Evenki language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Evenki | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ewengki Эвэнки Evenki |
||
| Spoken in | China, Mongolia, Russia | |
| Region | Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang in China; Selenge Province in Mongolia; Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia | |
| Total speakers | 29,000 | |
| Language family | Altaic[1] (controversial)
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | tut | |
| ISO 639-3 | evn | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Evenki (also known as Ewenki, Ewenke, Owenke, Solon, Suolun) is the largest member of the northern group of Tungusic languages, a group which also includes Even, Negidal, and (the more closely related) Oroqen language. It is spoken by Evenks in Russia, Mongolia, and People's Republic of China.
Contents |
[edit] Genetic Affiliation
SIL International accepts the Altaic hypothesis and lists Evenki as a language in the Northern Branch of the Tungusic subfamily of the Altaic family (Ethnologue). However, the Altaic hypothesis is controversial among linguistic scholars: “Since the idea was first conceptualized, scholars have continually debated the question of which languages make up the Altaic family and, more importantly, if such a family even exists” (Hallen). The Altaic hypothesis postulates that there is a genetic relationship between the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and even in some cases, Korean and Japonic languages (Georg, 65). Some scholars classify Uralic and Altaic languages together as Ural-Altaic, while others deny a relation between some languages postulated as in the Altaic family (Altaic).
Clearly, there is still “no consensus today on either the membership or the subgrouping of the Altaic family” (Hallen, quoting Ruhlen). Few other theories have been put forward and none have been as widely accepted as the Altaic hypothesis, even in the midst of the controversy, and most textbooks use the Altaic grouping, merely mentioning that it is not fully accepted by the linguistic academia. Although there are clearly “long and intimate historical connections” between the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic languages, linguists debate if the similarities are due to a genetic relationship or simply prolonged language contact (Hallen).
[edit] Description
In certain areas the influences of the Yakut and the Buryat languages are particularly strong. The influence of Russian in general is overwhelming (in 1979, 75.2 % of the Evenkis spoke Russian, rising to 92.7% in 2002). The Evenki language varies considerably among its dialects which are divided into three large groups: the northern, the southern and the eastern dialects. These are further divided into minor dialects. The written language for Evenkis in the then USSR, based on the Latin alphabet, was created in 1931, and since 1937 it has been based on Cyrillic alphabet.[2] In China, Evenki is written in the Mongolian script[3]. University of Chicago linguist Lenore Grenoble, who has spent years studying the language, states that Evenki is one of Siberia's endangered languages.[4]
[edit] Phonology
The Evenki language typically has CV syllables but other structures are possible (Nedjalkov, 314). Bulatova and Grenoble list Evenki as having 11 possible vowel phonemes; a classical five-vowel system with distinctions between long and short vowels (except in /e/) and the addition of a long and short /ə/ (Bulatova,4; Nedjalkov claims that there are 13 vowel phonemes [309]). Evenki has a moderately small consonant inventory; there are 18 consonants in the Evenki language and it lacks glides or semivowels (4). Like most Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony—suffix vowels are matched to the vowel in the root. However, some vowels, /i/, /i:/, /u/, /u:/, and certain suffixes do not adhere to the rules of vowel harmony (4).. Because vowel harmony is a complex topic for elementary speakers to grasp, the language is severely endangered (Janhunen), and many speakers are multilingual, knowledge of the rules of vowel harmony is fading (Bulatova, 4).
[edit] Morphology
Evenki is highly agglutinating, suffixing, and not flectional. Each morpheme is easily recognizable and carries only one piece of meaning. Evenki pronouns distinguish between singular and plural as well as inclusive and exclusive in the first person (Bulatova, 6, 21). The Evenki language has a rich case system—13 cases, though there is some variation among dialects—and it is a nominative-accusative language (7-8). Interestingly, Evenki speakers differentiate between “alienable and inalienable possession” (13).
[edit] Syntax
Evenki is a subject-object-verb and head-final language. The subject is marked according to the nominative case, and the object is in the accusative. In Evenki, the indirect object precedes the direct object.
