- Sireniki Eskimos
"Sireniki Eskimos" are former speakers of a very peculiar
Eskimo language inSiberia , before they underwent alanguage shift rendering it extinct. The peculiarities of this language among Eskimo languages amount to the extent that it is proposed by some to classify it as a standalone third branch of Eskimo languages (alongside Inuit and Yupik). The totallanguage death of this peculiar remnant means that now thecultural identity of Sireniki Eskimos is maintained through other aspects: slightdialect ical difference in the adoptedSiberian Yupik language; sense of place, [http://classes.uleth.ca/200201/anth3100a/4.student%20pres.overh/Antler/Kirsti-Antler.doc Binns n.d.] : 1] including appreciation of the anciency of their settlement Sireniki.Location
At the beginning of the 20th century, speakers of Sireniki Eskimo language inhabited settlements Sireniki, Imtuk, and some small villages stretching to the west from Sireniki along south-eastern coasts of
Chukchi Peninsula . As early as in 1895, Imtuk was already a settlement with mixed population, Sireniki Eskimos and Ungazigmit [Меновщиков 1964: 7] (the latter belonging toSiberian Yupik ).Language
The
Eskimo population of settlement Сиреники (Sireniki), and a part of the population of the mixed villages nearby used to speak a special variant ofEskimo languages . It has several peculiarities not only among Eskimo languages, but even inside the entire family, thus, even compared to Aleut. For example, it is the only Eskimo-Aleut language that lacks dual number,Меновщиков 1964: 38] even its neighboring Siberian Yupik relatives have dual.Меновщиков 1964: 81] The peculiarities amounted to mutual unintelligibility even with its nearest language relatives.Contacts
The difference of the language (even from its neighboring Eskimo relatives) amounted to the extent that Sireniki Eskimos were forced at a time to use
Chukchi language (an unrelated language) as alingua franca when speaking with neighboring, (linguistically related)Siberian Yupik . [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf Menovshchikov 1990] : 70] Thus, contacts between Sireniki Eskimos and Siberian Yupik meant using a different language for Sireniki Eskimos: they either resorted to use of lingua franca, or usedSiberian Yupik language s (being definitely a different language for them, not just adialect of their own language: they were mutually unintelligible). [Меновщиков 1964: 6–7]Classification
The mere classification of
Sireniki Eskimo language is not settled yet: [http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998] : 161] Sireniki language is sometimes regarded as a third branch of Eskimo (at least, its possibility is mentioned), [http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998] : 161] cite web |title=Языки эскимосов |work=ICC Chukotka |publisher=Inuit Circumpolar Council |language=Russian |url=http://www.icc.hotbox.ru/yaziki.htm] but sometimes it is regarded rather as a group belonging to the Yupik branch. [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91176 Ethnologue Report for Eskimo-Aleut] ] [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf Kaplan 1990] : 136]Language shift
In January 1997 the last native speaker of the language, a woman named Vyie (Valentina Wye) ( _ru. Выйе) died. [http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998] : 162] Linguist List's description about [http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=5548&RequestTimeout=500 Nikolai Vakhtin] 's book: [http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=938 "The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes"] . The author's untransliterated (original) name is “ [http://www.eu.spb.ru/univ/rector/index.htm Н.Б. Вахтин] ”.] [http://www.nsu.ru/ip/ Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири)] — see the [http://www.nsu.ru/ip/eskimos.php section on Eskimos] ] Thus, the language is extinct: nowadays all Sireniki Eskimos speak a
Siberian Yupik language , or Russian.History
Little is known about their history, besides some conjectures based on linguistical consideration. Sireniki Eskimo culture has been influenced by that of Chukchi (witnessed also by folktale motifsМеновщиков 1964: 132] ).
Location
Sireniki is an old settlement, it has existed at least for 2500 years. It is the only Eskimo village in Siberia that has not been relocated, not even during the assimilation policy. This fact is a part of establishing recent
cultural identity of Sireniki Eskimos (while their former, rather peculiar own language cannot be any more a living factor for that).Diachronic linguistics
Little is known about the history of
Sireniki Eskimo language . According to a supposition, the peculiarities of Sireniki Eskimo language may be the result of a supposed long isolation from otherEskimo groups, [Меновщиков 1962: 11] [Меновщиков 1964: 9] being in contact only with speakers of unrelated languages for many centuries. Influence byChukchi language is clear.There are evidences that this small language had at least two territorial
dialect s in the past, although the number of its speakers was very few even at the end of the XIXth century.Cultural identity
The total
language death ofSireniki Eskimo language means that now thecultural identity of Sireniki Eskimos is maintained through other aspects:
* Some of these factors are still of linguistic nature. Although during thelanguage shift the language of Ungazigmit (one ofSiberian Yupik language s) has been adopted, but they speak it with some variation, making adialect .
