Yeniseian languages

The Yeniseian languages (sometimes known as Yeniseic or Yenisei-Ostyak;[notes 1] occasionally spelled with -ss-) are a family of languages that are spoken by the Yeniseian people in the Yenisei River region of central Siberia. As part of the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language family, the Yeniseian languages have been argued to be part of "the first demonstration of a genealogical link between Old World and New World language families that meets the standards of traditional comparative-historical linguistics".[1] The only surviving language of the group today is Ket.

Not to be confused with the Yenish language.
Yeniseian
EthnicityYeniseian people
Geographic
distribution		today along the Yenisei River
historically large parts of Siberia and of Mongolia
Linguistic classificationDené–Yeniseian?
  • Yeniseian
Proto-languageProto-Yeniseian
Subdivisions
  • Northern
  • Southern †
Glottologyeni1252
Distribution of Yeniseian languages in the 17th century (hatched) and in the end of 20th century (solid). Hydronymic data suggests that this distribution represents a northward migration of original Yeniseian populations from the Sayan Mountains and northern Mongolia.

The distribution of individual Yeniseian languages in 1600

From hydronymic and genetic data, it is suggested that the Yeniseian languages were spoken in a much greater area in ancient times, including parts of northern China and Mongolia.[2] It has been further proposed that the recorded distribution of Yeniseian languages from the 17th century onward represents a relatively recent northward migration, and that the Yeniseian urheimat lies to the south of Lake Baikal.[3]

The Yeniseians have been connected to the Xiongnu, whose ruling elite may have spoken a southern Yeniseian language similar to Pumpokol.[4] The Jie, who ruled the Later Zhao state of northern China, are likewise believed to have spoken a Pumpokolic language based on linguistic and ethnogeographic data.[5]

For those who argue the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language, the Yeniseian languages are thought to have contributed many ubiquitous loanwords to Turkic and Mongolic vocabulary, such as Khan, Khagan, Tarqan, and the word for "god" and "sky", Tengri.[6] This conclusion has primarily been drawn from the analysis of preserved Xiongnu texts in the form of Chinese characters.

Classification
See also: Para-Yeniseian languages
  • Proto-Yeniseian (before 500 BC; split around 1 AD)[7]
    • Northern Yeniseian (split around 700 AD)
    • Southern Yeniseian †
      • Kott–Assan (split around 1200 AD)
        • Kott † (extinct by the mid-1800s)
        • Assan † (extinct by 1800)
      • Arin–Pumpokol (split around 550 AD)

It is theorized that the Xiongnu and Hunnic languages were Southern Yeniseian. Only two languages of this family survived into the 20th century: Ket (also known as Imbat Ket), with around 200 speakers, and Yugh (also known as Sym Ket), now extinct. The other known members of this family—Arin, Assan, Pumpokol, and Kott—have been extinct for over two centuries. Other groups—the Buklin, Baikot, Yarin, Yastin, Ash, and Koibal—are identifiable as Yeniseic speaking from tsarist fur-tax records compiled during the 17th century, but nothing remains of their languages except a few proper names.

Distribution

Ket, the only extant Yeniseian language, is the northernmost known. Historical sources record a contemporaneous northern expansion of the Ket along the Yenisei during the Russian conquest of Siberia.[8] Today, it is mainly spoken in Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai in far northern Siberia, in villages such as Kellog and Sulomay. Yugh, which only recently faced extinction, was spoken from Yeniseysk to Vorogovo, Yartsevo, and the upper Ket River.