[edit] Literary Traditions
The Evenki did not have their own writing system until the introduction of the Latin alphabet in 1931 and the subsequent change to 1936-7. Although textbooks through the 8th grade have been published, “Literary Evenki has not yet achieved the status of a norm which cut across dialects and is understood by speakers of some dialects with great difficulty” (Bulatova, 3). Though Literary Evenki is not perfect, since the 1930s, “folklore, novels, poetry, numerous translations from Russian and other languages,” textbooks, and dictionaries have all been written in Evenki (Nedjalkov, xxi).
[edit] The Evenki Language Today
[edit] Language Shift/Multilingualism
There is a large quantity of Russian loan words in Evenki, especially for technologies and concepts that were introduced by the Russian pioneers in Siberia.“Evenki is spoken in regions with heavy multilingualism. In their daily life the people come into contact with Russian, Buriat and Yakut, and each of these languages had had an impact on the Evenki language. Russian is the lingua franca of the region…part of the Evenki population is bilingual, and part trilingual. All Evenki know Russian relatively well” (Bulatova, 3).
[edit] Health of the Language
In 1998 there were approximately 30,000 ethnic Evenkis living in Russia and about 1/3 of them spoke the language. Even a decade ago Bulatova was trying to warn speakers and linguists alike: “There is widespread loss of Evenki and the language can be considered seriously endangered” (3). Today there are 35,527 citizens of the Russian Federation who identify themselves as ethnically Evenki, but only 7,580 speakers of the language. In China, there is an ethnic population of 30,500 but only 19,000 are fluent in Evenki and there are only around 3,000 people who are monolingual in Evenki. There is a small population of ethnic Evenki speakers in Mongolia as well, numbering around 1,000 (Ethnologue). There is little information regarding revival efforts or Evenki’s status now. In 1998, the language was taught in preschools and primary schools and offered as an option in 8th grade. It was also “taught in St Petersburg State Pedagogical University (Department of Peoples of the Far North)” (Nedjalkov, xxi). In the 1980s, Christian missionaries working in Siberia translated the Bible into Evenki and a Christian group called the Global Recordings Network (globalrecordings.net) records Christian teaching materials in Evenki.
[edit] Orthography
[edit] China
In China, Evenki language is written in both Mongolian script[3] and Latin script[5]:
| A a /a/ |
B b /b/ |
C c /ts/ |
D d /d/ |
E e /ə/ |
Ē ē /e/ |
F F /f/ |
G g /g/ |
Ḡ ḡ /ɣ/ |
| H h /x. h/ |
I I /i/ |
J j /dʒ/ |
K k /k/ |
L l /l/ |
M m /m/ |
N n /n/ |
Ng ng /ŋ/,/ˠ/ |
|
| Θ ō /ɔ/ |
O o /ʊ/ |
P p /p/ |
Q q /tʃ/ |
R r /r/ |
S s /s/ |
T t /t/ |
||
| U u /u/ |
V v /ɵ/ |
W w /w/ |
X x /ʃ/ |
Y y /j/ |
Z z /dz/ |
[edit] Russia
The Cyrillic script is used by Evenks living in Russia.
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж |
| З з | И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Ӈ ӈ |
| О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х |
| Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э |
| Ю ю | Я я |
[edit] Bibliography
- Myreeva, A.N. (2004) (in Russian). Evenkis. Evenki-Russian Dictionary. 30,000 words.. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gordon, 2005 (Altaic)
- ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, Entry on Evenki language
- ^ a b http://www.indiana.edu/~ceus/u520-evenki-grammar-kara.html
- ^ Pulitzer Center Project on Professor Lenore Grenoble
- ^ ISBN 978-7-105-08286-5
[edit] References
- Ethnologue entry for Evenki
- Bulatova, Nadezhda & Grenoble, Lenore. 1999. Evenki, Lincom Europa, Munich, ISBN 3895862223
- Nedjalkov, Igor. 1997. Evenki, Routledge, London, ISBN 0415026407
- Chaoke, D.O.; Toshiro Tsumumugari, S. Kazama (1991). ソロン語基本例文集 [Solon Basic Sentences]. Sapporo: Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University.
- Matsumoto Ryou (July 2006). On the Dialects of the Evenki Language (Tungus). http://www.gengo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/enshu_abstr06e.html.
- Cincius, V.I.. The Solon language (Солонский язык). http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/art?id=771.
[edit] External links
- Entry for Evenki at Rosetta Project
- Evenki Pronunciation Guide
- Pulitzer Center Project on Lenore Grenoble's work
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
 |
This language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