* Younger generations do not speak any Eskimo language (neither that of Ungazigmit), they speak Russian. But the cultural identity is maintained not only through linguistic factors, there is also a "sense of place" concerning their village. Sireniki is the only Eskimo settlement in Siberia that has not been relocated, [cite web |last=Aynana |first=Lyudmila Ivanovna |title=“Yupik” Society |publisher=Indigenous Peoples of the Russian North, Siberia and Far East |url=http://www.npolar.no/ansipra/english/items/Yupik_Society.html] thus it has preserved its 2500 year long anciency.The cultural identity of other ethnic groups living in Sireniki settlement has been researched as well. [Kerttula 2000]
Spiritual culture
Folklore
Animals
In their folklore, we can find the motif of the benevolent
spider :
* In many tales, the spider saves the protagonist from peril with its cobweb, capable of lifting the endangered hero up to the sky. [Меновщиков 1964: "161–162", 163 (= 165)] The same motif is present also inSiberian Yupik folklore.Menovščikov 1968: 440–441] [Рубцова 1954, tale 13, sentences (173)–(235)]
* The spider is a benevolent creature also in another Sireniki Eskimo tale, where she (personified as an old woman) desires the gift of eternal life for people: old age followed byrejuvenation . In this question, the spider is standing in debate with thebeetle : the latter proposes, that human life should end in death. [Меновщиков 1964: 167]Also some other animals can be presented in folklore as helpers of people:
loon ,fox ,wolf ,mouse ,deer . As for malevolent powers,devil s (IPA|/tunʁaki/) belong to such dangers, they can feature in the shape of human, animal or fantastic beings. As mentioned,beetle can be presented as malevolent for people. [Меновщиков 1964: 132] Folklore can feature man fighting with a bigworm .Меновщиков 1964: № 12 (39)–(43), (64)]Space and time
Mythology of this culture can reveal some beliefs about time and space.Меновщиков 1964: 153]
Temporal dilation motif
There is a motif in some Paleoasiatic cultures: wandering people, after a long absence, observe that they have remained young compared to their children who remained at home. Sireniki Eskimos have such a tale as well: the protagonist, returning home after a long travel, must face with the fact that his son has become an old man (while he himself remained young).
More familiar examples of folklore from the world presenting such kind of temporal dilation motifs:
Urashima Taro and (without remaining young)Rip Van Winkle .Celestial motifs
Another tale presents the sky as an upper world where people can get to and return from, and experience adventures there: [Меновщиков 1964: 153–156 (= № 12)] communicate with people living there, [Меновщиков 1964: № 12 (15)–(40)] kill a big
worm , observe the earth from up there through a hole, [Меновщиков 1964: № 12 (73–(74)] descend back to the earth. [Меновщиков 1964: № 12 (76)]Magic
Several Eskimo peoples had beliefs in usage of
amulet s, formulae (spells, charms). [Kleivan & Sonne 1985: 8–10, Plate I–III, XII, XLIIIa] Furthermore, several peoples living in more or less isolated groups (including many Eskimo ones) understand natural phenomena on a personal level: there are imagined beings resembling to human but differing as well. [Kleivan & Sonne 1985: 6] As for Sireniki Eskimos, in one of their tales, we find the motif of the effective calling of natural phenomena for help in danger: aneagle is pursuing people on the ice, and a woman begins to talk about calling wind and frost, then at once the river freezes in, and the eagle freezes onto the ice. [Меновщиков 1964: 144 = № 8 (207)–(209)]Some tale examples
Only their short summaries follow. Quotation marks refer not to literate citation, they just separate remarks from tale summaries.
