Kinugumiutun

=Introduction=

Kinugumiutun, or commonly known as Bering Strait Iñupiatun, is a dialect of Iñupiatun spoken in the Bering Strait and adjacent regions in Alaska and Russia, as well as one of seventeen core sub-languages spoken by Inuit across the Arctic. It is part of the Seward Peninsula Dialect with neighboring Kauweramiutun with very similar linguistic features.

=History=

Kinugumiutun is known as the earliest formed dialect of Inuit languages predicted to be segregated from other neighboring Yupik languages around 1,400 years ago in Chukotka, Russia, and differentiated with other Inuit languages around 1,000 years ago as the Great Inuit Migration began.

The language was kept since then with independent development with some influences from neighboring Kauweramiutun and Malimiutun until the arrival of the Europeans. Due to its smaller number of speakers compared to other dialects, Kinugumiutun had been rather isolated and preserved authentically.

=Dialects=

Kinugumiutun is further subdivided into three subdialects: Diomede, Wales, and King Islands Dialect.

Diomede Subdialect is the smallest of all dialects of Kinugumiutun with spoken primarily in Diomede Islands and its Russian diaspora settlements in the Mainland Russia. It is the only Inuit dialect spoken or traditionally spoken in Russia. With severe isolation due to its insular geography, the dialect kept very unique and distinctive features aparting from the mainland, notably "e" sound.

Wales Subdialect is spoken in the communities along the tip of the Seward Peninsula including Wales, Shishmaref, and Brevig Mission. It is the largest and most prominent subdialect of Kinugumiutun by speaker population.

King Islands Subdialect is a subdialct traditionally spoken in now uninhabited island of King Islands. With changes, the dialect is spoken in Nome, Alaska where most of the speakers have been relocated to in 1960s.

=Ethnic Groups= Of around 120 ethnic subgroups of Inuit, five subgroups in the Bering Strait traditionally spoke Kinugumiutun: Tapqagmiut (Shishmaref), Kingikmiut (Wales), Ingalit (Diomede Islands), Ugiuvangmiut (King Island), and Russiq Iñupiat (Russia)

=Orthography= Though with distinctions and differences within subdialects, Kinugumiutun uses Latin Alphabets. However, the speakers of Russia might utilize the Cyrillic Alphabets. In modern Kinugumiutun, 26 alphabets or atchagats are used.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! A a || B b || E e || G g || Ġ ġ || H h || I i || K k || L l || Ł ł || M m || N n || Ŋ ŋ ! P p || Q q || R r || S s || Sr sr || T t || U u || V v || W w || Y y || Z z || Zr zr || '
 * + Kinugumiutun Alphabet