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The South Samoyedic languages are a subgroup of the Samoyedic languages, which are part of the larger Uralic language family spoken in Siberia and the Russian Arctic. The South Samoyedic subgroup consists of two languages: Selkup and the nearly extinct Kamas language.1

Historically, none of these languages were written before 1930. Today, they are only used occasionally for educational purposes in some elementary schools. The precursor to the Samoyedic languages is believed to have split into northern and southern groups around the beginning of the Common Era. While North Samoyedic includes Nenets, Enets, and Nganasan, South Samoyedic is primarily represented by Selkup, with other dialects like Kamas, Motor, Koibal, Karagas, Soyot, and Taigi now extinct.123

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