Loading AI tools
Yeniseian language in Siberia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ket (/ˈkɛt/ KET[2]) language, or more specifically Imbak and formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak (/ˈɒstiæk/ OSS-tee-ak[2]), is a Siberian language long thought to be an isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language family. It is spoken along the middle Yenisei basin by the Ket people.
![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Ket | |
---|---|
Yenisei Ostyak | |
остыганна ӄаʼ ostɯɣanna qaʼ | |
Native to | Russia |
Region | Krasnoyarsk Krai |
Ethnicity | c. 1,100 Ket |
Native speakers | 153 (2020)[1] |
Dené–Yeniseian?
| |
Dialects |
|
Cyrillic | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ket |
Glottolog | kett1243 |
ELP | Ket |
Linguasphere | 43-AAA-a |
![]() Map of pre-contact Yeniseian languages. | |
![]() Ket is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The language is threatened with extinction—the number of ethnic Kets that are native speakers of the language dropped from 1,225 in 1926 to 537 in 1989. According to the UNESCO census, this number has since fallen to 150. A 2005 census reported 485 native speakers, but this number is suspected to be inflated.[3] According to a local news source, the number of remaining Ket speakers is around 10 to 20.[4] Another Yeniseian language, Yugh, is believed to have recently become extinct.[5]
The earliest observations about the language were published by Peter Simon Pallas in 1788 in a travel diary (Путешествия по разным провинциям Русского Государства, Puteshestviya po raznim provintsiyam Russkogo Gosudarstva). Matthias Castrén was one of the last known to study the Kott language. Castrén lived beside the Kan river with five people of Kott, in which is believed were the last remaining people who spoke the language.[6] In 1858, Castrén published the first grammar and dictionary (Versuch einer jenissei-ostjakischen und Kottischen Sprachlehre), which also included material on the Kott language. During the 19th century, the Ket were mistaken for a tribe of the Finno-Ugric Khanty. A. Karger in 1934 published the first grammar (Кетский язык Ketskij jazyk), as well as a Ket primer (Букварь на кетском языке Bukvar' na ketskom jazyke), and a new treatment appeared in 1968, written by A. Kreinovich.
Ket has three dialects: Southern, Central and Northern. All the dialects are very similar to each other and Kets from different groups are able to understand each other. The most common southern dialect was used for the standardized written Ket.[7]
The three remaining Ket-majority localities natively speak different dialects. Southern Ket is spoken in Kellog, Central Ket in Surgutikha and Northern Ket in Maduika.[8]
Vajda analyses Ket as having only 12 consonant phonemes:
It is one of the few languages to lack both /p/ and /ɡ/,[9] along with Arapaho, Goliath, Obokuitai, Palauan, and Efik, as well as classical Arabic and some modern Arabic dialects.
There is much allophony, and the phonetic inventory of consonants is essentially as below. This is the level of description reflected by the Ket alphabet.
Furthermore, all nasal consonants in Ket have voiceless allophones at the end of a monosyllabic word with a glottalized or descending tone (i.e. [m, n, ŋ] turn into [m̥, n̥, ŋ̥]), likewise, [ɮ] becomes [ɬ] in the same situation. Alveolars are often pronounced laminal and possibly palatalized, though not in the vicinity of a uvular consonant. /q/ is normally pronounced with affrication, as [qᵡ].
Descriptions of Ket vary widely in the number of contrastive tones they report: as many as eight and as few as zero have been counted. Given this wide disagreement, whether or not Ket is a tonal language is debatable,[10] although recent works by Ket specialists Edward Vajda and Stefan Georg defend the existence of tone.[11]
In tonal descriptions, Ket does not employ a tone on every syllable but instead uses one tone per word. Following Vajda's description of Southern Ket, the five basic tones are as follows:[12][failed verification]
Tone name | Glottalized | High-even | Rising falling | Falling | Rising high-falling |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tone contour | [˧˦ˀ] (34’) | [˥] (5) | [˩˧.˧˩] (13.31) | [˧˩] (31) | [˩˧.˥˧] (13.53) |
Example | кеʼт [kɛˀt] 'person' |
сюль [súl] 'blood' |
сюуль [su᷈ːl] ([sǔûl]) 'hand sled' |
ӄай [qâj] 'elk' |
бънтан [bʌ̌nta᷇n] 'mallard duck' |
The glottalized tone features pharyngeal or laryngeal constriction, or a full glottal stop that interrupts the vowel.
