The Southern, Kolyma or Forest Yukaghir language ( ) is one of two extant Yukaghir languages.
Last spoken in the forest zone near the sources of the Kolyma, divided between the Sakha Republic and the Magadan Oblast (around ), previously in the wider area of the upper Kolyma region. In 2010 it had about 10 active speakers.
Status , Kolyma Yukaghir is a moribund language, with only 50 remaining speakers with the language as their mother tongue. No speakers are monolingual, since all speak Russian and most speak Yakut. The first language for all Yukaghir under 60 is Russian, although many still have Kolyma Yukaghir as a mother tongue, and the average age for fluent, first-language speakers is 63 or more. In the past, multilingualism was common in the region, and Kolyma Yukaghir, Yakut, Even, and Chukchi all served as languages of intercultural communication, depending on the ethnicity of the addressee. Yukaghirs 60 and older follow this custom. Middle-aged Yukaghir, from 41 to 60, still have Yukaghir as their mother tongue and speak to elders in it, although they use Russian for all other communication. The youngest generation of Yukaghir is almost entirely monolingual in Russian, the only language used at school. Although Kolyma Yukaghir has been taught at school since 1985, the youngest generation still know little to none of the language.
Classification The relationship of the Yukaghir languages with other language families is uncertain, though it has been suggested that they are distantly related to the Uralic languages, thus forming the putative Uralic–Yukaghir language family.Collinder, Björn (1940) Jukagirisch und Uralisch. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Kolyma and Tundra Yukaghir are the only two remnants of what used to be one of the dominant language families of northeastern Siberia, spreading from the River Anadyr in the east to the River Lena in the west.Dolgikh, Boris O. (1960) Rodovoj i plemennoj sostav narodov Sibiri v XVII v. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR On the basis of the evidence of early sources, it can be assumed that there existed a Yukaghir dialect continuum, with what is today Kolyma Yukaghir and Tundra Yukaghir at the extremes.Nikolaeva, Irina (2008) Chuvan and Omok languages? In: A. Lubotsky et al. (Eds.) Evidence and Counter-Evidence. Festschrift Frederik Kortland. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 313–336. Kolyma Yukaghir and Tundra Yukaghir are not mutually intelligible.
Phonology All charts are from Maslova (2003).
Vowels FrontCentralBackClose (ɨ) Close-mid ə Open /ɨ/ is only found in Russian loanwords, such as the word "old" /starɨj/.
/ə/ is a short reduced vowel that occurs after the first syllable and often harmonizes to other vowels or is pronounced as the schwa.
Kolyma Yukaghir demonstrates contrastive vowel length.
Consonants LabialAlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottalPlosiveptdkgq(ʔ)Affricatet͡ɕd͡ʑFricative(s)(z)ʃʒʁNasalmnɲŋTrillrApproximantplainjwlaterallʎ Kolyma Yukaghir has a glottal stop, but only as a marginal phoneme in some interjections (ex. maʔ: "take!").
[b, x, ɣ, ç, ʝ] occur as allophones of /w, q, ʁ, tɕ, dʑ/.
When a labial approximant /w/ occurs at the end of a word, it is pronounced as a [u].
When a velar nasal /ŋ/ occurs before a voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/, it becomes a voiced uvular stop [ɢ].
The phonemes /(s) (z)/ only occur in Russian loanwords.
Writing system In the 1980s, (Gavril Kurilov) developed a writing system for the language, based on the Russian alphabet and the Yakut alphabet. +Southern Yukaghir alphabetА аБ бВ вГ гҔ ҕД дҖ җЕ еӘ әЁ ёЖ жЗ зИ иЙ йК кҚ қЛ лЛь льМ мН нНь ньҤ ҥО оӨ өП пР рС сСь сьТ тУ уФ фХ хЦ цЧ чШ шЩ щЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ эЮ юЯ я
Grammar Both Yukaghir languages have residual vowel harmony and a complex phonotactics of consonants, rich agglutinative morphology and are strictly head-final. They have practically no finite subordination and very few coordinate structures. Yukaghir has a split intransitive alignment system based on discourse-pragmatic features. In absence of narrow focus, the system is organised on a nominative–accusative basis; when focused, direct objects and subjects of intransitive verbs are co-aligned (special focus case, special focus agreement).
