Evenk language
Encyclopedia
Evenki 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
.
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. A written language
was created for Evenkis in the Soviet Union
in 1931, first using a Latin
orthography, and from 1937 a Cyrillic one. In China, Evenki is written experimentally in the Mongolian script
. The language is generally considered endangered
.
. Its similarity to Manchu
, the best-documented member of the family, was noted hundreds of years ago, first by botanist P. S. Pallas
in the late 18th century, and then in a more formal linguistic study by M. A. Castren in the mid-19th century, regarded as a "pioneer treatise" in the field of Tungusology. The exact internal structure of the Tungusic family is a matter of some debate. Some scholars propose two sub-families: one for Manchu, and another for all the other Tungusic languages, including Evenki. SIL International
's Ethnologue
divides Tungusic into two sub-families Northern and Southern, with Evenki alongside Even
and Negidal
in the Northern sub-family, and the Southern family itself subdivided into Southwestern (among which Manchu) and Southeastern (Nanai
and others). Others propose three or more sub-families, or at the extreme a continuum
with Manchu at one end and Evenki at the other.
to Sakhalin
. These may be divided into three major groups primarily on the basis of phonology:
Evenki in China also speak several dialects. According to Ethnologue
, the Hihue or Hoy dialect is considered the standard; Haila’er, Aoluguya (Olguya), Chenba’erhu (Old Bargu), and Morigele (Mergel) dialects also exist. Ethnologue reports these dialects differ significantly from those in Russia.
Some works focused on individual Russian dialects include (Barguzin), (Tommot), and (Sakhalin).
The phoneme /β/) has a word-final allophone
, [f], as well as an intervocalic variant, [w]. Likewise, some speakers pronounce intervocalic /s/ as [h]. Speakers of some dialects also alternate /b/ and /β/). Consonant inventories given by researchers working on dialects in China are largely similar. The differences noted: Chaoke and Kesingge et al give /h/ instead of /x/ and lack /β/, /ɣ/, or /ɲ/; furthermore, Kesingge et al give /dʐ/ instead of /dʒ/.
The Evenki vowel inventory of Chinese dialects, however, is markedly different (Chaoke, 1995, 2009):
Like most Tungusic languages
, Evenki employs vowel harmony—suffix vowels are matched to the vowel in the root. However, some vowels, /i/, /iː/, /u/, /uː/ and certain suffixes do not adhere to the rules of vowel harmony. Knowledge of the rules of vowel harmony is fading, as vowel harmony is a complex topic for elementary speakers to grasp, the language is severely endangered (Janhunen), and many speakers are multilingual.
. The script has one additional letter, ӈ, to indicate /ŋ/; it is used only inconsistently in printed works, due to typographical limitations. Boldyrev's dictionary uses ң instead. Other sounds found in Evenki but not Russian, such as /ʤ/, lack devoted letters. Instead "д" stands in for both /d/ and /ʤ/; when the latter pronunciation is intended, it is followed by one of Cyrillic's iotified
letters, similar to the way those letters cause palatalization
of the preceding consonant in Russian. However orthographic decisions like these have resulted in some confusion and transferral of Russian phonetics to Evenki among younger speakers. For example, the spellings "ди" and "ды" were intended to record [ʤi] and [di] (i.e. the same vowel sound). However in Russian "и" and "ы" are respectively two different vowels /i/ and /ɨ/. Long vowels are indicated with macrons.
, Evenki is written in the Latin script and experimentally in the Mongolian script
. Evenki scholars made an attempt in the 1980s to create standard written forms for their language, using both Mongolian script and a pinyin
-like Latin spelling. They published an Evenki–Mongolian–Chinese dictionary with Evenki words spelled in IPA, a pinyin-like orthography, and Mongolian script, as well as a collection of folk songs in IPA and Mongolian script (and Chinese-style numbered musical notation
).
