Naukan
/ˈnaʊ.kən/noun
Naukan is a Yupik language and the name of the Indigenous community historically associated with northeastern Chukotka.
Did you know?Naukan is one of the most endangered Yupik languages, traditionally spoken near Cape Dezhnev, the closest point between Asia and North America.
Etymological Timeline
Prehistoric
Proto-Eskimo-Aleut
Unattested
“The reconstructed ancestral language from which the Yupik and Inuit language branches developed; no securely established Proto-Eskimo-Aleut form for Naukan is known.”
Traditional period
Naukan Yupik
Nuvuqaq
“The traditional Yupik name associated with the Naukan settlement; its precise lexical interpretation is not securely established in general reference sources.”
19th Century
Russian
Наукан (Naukan)
“Russian geographic and ethnographic name for the settlement and its inhabitants.”
20th Century
English
Naukan
“English name for the Yupik language, people, and former settlement of northeastern Chukotka.”
Modern English
English
Naukan
“A specialized proper noun referring chiefly to the endangered Naukan Yupik language and its cultural community.”
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