The grammar of Kolyma Yukaghir, like that of its sibling Tundra Yukaghir, is agglutinative.Maslova, Elena (2003). A Grammar of Kolyma Yukaghir. Mouton De Gruyter, p.3. Most forms of declension in the language come about by means of suffixing, with only a handful of prefixes expressing certain types of grammatical aspect.Maslova 2003, p.3.
Word order is usually verb-final, but the overall order of constituents is determined by their pragmatic roles;Maslova 2003, p.325. the language is strongly head-final and is pro-drop.Maslova 2003, p.9.
The language exhibits strong dialectal and even idiolectal variation as well as a heavy influence from Russian and Yakut; generational differences in use are also quite distinct.Maslova 2003, p.23. Russian influence is especially strong, with Russian vocabulary borrowed wholesale without any phonological alteration, unlike Yakut borrowings, which are altered to match native Yukaghir phonology.Maslova 2003, p.25.
Nouns Kolyma Yukaghir nouns inflect for number, case and possession according to the following paradigm:Maslova 2003, p.73.
{| class="wikitable" |STEM + / + [CASE]
The corresponding markers are suffixed to the stem. This nominal morphology is compatible with nouns as well as nominalized verb forms, various pronominal forms and non-possessives.Maslova 2003, p.73. Case, number and possessive forms are shown below with the noun āče (deer).Maslova 2003, p.4. Case Singular Plural Possession Nominative āče āče-pul āče-gi Predicative āče-lek āče-p-lek [null] Accusative āče-gele āče-pul-gele āče-de-gele Instrumental āče-le āče-p-le āče-de-le Dative āče-ŋin āče-pul-ŋin āče-de-ŋin Ablative āče-get āče-pul-get āče-de-get Prolative āče-gen āče-pul-gen āče-de-gen Comitative āče-n’e āče-pul-n’e āče-de-n’e
Number
Nouns are inherently singular and marked for plural.Maslova 2003, p.3. This plural affix, -p(ul)- for nouns ending in [e] or [o] and -pe- for all others,Maslova 2003, p.49. comes after the noun stem and before other affixes.Maslova 2003, p.74. With the singular exception of the word uø (“child”), which becomes uø-r-pe, these plural forms are highly regular.Maslova 2003, p.74.
Possessive
Possession is expressed via the affix -d(e)-, which is positioned between the noun stem and case ending, in the same position as, and taking the place of, the number suffix.Maslova 2003, p.77.
Since possession is expressed independently of grammatical number, the meaning of a fully inflected possessive form can sometimes be ambiguous, as in the example below:Maslova 2003, p.4.
ače-p-ki deer- “his/her [many] deer” / “their [single] deer” / “their [many] deer”
Possession in Kolyma Yukaghir can denote in-group membership and kinship roles as well as direct ownership.Maslova 2003, p.79.
Case marking and focus
Nouns are marked for nine grammatical cases.Maslova 2003, p.3. The nominative is unmarked while the others are expressed via suffix which follows the possessive marker in possessive noun forms.Maslova 2003, p.88. Case is dominated by an ergative system of focus which overrides subsequent case marking in certain instances.Maslova 2003, p.9.Nagasaki, I. (2016) “Relative clauses and nominalizations in Kolyma Yukaghir.” Studia Orientalia. 117: 149. For example, in clauses in which the subject is in first or second person and the direct object is in third person, both occur in unmarked Nominative case, as in:Maslova 2003, p.10. met tolow kudede I() deer() kill() “I killed a deer.”
Nominative case represents the subject of an intransitive verb or otherwise the agent of a clause, depending upon the context of focus. Noun stems are inherently nominative and unmarked.Maslova 2003, p.89. met tet-ul juø I() you- see() “I saw you.”
Predicative case, expressed by the suffix -(le)k, marks the nominative predicate or otherwise the focus of a clause.Maslova 2003, p.91. met tet-in šaqale-lek kej-te-me I you- fox- give- “I will give you a fox.”
