Enets language

Last updated
Enets
Онэй база (Onei baza) [1]
Native to Russia
Region Krasnoyarsk Krai, along the lower Yenisei River
Ethnicity260 Enets people (2010 census)
Native speakers
69 (2020 census, Russia) [2]
18 (2001, Ukraine)
Uralic
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
enf  – Forest Enets
enh  – Tundra Enets
Glottolog enet1250
Enets current.png
Current distribution of Enets languages. [3] [4]
Lang Status 20-CR.svg
Forest Enets is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Enets is a Samoyedic language of Northern Siberia spoken on the Lower Yenisei within the boundaries of the Taimyr Municipality District, a subdivision of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. Enets belongs to the Northern branch of the Samoyedic languages, in turn a branch of the Uralic language family. [5]

Contents

Status

In 2010 about 40 people claimed to be native Enets speakers, while in 2020, 69 people claimed to speak Enets natively, while 97 people claimed to know Enets in total. [6]

Older generation still speaks their language, but education is in Russian and very little of Enets language is taught and the language is almost unused in everyday life. [7]

Dialects

There are two distinct dialects, Forest Enets (Bai)  [ ru ] and Tundra Enets (Madu or Somatu)  [ ru ], which may be considered separate languages.

Tundra Enets is the smaller of the two Enets dialects. In the winter of 2006/2007, approximately 35 people spoke it (6 in Dudinka, 20 in Potapovo  [ ru ] and 10 in Tukhard, the youngest of whom was born in 1962 and the oldest in 1945). Many of these speakers are trilingual, with competence in Forest Enets, Tundra Nenets and Russian, preferring to speak Tundra Nenets.

The two dialects differ both in phonology and in lexicon. Additional variation was found in early Enets records from the 17th to 19th centuries, though all these varieties can be assigned as either Tundra Enets or Forest Enets. [8]

Phonological differences:

Lexical differences:

Phonology

The following phoneme inventories are combined from all of the different dialects of the Enets languages. Uralicist transcription, often used in literature on Enets, is given below the IPA transcription.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i
i		 ɨ
i̮		 u
u
Mid e , ɛ
ḙ, e		 ə
e̮orə̑		 o , ɔ
o̭, o
Low ɑ
a

Vowel length is indicated by a macron, e.g. ē[eː].

Consonants

Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
plain pal. plain pal. plain pal.
Nasal m
m		mʲ
ḿ		 n
n		nʲ
ń		 ŋ
η
Stop/
Affricate 		voiceless p
p		pʲ
ṕ		 t
t		tʲ
ťortʹ		 t͡ʃ
č		t͡ʃʲ
č́orčʹ		 k
k		 ʔ
ˀorʼ
voiced b
b		bʲ
b́orbʹ		 d
d		dʲ
ďordʹ		 g
g
Fricative plain ð
δ		 x
χ		 h
h
sibilant s
s		sʲ
ś		 ʃ
š		ʃʲ
š́oršʹ
Trill r
r		rʲ
ŕ
Approximant w
w		 l
l		lʲ
ľorlʹ		 j
j

Stress

The type of stress in Enets is quantitative. Stressed vowels are pronounced relatively longer than unstressed vowels. Based on the available data, the stress is not (as a rule) used as a feature for distinguishing the meaning. The stress in a word usually falls on the first vowel. The primary stress usually falls on the first syllable and is accompanied by a secondary stress, which falls on the third and the fifth syllable. Sometimes the stress distinguishes the meaning, e.g. in mo·di ('I') vs. modi· ('shoulder'). (The primary stress is marked by ·). [9]

Orthography

Enets is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, though it includes the letters ԑ, ӈ, and ҫ which are not used in the Russian alphabet.