The early modern distributions of Arin, Pumpokol, Kott, and Assan can be reconstructed. The Arin were north of Krasnoyarsk, whereas the closely related Pumpokol was spoken to the north and west of it, along the upper Ket. Kott and Assan, another pair of closely related languages, occupied the area south of Krasnoyarsk, and east to the Kan River.[9] From toponyms it can be seen that Yeniseian populations probably lived in Buryatia, Zabaykalsky, and northern Mongolia. As an example, the toponym ši can be found in Zabaykalsky Krai, which is probably related to the Proto-Yeniseian word sēs "river" and likely derives from an undocumented Yeniseian language. Some toponyms that appear Yeniseian extend as far as Heilongjiang.[3]

Václav Blažek argues, based on hydronymic data, that Yeniseians were once spread out even farther into the west. He compares, for example, the word šet, found in more westerly river names, to Proto-Yeniseian sēs "river."[10]

Origins and history
According to Vovin, the Xiongnu Empire had a Yeniseian-speaking component.
See also: Proto-Yeniseian

According to a 2016 study, Yeniseian people and their language originated likely somewhere near the Altai Mountains or near Lake Baikal. According to this study, the Yeniseians are linked to Paleo-Eskimo groups.[11] The Yeniseians have also been hypothesised to be representative of a back-migration from Beringia to central Siberia, and the Dené–Yeniseians a result of a radiation of populations out of the Bering land bridge.[12]

In Siberia, Edward Vajda observed that Yeniseian hydronyms in the circumpolar region (the recent area of distribution of Yeniseian languages) clearly overlay earlier systems, with the layering of morphemes onto Ugric, Samoyedic, Turkic, and Tungusic place names. It is therefore proposed that the homeland, or dispersal point, of the Yeniseian languages lies in the boreal region between Lake Baikal, northern Mongolia, and the Upper Yenisei basin, referred to by Vajda as a territory "abandoned" by the original Yeniseian speakers.[3] On the other hand, Václav Blažek (2019) argues that based on hydronomic evidence, Yeneisian languages were originally spoken on the northern slopes of the Tianshan and Pamir mountains before dispersing downstream via the Irtysh River.[10]

The modern populations of Yeniseians in central and northern Siberia are thus not indigenous and represent a more recent migration northward. This was noted by Russian explorers during the conquest of Siberia: the Ket are recorded to have been expanding northwards along the Yenisei, from the river Yeloguy to the Kureyka, from the 17th century onward.[8] Based on these records, the modern Ket-speaking area appears to represent the very northernmost reaches of Yeniseian migration.

The Jie kings of the Later Zhao are likely to have spoke Yeniseian.

The origin of this northward migration from the Mongolian steppe has been connected to the fall of the Xiongnu confederation. It appears from Chinese sources that a Yeniseian group might have been a major part of the heterogeneous Xiongnu tribal confederation,[13] who have traditionally been considered the ancestors of the Huns and other Northern Asian groups. However, these suggestions are difficult to substantiate due to the paucity of data.[14][15]

Alexander Vovin argues that at least parts of the Xiongnu, possibly its core or ruling class, spoke a Yeniseian language.[4] Positing a higher degree of similarity of Xiongnu to Yeniseian as compared to Turkic, he also praised Stefan Georg's demonstration of how the word Tengri (the Turkic and Mongolic word for "sky" and later "god") originated from Proto-Yeniseian tɨŋVr.[6]

It has been further suggested that the Yeniseian-speaking Xiongnu elite underwent a language shift to Oghur Turkic while migrating westward, eventually becoming the Huns. However, it has also been suggested that the core of the Hunnic language was a Yeniseian language.[16]

Vajda (et al. 2013) proposed that the ruling elite of the Huns spoke a Yeniseian language and influenced other languages in the region.[2]

One sentence of the language of the Jie, a Xiongnu tribe who founded the Later Zhao state, appears consistent with being a Yeniseian language.[4] Later study suggests that Jie is closer to Pumpokol than to other Yeniseian languages such as Ket.[5] This has been substantiated with geographical data by Vajda, who states that Yeniseian hydronyms found in northern Mongolia are exclusively Pumpokolic, in the process demonstrating both a linguistic and geographic proximity between Yeniseian and Jie.

