The Lower Amur Languages in Contact with Russian

Abstract

The Russian Far East is a large territory that stretches from the Arctic up to the Japan Sea. The Amur River basin is one of the most interesting places in the Far East. The area is rich in animals, fish, minerals, and timber. Besides, the Amur is the largest river of the Russian Far East. Its source is in the Amurskaya Oblast' and it flows to the Okhotsk Sea opposite Northern Sakhalin. This vast territory attracted different tribes over an enormous period of time, from the Neolithic to the present. In the Middle Ages (1413) several ethnic groups were registered on the Amur banks by Chinese travellers: Ku-i (Ainu), Ji-le-mi (Jurchen gilemi Nivkh), and Ye-ren (Jurchen udigen nyarma, lit. 'wild people'). In the 19th century eight small nationalities lived in the Lower Amur basin and on the Okhotsk Sea shore: Nanay, Ulcha, Oroch, Udege, Negidal, Evenki, Even, and Nivkh. Nowadays, this territory is still inhabited by the same nationalities. Russian scholars call them aborigines as opposed to Russians who began to inhabit the Far East in the middle of the 19th century. The Lower Amur basin usually refers to the territory between Khabarovsk and Nikolayevsk-naAmure, which is situated near the Amur Liman, where the Amur mouth is. In this area the following minorities live: Nanays (ca. 12,000), Ulchas (ca. 3,500), Oroch (ca. 500), Negidals (ca. 400), Evenkis (ca. 4,000 the total number of Evenkis is about 30,000) and Nivkh (the total number is ca. 4,500: in the Lower Amur there are ca. 2,500 people and on Sakhalin island ca. 2,000). The Lower Amur region is inhabited by different aborigines whose languages belong to two linguistic groups: Manchu-Tungusic languages and so-called PaleoSiberian languages. The first group is represented by Nanay, Ulcha, Oroch, Negidal, and Evenki, whereas the second one is represented by the Nivkh. The Lower Amur basin has always been the arena of various ethnic and cultural contacts. Manchurian, Mongolian, and Korean influences can be traced in the aboriginal cultures. The annexation of the Far Eastern region by the Russian Empire played a very important role in the destiny of the Amur basin natives. The earliest contacts between aborigines and Russians date back to the 17th century when the Cossack Khabarov and his detachment came to conquer the Amur region. A number of stories about Khabarov' s cruel voyage are still told among the Nanay people. However, there is also a Nanay story about general N.