Eskimos Are, As Robert Marshall Term Paper

The Russian influence first made itself felt in the 1930s. The Eskimo language was quickly infiltrated by unadapted Russian loanwords, bilingualism developed and the transition to Russian began. The influx of loanwords has stopped the operation of the flexible derivational system of Eskimo. The schooling, working and living environment is prevalently Russian now. In the 1960s there was a growing number of mixed marriages between Russians and the Eskimo, so the contact with the Russian language has acquired a direct and personal character. Now, in order to save the Eskimo language from complete extinction close and personal contacts with this language are necessary.

When it comes to their development, no matter where they live, the Eskimo are now much involved in the modern world. Not only have they wholeheartedly adopted much of its technology, but they also use imported food, clothing, and house forms; similarly, their educational, recreational, economic, religious, and governmental institutions have been heavily influenced by the dominant European, Canadian, American, and Soviet cultures. Significant changes have begun to occur in all areas of their way of life as a result of sustained contact with the outside world. Such changes were first apparent in Greenland. Because the ocean currents started to warm at about the beginning of the 20th century, seals and other maritime animals disappeared from the offshore waters of southwestern Greenland. Major shifts in subsistence patterns followed, with extensive development of the fishing industry and planned concentration of the formerly dispersed hunters into larger settlements, together with greater mechanization of equipment and processing techniques. Education, medical services, and local self-government began in the 19th century as part of an overall integrated and controlled program of protective governance by Denmark. The Eskimo living in the U.S.S.R. have been involved in a planned program of modernization since the early 1930s. The Siberian Eskimo still hunt walrus, seals, and whales, but they do so as members of mechanized hunting work- groups called collectives, and their way of life has been fundamentally transformed in the area of political and social values. The Alaskan Eskimo have seen major changes in their lives since the beginning of this century, when they were still mostly following a traditional way of life. Until the 1930s fox trapping was a major source of income, and schools and limited medical facilities were provided by the government. Health conditions, however, remained well below those of the rest of the United States. Although in some isolated areas hunting and trapping are still carried on, most Canadian Eskimo have congregated in towns and settlements in search of wage labor as well as to take advantage of modern days' facilities. The federal government in 1984 concluded a land-claims agreement with the Eskimo and in 1989 negotiated another land-claims agreement-in-principle that was expected to be finalized in the early 1990s. Ongoing talks also have been concerned with the division of the Northwest Territories in order to give both the Eskimo and the Indians greater control of their respective regions.

Works Cited

Greenberg, Joseph Harold. Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family. Volume II: Lexicon. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002

Marshall, Robert. Arctic Village. The Literary Guild, 1933

Williams, Stephen Gu. In the Middle Qitinganituk Eskimo Today, Boston: 1983