The decline of the southern Yeniseian languages during and after the Russian conquest of Siberia has been attributed to language shifts of the Arin and Pumpokol to Khakas or Chulym Tatar, and the Kott and Assan to Khakas.[9]

Family features

The Yeniseian languages share many contact-induced similarities with the South Siberian Turkic languages, Samoyedic languages, and Evenki. These include long-distance nasal harmony, the development of former affricates to stops, and the use of postpositions or grammatical enclitics as clausal subordinators.[17] Yeniseic nominal enclitics closely approximate the case systems of geographically contiguous families. Despite these similarities, Yeniseian appears to stand out among the languages of Siberia in several typological respects, such as the presence of tone, the prefixing verb inflection, and highly complex morphophonology.[18]

The Yeniseian languages have been described as having up to four tones or no tones at all. The 'tones' are concomitant with glottalization, vowel length, and breathy voice, not unlike the situation reconstructed for Old Chinese before the development of true tones in Chinese. The Yeniseian languages have highly elaborate verbal morphology.

Personal pronouns
Northern branchSouthern branch
KetYughKott-Assan Arin-Pumpokol
Kott dialectsAssanArin Pumpokol
1st sg. āˑ(t)ātaiajaiad
2nd sg. ūˑūauauauu
3rd sg. būˑbūuju ~ hatu (masc.)
uja ~ hata (fem.)		bariauadu
1st pl. ɤ̄ˑt ~ ɤ́tnɤ́tnajoŋajuŋaiŋadɨŋ
2nd pl. ɤ́kŋkɤ́kŋauoŋ ~ aoŋavunaŋajaŋ
3rd pl. būˑŋbéìŋuniaŋ ~ hatienhatinitaŋ ?

The following table exemplifies the basic Yeniseian numerals as well as the various attempts at reconstructing the proto-forms:[19]

Numerals
   Gloss    Northern branchSouthern branch Reconstructions
Ket dialectsYughKott-Assan Arin-Pumpokol
SKKottAssanArin Pumpokol Starostin
1 qūˑsχūshuːtʃahutʃaqusejxuta*xu-sa
2 ɯ̄ˑnɯ̄niːnainakinahinɛaŋ*xɨna
3 dɔˀŋdɔˀŋtoːŋataŋatʲoŋa ~ tʲuːŋadóŋa*doʔŋa
4 sīˑksīktʃeɡa ~ ʃeːɡaʃeɡatʃaɡaziang*si-
5 qāˑkχākkeɡa ~ χeːɡakeɡaqalahejlaŋ*qä-
6 aˀ ~ ààːχelutʃaɡejlutʃaɨɡaaɡɡɛaŋ*ʔaẋV
7 ɔˀŋɔˀŋχelinaɡejlinaɨnʲaonʲaŋ*ʔoʔn-
10 qɔ̄ˑχɔ̄haːɡa ~ haɡaxahaqau ~ hioɡahajaŋ*ẋɔGa
20 ɛˀkɛˀkiːntʰukŋinkuknkinthjuŋhédiang*ʔeʔk ~ xeʔk
100 kiˀkiˀujaːxjusjusútamssa*kiʔ ~ ɡiʔ / *ʔalVs-(tamsV)

The following table exemplifies a few basic vocabulary items as well as the various attempts at reconstructing the proto-forms:[19]

