On Dolgan haŋa ‘One’s Elder Brother’s Wife’

Abstract

Abstract Dolgan is essentially a dialect of Yakut, but for ethno-historical and administrative reasons counted as a separate language. One of the basic phonetic differences between Dolgan and Yakut is the h- (< s- < y- and č-) in Dolgan vs. s- (< y- and č-) in Yakut. In other words, the initial secondary s of Yakut developed further into h in Dolgan. Up to the present, only haŋas (< saŋas < *yeŋ(g)eč) with the diminutive suffix -s (< *-č) was known to us as the Dolgan word for ‘elder brother’s wife’. Now, we know the form haŋa without the diminutive suffix -s thanks to the fieldwork studies on Dolgan of the ASK REAL (The Altaic Society of Korea, Researches on the Endangered Altaic Languages).