Why did Yukaghir survive only in a small part of northeastern Siberia?

The Yukaghir language is currently restricted to a small area of northeastern Siberia primarily due to the historical spread of other language groups and the impact of external pressures on its speakers.12

Prior to the expansion of Tungusic and Sakha (Yakut) influence, the Yukaghir language was likely spoken across a much wider region of northeastern Siberia. The subsequent encroachment of these groups, combined with the introduction of diseases and general privation, significantly reduced the population and geographic reach of the Yukaghir people.12

Furthermore, the Yukaghir have faced extensive assimilation, leading many to become monolingual or bilingual in Russian or Sakha. Today, the language survives only in two small, mutually unintelligible dialects—Tundra Yukaghir and Kolyma Yukaghir—with only a few hundred speakers remaining.213