This Week in Endangered Languages: Ket (formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak)
Language family: Paleosiberian, Yeniseian
Where you'll hear it: Mostly to the east of the middle reaches of the Yenisei River




The origins:

Attempts have been made by Soviet scholars to establish a relationship with either Burushaski or the Sino-Tibetan languages, and it frequently forms part of the Dene-Caucasian hypothesis. However, genetic research rather points to possible relationship with the Amerind languages of American Indians...

And today:

The language is threatened with extinction—the number of ethnic Kets that are native speakers of the language has dropped from 1,225 in 1926 to 537 in 1989. Another Yeniseian language, Yugh, is believed to have recently gone extinct.

The Ket Language [Endangered Languages of Siberia]

Labels: Amerind, Burushaski, Ket, Sino-Tibetan, TWiEL, Yeniseian