Eskaleut languages

The Eskaleut (/ɛˈskæliuːt/ ^ⓘ e-SKAL-ee-oot), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada (Inuit Nunangat) including Nunavut, Northwest Territories (principally in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region), northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East (Chukchi Peninsula). The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, or Eskaleutic.

The language family is divided into two branches. The first branch encompasses all Proto-Eskimoan languages (Inuit and Yupik languages). The second branch consists of a single language, Aleut, spoken in the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands. Aleut is divided into several dialects. The Yupik languages are spoken in western and southwestern Alaska and in Chukotka, while the Inuit languages are spoken in northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Inuit languages are divided into several varieties. Neighbouring varieties are a dialect continuum, although those at the farthest distances from the centre in the Diomede Islands and East Greenland are quite divergent.

The proper place of one language, Sirenik, within the language family has not been settled. While some linguists list it as a branch of Yupik, others list it as a separate branch of the Eskimoan family, alongside the Yupik and Inuit languages.