Yukaghir languages

Yukaghir
Geographic
distribution		Russian Far East
EthnicityYukaghirs, Chuvans, Anauls
Native speakers
516 (mostly Tundra, 2020 census)
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottologyuka1259
Extent of Yukaghir languages in the 17th (hatched) and 20th (solid) centuries

The Yukaghir languages (/ˈjuːkəɡɪər/ YOO-kə-geer or /juːkəˈɡɪər/ yoo-kə-GEER; also Yukagir, Jukagir) are a small family of two closely related surviving languages—Tundra and Kolyma Yukaghir—spoken by the Yukaghir in the Russian Far East living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Estimates of the number of speakers in the 21st century range from several dozen to about 500 (see below for details). The entire family, as such, is regarded as moribund.

History and geography

Tundra and Kolyma Yukaghir are the only two remnants of what used to be one of the dominant languages (or language families) of northeastern Siberia, spreading from the River Anadyr in the east to the River Lena in the west. On the basis of the evidence of early sources, it can be assumed that there existed a Yukaghir dialect continuum, with what is today Tundra Yukaghir and Kolyma Yukaghir at the extremes.

The Yukaghir have experienced a language shift since the early 20th century, with a majority of speakers also speaking Russian and Yakut. In 1993, Juha Janhunen estimated the number of speakers for each Yukaghir language to be less than 50, although the number of persons reporting their Yukaghir ethnicity may be substantially higher. The number of Yukaghir speakers fell from 604 in the 2002 Russian census to 516 who reported speaking it as their native language in 2020–2021.

Members

The two extant varieties of Yukaghir are:

Extinct varieties include Omok and Chuvan, which survived until the 19th century.

Grammatical features

The two Yukaghir languages share only a relatively small part of the vocabulary and are not mutually intelligible. The basic grammatical structures, however, are very similar. Both languages have residual vowel harmony and a complex phonotactics of consonants. Both have rich agglutinative morphology and are strictly head-final. There is practically no finite subordination and very few coordinate structures. The most spectacular feature of TY and KY grammar is the split intransitive alignment system based on discourse-pragmatic features. In the absence of narrow focus, the system is organised on the nominative–accusative basis; when focused, direct objects and subjects of intransitive verbs are co-aligned (special focus case, special focus agreement).

Lexical differences

Some lexical differences between Kolyma Yukaghir and Tundra Yukaghir:: 150 

glossKolyma YukaghirTundra Yukaghir
one irkējmōrqōñ
two ataqlōjkijōñ
five iñhañbōjimd’ald’añ
many niŋelpojōl
all t’umujawnə
day pod’erqət’ajləŋ
sun jelōd’əjerpəjəŋ
water ōd’īlawjəŋ
fish anilal’həŋ
reindeer at’əil’eŋ
dog pubellaməŋ
person šoroməködeŋ
people omnīt’īŋ
eye aŋd’əjȫd’īŋ
tooth todīsal’hərīŋ
night emilt’iŋit’əl
foot nojlt’ohul
name ñūkirijəŋ
to sit modo-sahañe-
to kill kuledə-puñī-
to die amdə-jabə-
to know leidī-kurilī-
to drink ožə-law-

Text sample (Northern Yukaghir)

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Cyrillic:

Көдэҥ тэн – ньидитэ бандьэ параwааньэрэҥ тудэ чуҥдэн ньилдьилэк эннулҥинь-мэдьуолнуни. Көдэҥ энмун чундэ мэ льэй, таатльэр лукундьии ньинэмдьийилпэ дитэ эннуйуол-мораwньэҥи.

Latin:

Ködeng ten – n'idite band'e parawaan'ereng tude chungden n'ild'ilek ennulngin'-med'uolnuni. Ködeng enmun chunde me l'ey, taatl'er lukund'ii n'inemd'iyilpe dite ennuyuol-morawn'engi.

English translation:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Possible relationship to other language families

The relationship of the Yukaghir languages with other language families is uncertain, though it has been suggested that they are distantly related to the Uralic languages, thus forming the putative Uralic–Yukaghir language family.

Michael Fortescue argued that Yukaghir is related to the Eskimo-Aleut languages along with Uralic languages, forming the Uralo-Siberian language family.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Yukaghir languages at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ "Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020". rosstat.gov.ru. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Endangered languages in Northeast Asia: report". www.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  4. ↑ Dolgikh, Boris O. (1960) Rodovoj i plemennoj sostav narodov Sibiri v XVII v. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR
  5. ↑ Nikoleava, Irina (2008) Chuvan and Omok languages? In: A. Lubotsky et al. (Eds.) Evidence and Counter-Evidence. Festschrift Frederik Kortland. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 313–336.
  6. ↑ "Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года". www.perepis2002.ru. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  7. ↑ "Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020". rosstat.gov.ru. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  8. ↑ Zamaraeva, Olga; Bender, Emily M. "Focus Case outside of Austronesian: An Analysis of Yukaghir" (PDF). acsu.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  9. ↑ Georg, Stefan (2017). "Other isolated languages of Asia". In Campbell, Lyle (ed.). Language Isolates. Routledge Language Family Series. Oxford/New York: Routledge. pp. 139–161. ISBN 978-1-138-82105-7.
  10. ↑ Collinder, Björn (1940) Jukagirisch und Uralisch. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
  11. ↑ Fortescue, Michael (2017). "Correlating Palaeo-Siberian languages and populations: recent advances in the Uralo-Siberian hypothesis". Man in India.

Further reading