Eastern Khanty language

Eastern Khanty
қӑнтәк йасәӈ, ӄӑнтәк йасәӈḳăntək jasəṇ (Surgut) [note 1] Ӄӑнтәӽ ӄӑнтәк кӧԓ, қӑнтәк кӧԯ
Native to	Russia
Region	Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
Ethnicity	<1,000 Eastern Khanty [1]
Native speakers	Vakh-Vasyugan: 100-500 Surgut: 500-1,000 (2019–2025) [2] [3]
Language family	Uralic Finno-Ugric? Ugric? Khanty Eastern Khanty
Dialects	Salym Surgut Vakh Vasyugan
Writing system	Cyrillic
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (all Khanty varieties)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	1ok
	kca-eas
Glottolog	east2774   Eastern Khanty
ELP	Eastern Khanty
Map of regions where those who speak the Eastern Khanty language.(2020/21)   65%-75%   15%-65%
Eastern Khanty is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)

Eastern Khanty is a Uralic language, frequently considered a dialect of a Khanty language, spoken by about 1,000 people. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]} The majority of these speakers speak the Surgut dialect, as the Vakh-Vasyugan and Salym varieties have been rapidly declining in favor of Russian. ^[8] The former two have been used as literary languages since the late 20th century, with Surgut being more widely used due to its less isolated location and higher number of speakers. ^[8]

Classification

Dialects

Classification of Eastern Khanty dialects: ^[9]

• Far Eastern (Vakh, Vasjugan, Verkhne-Kalimsk, Vartovskoe)
• Surgut (Jugan, Malij Jugan, Pim, Likrisovskoe, Tremjugan-Tromagan ^[10] )

The Vakh, Vasyugan, Alexandrovo and Yugan (Jugan) dialects have less than 300 speakers in total. ^[1]

Transitional

The Salym dialect can be classified as transitional between Eastern and Southern (Honti 1998 suggests closer affinity with Eastern, Abondolo 1998 in the same work with Southern). The Atlym and Nizyam dialects also show some Southern features.

Examples

• Surgut; Љаљ, икита пэканәта катԓәмтәта мосәԓ. (Ljalj, ikita pekanəta katłəmtəta mosəł.) ― The war has begun, men must take up arms ^[11]
• Vakh; Пÿкинит ӛсäт пäни Ӄоԓӄǝт ӛсäт ǝйтхынǝ вǝлвǝлт. (Pükinit jəsät päni Ḳołḳǝt jəsät ǝjthynǝ wǝlwǝlt.) ^[12]

Phonology

Eastern Khanty [ k ] corresponds to [ x ] in the northern and southern languages.

Vakh

Vakh has the richest vowel inventory, with five reduced vowels /ĕø̆ə̆ɑ̆ŏ/ and full /iyɯueøoæɑ/. Some researchers also report /œɔ/. ^{[13] [14]}

Vakh Khanty consonants ^[15]

	Bilabial	Dental	Palatal/ized	Retroflex	Velar
Nasal	m	n	nʲ	ɳ	ŋ
Plosive	p	t	tʲ		k
Affricate			tʃ
Fricative		s			ɣ
Lateral		l	lʲ	ɭ
Trill		r
Semivowel	w		j

Surgut

Surgut Khanty has five reduced vowels /æ̆ə̆ɵ̆ʉ̆ɑ̆ŏ/ and full vowels /ieaɒouɯ/. ^[16]

Surgut Khanty consonants ^[16]

		Bilabial	Dental / Alveolar	Palatal/ized	Post- alveolar	Velar	Uvular
Nasal		m	n̪	nʲ		ŋ
Plosive / Affricate		p	t̪	tʲ ~ tɕ [a]	tʃ	k [b]	q [b]
Fricative	median		s		( ʃ ) [c]		ʁ
	lateral		ɬ [d]	ɬʲ
Approximant		w	l	j			( ʁ̞ʷ ) [e]
Trill			r

1. /tʲ/ can be realized as an affricate [tɕ] in the Tremjugan and Agan sub-dialects.
2. The velar/uvular contrast is predictable in inherited vocabulary: [q] appears before back vowels, [k] before front and central vowels. However, in loanwords from Russian, [k] may also be found before back vowels.
3. The phonemic status of [ʃ] is not clear. It occurs in some words in variation with [s], in others in variation with [tʃ].
4. In the Pim sub-dialect, /ɬ/ has recently shifted to /t/, a change that has spread from Southern Khanty.
5. The labialized postvelar approximant [ʁ̞ʷ] occurs in the Tremjugan sub-dialect as an allophone of /w/ between back vowels, for some speakers also word-initially before back vowels. Research from the early 20th century also reported two other labialized phonemes: /kʷ~qʷ/ and /ŋʷ/, but these are no longer distinguished.