А аБ бВ вГ гД дЕ еЁ ё Ԑ ԑ
Ж жЗ зИ иЙ йК кЛ лМ мН н
Ӈ ӈО оП пР рС с Ҫ ҫТ тУ у
Ф фХ хЦ цЧ чШ шЩ щЪ ъЫ ы
Ь ьЭ эЮ юЯ я

The written form of the Enets language was created during the 1980s and has been used to produce a number of books. During the 1990s there was a local newspaper with insert in local languages (including Enets language), Советский Таймыр (Soviet Taimyr, modern simple Taymyr ) published and brief Enets broadcasts on local radio, which shut down in 2003, [11] served as supplements for speakers. [12]

In 2019, the Enets alphabet was reformed, and in April 2020, the Enets primer was published in a new version of the alphabet. The alphabet contains the following letters: [13]

А аБ бВ вГ гД дЕ еԐ ԑЁ ё
Ж жЗ зИ иЙ йК кЛ лМ мН н
Ӊ ӊО о О̂ о̂П пР рС сТ тУ у
Ф фХ хЦ цЧ чШ шЩ щъЫ ы
ьЭ эЮ юЯ я ˮ

Grammar

Enets nouns vary for number, case, and person-number of the possessor. There is also an intriguing nominal case in which ‘destinativity’ determines the entity is destined for someone. Possessor markers are also used for discourse related purposes, where they are completely devoid of the literal possessive meaning. Enets postpositions are marked for person-number; many postpositions are formed from a small set of relational nouns and case morphology. [14]

Morphology

The parts of speech in Enets are: nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, interjections and connective particles. [9]

The grammatical number is expressed by means of the opposition of the singular, dual and plural forms. There are three declensions, the main (non-possessive), possessive and desiderative declensions, and seven cases in Enets: the nominative, genitive, accusative, lative, locative, ablative and prolative case. The meaning of those cases is expressed by means of suffixes added to nouns, adjectives, pronouns and substantivized verbs. In their fixed forms they also belong to adverbs and postpositions. The possession is expressed by means of the genitive case or possessive suffixes. [9]

Local orientation is based on the three-member distribution: the suffixes of local cases of nouns, adverbs and postpositions are divided among the lative (to where?), locative (where?) and ablative (from where?). The prolative case (along what? or through what?) expresses an additional fourth local characteristic.

The verbal negation is expressed by the combination of the main verb with a preceding auxiliary negative verb. The auxiliary verb is conjugated according to general rules, but the main verb is in a special inconjugated negative form. There are also some verbs of absence - non-possessiveness. Six moods are contrasted in the Enets language: indicative, conjunctive, imperative, optative, quotative and interrogative. There are three tenses: aorist, preterite and future. [9]

The category of person with nouns is expressed by means of possessive suffixes, differing in all three numbers of all three persons and used in nouns, pronouns, substantivized verbs, adverbs and postpositions. The category of person with verbs is expressed by means of particular personal suffixes of the verb, differing in all three numbers of all three persons.

There are three conjugations in Enets: subjective, objective and reflexive. These conjugations differ from each other by personal suffixes. Additionally, the objective conjugation uses numerical suffixes, referring to all three numbers of the object. In the case of the reflexive conjugation, the person of the subject and object is the same and a separate suffix indicates reflexivity. [9]

Nouns

Depending on the final sounds of the word stem, nouns can be divided into two groups:

  1. nouns with a final sound other than a laryngal plosive stop, e.g. dʲuda 'horse'
  2. nouns with a final laryngal plosive stop, e.g. tauʔ 'Nganasan'

Either group uses variants of suffixes with a different initial sound (e.g. Loc dʲuda-han, tau-kon).

There are seven cases in Enets: the nominative, genitive, accusative, lative, locative, ablative and prolative case. The case suffixes are combined with numeral markers, often in a fairly complex manner. [9]

SingularPlural
Nominative--ʔ
Genitive-ʔ-ʔ
Accusative--ʔ
Lative-d/-t-hɨð/-gɨð/-kɨð
Locative-hVn/-gon/-kon-hɨn/-gɨn/-kɨn
Ablative-hVð/-gɨð/-kɨð-hɨt/-gɨt/-kɨt
Prolative-on/-mon-ɨn/-on

The dual case forms are produced on the basis of an uninflected dual form with the suffix -hɨʔ/-gɨʔ/-kɨʔ by adding the respective singular case endings of some postpositions (mainly nə-) in local cases. [9]

Adjectives

There are a number of adjectives that have no specific suffixes, e.g. utik 'bad', sojδa 'good', lodo 'low' and piδe 'high'.

Alongside these, there are various suffixal adjectives, e.g. buse̮-saj ne̮ 'a married woman', bite-δa 'waterless', uδa-šiδa 'handless', mȯga-he 'belonging to the forest', same-raha 'wolf-like', narδe-de̮ 'red', polδe-de̮ 'black'.

