Asian Geographic

Mednyj Aleut

- BERING ISLAND, 5 SPEAKERS

Also known as Copper Island Aleut, Mednyj Aleut is a moribund mixed language originally spoken on Mednyj Island, off the coast of Kamchatka. However, that population was moved to Bering Island in 1970. It is characteri­sed by fusing Russian and Aleut. The first speakers were children who had one parent of each descent. The language they created and passed on is mostly similar to Aleut, but with Russian verb endings and many Russian words mixed in the vocabulary. As of the early 2000s, there were only five fluent speakers left.

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