Georg's 2007 description of Ket tone is similar to the above, but reduces the basic number of tonemes to four, while moving the rising high-falling tone plus a variant to a class of tonemes only found in multisyllabic words. With some exceptions caused by certain prefixes or clitics, the domain of tones in a multisyllabic word is limited to the first two syllables.[13] Some research has shown tone alternation in the absolutive plural. [14]
Ket is classified as a synthetic language. Verbs use prefixes, while suffixes are rare. Nevertheless, incorporation is well-developed. The division between morphemes is based on fusion. Sandhi are common as well.[15] The basic word order is subject-object-verb SOV.[16] The name marking is of Ezāfe-type, the same as in predication.
Nouns have nominative basic case (subjects and direct objects) and a system of secondary cases for spatial relations. The three noun classes are: masculine, feminine and inanimate.
Unlike neighbouring languages of Siberia, Ket makes use of verbal prefixes. Ket has two verbal declensions, one prefixed with d- and one with b-. The second-person singular prefixes on intransitive verbs are [ku-, ɡu-].
Ket makes significant use of incorporation. Incorporation is not limited to nouns, and can also include verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and bound morphemes found only in the role of incorporated elements. Incorporation also occurs as both a lexicalized process – the combination of verb and incorporate being treated as a distinct lexical element, with a meaning often based around the incorporated element – and a paradigmatic one, where the incorporation is performed spontaneously for particular semantic and pragmatic effect[17] Forms of incorporation include:
In the 1930s a Latin-based alphabet was developed and used:[22]
A a | Ā ā | Æ æ | B ʙ | C c | D d | E e | Ē ē |
Ə ə | F f | G g | H h | Ꜧ ꜧ | I i | Ī ī | J j |
K k | L l | Ļ ļ | M m | N n | Ņ ņ | Ŋ ŋ | O o |
Ō ō | P p | Q q | R r | S s | Ş ş | T t | U u |
Ū ū | V v | Z z | Ƶ ƶ | Ь ь |
In the 1980s a new, Cyrillic-based, alphabet was created:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Ӷ ӷ | Д д | Е е | Ё ё |
Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Ӄ ӄ | Л л | М м |
Н н | Ӈ ӈ | О о | Ө ө | П п | Р р | С с | Т т |
У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ |
Ә ә | Ы ы | Ь ь | ʼ | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Ket people were subjected to collectivization in the 1930s. In the 1950s and 1960s, according to the recollections of informants, they were sent to Russian-only boarding schools, which led to the ceasing of language transmission between generations.[23] Now, Ket is taught as a subject in some primary schools, but only older adults are fluent and few are raising their children with the language. Kellog, Russia, is the only place where Ket is still taught in schools. Special books are provided for grades second through fourth but after those grades there is only Russian literature to read that describes Ket culture.[24] There are no known monolingual speakers as of 2006.[25] A children's book, A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton, was translated into the language in 2013.[26] Alexander Kotusov was a Ket folk singer and poet who died in 2019.[27][28]
Only three localities, Kellog, Surgutikha and Maduika, retain a native Ket-speaking population in the present day. Other villages such as Serkovo and Pakulikha were destroyed in the second half of the 20th century, dispersing the local Ket population to nearby towns.[8]
Ket has many loanwords from Russian, such as mora 'sea'; there are also loanwords from other languages such as Selkup, for example: the word qopta 'ox' comes from the Selkup word qobda. Ket also has some Mongolian words, such as saˀj 'tea' from Mongolian tsaj. There are also words from Evenki, for example: the word saˀl 'tobacco' is possibly borrowed from Evenki sâr 'tobacco'.[29]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.