The adjective does not agree with its head either in number or case, e.g. agga koja 'big sterlet', agga koja-hone (locative), agga koja-hi̮t (plural ablative). As an exception, we can refer to the use of the adjective instead of an elliptical noun and as a predicate in the nominal conjugation.

To strengthen a possessive connection, sometimes a respective possessive suffix may be added to the head of an attribute, e.g. keδerʔkoba-δa ŋul'ʔ mujuʔ 'the wild reindeer skin is very strong' ("its-skinof-the-wild-reindeer...").

The comparative degree is formed by means of an adjective in the positive degree (in the nominative form) with the word to be compared in the ablative form. [9]

Verbs

The verbs in Enets can be distributed into two groups in principally the same manner as the noun depending on the final sounds of the word stem. Either group uses the variants of suffixes with different initial sounds.

Seven moods are contrasted: indicative, conjunctive, imperative, optative, quotative and interrogative. There are three tenses: aorist, preterite and future. (These tenses exist practically only in the indicative mood.) The verb has three conjugations: subjective, objective and reflexive. These conjugations differ from each other by personal suffixes. In addition to this the objective conjugation uses numerical suffixes, referring to all three numbers of the object. In the case of reflexive conjugation a separate suffix indicates reflexivity. [9]

Finite forms

The aorist is either unmarked or with the marker -ŋV-/-V-. The temporal meaning of the aorist depends on the aspect of the verb. A prolonged or recurrent action should be understood as taking place in the present, a short-time or single action as having taken place in the past, whereas the influence of the latter is still felt in the present. A distinctly past action is expressed by the preterite with the marker -ś/-š/-d'/-t'/-č, whereas the marker is placed after personal suffixes. The future action is expressed by the future marker -d-/-dV-/-t-/-tV- before personal suffixes.

The objective conjugation uses one type of personal suffixes when the object is in the singular and another type of them with the object in the dual or the plural. In the case of the dual object the dual marker -hu-/-gu-/-ku- precedes the dual personal suffixes of the second type, whereas in the case of the plural object, the rise of the stem vowel can be observed. The marker of the reflexive mood is -i-, which is standing before personal suffixes. [9]

Syntax

The syntax of Enets is typical for the family and the area. The Enets language follows Subject-object-verb, head marking in the noun phrase, both head and dependent marking within the clause, non-finite verbal forms used for clause combining. Consequently, the finite verb form (the predicate) is always at the end of a sentence. The negative auxiliary verb immediately precedes the main verb. The object of a sentence always keeps to the word it belongs to. [9]

Vocabulary

Numerals

[9]
NumeralCardinalOrdinal
1ŋōʔorðede̮
2siðene̮kujde̮
3nehuʔne̮hode̮
4tetotetode̮
5sobboreggosobode̮
6mottuʔmotode̮
7seʔose̮ʔode̮
8sidiʔetosiðetode̮
9nēsāne̮satode̮
10biwʔbiwde̮
11ŋoʔbodade
12side bodade
13nehuʔ bodade
14teto bodade
20sidiuʔ
21sidiuʔ ŋōʔ
30nehibiʔ
40tetujʔ
50sobboreggujʔ
60motujʔ
70seʔujʔ
80siðetujʔ
90nēsauʔ
100juʔdʲurde̮

Collective numerals are formed combining a separate word namely a form e̮ʃ of the auxiliary verb 'to be' with cardinal numerals, e.g. siðe e̮ʃ 'we two, the two of us'.

Distributive numerals are postpositional constructions of cardinals, combined with the postposition loð, e.g. siðeʔ loð 'by (in) twos'.

Iteratives are the plural forms of cardinals, e.g. ŋobuʔ 'one time, once'.

Fractional numerals are cardinals that are combined with the word boʔ 'a half', e.g. nehuʔ boʔ 'one-third'.

