Jukagiric languages

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Spread of the Yukagir languages ​​in the 17th century (dashed red) and in the 20th century (red)

The Yukagir languages are spoken in northeastern Siberia , especially in Yakutia . Of four known Yukagirian languages, according to recent studies, only two languages ​​are still in use, northern Tundra Jukagir (also Wadulian ) and southern Kolymajukagir (also Odulian ). While Tundrajukagirisch in 2009 still more than 60 mostly elderly Yukagirs was spoken fluently which Kolymajukagirische applies with only 5 speakers as seriously endangered language .

The relationship between the Yukagirian languages ​​has not been finally clarified. The discussion is on the one hand a distant relationship to the Uralic languages , on the other hand an isolated position in the circle of other paleosiberian languages.

Internal classification

At the beginning of the 17th century, Yukagir tribes stretched from the lower reaches of the Lena in the west to the upper reaches of the Anadyr in the east, from the North Sea to the Verkhoyansk Mountains in the south over a vast area of ​​northeast Siberia. It was a dialect continuum of which only the northernmost and southernmost variety (Tundra and Kolymajukagir) have survived to this day. The Yukagir languages ​​Omok and Chuwanese were spoken to the south and south-west of today's language areas and died out in the 19th century. These tribes were severely decimated from the 17th to the 19th century by epidemics, armed conflicts and the Russian colonization; in some cases they also assimilated the Chukchi, Yakuts, Evens and Russians, giving up their Yukagir languages.

Of these subgroups, only Tundrajukagiric (maximum 60 speakers, Andrjuschkino , Nizhnekolymsk district ) and Kolymayukagiric (maximum 5 speakers, Nelemnoye , Verkhnekolymsk district ) are now (2009 ). The ethnic group of the Jukagiren or Odulians - as they name themselves - still comprises around 1,000 people, the language is only spoken by the older population in private surroundings, while younger people only have a reduced passive understanding of language. Efforts are still being made to preserve the language. In the 1980s, a font for the Yukagir language was created based on the Cyrillic alphabet. In some elementary schools, Yukagir is offered as a subject.

Cladogram

Jukagirian
(4 languages ​​with 65 speakers)

Comments on the language characteristics

The first systematic studies of Jukagiric began with W. Jochelson, who had been exiled to the Kolyma region, in the years 1894 to 1896. The Jukagire N. Spiridinow also made important contributions in the 1930s. The two Yukagirian languages ​​(North or Tundra Jukagir, South or Kolymajukagir) differ so much that some researchers assume two languages. For the possible genetic relationship between Yukagir and the Urals see below. At least typologically, Jukagiric is undoubtedly very similar to the Uralic languages. This also includes the existence of a separate negative conjugation, for example:

  • tet mer-ai-mek - "you shot"
  • tet el-ai-yek - "you did not shoot"

A special feature is the morphological focus on parts of sentences, for example

  • met-ek uul - " I went"
  • met mer-uul-jeŋ - "I went "

In contrast to the other Paleo-Siberian languages, Yukagiric has hardly any consonant clusters. It is worth mentioning the Jukagiren's ideas (notches in birch bark, cf. Jensen 1969), through which route maps could be displayed or love letters could be sent.

The Ural-Yukagirian Hypothesis

One hypothesis to be taken seriously is that of the relationship between Yukagir and Ural. According to Merritt Ruhlen (1991), the works of Björn Collinder (1965) and RT Harms (1977 ) prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that Jukagiric is related to the Uralic languages. Collinder (1965) states: “The similarities between Yukagir and Ural are so numerous and characteristic that they must be remnants of an original unity. The case system of Yukagir is almost identical to that of Northern Samoyed. The imperative is formed with the same suffixes as in South Samoyed and the most conservative Finno-Ugric languages ​​[…] Yukagir has half a hundred words in common with Ural, without the loanwords. […] It should be noted that all Finno-Ugric languages ​​differ more from Samoyed in the case inflection than Yukagir. ”It would then be quite possible to speak of an Ural-Yukagir language family.