The orthographic system developed by Chinese Evenki scholars reflects differences between Evenki and Mongol phonology
. It uses both
and 
(usually romanised from Mongolian as "q" and "ɣ") for /g/. The system uses double letters in both Mongolian and Latin to represent most long vowels; however for /ɔː/ "ao" is written instead of "oo." The same scholars' collection of songs has some orthographic differences from the table below; namely, long vowels are occasionally written not just doubled but also with an intervening silent
("ɣ"), showing clear orthographic influence from the Mongolian language
. In medial and final positions, "t" is written in the Manchu script form ᡨ. "Evenki" itself is spelled /eweŋki/, although Mongolian orthography usually prohibits the letter combination /ŋk/. The vowel inventory of this system is also rather different from that of Chaoke (1995, 2009).
uses a different version of Latin script, which distinguishes certain vowels and consonants more clearly than the system of Kesingge et al:
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. The Evenki language has a rich case system—13 cases, though there is some variation among dialects—and it is a nominative–accusative language. Evenki differentiates between alienable and inalienable possession: alienable possession marks the possessor in the nominative case
and the possessum in the possessed case
, while inalienable possession is marked by personal indices.
Below is a table of cases and suffixes in Evenki, following Nedjalkov (1997):
Plurals are marked with -il-, -l-, or -r- before the case marker, if any: tyge-l-ve (cup-PL-ACD) "the cups (accusative);" Ivul-ngi oro-r-in (Ivul-GEN reindeer-PL-3SG-POS), "the reindeer (pl.) of Ivul."
in 1931 and the subsequent change to Cyrillic in 1936-7. The literary language was first based on the Nepa dialect of the Southern subgroup, but in the 1950s was redesigned with the Stony Tunguska dialect as its basis. Ethnographer S. M. Shirokogoroff
harshly criticised the "child-like" literary language, and in a 1930s monograph predicted it would quickly go extinct. 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". However, despite its failure to gain widespread acceptance, within its dialectal base of roughly 5,000 people, it survived and continues in use up to the present. Since the 1930s, "folklore, novels, poetry, numerous translations from Russian and other languages", textbooks, and dictionaries have all been written in Evenki. In Tura (former administrative center of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug
), the local newspaper includes a weekly supplement written in Evenki.
, 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. Juha Janhunen investigated multilingualism in Hulunbuir
(northern Inner Mongolia
) and the adjoining section of Heilongjiang
(e.g. Qiqihar
) in 1996. He found that most Solons still spoke Evenki, and about half knew Daur language
as well. Furthermore, Mongolian
functioned as a lingua franca
among members of all minority groups
there, as they tended to do their education in Mongolian-medium
schools. The only Evenki-speakers whom Janhunen knew not to speak Mongolian as a second language were the Reindeer Evenki (sometimes called "Yakut") in the northern part of Hulunbuir, who used Russian
as their "language of intercultural communication". Janhunen predicted that all of these languages, including Mongolian, were likely to lose ground to Chinese in coming years. However Chaoke noted more than a decade later that the usage rate of Evenki remained quite high, and that it was still common to find Evenki-speakers who were proficient in three, four, or even five languages.
There is a small population of ethnic Evenki speakers in Mongolia as well, numbering around 1,000.
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. Instruction as a second language is also available in the Institute of the Peoples of the North
at Herzen University
(the former St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University). In the 1980s, Christian missionaries working in Siberia translated the Bible into Evenki and a Christian group called the Global Recordings Network records Christian teaching materials in Evenki.
Tungusic languages
The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain...
, a group which also includes Even
Even language
The Even language is a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of reindeer herders from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk in the east to the River Lena in the west, and from the Arctic coast in the north to the River Aldan in the south...
, Negidal
Negidal language
Negidal is a language of the Tungusic family spoken in the Russian Far East, mostly in Khabarovskij Kraj, along the lower reaches of the Amur River. Negidal belongs to the Northern branch of Tungusic, together with Evenki and Even...
, and (the more closely related) Oroqen language
Oroqen language
Oroqen is a Northern Tungusic language spoken in the People's Republic of China. Dialects are Gankui and Heilongjiang. Gankui is the standard dialect...
. It is spoken by Evenks
Evenks
The Evenks are a Tungusic people of Northern Asia. In Russia, the Evenks are recognized as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, with a population of 35,527...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, and People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
In certain areas the influences of the Yakut and the Buryat
Buryat language
Buryat is a Mongolic variety spoken by the Buryats that is either classified as a language or as a major dialect group of Mongolian. The majority of Buryat speakers live in Russia along the northern border of Mongolia where it is an official language in the Buryat Republic, Ust-Orda Buryatia and...
languages are particularly strong. The influence of Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
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. A written language
Written language
A written language is the representation of a language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will instinctively learn or create spoken or gestural languages....
was created for Evenkis in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1931, first using a Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
orthography, and from 1937 a Cyrillic one. In China, Evenki is written experimentally in the Mongolian script
Mongolian script
The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...
