Klavdiya Plotnikova
Encyclopedia
Klavdiya Zakharovna Plotnikova-Andzhighatova was the last living speaker of the Kamassian language
(and, as such, of any of the Sayan Samoyedic languages). Her father was a Russian named Zakhar Perov and her mother was a Kamassian named Afanasiya Andzhighatova. Plotnikova-Andzhighatova and her parents are on slot 14 on a chart Finnish linguist Kai Donner
has made out of Abalakovo Kamassian families.
Plotnikova-Andzhighatov did not have the opportunity to speak Kamassian after 1950, because she had no friends who could speak it. Despite that, her Kamassian skills were fairly good and she was great help to philologists for the rest of her life. Plotnikova-Andzhighatova spoke fluent Russian
, which she had learned in early childhood. With the decline of her native language, Russian became her only language. This affected her Kamassian skills, especially pronunciation, vocabulary and sentence structures. The Russian influence especially showed in structure of sentences and a weakening of the vocabulary: many morphologic
forms and syntactic structures fell into disuse.
Kamassian language
Kamassian or Kamas is an extinct Samoyedic language, included by convention in the Southern group together with Mator, Koibal, and Selkup . The last native speaker, Klavdiya Plotnikova, died in 1989. Kamassian was spoken in Russia, east of the Ural mountains, by Kamasins.A historical name for Kamas...
(and, as such, of any of the Sayan Samoyedic languages). Her father was a Russian named Zakhar Perov and her mother was a Kamassian named Afanasiya Andzhighatova. Plotnikova-Andzhighatova and her parents are on slot 14 on a chart Finnish linguist Kai Donner
Kai Donner
Kai Reinhold Donner was a Finnish linguist, ethnographer and politician. He carried out expeditions to the Nenets people in Siberia 1911–1914 and was docent of Uralic languages at the University of Helsinki from 1924...
has made out of Abalakovo Kamassian families.
Plotnikova-Andzhighatov did not have the opportunity to speak Kamassian after 1950, because she had no friends who could speak it. Despite that, her Kamassian skills were fairly good and she was great help to philologists for the rest of her life. Plotnikova-Andzhighatova spoke fluent 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...
, which she had learned in early childhood. With the decline of her native language, Russian became her only language. This affected her Kamassian skills, especially pronunciation, vocabulary and sentence structures. The Russian influence especially showed in structure of sentences and a weakening of the vocabulary: many morphologic
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
forms and syntactic structures fell into disuse.