Other vocabulary
   Gloss    Northern branchSouthern branch Reconstructions
Ket dialectsYughKott-AssanArin-Pumpokol
SKNKCKKottAssanArin PumpokolVajdaStarostinWerner
Larch sɛˀssɛˀsšɛˀšsɛˀsšetčetčittag*čɛˀç*seʔs*sɛʔt / *tɛʔt
River sēˑssēˑsšēˑšsēsšetšetsattat*cēˑc*ses*set / *tet
Stone tʌˀstʌˀstʌˀščʌˀsšiššiškeskit*cʰɛˀs*čɨʔs*t'ɨʔs
Finger tʌˀqtʌˀqtʌˀqtʌˀχtʰoχ ?intototok*tʰɛˀq*tǝʔq*thǝʔq
Resin dīˑkdīˑkdīˑkdʲīkčik ? ? ?*čīˑk*ǯik (~-g, -ẋ)*d'ik
Wolf qɯ̄ˑtqɯ̄ˑtiqɯ̄ˑtəχɯ̄ˑt(boru ← Turkic)qutxotu*qʷīˑtʰi*qɨte (˜ẋ-)*qʌthǝ
Winter kɤ̄ˑtkɤ̄ˑtikɤ̄ˑtekɤ̄ˑtkeːtʰi ?lotlete*kʷeˑtʰi*gǝte*kǝte
Light kʌˀnkʌˀnkʌˀnkʌˀnkin ?lum ?*kʷɛˀn*gǝʔn- ?
Person kɛˀdkɛˀdkɛˀdkɛˀtʲhithetkitkit*kɛˀt*keʔt ?
Two ɯ̄ˑnɯ̄ˑnɯ̄ˑnɯ̄nininkinhin*kʰīˑn*xɨna*(k)ɨn
Water ūˑlūˑlūˑlūrululkulul*kʰul*qoʔl (~ẋ-, -r)  ?
Birch ùsùːseùːsəùːʰsučauučakusuta*kʰuχʂa*xūsa*kuʔǝt'ǝ
  Snowsled  súùlsúùlšúùlsɔ́ùl čogar čɛgaršaltsɛl*tsehʷəl     *soʔol*sogǝl (~č/t'-ʎ) 

Proposed relations to other language families

Until 2008, few linguists had accepted connections between Yeniseian and any other language family, though distant connections have been proposed with most of the ergative languages of Eurasia.

Dené–Yeniseian
Main article: Dené–Yeniseian languages

In 2008, Edward Vajda of Western Washington University presented evidence for a genealogical relation between the Yeniseian languages of Siberia and the Na–Dené languages of North America.[20] At the time of publication (2010), Vajda's proposals had been favorably reviewed by several specialists of Na-Dené and Yeniseian languages—although at times with caution—including Michael Krauss, Jeff Leer, James Kari, and Heinrich Werner, as well as a number of other respected linguists, such as Bernard Comrie, Johanna Nichols, Victor Golla, Michael Fortescue, Eric Hamp, and Bill Poser (Kari and Potter 2010:12).[21] One significant exception is the critical review of the volume of collected papers by Lyle Campbell[22] and a response by Vajda[23] published in late 2011 that clearly indicate the proposal is not completely settled at the present time. Two other reviews and notices of the volume appeared in 2011 by Keren Rice and Jared Diamond.

Karasuk
Main article: Karasuk languages

The Karasuk hypothesis, linking Yeniseian to Burushaski, has been proposed by several scholars, notably by A.P. Dulson[24] and V.N. Toporov.[25] George van Driem, the most prominent current advocate of the Karasuk hypothesis, postulates that the Burusho people were part of the migration out of Central Asia, that resulted in the Indo-European conquest of the Indus Valley.[26]

Sino-Tibetan
Main article: Sino-Tibetan languages

As noted by Tailleur[27] and Werner,[28] some of the earliest proposals of genetic relations of Yeniseian, by M.A. Castrén (1856), James Byrne (1892), and G.J. Ramstedt (1907), suggested that Yeniseian was a northern relative of the Sino–Tibetan languages. These ideas were followed much later by Kai Donner[29] and Karl Bouda.[30] A 2008 study found further evidence for a possible relation between Yeniseian and Sino–Tibetan, citing several possible cognates.[31] Gao Jingyi (2014) identified twelve Sinitic and Yeniseian shared etymologies that belonged to the basic vocabulary, and argued that these Sino-Yeniseian etymologies could not be loans from either language into the other.[32] A link between the Na–Dené languages and Sino-Tibetan languages, known as Sino–Dené had also been proposed by Edward Sapir. Around 1920 Sapir became convinced that Na-Dené was more closely related to Sino-Tibetan than to other American families.[33] Edward Vadja's Dené–Yeniseian proposal renewed interest among linguists such as Geoffrey Caveney (2014) to look into support for the Sino–Dené hypothesis. Caveney considered a link between Sino-Tibetan, Na-Dené, and Yeniseian to be plausible but did not support the hypothesis that Sino-Tibetan and Na-Dené were related to the Caucasian languages (Sino–Caucasian and Dené–Caucasian).[34]