. The language is generally considered endangered
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
.
Genetic affiliation
Evenki is a member of the Tungusic familyTungusic languages
The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain...
. Its similarity to Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
, the best-documented member of the family, was noted hundreds of years ago, first by botanist P. S. Pallas
Peter Simon Pallas
Peter Simon Pallas was a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia.- Life and work :Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas. He studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University...
in the late 18th century, and then in a more formal linguistic study by M. A. Castren in the mid-19th century, regarded as a "pioneer treatise" in the field of Tungusology. The exact internal structure of the Tungusic family is a matter of some debate. Some scholars propose two sub-families: one for Manchu, and another for all the other Tungusic languages, including Evenki. SIL International
SIL International
SIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...
's Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
divides Tungusic into two sub-families Northern and Southern, with Evenki alongside Even
Even language
The Even language is a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of reindeer herders from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk in the east to the River Lena in the west, and from the Arctic coast in the north to the River Aldan in the south...
and Negidal
Negidal language
Negidal is a language of the Tungusic family spoken in the Russian Far East, mostly in Khabarovskij Kraj, along the lower reaches of the Amur River. Negidal belongs to the Northern branch of Tungusic, together with Evenki and Even...
in the Northern sub-family, and the Southern family itself subdivided into Southwestern (among which Manchu) and Southeastern (Nanai
Nanai language
The Nanai language is spoken by the Nanai people in Siberia, and to a much smaller extent in China's Heilongjiang province, where it is known as Hezhe...
and others). Others propose three or more sub-families, or at the extreme a continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
with Manchu at one end and Evenki at the other.
Dialects
Bulatova enumerated 14 dialects and 50 sub-dialects within Russia, spread over a wide geographical area ranging from the Yenisei RiverYenisei River
Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean...
to Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
. These may be divided into three major groups primarily on the basis of phonology:
- Northern (spirant)
- Ilimpeya: Ilimpeya, Agata and Bol'shoi, Porog, Tura, Tutonchany, Dudinka/Khantai
- Yerbogachon: Yerbogachon, Nakanno
- Southern (sibilant)
- Hushing
- Sym: Tokma or Upper Nepa, Upper Lena or Kachug, Angara
- Northern Baikal: Northern Baikal, Upper Lena
- Hissing
- Stony Tunguska: Vanavara, Kuyumba, Poligus, Surinda, Taimura or Chirinda, Uchami, Chemdal'sk
- Nepa: Nepa, Kirensk
- Vitim-Nercha/Baunt-Talocha: Baunt, Talocha, Tungukochan, Nercha
- Hushing
- Eastern (sibilant-spirant)
- Vitim-Olyokma dialect: Barguzin, Vitim/Kalar, Olyokma, Tungir, Tokko
- Upper Aldan: Aldan, Upper Amur, Amga, Dzheltulak, Timpton, Tommot, Khingan, Chul'man, Chul'man-Gilyui
- Uchur-Zeya: Uchur, Zeya
- Selemdzha-Bureya-Urmi: Selemdzha, Bureya, Urmi
- Ayan-Mai: Ayan, Aim, Mai, Nel'kan, Totti
- Tugur-Chumikan: Tugur, Chumikan
- Sakhalin (no subdialects)
Evenki in China also speak several dialects. According to Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
, the Hihue or Hoy dialect is considered the standard; Haila’er, Aoluguya (Olguya), Chenba’erhu (Old Bargu), and Morigele (Mergel) dialects also exist. Ethnologue reports these dialects differ significantly from those in Russia.
Some works focused on individual Russian dialects include (Barguzin), (Tommot), and (Sakhalin).