However, this possible relationship is viewed quite critically on the part of Ural Studies, as is A. Marcantonio (2002), who rather assumes that Yukagir has borrowed from the Samoyed languages . D. Abondolo (1998) is more neutral: “The only real and credible candidate for a productive comparison with Ural is Yukagir. […] Two outstanding analyzes (which examine this relationship) are the works of Harms (1977) and Nikolaeva (1988) on historical phonology and morphology. As compelling as these works seem in some details, there are significant points in which they contradict each other, for example in the role and development of the genitive; perhaps further research will be able to clear up these contradictions. "

In the Eurasian and Nostratian macro families , Jukagiric is naturally combined with Uralic, either as a third branch next to Finno-Ugric and Samoyed (according to the Nostratics, e.g. Aharon Dolgopolsky ) or as a branch of Uralic-Jukagiric, which corresponds to the Ural branch is of equal rank (so the Eurasians, e.g. Joseph Greenberg ).

Jukagirian in the context of the nostratic hypothesis
  • Ural
    • Finno-Ugric
    • Samoyed
    • Jukagirian
Jukagir in the context of the Eurasian hypothesis
  • Ural-Jukagir
    • Ural
      • Finno-Ugric
      • Samoyed
    • Jukagirian

literature

General

  • Merritt Ruhlen: A Guide to the World's Languages. London 1991. (especially pp. 64-71)
  • Ernst Kausen: The language families of the world. Part 1: Europe and Asia . Buske, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 3-87548-655-2 .

Jukagirian

  • Johannes Angere: Jukagirisch-German dictionary. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1957.
  • Elena Maslova: A Grammar of Kolyma Yukaghir. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin, Boston 2003, ISBN 978-3-11-019717-4 .
  • Elena Maslova: Tundra Yukaghir. LINCOM, Munich, ISBN 978-3-89-586792-7 .
  • Irina Nikolaeva: A Historical Dictionary of Yukaghir. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin, Boston 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-089284-0 .

Jukagir and Ural

  • Luobbal Sámmol Sámmol Ánte (Ante Aikio): The Uralic-Yukaghir lexical correspondences: genetic inheritance, language contact or chance resemblance? (pdf) (To appear in: Finnish-Ugric Research 62) Academia.edu. Ante Aikio. (read on March 19, 2015).
  • Robert T. Harms: The Uralo-Yukaghir Focus System. In: Paul J. Hopper (Ed.): Studies in Descriptive and Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam 1977.
  • Irina Nikolaeva: Проблема урало-юкагирских генетицеских связей. Moscow 1988.
  • Björn Collinder: An Introduction to the Uralic Languages. Berkeley, Calif. 1965.
  • Angela Marcantonio: The Uralic Language Family. Oxford, New York 2002.
  • Daniel Abondolo: The Uralic Languages. Routledge, London, New York 1998.
  • Jaakko Häkkinen: Early contacts between Uralic and Yukaghir. In: Tiina Hyytiäinen, Lotta Jalava, Janne Saarikivi & Erika Sandman (ed.): Per Urales ad Orientem. Iter polyphonicum multilingue. Festskrift tillägnad Juha Janhunen på hans sextioårsdag the 12th of February 2012, 91-101. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia - Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 264. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura , 2012. ISBN 978-952-5667-33-2 (print) ISBN 978-952-5667-34-9 (online) . Online article (pdf; 317 kB) (read March 12, 2013).
  • Juha Janhunen 2009: Proto-Uralic — what, where, and when? Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia 258. s. 57-78. Online article (PDF; 360 kB).
  • Károly Rédei 1999: On the Urals-Yukagir language contacts. Finnish-Ugric Research 55, 1-58. Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society. Online article (limited acces)

Jukagir in macro families

  • Joseph H. Greenberg: Indo-European and its Closest Relatives. The Eurasiatic Language Family , Volume 1: Grammar; Stanford University Press 2000.
  • Aharon Dolgopolsky: The Nostratic Macrofamily and Linguistic Palaeontology. Oxford 1998.