NIVKH LANGUAGE

formerly called Gilyak Language, isolated language with two main dialects spoken by some 400 Nivkh, roughly 10 percent of the ethnic group. The Nivkh live on Sakhalin Island and along the estuary of the Amur River in eastern Siberia. Nivkh is not known to be related to any other language, and it is usually included with the Luorawetlan languages and the Yeniseian languages in the catchall areal category of Paleo-Siberian languages.