Dené–Caucasian
Main article: Dené–Caucasian languages

Bouda, in various publications in the 1930s through the 1950s, described a linguistic network that (besides Yeniseian and Sino-Tibetan) also included Caucasian, and Burushaski, some forms of which have gone by the name of Sino-Caucasian. The works of R. Bleichsteiner[35] and O.G. Tailleur,[36] the late Sergei A. Starostin[37] and Sergei L. Nikolayev[38] have sought to confirm these connections. Others who have developed the hypothesis, often expanded to Dené–Caucasian, include J.D. Bengtson,[39] V. Blažek,[40] J.H. Greenberg (with M. Ruhlen),[41] and M. Ruhlen.[42] George Starostin continues his father's work in Yeniseian, Sino-Caucasian and other fields.[43] This theory is very controversial or viewed as obsolete by other linguists.[44][45][46]

Notes
  1. "Ostyak" is a concept of areal rather than genetic linguistics. In addition to the Yeniseian languages it also includes the Uralic languages Khanty and Selkup.

References
  1. Bernard Comrie (2008) "Why the Dene-Yeniseic Hypothesis is Exciting". Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska: Dene-Yeniseic Symposium.
  2. Vajda, Edward J. (2013). Yeniseian Peoples and Languages: A History of Yeniseian Studies with an Annotated Bibliography and a Source Guide. Oxford/New York: Routledge.
  3. Vajda, Edward. "Yeniseian and Dene Hydronyms" (PDF). Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication. 17: 183–201.
  4. Vovin, Alexander. "Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language?". Central Asiatic Journal 44/1 (2000), pp. 87–104.
  5. Vovin, Alexander; Vajda, Edward J.; de la Vaissière, Etienne (2016). "Who were the *Kyet (羯) and what language did they speak?". Journal Asiatique. 304 (1): 125–144.
  6. Vovin, Alexander (2000). "Did the Xiong Nu Speak a Yeniseian Language?". Central Asiatic Journal. 44 (1).
  7. Vadja 2007
  8. Georg, Stefan (January 2003). "The Gradual Disappearance of a Eurasian Language Family". Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, Practical and Descriptive Approaches. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. 240: 89. doi:10.1075/cilt.240.07geo. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.
  9. Vajda, Edward J. (2004-01-01). Languages and Prehistory of Central Siberia. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-4776-6.
  10. Blažek, Václav. "Toward the question of Yeniseian homeland in perspective of toponymy" (PDF).
  11. Flegontov, Pavel; Changmai, Piya; Zidkova, Anastassiya; Logacheva, Maria D.; Altınışık, N. Ezgi; Flegontova, Olga; Gelfand, Mikhail S.; Gerasimov, Evgeny S.; Khrameeva, Ekaterina E. (2016-02-11). "Genomic study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry". Scientific Reports. 6: 20768. arXiv:1508.03097. Bibcode:2016NatSR...620768F. doi:10.1038/srep20768. PMC 4750364. PMID 26865217.
  12. Sicoli, Mark A.; Holton, Gary (2014-03-12). "Linguistic Phylogenies Support Back-Migration from Beringia to Asia". PLOS ONE. 9 (3): e91722. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...991722S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091722. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3951421. PMID 24621925.
  13. See Vovin 2000, Vovin 2002 and Pulleyblank 2002
  14. See Vajda 2008a
  15. Sinor, Denis (1996). "23.4 The Xiongnu Empire". In Herrmann, J.; Zürcher, E. (eds.). History of Humanity. Multiple History. Vol. III: From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Seventh Century A.D. UNESCO. p. 452. ISBN 978-92-3-102812-0.
  16. E. G. Pulleyblank, "The consonontal system of old Chinese" [Pt 1], Asia Major, vol. IX (1962), pp. 1–2.
  17. See Anderson 2003