Alphabet

Bilingual Surgut Khanty-Russian sign at Lyantor museum, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug saying "МӘӇ НӘӇАТ МАЧ̡КOӼӘ ВOӼԒУВ"

Surgut alphabet ^[17] (ԯ ң typeface)

А а	Ӑ ӑ	Ӓ ӓ	В в	И и	Й й	К к	Қ қ	Л л
Љ љ	Ԯ ԯ	М м	Н н	Њ њ	Ң ң	О о	Ө ө	Ө̆ ө̆
Ӧ ӧ	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	Ᲊ ᲊ	У у	Ў ў	Ӱ ӱ
Ҳ ҳ	Ҷ ҷ	Ш ш	Ы ы	Э э	Ә ә

Vakh-Vasyugan alphabet ^[18] (ԯ ң typeface)

А а	Ӑ ӑ	Ӓ ӓ	В в	И и	Й й	К к	Қ қ	Л л
Ԯ ԯ	М м	Н н	Ң ң	О о	Ө ө	Ө̆ ө̆	Ӧ ӧ	П п
Р р	С с	Т т	У у	Ў ў	Ӱ ӱ	Ҳ ҳ	Ҷ ҷ	Ш ш
Ы ы	Э э	Ә ә	Ӛ ӛ	Я я	Ю ю

The Khanty letters with a tick or tail at bottom, namely Қ Ԯ Ң Ҳ Ҷ , are sometimes rendered with a diagonal tail, i.e. ⟨Ӆ Ӊ⟩, and sometimes with a curved tail, i.e. ⟨Ӄ Ӈ Ԓ Ӽ⟩. However, in the case of Surgut such graphic variation needs to be handled by the font, because there are no Unicode characters to hard-code Ҷ with a diagonal tail, and Unicode has refused a request to encode a variant of Ҷ with a curved tail ( , approximated in unicode as Ч̡ч̡), the reasoning being that it would be an allograph rather than a distinct letter. (The same is true of the other curved-tail variants in Unicode; those were encoded by mistake.) ^[19]

Grammar

The Vakh dialect is divergent. It has rigid vowel harmony and a tripartite (ergative–accusative) case system, where the subject of a transitive verb takes the instrumental case suffix -нә-, while the object takes the accusative case suffix. The subject of an intransitive verb, however, is not marked for case and might be said to be absolutive. The transitive verb agrees with the subject, as in nominative–accusative systems.

Nouns

Case and number inflection in Surgut Khanty of the word ӄот /qɒːt/ 'house' ^[20]

		Number
		Singular	Dual	Plural
Case	Nominative	ӄот house	ӄотӽән two houses	ӄотәт houses
Dative + Lative	ӄота to the house	ӄотӽәна to the two houses	ӄотәта to the houses
Locative	ӄотнә in the house	ӄотӽәннә in the two houses	ӄотәтнә in the houses
Ablative	ӄоты from the house	ӄотӽәны from the two houses	ӄотәты from the houses
Aproximative	ӄотнам towards the house	ӄотӽәннам towards the two houses	ӄотәтнам towards the houses
Translative	ӄотӽә as the house	ӄотӽәнӽә as the two houses	ӄотәтӽә as the houses
Instructive	ӄотат with the house	ӄотӽәнат with the two houses	ӄотәтат with the houses
Comitative	ӄотнат with the house	ӄотӽәннат with the two houses	ӄотәтнат with the houses
Abessive	ӄотԓәӽ without the house	ӄотӽәнԓәӽ without the two houses	ӄотәтԓәӽ without the houses

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns in Surgut Kanty ^[20]

