Arin language

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Arin
Ar, Ara
Native to Russia
Region Yenisei River
Ethnicity Arin people
Extinct late 1730s, with the death of Arzamas Loskutov [1]
Early form
Language codes
ISO 639-3 xrn
xrn
Glottolog arin1243
Yeniseian languages map.svg
Map of pre-contact Yeniseian languages. Arin is in   blue.

Arin is an extinct Yeniseian language formerly spoken in Russia by the Arin people along the Yenisei River, predominantly on its left shore, between Yeniseysk and Krasnoyarsk, [3] north of the Minusinsk region. However, it has been suggested that the Arin people had historically occupied a larger geographical range. It became extinct in the 18th century, [3] [4] with the death of Arzamas Loskutov, [1] who was an informant for Gerhard Friedrich Müller in 1731, [5] and for a Cossack adventurer named Ivan Kovrigin in 1735. [6] [1]

Contents

It is believed that the term Ar or Ara was used by speakers of Arin to refer to themselves. [3]

Classification

It is classified as belonging to the Arinic branch, being its only attested language. [7] The closest known relative of Arin, Pumpokol, has been suggested to be similar to the language of the ruling elite of the Xiongnu, [8] [9] as well as that of the Jie ruling class of the Later Zhao dynasty. [10]

Geographical distribution

Hydronyms associated with Arin have the suffixes -set, -igai, -lat, -zat, -zet and -sat (meaning "river") and -kul'/-kul (meaning "water"). [11] These hydronyms, along with Khanty folklore telling of an eastern people known as the ar-jäx "Ar people", indicate that Arin may have once been spread out as far west as the Ob. [3] [7]

Phonology

One notable aspect of the Arin phonology is the correspondence of words starting with the word-initial k- and words in other Yeniseian languages that start with a bare vowel. For example, the Arin word kul (meaning 'water') corresponds to the Ket word uˑl’ and the Kott word ûl. [12] This feature of Arin allows for far more accurate reconstructing of the Proto-Yeniseian language by historical linguistics, for instance, the Proto-Yeniseian term for "water" is reconstructed as *xuɬ, where the initial *x- could not be inferred if not for Arin attestation.

Vowels

The vowel system in Arin is as follows: [11]

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ( ʌ )1 ɔ
Open æ a
  1. The sound [ ʌ ], transcribed as ö, is only attested in the words ögga 'six', qoa-ögga 'sixteen', ögťuːŋ 'sixty', and utqʼöːnoŋ 'ear', and potentially also in pon’a (also recorded as pun) 'duck'.

Consonants

Labial Dental Palatal Velar Uvular Laryngeal/
Pharyngeal
plain pal. plain pal. plain pal.
Plosive voiceless p [ p ]pʼh [ ]t [ t ]tʼ[ ]k [ k ]kʼ[ ]q [ q ][ ][ ʔ ])1
voiced b [ b ]d [ d ]dʼ[ ]g [ g ]
Fricative voiceless (f [ f ])s [ s ] š [ ʃ ]sʼ[ ]x [ χ ](h [ h ])
voiced (v [ v ])z [ z ] ž [ ʒ ]
Affricate c [ t͡s ]č [ t͡ʃ ] (dž [ d͡ʒ ])
Nasal m [ m ]mʼ[ ]n [ n ][ ]ŋ [ ŋ ]
Lateral l [ l ][ ]
Approximant j [ j ]
Trill r [ r ](rʼ [ ])

Consonants in parentheses are sparsely attested or unattested.

  1. [ ʔ ] is only assumed from other Yeniseian languages and is only a prosodic device of tone.

There are 11 palatal-nonpalatal consonant oppositions. [11]

Lexicon

Etymological analysis suggests that speakers of the Arin language, as with other members of the Yeniseian people, were bilingual in Siberian Turkic languages; for example, the Arin word teminkur (meaning "ore") has been suggested to stem from the Old Turkic compound word *tämir qān (meaning "iron blood"). [13] There are over 400 lexica for the Arin language, recorded in the 18th century. [5]

General

Arin words in Pallas 1789 [14]
Russian glossбогнебовечерлесглинаполеснегветервино
English translationGodsky, heaveneveningforestclayfieldsnowspiritwine
Arin translationеcэcписьощетьюбурунгкья́батьепаиарага́