Phonology
The Evenki language typically has CV syllables but other structures are possible. 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/, while Nedjalkov claims that there are 13 vowel phonemes. Evenki has a moderately small consonant inventory; there are 18 consonants (21 according to Nedjalkov 1997) in the Evenki language and it lacks glides or semivowels.Consonants
Below are tables of Evenki consonant phonemes, including those identified by Nedjalkov (1997) in italics.| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Dental | Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Alveolar | Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ, dʲ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiceless | f | s | x | ||
| voiced | β, v | ɣ | ||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | |||||
The phoneme /β/) has a word-final allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
, [f], as well as an intervocalic variant, [w]. Likewise, some speakers pronounce intervocalic /s/ as [h]. Speakers of some dialects also alternate /b/ and /β/). Consonant inventories given by researchers working on dialects in China are largely similar. The differences noted: Chaoke and Kesingge et al give /h/ instead of /x/ and lack /β/, /ɣ/, or /ɲ/; furthermore, Kesingge et al give /dʐ/ instead of /dʒ/.
Vowels
Below is a chart of Evenki vowels found among Russian dialects, including those identified by Nedjalkov (1997) in italics.| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... | |Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i, iː ɪ, ɪː |
ɯ |
u, uː ʊ, ʊː |
| Middle Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
eː je, jeː |
ǝ, ǝː ɛ, ɛː |
o, oː |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a, aː |
The Evenki vowel inventory of Chinese dialects, however, is markedly different (Chaoke, 1995, 2009):
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... | Central vowel Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... | |Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i, iː | ʉ, ʉː | u, uː | |
| Middle Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e, eː | ɵ, ɵː | ǝ, ǝː | o, oː |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a, aː |
Like most Tungusic languages
Tungusic languages
The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain...
, Evenki employs vowel harmony—suffix vowels are matched to the vowel in the root. However, some vowels, /i/, /iː/, /u/, /uː/ and certain suffixes do not adhere to the rules of vowel harmony. Knowledge of the rules of vowel harmony is fading, as vowel harmony is a complex topic for elementary speakers to grasp, the language is severely endangered (Janhunen), and many speakers are multilingual.
Syllable structure
Possible syllable structures include V, VC, VCC, CV, CVC, and CVCC. In contrast to dialects in Russia, dialects in China do not have /k/, /ŋ/, nor /r/ in word-initial position.Russia
The Cyrillic script is used by Evenks living in RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The script has one additional letter, ӈ, to indicate /ŋ/; it is used only inconsistently in printed works, due to typographical limitations. Boldyrev's dictionary uses ң instead. Other sounds found in Evenki but not Russian, such as /ʤ/, lack devoted letters. Instead "д" stands in for both /d/ and /ʤ/; when the latter pronunciation is intended, it is followed by one of Cyrillic's iotified
Iotation
Iotation is a linguistic phenomenon very characteristic of the Slavic languages. It should not be confused with palatalization, which is an entirely different process....
letters, similar to the way those letters cause palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
of the preceding consonant in Russian. However orthographic decisions like these have resulted in some confusion and transferral of Russian phonetics to Evenki among younger speakers. For example, the spellings "ди" and "ды" were intended to record [ʤi] and [di] (i.e. the same vowel sound). However in Russian "и" and "ы" are respectively two different vowels /i/ and /ɨ/. Long vowels are indicated with macrons.
| 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 | |
| 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 |
China
In ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Evenki is written in the Latin script and experimentally in the Mongolian script
Mongolian script
The classical Mongolian script , also known as Uyghurjin, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most successful until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946...
. Evenki scholars made an attempt in the 1980s to create standard written forms for their language, using both Mongolian script and a pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
-like Latin spelling. They published an Evenki–Mongolian–Chinese dictionary with Evenki words spelled in IPA, a pinyin-like orthography, and Mongolian script, as well as a collection of folk songs in IPA and Mongolian script (and Chinese-style numbered musical notation
Numbered musical notation
The numbered musical notation, better known as in Chinese, is a musical notation system widely used among the Chinese people. Some people call it the numeric notation or numerical notation, but it is not to be confused with the integer notation...
).
The orthographic system developed by Chinese Evenki scholars reflects differences between Evenki and Mongol phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
. It uses both
Silent letter
In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation...
