Nunivak Cupʼig language


Nunivak Cup'ig or just Cup'ig is a language or separate dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska at the Nunivak Island by Nunivak Cup'ig people. The letter "c" in the Yup’ik alphabet is equivalent to the English alphabet "ch".
The Central Alaskan Yupik who live on Nunivak Island call themselves Cup'ig. Those who live in the village of Chevak call themselves Cup'ik. The name Cup'ig is used for the Nunivak Island Yup'ik dialect and the name Cup'ik is used for Hooper Bay-Chevak Yup'ik dialect.
The Cup'ig dialect is threatened. This fact was documented by Dr. Michael E. Krauss of the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska and is illustrated on the map. In 1975, Krauss indicated, "Some of the children speak the language". Krauss documented continued decline and downgraded the status to "Very few or none of the children speak the language" in 1982.
Today Cup'ig is spoken by elders in the village of Mekoryuk.

Classification

The comparison of number names in the three dialects

Grammatical numbers

The grammatical numbers:

Education

The Cup'ig peoples' only school, the Nuniwarmiut School, lies within the Lower Kuskokwim School District, in the village of Mekoryuk. Built in 1984, the school provides English and Cup’ig bilingual education for 32 students.
Nuniwarmiut Piciryarata Tamaryalkuti, Inc. is a non-profit cultural heritage organization of the Cup'ig Eskimo village of Mekoryuk, its mission being to preserve Nunivak Island Cup'ig culture, traditions, and language. NPT was established in 1999.

Example phrases

The Russian loanwords used in Nunivak Cup’ig date from the period of the Russian America.