Aleut

Aleut is a language spoken by the Aleut people of the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands. It is also known as Unangan, a name derived from the Russian word for "coastal people". Aleut is closely related to the Eskimo languages and belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family. Aleut has two dialects: Eastern Aleut, spoken on the Shumagin Islands, and Atkan Aleut, spoken on the Rat Islands and the westernmost Aleutian Islands. Aleut is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, which was introduced by Russian missionaries in the 18th century. Aleut has a complex grammatical structure, with a rich system of suffixes and postpositions. Nouns are inflected for case and number, and verbs are inflected for person, number, mood, and tense. Aleut also has a large number of derivational suffixes, which can be used to create new words from existing ones. Aleut has a rich vocabulary, with many words for the natural world and for hunting and fishing gear. Aleut also has a number of words that are unique to the language, such as qasgiq (a community meeting place) and iglu (a type of snow house). Aleut is spoken by a small number of people today, and is considered to be endangered. However, there are efforts underway to revive the language, and there are a number of Aleut speakers who are working to keep the language alive.