Temporal numerals are formed from cardinals by means of the suffix -ʔ, e.g. orðede̮ʔ 'the first time'. [9]

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Two-member constructions are used to decline personal pronouns. The second member of these constructions is either an independent word stem si- or a postpositional stem no-. The first member may be absent. [9]

CaseSingularDualPlural
Nominativemodi, mod' 'I'modiniʔ 'we two'modinaʔ 'we'
Genitivemod' sińmodińʔ siδińʔmodinaʔ siδnaʔ
Accusativemod' siʔmodińʔ siδińʔmodinaʔ siδnaʔ
Lativemod' nońmodińʔ nońʔmodinaʔ nonaʔ
Locativemod' none̮ńmodińʔ none̮ńʔmodinaʔ nonnaʔ
Ablativemod' noδońmodińʔ noδońʔmodinaʔ noδnaʔ
Prolativemod' noone̮ńmodińʔ noone̮ńʔmodinaʔ noone̮naʔ
CaseSingularDualPlural
Nominativeū 'you'ūdiʔ 'you two'ūdaʔ 'you'
Genitiveū sitūdiʔ siδtiʔūdaʔ siδtaʔ
Accusativeū sitūdiʔ siδδiʔūdaʔ siδδaʔ
Lativeū nodūdiʔ nodiʔūdaʔ nodaʔ
Locativeū none̮dūdiʔ nondiʔūdaʔ nondaʔ
Ablativeū noδodūdiʔ noδdiʔūdaʔ noδdaʔ
Prolativeū noone̮dūdiʔ noone̮diʔūdaʔ noone̮daʔ
CaseSingularDualPlural
Nominativebu 'he/she'budiʔ 'they two'buduʔ 'they'
Genitivebu sitabudiʔ sitiʔbuduʔ siδtuʔ
Accusativebu sitabudiʔ siδδiʔbuduʔ siδδuʔ
Lativebu nodabudiʔ nodiʔbuduʔ noduʔ
Locativebu nondabudiʔ nondiʔbuduʔ nonduʔ
Ablativebu noδdabudiʔ noδdiʔbuduʔ noδduʔ
Prolativebu noone̮dabudiʔ noone̮diʔbuduʔ noone̮duʔ

Other pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are pairs of words whose first component consists of personal pronouns, the second is a separate word stem ker-, combined with their respective possessive suffixes, e.g. mod' keriń 'I myself', ū kerit 'you yourself', bu kerta 'she herself/he himself' or modiń keriń 'we two ourselves'.

Interrogative pronouns are kurse̮ 'which?', sēa 'who?' (used only for humans) and obu 'what?' (used for animals and lifeless objects).

Negative pronouns are formed from interrogative pronouns by adding the suffix -hȯru, e.g. obuhȯru. [9]

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Сорокина, И. П.; Болина, Д. С. (2001). Словарь энецко-русский и русско-энецкий[Enets-Russian and Russian-Enets dictionary]. Санкт-Петербург: Филиал издательства «Просвещение». p. 310. ISBN   5-09-002526-6.
  2. ↑ "Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку" [Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language.]. rosstat.gov.ru. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  3. ↑ Rantanen, Timo; Tolvanen, Harri; Roose, Meeli; Ylikoski, Jussi; Vesakoski, Outi (2022-06-08). "Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic". PLOS ONE. 17 (6): e0269648. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1769648R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269648 . PMC   9176854 . PMID   35675367.
  4. ↑ Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). Geographical database of the Uralic languages (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
  5. ↑ Siegl, F. (2013). Materials on Forest Enets, an indigenous language of Northern Siberia. Tartu. doi:978-9949-19-673-9, http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/17439?locale-attribute=en
  6. ↑ "Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020". rosstat.gov.ru. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  7. ↑ Как заговорить по-энецки? (retrieved July 24, 2024)
  8. ↑ Helimskij, Eugen (1985). "Die Feststellung der dialektalen Zugehörigkeit der encischen Materialen". Dialectologia Uralica: Materialien des ersten Internationalen Symposions zur Dialektologie der uralischen Sprachen 4.-7. September 1984 in Hamburg. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica. ISBN   3-447-02535-2.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Künnap, Ago (1999). Enets (PDF).
  10. ↑ "Enf/Phonology - ProAlKi". proalki.uni-leipzig.de.
  11. ↑ Siegl, Florian (2017-04-24). "The fate of Forest Enets – a short comm ent".
  12. ↑ "Enets language, alphabet and pronunciation". www.omniglot.com.
  13. ↑ "Буквари и рабочие тетради на энецком языке выпущены тиражом в 200 экземпляров". 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  14. ↑ Leipzig, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "Former Dept. of Linguistics | Documentation of Enets". www.eva.mpg.de.
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