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
. In medial and final positions, "t" is written in the Manchu script form ᡨ. "Evenki" itself is spelled /eweŋki/, although Mongolian orthography usually prohibits the letter combination /ŋk/. The vowel inventory of this system is also rather different from that of Chaoke (1995, 2009).
| ᠠ a /a/ |
ᠡ e /ə/ |
ᠢ y*, i /i/ |
ᠣ o /ʊ/ |
ᠤ o /ɔ/ |
ᠥ u /o/ |
ᠦ u /u/ |
ᠧ* e /ə/ |
| ᠨ n /n/ |
ᠩ ng /ŋ/ |
ᠪ b /b/ |
ᠫ p /p/ |
ᠬ g /g/ |
ᠭ g /g/ |
ᠮ m /m/ |
ᠯ l /l/ |
| ᠰ s /s/ |
ᠱ x, sh /ʃ/ |
ᠲ t /t/ |
ᠳ d /d/ |
ᠴ q, ch /tʃ/ |
ᠵ j, zh /dʐ/ |
ᠶ y /j/ |
ᠷ r /r/ |
| ᠸ w /w/ |
ᠹ f /f/ |
ᠺ k /k/ |
ᠾ h /h/ |
* used only word-initially | |||
uses a different version of Latin script, which distinguishes certain vowels and consonants more clearly than the system of Kesingge et al:
| A a /a/ |
B b /b/ |
C c /ts/ |
D d /d/ |
E e /ə/ |
/e/ |
F F /f/ |
G g /ɡ/ |
Ḡ G G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,... 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/ |
|
| /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/ |
Morphology
Evenki is highly agglutinating, suffixing, and not flectional. Each morphemeMorpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
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. The Evenki language has a rich case system—13 cases, though there is some variation among dialects—and it is a nominative–accusative language. Evenki differentiates between alienable and inalienable possession: alienable possession marks the possessor in the nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
and the possessum in the possessed case
Possessed case
The possessed case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It differs from the possessive case in that the latter one marks the possessor, while the former one marks the possessed....
, while inalienable possession is marked by personal indices.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | -v | -vun (exclusive) -t (inclusive) |
| Second person | -s, -si, -ni | -sun |
| Third person | -n, -in | -tyn |
Below is a table of cases and suffixes in Evenki, following Nedjalkov (1997):
| Case | Suffix | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative Nominative case The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments... |
||||
| asatkan | the girl | |||
| Accusative Accusative case The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions... |
indefinite | |||
| e-ja | what? | |||
| definite | ||||
| bi kete-ve himmikte-ve tevle-che-v I much-ACD cowberry-ACD gather-PST-1SG |
I gathered much cowberry | |||
| reflexive-genitive definite | ||||
| hute-kle-vi child-LOCDIR-REF |
to/for [her] own child | |||
| "Old genitive" Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... unproductive |
||||
| e:kun-ngi who-GEN |
whose? | |||
| Ablative Ablative case In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ... |
||||
| e:kun-duk who-ABL |
from whom/where? | |||
| Locative Locative case Locative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by"... |
Locative-Directive | |||
| hute-kle child-LOCDIR |
for the child | |||
| Dative-Locative Dative case The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink".... |
||||
| tatkit-tu school-DAT |
at/in school | |||
| Allative-Locative Allative case Allative case is a type of the locative cases used in several languages. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages which do not make finer distinctions.-Finnish language:In the Finnish language, the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the... |
||||
| agi-tki forest-ALLLOC |
(in)to the forest | |||
| Allative Allative case Allative case is a type of the locative cases used in several languages. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages which do not make finer distinctions.-Finnish language:In the Finnish language, the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the... |
||||
| d'u-la house-ALL |
[enter] into the house | |||
| Elative Elative case See Elative for disambiguation.Elative is a locative case with the basic meaning "out of".... |
||||
| oron-ditk reindeer-ELA |
from the reindeer | |||
| Prolative Prolative case The prolative case is a declension of a noun or pronoun that has the basic meaning of "by way of".... |
||||
| nadalla-li week-PRO singilgen-duli snow-PRO |
in a week's time in the snow |
|||
| Instrumental Instrumental case The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action... |
||||
| pektyre:vun-di gun-INS |
with the gun | |||
| Possessed Possessed case The possessed case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It differs from the possessive case in that the latter one marks the possessor, while the former one marks the possessed.... |
||||
| muri-chi beje horse-POS man |
a man with a horse; a horseman | |||
| Semblative case Semblative case The semblative case is a grammatical case that denotes the similarity of one entity to another.-The semblative case in Wagiman:Wagiman, an indigenous Australian language, has a semblative case suffix -yiga, that is functionally identical to the -like suffix in English, as in the example:English has... |
-ngachin, -gechin | lang-ngachin trap-SEM |
like a trap | |
Plurals are marked with -il-, -l-, or -r- before the case marker, if any: tyge-l-ve (cup-PL-ACD) "the cups (accusative);" Ivul-ngi oro-r-in (Ivul-GEN reindeer-PL-3SG-POS), "the reindeer (pl.) of Ivul."