	Singular			Dual			Plural
	1.	2.	3.	1.	2.	3.	1.	2.	3.
Nominative	mɐː	nʉŋ	ɬʉβ, ɬʉɣ	miːn	niːn	ɬiːn	məŋ	nəŋ, niŋ	ɬəɣ, ɬiɣ
Accusative	mɐːnt	nʉŋɐt	ɬʉβɐt ɬʉβət	miːnt miːnɐt	niːnɐt	ɬiːnɐt	məŋɐt	nəŋɐt	ɬəɣɐt
Dative	mɐːntem	nʉŋɐti	ɬʉβɐti	miːnɐtem miːntem minɐti	niːnɐti	ɬiːnɐti	məŋɐtem məŋɐti	nəŋɐti niŋɐti	ɬəɣɐti
Lative	mɐːntemɐ	nʉŋɐtinɐ nʉŋɐtenɐ nʉŋɐtijɐ	ɬʉβɐtiɬɐ ɬʉβɐtinɐ ɬʉβɐtɐ	miːnɐtemɐ miːntemɐ	niːnɐtinɐ niːnɐtenɐ niːnɐtijɐ	ɬiːnɐtiɬɐ ɬiːnɐtinɐ	məŋɐtinɐ məŋɐtemɐ	nəŋɐtinɐ nəŋɐtenɐ nəŋɐtijɐ	ɬəɣɐtiɬɐ ɬəɣɐtinɐ
Locative	mɐːntemnə mɐːnə, mɐːnnə mɐːn	nʉŋɐtinə nʉŋnə nʉŋən, nʉŋn	ɬʉβɐtiɬnə ɬʉβɐtinə ɬʉβnə, ɬʉβən	miːnɐtemnə miːntemnə miːnnə, miːnən	niːnɐtinnə niːnən	ɬiːnɐtiɬnə ɬiːnɐtinnə ɬiːnnə, ɬiːnən	məŋɐtemnə məŋɐtinnə məŋnə, məŋən	nəŋɐtinnə nəŋən, niŋnə	ɬəɣɐtiɬnə ɬəɣɐtinnə ɬəɣnə, ɬəɣən
Ablative	mɐːntemi mɐːni	nʉŋɐtini nʉŋɐteni nʉŋi	ɬʉβɐtiɬi ɬʉβɐtini ɬʉβɐti, ɬʉβi	miːnɐtemi miːntemi miːnɐti, miːni	niːnɐtini niːnɐteni niːni	ɬiːnɐtiɬi ɬiːnɐtini ɬiːnɐti, ɬiːni	məŋtemi məŋɐtini məŋɐti, məŋi	nəŋɐtini nəŋɐteni niŋɐtiji, nəŋi	ɬəɣɐtiɬi ɬəɣɐtini ɬəɣɐti, ɬəɣi
Aproximative	mɐːntemnɐm mɐːnnɐm	nʉŋɐtəɬnɐm nʉŋɐtinɐm nʉŋɐtenɐm nʉŋnɐm	ɬʉβɐtiɬnɐm ɬʉβɐtinɐm ɬʉβnɐm	miːnɐtemnɐm miːnɐtimənɐ miːnɐm	niːnɐtinɐm niːnɐtenɐm niːnɐnɐm	ɬiːnɐtiɬnɐm ɬiːnɐtinɐm ɬiːnɐtijɐt	məŋɐtemnɐm məŋɐtinɐm məŋnɐm	nəŋɐtinɐm niŋɐtinɐm nəŋɐtenɐm nəŋɐtijɐ	ɬəɣɐtiɬnɐm ɬəɣɐtinɐm ɬəɣnɐm
Translative	mɐːntemɣə mɐːnɣə	nʉŋɐtinɣə nʉŋɐtiɣə nʉŋɐtenɣə nʉŋkə	ɬʉβɐtiɬɣə ɬʉβɐtinɣə ɬʉβɐtiɣə ɬʉβkə	miːnɐtemɣə miːnɐtikkə miːnɣə	niːnɐtinɣə niːnɐtiɣə niːnɐtikkə niːnɣə	ɬiːnɐtiɬɣə ɬiːnɐtinɣə ɬiːnɐtikkə ɬiːnɣə	məŋtemɣə məŋɐtinɣə məŋɐtikkə məŋkə	nəŋɐtinɣə nəŋɐtiɣə nəŋɐtikkə nəŋkə	ɬəɣɐtiɬɣə ɬəɣɐtinɣə ɬəɣɐtikkə ɬəɣkə
Instructive	mɐːntemɐt	nʉŋɐtinɐt nʉŋɐtenɐt nʉŋɐtijɐt	ɬʉβɐtinɐt ɬʉβɐtiɬɐt ɬʉβɐtijɐt	miːntemɐt	niːnɐtinɐt niːnɐtenɐt niːnɐtijɐt	ɬiːnɐtinɐt ɬiːnɐtiɬɐt ɬiːnɐtijɐt	məŋɐtemɐt məŋɐteβɐt	nəŋɐtinɐt nəŋɐtenɐt nəŋɐtijɐt	ɬəɣɐtinɐt ɬəɣɐtiɬɐt ɬəɣɐtijɐt
Comitative	mɐːntemnɐt mɐːnnɐt	nʉŋɐtinɐt nʉŋɐtenɐt nʉŋnɐt	ɬʉβɐtiɬnɐt ɬʉβɐtəɬnɐt ɬʉβɐtinɐt ɬʉβnɐt	miːnɐtemnɐt miːntemnɐt miːnnɐt	niːnɐtinɐt niːnɐtenɐt niːnnɐt	ɬiːnɐtiɬɐt ɬiːnɐtinɐt ɬiːnnɐt	məŋɐtinɐt məŋɐtemnɐt məŋɐtiβnɐt məŋnɐt	nəŋɐtinɐt nəŋɐtenɐt nəŋnɐt	ɬəɣɐtiɬnɐt ɬəɣɐtinɐt ɬəɣnɐt
Abessive	mɐːntemɬəɣ	nʉŋɐtiɬəɣ nʉŋɐtinɬəɣ	ɬʉβɐtiɬəɣ