Cormorants
An animal tale, taking place on a cliff near the so-called "fast-ice edge", [ [http://web.dmi.dk/pub/GDSIDB_mirror/glossary/glos_21_2.htm English-Russian glossary of the sea-ice terms] : item “fast-ice edge” (= “кромка питая”)] narrating a conflict between a
cormorant and araven family. The raven wants to steal and eat a child of the a cormorant pair by deceit, but one of the cormorants notices the trick and turns it against the raven so that the robber eats its own child unknowing.Меновщиков 1964: 109–111 (= № 1, titled IPA|/paˈɣɨ l̥ɨˈɣij/ i.e. “cormorants”)]Yari
:"The sample of a
loon 's cry is just an illustration. It is not linked to any ethnographic record, it is only of ethological relevance."This tale shows
Chukchi people influence, moreover, it may be a direct borrowing. It is an example of the “ [domesticated] reindeer”genre , presenting conflicts among different groups for seizing reindeer herds. The tale features also magical animal helpers (thewolf and the diver).Меновщиков 1964: 132 (= № 6 IPA|/ˈjari/, footnote)]Cousins
A Chukchi tale contains almost the same series of motifs (except for the incest and the infanticide at the beginning). The Chukchi tale begins with the girl's finding a skull "incidentally". Besides that, in the Chukchi tale, the girl, just after having been abandoned by her parents, begins to accuse the skull and push it with her feet rudely. And on the visit of her returning parents, she seemingly forgives them, but kills them by deceit. [http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/28/1/M12Pt01.pdf Bogoraz 1910] : 28–34]
A related tale has been collected also among Ungazigmit (belonging to
Siberian Yupik ). Like the Sireniki variant, also the Ungazigmi one begins with the incest of cousins and the following infanticide, but it is the father of the girl who wants to kill her own daughter, and the father of the boy persuades him to kill the boy instead. At the end of the tale, the girl shows no sign of revenge, and it is the boy who initiates something that petrifies the parents (literally). [Рубцова 1954: 329–337 (= tale № 28)]Man with two wives
The author mentions the time dilation motif (mentioned above), present among several Paleoasian peoples. The text of the tale itself does not contain a direct mentioning of time dilation caused by travel or absence: the protagonist's remaining young seems to be rather the result of a bless, spoken by the old man the protagonist has saved.Меновщиков 1964: № 10 (129) (original Sireniki: p. 150; Russian translation: p. 153)]
Man
The same or similar motifs can be found also among Ungazigmit, moreover, an Ungazigmi tale extends the story with the further life of the girl after having been pulled up to the sky by the benevolent spider.Рубцова 1954: 196]
Taboo
Like several other Eskimo groups, the inhabitants of Sireniki had beliefs prohibiting certain activities, that were thought to be disadvantageous in a magical way. Carrying an uncovered drum on the street was thought to trigger stormy weather. Bad weather was the supposed effect of burning seaweed on campfire, too. A great deal of the
taboo s (like several other beliefs) were thought to serve chances of survival and sustenance, securing abundance of game. Several of them restricted the exploitation of resources (game). [Menovščikov 1968: 446]Shamanhood
Like Eskimo cultures themselves, examples of shamanhood among Eskimo peoples can be diverse and far from alike.
In a period, shamanism was prohibited by authorities, still, some knowledge about shamanistic practices survived. [http://classes.uleth.ca/200201/anth3100a/4.student%20pres.overh/Antler/Loralie-Antler.doc Berte n.d.] : 2] The last shaman in Sireniki died a decade before 2000, since then there is no shaman in the village. [http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/3024.html##10 York 1999] ] Earlier in the 20th century, shamanistic practices could be observed by scholars in Sireniki, [Menovščikov 1968: 442] and also a folklore (tale) text mentions a feast that cold possibly include shamanistic features. [Меновщиков 1964: 161, sentence 128]
Present and near past
Sireniki faces unemployment, alcoholism, poverty. Supply of the settlement has problems. There is scarcity of medicaments.
Some traditional economic skills have been preserved to the best amount in Sireniki (compared to other Asiatic Eskimo settlements), for example the skills to manifacture the large type of skin boats, [ [http://www.nps.gov/akso/AKParkScience/Winter2004/final_1.pdf Callaway 2003 (Slice I)] : 6] [http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Asiatic-Eskimos-Economy.html Asiatic Eskimos — Economy] ] similar to those called "angyapik" among
Siberian Yupik , andumiak among many other Eskimo peoples.Notes
References
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* Note that term “Inuit” is used here in an extended sense.Cyrillic
* The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: cite book |last=Menovshchikov |first=G. A. |title=Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos. Vol. I. |publisher=Academy of Sciences of the USSR |location=Moscow • Leningrad |year=1962
* The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: cite book |last=Menovshchikov |first=G. A. |title=Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary |publisher=Academy of Sciences of the USSR |location=Moscow • Leningrad |year=1964
* The transliteration of author's name, and the rendering of title in English: cite book |last=Rubcova |first=E. S. |title=Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect |publisher=Academy of Sciences of the USSR |location=Moscow • Leningrad |year=1954External links
* Rendering in English: "Sireniki settlement",
Kunstkamera ,Russian Academy of Sciences .
* Enlarged versions of the above series, select with the navigation arrows or the form.
* Rendering in English: "Imtuk settlement",Kunstkamera ,Russian Academy of Sciences .
* Enlarged versions of the above series, select with the navigation arrows or the form.
* Rendering in English: "Eskimos and maritime Chukchi aboutGreenland whale ", Biodiversity Conservation Center.
* Note that term “Inuit” is used here in an extended sense.
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