ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introductory overview of some basic linguistic properties found within the Eskimo-Aleut language family, which stretches from Siberia to Greenland. The issues highlighted have been featured prominently in formal linguistics. These include consonant clusters (assimilation, mutation, reduction), inflection (ergativity, transitivity), and derivational morphology (polysynthesis, tense/aspect). Topics relevant to communities are also touched upon (writing systems, dialect differences, vitality).