Posessive in Surgut Kanty ^[21]

			possessee
			singular	dual	plural
possessor	1st person	singular	-əm	-ɣəɬɐm	-ɬɐm
dual		-imen	-ɣəɬəmən	-ɬəmən
plural		-iβ	-ɣəɬəβ	-ɬəβ
2nd person	singular	-ən, -ɐ, -ɛ	-ɣəɬɐ	-ɬɐ
	dual	-n	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
	plural	-in	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
3rd person	singular	-əɬ	-ɣəɬ	-ɬɐɬ
	dual	-in	-ɣəɬən	-ɬən
	plural	-iɬ	-ɣəɬ	-ɬɐɬ

Verbs

A table of verb suffixes in Khanty

Eastern Khanty verbs must agree with the subject in person and number. There are two paradigms for conjugation. Subjective conjugation agrees only with the subject, and objective conjugation agrees with both the subject and the object. In a sentence with both a subject and an object, the subjective conjugation puts the object in focus, and the objective conjugation puts the object as a topic. ^[22]

Vocabulary

Examples

Numerals

No.	Surgut Khanty numerals	Vakh Khanty numerals
1	әй (attributive), оԓәӈ (non-attributive)	ӛй
2	кат (attributive), катӽән (non-attributive)	кӓт, кӓ (attributive), кӓтӄӛн (non-attributive)
3	ӄөԓәм	коԓәм
4	њәԓә	нӛԓ, ньӛлӛ
5	вӓт	вет
6	ӄут	кут, ӄут
7	ԓапәт	лӓвӛт
8	њыԓәӽ	њыләӽ
9	ирйэӈ	ӛйӛрйöӈ
10	йэӈ	йöӈ
11	йэӈ ӱрәккә әй
12	йэӈ ӱрәккә катӽән
20	ӄөс	ӄос
25	ӄөс ӱрәккә вӓт
30	ӄөԓәм йэӈ
31	ӄөԓәм йэӈ әй
40	њәԓә йэӈ
42	њәԓә йэӈ катӽән
80	њыԓсот
100	сот	сат
255	кат сотӽән вӓт йэӈ вӓт
800	њыԓәӽ сот
1000	ᲊорас	тьәрәс
30943	ӄөԓәм йэӈ ᲊорас ирйэӈ сот њәԓә йэӈ ӄөԓәм