Accusative refers to the direct object of a transitive verb. It takes the suffix -gele.Maslova 2003, p.93. čolhorā-die-gele tā šašil-ge ī-de-m hare- there snare- get.caught- “He caught the hare in the snare there.”
Instrumental case, using the -le suffix implies that the referent is facilitated or acted upon, roughly equivalent to “by means of X” in English.Maslova 2003, p.95. tāt n’umud’ī-le čine-j-m ax- chop- “Then he chopped it with an ax.”Maslova 2003, p.104.
In clauses where the direct object is represented by an indefinite nominal predicate, this case is used instead of accusative, as in:Maslova 2003, p.10. tudel tolow-le kudde-m he() deer- kill- “He killed a deer.”
Dative case marks the indirect object of a verb using the -ŋin suffix.Maslova 2003, p.96. tintaŋ pulut mon-i šaqale-ŋin that old.man say- fox- “that old man said to the fox”Maslova 2003, p.97.
It can also be used with the Russian-borrowed do (“until”) to form a temporal construction.Maslova 2003, p.100. do ugujel-ŋin mie-de-ŋi until morning- wait- “They waited until the morning.”
Comitative case, marked by the suffix -n’e, is used to link constituents or to indicate a secondary actor in a joint or reciprocal event; in this way it is somewhat similar to “X and X” phrases in English.Maslova 2003, p.101. irk-in omnī mod-l’el pulut terike-de-n’e one- family sit-() old.man old.woman- “There lived one family, an old man and his wife.”
The Locative case suffix -ge expresses spatial relationships or directed action relating to the English pronominal forms “in,” “below,” “near” and “next to.”Maslova 2003, p.105. irk-in jalhil-ge ninge-j omnī-k ed’-u-t madā-l’el-ŋi-l one- lake- many- family- [live-] reside- “There were many people near one lake.”
The Ablative case suffix -get indicates movement away from a location.Maslova 2003, p.109. qodōbe-get čirčege-s’ bed- spring.up- “He sprang up from the bed.”
Finally, the Prolative case suffix -gen signifies movement along or within a location.Maslova 2003, p.113. čuge-de-gen qon-ŋi trace- go- “They went along his trace.”
Verbs As with nouns, verbs in Kolyma Yukaghir are formed by the addition of suffixes to a verb stem.Maslova 2003, p.139. Unlike in English and most other European languages, the difference between these two parts of speech is somewhat indistinct and various markers can nominalize a verb stem. Of note, Kolyma Yukaghir does not feature adjectives as a distinct part of speech; attributive markers are added to verb stems which in turn modify nouns.Maslova 2003, p.7. Verbs inflect to express focus, negation/affirmation, person, aspect and tenseMaslova 2003, p.140. according to the following paradigm:Maslova 2003, p.139.
{| class="wikitable" |[] + [] + [] + STEM- + [agreement]
Transitive and intransitive verb stems take separate sets of affixes corresponding to the categories in the paradigm above.Maslova 2003, p.5. The entire Transitive Verb paradigm is illustrated below with the verb juø (“to see”) and the Intransitive paradigm with šohie (“to disappear”):Maslova 2003, p.140. Main Forms Object-Focus Person Non-Future Future Non-Future Future 1SG juø juø-t juø-me juø-te-me 2SG juø-me-k juø-te-me-k juø-me juø-te-me 3SG juø-m juø-te-m juø-me-le juø-te-m-le 1PL juø-j juø-te-j juø-l juø-te-l 2PL juø-met juø-te-met juø-met juø-te-met 3PL juø-ŋā juø-ŋi-te-m juø-ŋi-le juø-ŋi-te-m-le {| class="wikitable" |- ! ! colspan="2" align="center" | Main Forms ! colspan="2" align="center" | Subject-Focus |- ! Person ! Non-Future ! Future ! Non-Future ! Future |- | 1SG | align="center" | šohie-je | align="center" | šohie-te-je | align="center" | šohie-l | align="center" | šohie-te-l |- | 2SG | align="center" | šohie-je-k | align="center" | šohie-te-je-k | align="center" | šohie-l | align="center" | šohie-te-l |- | 3SG