File:Chukotko-Kamchatkan_map.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Itelmen
Sign in to saveAlso known as Kamchadal, Itelmen language
Chukotko-Kamchatkan language spoken in Kamchatka, Russia
Key facts
- Native to
- Russia
- Region
- Kamchatka Peninsula
- Ethnicity
- 2,596 Itelmens (2021)
- Native speakers
- 808 (2020 census)
- Revival
- early 21st century
- Language family
- Chukotko-Kamchatkan Kamchatkan Itelmen
- Writing system
- Cyrillic script
- Iso 639 3
- itl
- Glottolog
- itel1242
- Elp
- Itelmen
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Itelmen language
- number of speakers, writers, or signers
- 1
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
Itelmen (Itelmen: Itənmən) or Western Itelmen, formerly known as Western Kamchadal, is a language of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family spoken on the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Fewer than a hundred native speakers, mostly elderly, in a few settlements in the southwest of Koryak Autonomous Okrug, remained in 1993. The 2021 Census counted 2,596 ethnic Itelmens, virtually all of whom are now monolingual in Russian. However, there are attempts to revive the language, and it is being taught in a number of schools in the region.
(Western) Itelmen is the only surviving Kamchatkan language. It has two dialects, the Southern dialect of Khayryuzovo and the Northern dialect of Sedanka.