Ulch language

Ulch
Ulch
Нāнʼи хэсэни
Native to	Russia
Region	Khabarovskiy Kray
Ethnicity	2,800 Ulch (2010 census)
Native speakers	150 (2010 census)
Language family	Tungusic Southern Nanaic Ulch; ; ;
Writing system	Cyrillic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ulc
Glottolog	ulch1241
ELP	Ulch
	Ulch is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger .
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Last updated November 01, 2025

The Ulch language, or Olcha, is a Tungusic language spoken by the Ulch people in the Russian Far East. The language is moribund, with only 150 speakers (2010 census).

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɪ ~ e	ə	ʊ ~ o
Open		a

Vowel length is also distributed.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ɕ	k	( q )
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	b	d	d͡ʑ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	( f )	s		x	( χ )
Fricative	voiced	β			( ɣ )
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Approximant		( w )		j

[f] is a rare sound in native words.
/β ɡ/ have allophones of [w ɣ].
/k x/ can become uvularized as [q χ] before vowels /a o/.^[2]

Alphabet

А а	(а̄)	Б б	В в	Г г	Д д	Дʼ дʼ	Е е
(е̄)	Ё ё	(ё̄)	Ж ж	З з	И и	(ӣ)	Й й
К к	Л л	М м	Н н	Нʼ нʼ	Ӈ ӈ	О о	(о̄)
П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у	(ӯ)	Ф ф	Х х
Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ	ъ	Ы ы	ь	Э э
(э̄)	Ю ю	(ю̄)	Я я	(я̄)

In brackets are letters that are used in writing, though not officially included in the alphabet.

References

1 2 Ulch at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ Sunik, 1985

Bibliography

Bitkeeva, A.N.; V.Y. Gusev; O.A. Povoroznyuk; D.A. Funk; N.V. Khokhlov; K.G. Shakhovtsov (2005). "Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia". UNESCO Moscow Office. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
Sunik, O. P. (1985). Ul'chskij jazyk: issledovanija i materially. Leningrad: Nauka, Leningradskoe Otdelenie. 262pp.

External links

ELAR archive of Endangered Tungusic languages of Khabarovskij Kraj (including Ulcha)

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[e18-1] 1 2 Ulch at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Sunik, 1985

[1]

[2]

Ulch
Нāнʼи хэсэни
Native to	Russia
Region	Khabarovskiy Kray
Ethnicity	2,800 Ulch (2010 census)^[1]
Native speakers	150 (2010 census)^[1]
Language family	Tungusic Southern Nanaic Ulch
Writing system	Cyrillic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`ulc`
Glottolog	`ulch1241`
ELP	Ulch
Ulch is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger .
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.