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Kerek (Russian: Керекский язык, romanized: Kereksky yazyk) is an extinct language in Russia of the northern branch of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. On historical linguistic grounds it is most closely related to Koryak (both languages have a merger of the Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan phonemes /*ð/ and /*r/ with /*j/). The next closest relative is Chukchi (/*ð/ and /*r/ are merged, but not /*j/).
| Kerek | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug |
| Ethnicity | Kereks |
| Extinct | 2005[1] 4 (2020)[2] |
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | krk |
krk.html | |
| Glottolog | kere1280 |
| ELP | Kerek |
 Pre-contact distribution of Kerek (dark orange) and other Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages | |
In 1997 there were still two speakers remaining, but by 2005 the language was considered extinct.[3] According to the 2010 census,[4] there were 10 people claiming Kerek as their native language, believed to only consist of partial speakers and non-speakers who claim the language as part of their ethnic heritage. Over the 20th century many members of the Kerek ethnic group shiftedtoChukchi, the language of the majority ethnic group in the area, but now most Chukchis and Kereks speak Russian.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ə | o | |
| Open | a |
Vowels may be long.
| Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t | k | q | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | ħ | ||||||
| Affricate | tʃ | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Semivowel | w | j |
Consonants may also be long, [l]ispalatalized intervocalically, and [tʃ] is pronounced as [s] by some.
There were two dialects, the Maino-Pilgin and Khatyr dialects.[5]
Kerek is an agglutinative language, meaning that the morphemes build on each other to have different meanings.[6]