Sample vocabulary

English	Surgut Khanty	Vakh Khanty
Hello!	Пәҷа вө̆ԓа!	Пӛтьä вәла!
What is your name?	-	-
name	нӓм	нэм
fish	ӄуԓ	ӄул
house	ӄот	ӄут
woman	нэ, ими	ими
man	ӄө, ики	ики
child	њэврэм	ньӛӈи-ӄыи
river	йӑвән	йоӽәнʼ

References

1. Filʹchenko, A. I︠U︡ (2010). Aspect of the grammar of Eastern Khanty. Tomsk: Tomsk State Pedagogical University. ISBN   978-5-89428-315-9.
2. "Вах-васюганский хантыйский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
3. "Сургутско-хантыйский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
4. "Endangered languages in Northeast Asia: report". University of Helsinki . 2019-02-11. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
5. "Вах-васюганский хантыйский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
6. "Сургутско-хантыйский язык | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
7. "Хантыйский язык" [Khanty language]. Историческая энциклопедия Сибири (in Russian). Новосибирск. 2009.
8. Salminen, Tapani (2023). "Demography, endangerment, and revitalization". In Abondolo, Daniel Mario; Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa (eds.). The Uralic languages. Routledge Language Family (2nd ed.). London New York: Routledge. p. 103. ISBN   978-1-138-65084-8.
9. Honti, László (1981), "Ostjakin kielen itämurteiden luokittelu", Congressus Quintus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum, Turku 20.-27. VIII. 1980, Turku: Suomen kielen seura, pp. 95–100
10. Abondolo & Valijärvi 2023.
11. Volkova, A.N; Solowar, V.N. (2016). Краткий русско-хантыйский словарь (сургутский диалект) (PDF). Khanty-Mansiysk: Югорский формат. ISBN   978-5-9907703-2-4.
12. V.N. Solovar; G.L. Nakhracheva; A.A. Shiyanova (2016), Диалекты хантыйского языка., Khanty-Mansiysk, p. 307
13. Abondolo 1998, p. 360.
14. Filchenko 2007.
15. Honti 1998, p. 338.
16. Csepregi 1998, pp. 12–13.
17. Volkova, Anisʹja Nikolaevna; Solovar, Valentina Nikolaevna (2018). Chantyjsko-russkij tematičeskij slovarʹ: (surgutskij dialekt): bolee 3000 slovХантыйско-русский тематический словарь (сургутский диалект) более 3000 слов. Sankt-Peterburg: Izdatelʹstvo RGPU im. A.I. Gercena. ISBN   978-5-8064-2560-8.
18. G.L., Nakhracheva; Solovar, V.N.; Shiyanova, A.A. (2016). DIALEKTY KHANTYYSKOGO YAZYKAДИАЛЕКТЫ ХАНТЫЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА. Khanty-Mansisk: Obsko-ugorskiy institut prikladnykh issledovaniy i razrabotok. ISBN   978-5-9631-0510-8.
19. L2/23-015 Comments on CYRILLIC CHE WITH HOOK’s use in Khanty and Tofa (Tofalar) (L2/22-280).
20. Schön, Zsófia; Gugán, Katalin (2022-03-24). "East Khanty". The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University PressOxford. pp. 608–635. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0032. ISBN   978-0-19-876766-4 . Retrieved 2024-02-04.
21. Schön, Gugán, Zsófia, Katalin (2022). The Oxford guide to the Uralic languages. Oxford University Press. p. 615.
22. The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages 2022.

Notes

1. Wiktionary Khanty transliteration

Sources

• Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena, eds. (2022-03-24). The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198767664.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-876766-4.
• Abondolo, Daniel (1998). "Khanty". In Abondolo, Daniel (ed.). The Uralic Languages.
• Honti, László (1998). "ObUgrian". In Abondolo, Daniel (ed.). The Uralic Languages.
• Csepregi, Márta (1998). Szurguti osztják chrestomathia (PDF). Studia Uralo-Altaica Supplementum. Vol. 6. Szeged. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
• Filchenko, Andrey Yury (2007). A grammar of Eastern Khanty (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl: 1911/20605 .
• Gulya, János (1966). Eastern Ostyak chrestomathy. Indiana University Publications, Uralic and Altaic series. Vol. 51.
• Abondolo, Daniel Mario; Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa, eds. (2023). The Uralic languages. Routledge language family (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN   978-1-315-62509-6.