Samoyedic languages

The term Samoyedic is derived from the Russian term samoyed (Russian: самоед) for some indigenous peoples of Siberia. The term has come to be considered derogatory because it has been interpreted by some ethnologists as originating from Russian samo-yed meaning 'self-eater', i.e. 'cannibal'.[5]

An earlier ethnologist had rejected this etymology, and instead traced the term's origin to the expression saam-edne, meaning the Land of the Sami peoples.[6]

The word Samodeic[7] has been proposed as an alternative by some ethnologists.[5]

Traditionally, Samoyedic languages and peoples have been divided into two major areal groups: Northern Samoyedic (Nenets, Yurats, Enets, Nganasans), and Southern Samoyedic (Selkups) with a further subgroup of Sayan-Samoyedics (Kamasins, Mators) named after the Sayan Mountains. They are however purely geographical, and do not reflect linguistic relations.

Linguistic genealogical classifications point to an early divergence of Nganasan and (perhaps to a lesser degree) Mator, with Enets–Nenets–Yurats and Kamas–Selkup forming internal branches.[4]

• Nganasan (Tavgi or Tawgi-Samoyed)
  • Avam
  • Vadey/Vadeyev
• Core-Samoyedic
  • Enets-Nenets
    • Enets (Yenisei-Samoyed)
      • Tundra Enets
      • Forest Enets
    • Yurats †
    • Nenets (Yurak-Samoyed)
      • Tundra Nenets
      • Forest Nenets
  • Kamas-Selkup
    • Selkup (Ostyak-Samoyed)
      • Northern Selkup (Taz)
      • Central Selkup (Tym)
      • Southern Selkup (Ket)
    • Kamassian (Sayan-Samoyed) †
      • Kamas
      • Koibal
• Mator (Sayan-Samoyed) †
  • Taigi
  • Karagass
  • Soyot

Samoyedic languages are primarily agglutinative. They have postpositions and suffixes and do not use articles or prefixes.[8][9] Samoyedic languages also have grammatical evidentiality.[8] Word order in Samoyedic languages is typically subject-object-verb (SOV).[10] Below are two sentences in Nenets that demonstrate SOV word order and case in Samoyedic languages:

Sonorant-obstruent consonant clusters with two consonants, of which the latter consonant is more sonorous than the former, are the most frequently occurring consonant clusters in several Samoyedic languages. Conversely, consonant clusters ending in glides are not found in any Samoyedic languages.[12]

Unlike some other Uralic languages, Samoyedic languages do not have vowel harmony.[10]

Vowel epenthesis is frequently used in Samoyedic languages to break up consonant clusters, particularly in the case of loanwords borrowed from Russian.[12]

Vowel epenthesis from Russian to Nenets[12]

• крупа (krupa) > xurupa "cereals"
• класс (klass) > xalas "class"

Vowel epenthesis from Russian to Nganasan[12]

• бригада (brigada) > birigadә "brigade"
• метр (metr) > metәrә "meter"

Vowel epenthesis from Russian to Selkup[12]

• стекло (stʲeklo) > tʲekɨla "glass"
• стол (stol) > istol "table"

Samoyedic languages have experienced significant language contact with Russian to such an extent that members of the Nenets, Selkup, Nganasan, and Enets ethnic groups now often have Russian as a first language, with speakers of Samoyedic languages primarily belonging to elder age groups.[12]

Russian loanwords in Samoyedic languages include: колхоз ("collective farm"), машина ("car"), молоко ("milk"), Москва ("Moscow").[12]

At present, Samoyed territory extends from the White Sea to the Laptev Sea, along the Arctic shores of European Russia, including southern Novaya Zemlya, the Yamal Peninsula, the mouths of the Ob and the Yenisei, and into the Taimyr peninsula in northernmost Siberia.[8] They are contiguous with the trans-Ural Ugric speakers and the cis-Ural Komi to the south, but they are cut off from the Baltic Finns by the Russians in the west. To the east traditionally dwell the northern Turkic Sakha. A substantial Samoyed city grew up at Mangazeya in the 16th century as a trade city, but was destroyed at the beginning of the 17th century.

The Southern Samoyedic languages, of which only the Selkup language has survived to the present day, historically ranged across a wide territory in central Siberia, extending from the basin of the Ob River in the west to the Sayan-Baikal uplands in the east. Records up to the 18th century sporadically report several further entities such as "Abakan", "Kagmasin", "Soyot", though there is no clear evidence for any of these constituting separate languages, and all available data appears to be explainable as these having been simply early forms of Kamassian or Mator.[13]

• Media related to Samoyedic languages at Wikimedia Commons