and [[Inuit languages|Inuit]] groups<ref name=Vakh-Sir/><ref name=ssipr/>{{sfn|Vakhtin|1998|p=161}}<ref name=icc-ch-lan>{{cite web |script-title=ru:Языки эскимосов |work=ICC Chukotka |publisher=[[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] |language=ru |url=http://www.icc.hotbox.ru/yaziki.htm}}</ref><ref name=men3>[http://www.philology.ru/linguistics4/menovshikov-97a.htm Menovshchikov 1997]</ref> (see a visual representation by tree and an argumentation based on [[comparative linguistics]]<ref name=tree>{{cite web |url=http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/groups/ |author=Gary Holton |title=Alaska Native Language Relationships and Family Trees |publisher=University of Alaska Fairbanks |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429051331/http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/groups/ |archive-date=2011-04-29}}</ref><ref name=complink>{{cite web |url=http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/yupik-inuit/ |author=Lawrence Kaplan |title=Comparative Yupik and Inuit |publisher=University of Alaska Fairbanks |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805204303/http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/yupik-inuit/ |archive-date=2011-08-05}}</ref>). In fact, the exact [[Language family|genealogical classification]] of Sireniki language is not settled yet,<ref name=Vakh-Sir/> and some others regard it belonging to the Yupik branch.<ref name=siryup>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91176 Ethnologue Report for Eskimo–Aleut]</ref>{{sfn|Kaplan|1990|p=136}}

Many words are formed from entirely different [[Root (linguistics)|root]]s to those in Siberian Yupik.{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1964|p=42}} Also, the grammar has several peculiarities compared to other Eskimo languages, and even compared to [[Aleut language|Aleut]]. For example, [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual number]] is not known in Sireniki Eskimo, while most [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]] have dual,{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1964|p=38}} including even its neighboring [[Siberian Yupik language|Siberian Yupik]] relatives.{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1964|p=81}} The peculiarities amounted to mutual unintelligibility with even its nearest language relatives. This forced Sirenik Eskimos to use [[Chukchi language|Chukchi]] as a [[lingua franca]] when speaking with [[Siberian Yupik|neighboring Eskimo peoples]].{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1990|p=70}} Thus, any external contacts required using a different language for Sireniki Eskimos: they either resorted to use of lingua franca, or used [[Siberian Yupik language]]s (being definitely a mutually unintelligible, different language for them, not just a dialect of their own).{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1964|pp=6–7}} This difference from all their language relatives may be the result of a supposed long isolation from other Eskimo groups:{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1962|p=11}}{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1964|p=9}} Sireniki Eskimos may have been in contact only with speakers of unrelated languages for many centuries in the past, influenced especially by non-relative Chukchi.{{sfn|Menovshchikov|1990|p=70}}

==== Internal ====

Although the number of its speakers was very few even at the end of the nineteenth century, the language had at least two [[dialect]]s in the past.{{sfn|Vakhtin|1998|p=162}}

=== Typological ===

As for its [[morphological typology]], it has [[Polysynthetic language|polysynthetic]] and [[Incorporation (linguistics)|incorporative]] features (just like the other Eskimo languages).