Nenets languages
| Nenets | |
|---|---|
| ненэцяʼ вада nenécja' vada | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Nenets Autonomous Okrug,Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug,Krasnoyarsk Krai,Komi Republic,Murmansk Oblast[citation needed] |
| Ethnicity | 49,787 (2020 census)[1] |
Native speakers | 38,405 (2020 census)[2] |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yrk |
| Glottolog | nene1251 |
 | |
Nenets(in former work alsoYurak) is a pair of closely related languages spoken in northernRussiaby theNenets people.They are often treated as being twodialectsof the same language, but they are very different andmutual intelligibilityis low. The languages areTundra Nenets,which has a higher number of speakers, spoken by some 30,000 to 40,000 people[5][6]in an area stretching from theKanin Peninsulato theYenisei River,[7]andForest Nenets,spoken by 1,000 to 1,500 people in the area around theAgan,Pur,LyaminandNadym rivers.[5][6]
The Nenets languages are classified in theUralic language family,making them distantly related to some national languages spoken in Europe – namelyFinnish,Estonian,andHungarian– in addition to other minority languages spoken in Russia. Both of the Nenets languages have been greatly influenced byRussian.Tundra Nenetshas, to a lesser degree, been influenced byKomiandNorthern Khanty.Forest Nenetshas also been influenced byEastern Khanty.Tundra Nenets is well documented, considering its status as anindigenousandminority language.It has a literary tradition going back to the 1930s, while Forest Nenets was first written during the 1990s and has been little documented.[6]
Apart from the word 'Nenets', only one other Nenets word has entered theEnglish language:'parka', their traditional long, hooded jacket, made from skins and sometimes fur.[8][9][unreliable source?]
Common features of Nenets languages
[edit]Tundra Nenets has 16moods,most of which reflect different degrees of certainty in what in English might be calledindicativestatements or different degrees of force in what in English might be calledimperativecommands.[10]An overarching feature of the Nenets languages is the introduction of systematicpalatalizationof almost all consonants. This originates from contrasts between different vowel qualities in theProto-Samoyediclanguage.[11]
- *Cä, *Ca → *Cʲa, *Ca
- *Ce, *Cë → *Cʲe, *Ce
- *Ci, *Cï → *Cʲi, *Ci
- *Cö, *Co → *Cʲo, *Co
- *Cü, *Cu → *Cʲu, *Cu
Thevelar consonants*k and *ŋ were additionally shifted to *sʲ and *nʲ when palatalized.
Similar changes have also occurred in the other Samoyedic languages spoken in the tundra zone:Enets,Nganasanand the extinctYurats.
Differences between Tundra and Forest Nenets
[edit]Tundra Nenets generally has remained closer to Proto-Nenets than Forest Nenets, whose phonology has been influenced by easternKhantydialects. Changes towards the modern languages include:[12][11]
- Tundra Nenets:
- Delabialization of /wʲ/ → /j/
- Lenition of initial /k/ → /x/
- Simplification of /ʔk/ → /k/
- Forest Nenets:
- Initial /s/ → /x/
- Medial denasalization of /nʲ/ → /j/
- The change of rhotics to lateral fricatives: /r/, /rʲ/ → /ɬ/, /ɬʲ/
- Shortening of geminate nasals
- Breaking of geminate /lː/ → /nɬ/
- Phonemicization of palatalized velars /kʲ/, /xʲ/, /ŋʲ/ due to vowel changes
- Raising of non-close vowels preceding a syllable with an original close vowel
- Loss of vowel distinctions in unstressed syllables
- Introduction of short/long contrasts for /a/ and /æ/
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Note
[edit]- ^"Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020".rosstat.gov.ru.Retrieved2023-01-03.
- ^"Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку"[Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language.].rosstat.gov.ru.Retrieved2023-01-03.
- ^Rantanen, Timo; Tolvanen, Harri; Roose, Meeli; Ylikoski, Jussi; Vesakoski, Outi (2022-06-08)."Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic".PLOS ONE.17(6): e0269648.Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1769648R.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0269648.PMC9176854.PMID35675367.
- ^Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021).Geographical database of the Uralic languages(v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
- ^ab"Nenets".ethnologue.Retrieved20 April2018.
- ^abcSalminen, Tapani,Ackerman, Farrell(2006). "Nenets". InBrown, Keith(ed.).Encyclopedia of Languages & Linguistics.Vol. 8 (2 ed.).Oxford,England:Elsevier.pp. 577–579.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Staroverov, Peter(2006).Vowel deletion and stress in Tundra Nenets.Moscow,Russia.p. 1.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^"parka",Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- ^Games, Alex(2007).Balderdash & Piffle: One Sandwich Short of a Dog's Dinner.London:BBC.ISBN978-1-84607-235-2.
- ^"Tundra Nenets grammatical sketch".helsinki.fi.Retrieved20 April2018.
- ^abSammallahti, Pekka(1988), "Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic",The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences,Leiden: Brill, pp. 478–554
- ^Salminen, Tapani (2007),"Notes on Forest Nenets phonology"(PDF),Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne(253),Helsinki,Finland:Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura