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.Literary traditions
The Evenki did not have their own writing system until the introduction of the Latin alphabetLatin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
in 1931 and the subsequent change to Cyrillic in 1936-7. The literary language was first based on the Nepa dialect of the Southern subgroup, but in the 1950s was redesigned with the Stony Tunguska dialect as its basis. Ethnographer S. M. Shirokogoroff
S. M. Shirokogoroff
Sergei Mikhailovich Shirokogoroff was a Russian anthropologist. A White émigré, he lived in China from 1922 until his death.-Early life and education:...
harshly criticised the "child-like" literary language, and in a 1930s monograph predicted it would quickly go extinct. 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". However, despite its failure to gain widespread acceptance, within its dialectal base of roughly 5,000 people, it survived and continues in use up to the present. Since the 1930s, "folklore, novels, poetry, numerous translations from Russian and other languages", textbooks, and dictionaries have all been written in Evenki. In Tura (former administrative center of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug
Evenk Autonomous Okrug
Evenk Autonomous Okrug , or Evenkia, was a federal subject of Russia . It had been created in 1930. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Tura...
), the local newspaper includes a weekly supplement written in Evenki.
Language shift and 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." 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". According to the 2002 Russian censusRussian Census (2002)
Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
, 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. Juha Janhunen investigated multilingualism in Hulunbuir
Hulunbuir
Hulunbuir is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, in the People's Republic of China. Its administrative center is located at Hailar District, its largest urban area. Major scenic features are the high steppes of the Hulun Buir grasslands, the Hulun...
(northern Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
) and the adjoining section of Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang
For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...
(e.g. Qiqihar
Qiqihar
- Subdivisions :Qiqihar is divided into 16 divisions: 7 districts , 8 counties and 1 county-level city .-Economy:...
) in 1996. He found that most Solons still spoke Evenki, and about half knew Daur language
Daur language
The Daur or Dagur language is a Mongolic language primarily spoken by members of the Daur ethnic group.-Distribution:Daur is a Mongolic language consisting of four dialects: Amur Daur in the vicinity of Heihe, the Nonni Daur on the west side of the Nonni River from south of Qiqihaer up to the Morin...
as well. Furthermore, Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
functioned as a lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
among members of all minority groups
Ethnic minorities in China
Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese population in the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2010, the combined population of officially recognised minority...
there, as they tended to do their education in Mongolian-medium
Medium of instruction
Medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. Where the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual or...
schools. The only Evenki-speakers whom Janhunen knew not to speak Mongolian as a second language were the Reindeer Evenki (sometimes called "Yakut") in the northern part of Hulunbuir, who used Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
as their "language of intercultural communication". Janhunen predicted that all of these languages, including Mongolian, were likely to lose ground to Chinese in coming years. However Chaoke noted more than a decade later that the usage rate of Evenki remained quite high, and that it was still common to find Evenki-speakers who were proficient in three, four, or even five languages.
There is a small population of ethnic Evenki speakers in Mongolia as well, numbering around 1,000.
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. Instruction as a second language is also available in the Institute of the Peoples of the North
Institute of the Peoples of the North
The Institute of the Peoples of the North was a research institute based in Leningrad. Its objective was to examine topics related to the northern minorities in the Soviet Union...
at Herzen University
Herzen University
The State Russian Herzen Pedagogical University is one of the largest universities in Russia. Located in Saint Petersburg, it operates 20 faculties and more than 100 departments. Embroidered in its structure are the Institute of Pre-University Courses, the Institute of Continuous Professional...
(the former St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University). In the 1980s, Christian missionaries working in Siberia translated the Bible into Evenki and a Christian group called the Global Recordings Network records Christian teaching materials in Evenki.