  18. Georg, Stefan (2008). "Yeniseic languages and the Siberian linguistic area". Evidence and Counter-Evidence. Festschrift Frederik Kortlandt. Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. Vol. 33. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi. pp. 151–168.
  19. See Vajda 2007, Starostin 1982 and Werner (???)
  20. See Vajda 2010
  21. Language Log » The languages of the Caucasus
  22. Lyle Campbell, 2011, "Review of The Dene-Yeniseian Connection (Kari and Potter)," International Journal of American Linguistics 77:445–451. "In summary, the proposed Dene-Yeniseian connection cannot be embraced at present. The hypothesis is indeed stimulating, advanced by a serious scholar trying to use appropriate procedures. Unfortunately, neither the lexical evidence (with putative sound correspondences) nor the morphological evidence adduced is sufficient to support a distant genetic relationship between Na-Dene and Yeniseian." (pg. 450).
  23. Edward Vajda, 2011, "A Response to Campbell," International Journal of American Linguistics 77:451–452. "It remains incumbent upon the proponents of the DY hypothesis to provide solutions to at least some of the unresolved problems identified in Campbell's review or in DYC itself. My opinion is that every one of them requires a convincing solution before the relationship between Yeniseian and Na-Dene can be considered settled." (pg. 452).
  24. See Dulson 1968
  25. See Toporov 1971
  26. See Van Driem 2001
  27. See Tailleur 1994
  28. See Werner 1994
  29. See Donner 1930
  30. See Bouda 1963 and Bouda 1957
  31. Sedláček, Kamil (2008). "The Yeniseian Languages of the 18th Century and Ket and Sino-Tibetan Word Comparisons". Central Asiatic Journal. 52 (2): 219–305. doi:10.13173/CAJ/2008/2/6. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 41928491. S2CID 163603829.
  32. 高晶一, Jingyi Gao (2017). "Xia and Ket Identified by Sinitic and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies // 確定夏國及凱特人的語言為屬於漢語族和葉尼塞語系共同詞源". Central Asiatic Journal. 60 (1–2): 51–58. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051. S2CID 165893686.
  33. Ruhlen, Merritt (1998-11-10). "The origin of the Na-Dene". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 95 (23): 13994–13996. Bibcode:1998PNAS...9513994R. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.23.13994. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 25007. PMID 9811914.
  34. Caveney, Geoffrey (2014). "Sino-Tibetan ŋ- and Na-Dene *kw- / *gw- / *xw-: 1st Person Pronouns and Lexical Cognate Sets". Journal of Chinese Linguistics. 42 (2): 461–487. JSTOR 24774894.
  35. See Bleichsteiner 1930
  36. See Tailleur 1958 and Tailleur 1994
  37. See Starostin 1982, Starostin 1984, Starostin 1991, Starostin & Ruhlen 1994
  38. See Nikola(y)ev 1991
  39. See Bengtson 1994, Bengtson 1998, Bengtson 2008
  40. See Blažek & Bengtson 1995
  41. See Greenberg & Ruhlen, Greenberg & Ruhlen 1997
  42. See Ruhlen 1997, Ruhlen 1998a, Ruhlen 1998b
  43. See Reshetnikov & Starostin 1995a, Reshetnikov & Starostin 1995b, Dybo & Starostin
  44. Trask, R. L. (2000). The Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pg. 85
  45. Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages. New York: Columbia University Press. pg. 434
  46. Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia; Blench, Roger; Ross, Malcolm D.; Peiros, Ilia; Lin, Marie (2008-07-25). Past Human Migrations in East Asia: Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. Routledge. ISBN 9781134149629.

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Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed Proto-Yeniseian forms at Appendix:Proto-Yeniseian reconstructions
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