Body parts

Arin body parts in Pallas 1789 [14]
Russian glossволосголоваухоглазносротязыкщёкибородаплечорукапальцыногаживотспинаплотьсердце
English translationhairheadeareyenosemouthtonguecheekbeardshoulderhandfingerslegstomachbackfleshheart
Arin translationкья́гангколкьяуткьэно́нгтенгаркӷуйбюкьо́налъяпбыкӷолю́нгкоролепхинангпъӷягакӷо́лпаспилпъӷоргакӷописшеноугбу

Family members

Arin family member words in Pallas 1789 [14]
Russian glossотецматьсындочьбратсестрамужженадевочкамальчикдитячеловек
English translationfathermothersondaughterbrothersisterhusbandwifegirlboychildhuman, person
Arin translationипя, бъяпбя́мябикялбик-яльябамага́лбамагальябикъярьятбикӷама́лбикъяльябикъялалполаткьит

Numerals

Numerals in Arin [11] [15]
No.Numerals (Werner 2005)Numerals (Pallas 1789)
1qusejКг̧узей
2kinaКи́на
3tʼoŋaТьюнга
4šája ~ šaga ~ šejaШа́га
5qala ~ qaga ~ kalaКа́ла
6ögga ~ ɨga ~ ɛgeЭгга
7ɨnʼa ~ ona ~ unaЫньа
8kinamančauКинаманчау́
9qusamančauКг̧усаманчау
10qoaКг̧оа
11qóa-qúsa
12qóa-kina
13qóa-tʼoŋa
14qoa-šaja
15qoa-qala
16qoa-ögga
17qoa-ɨnʼa
18qoa-kinamančaú
19qoa-qusamančau
20kintʼuŋ
30tʼoŋtʼuːŋ
40šájtʼuːŋ
50qaltʼuːŋ
60ögtʼuːŋ ~ uj-tuŋ
70ɨ́ntʼuŋ
80kina-mančaútʼuːŋ
90qusamančautʼuːŋ
100jusІусь
200kin-jus
300tʼoŋ-jus
1000qo-jus

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Исчезающие народы/языки: Аринцы, Аринский (Arin) | СМДО КубГУ". moodle.kubsu.ru. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  2. Bonmann, Svenja; Fries, Simon (16 June 2025). "Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng‐nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo‐Siberian Language". Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12321. ISSN   0079-1636.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Georg, Stefan (2007). A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak). Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental. ISBN   978-1-901903-58-4.
  4. "The ASJP Database - Wordlist Arin". asjp.clld.org. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Аринский язык // «Историческая энциклопедия Сибири» (2009)". ИРКИПЕДИЯ - портал Иркутской области: знания и новости (in Russian). Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  6. "A 10,000-year-old word puzzle". The Globe and Mail. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  7. 1 2 Vajda, Edward (19 February 2024), Vajda, Edward (ed.), "8 The Yeniseian language family" , The Languages and Linguistics of Northern Asia, De Gruyter, pp. 365–480, doi:10.1515/9783110556216-008, ISBN   978-3-11-055621-6 , retrieved 26 June 2024
  8. Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiong-nu Speak a Yeniseian Language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1): 87–104. ISSN   0008-9192. JSTOR   41928223.
  9. Bonmann, Svenja; Fries, Simon (16 June 2025). "Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng‐nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo‐Siberian Language". Transactions of the Philological Society. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12321. ISSN   0079-1636.
  10. VOVIN, Alexander; VAJDA, Edward; DE LA VAISSIÈRE, Étienne (2016). "Who were the *Kjet and What Language did they Speak?". Journal Asiatique (1): 125–144. doi:10.2143/JA.304.1.3146838. ISSN   1783-1504.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Werner, Heinrich (2005). Die Jenissej-Sprachen des 18. Jahrhunderts. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN   978-3-447-05239-9.
  12. Fries, Simon; Bonmann, Svenja (22 December 2023). "The Development of Arin kul 'water' ~ Kott ûl, Ket ¹u·l', Yugh ¹ur and Its Typological Background" . International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics. 5 (2): 183–198. doi:10.1163/25898833-20230044 . Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  13. Khabtagaeva, Bayarma (2015). "On the Yeniseian Arin word teminkur 'ore'". Words and Dictionaries: A Festschrift for Professor Stanisław Stachowski on the Occasion of His 85th Birthday: 149–154. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  14. 1 2 3 Pallas, Peter Simon (1786). Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa (in Russian). Schnoor.
  15. Pallas, Peter Simon (1789). Linguarum Totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparativa, Pars 2.