On historical linguistic grounds it is most closely related to Koryak (both languages have a merger of the Proto-Chukotko-Kamchatkan phonemes /*ð/ and /*r/ with /*j/).

[3] In 1997 there were still two speakers remaining, but in 2005 the language went extinct, with the death of Ekaterina Khatkana.

[4][5] According to the 2010 census,[6] there were 10 people claiming Kerek as their native language, believed to only consist of partial speakers and non-speakers who claim the language as part of their ethnic heritage.

Over the 20th century many members of the Kerek ethnic group shifted to Chukchi, the language of the majority ethnic group in the area, but now most Chukchis and Kereks speak Russian.

Consonants may also be long, [l] is palatalized intervocalically, and [tʃ] is pronounced as [s] by some.