Tundra Nenets Research Articles

Once Again About the Origin of the Jurak Language

This article reconsiders the material of the disappeared Northern Samoyedic idiom, data on which were collected in the 17th century by G.F. Müller and interpreted by E.A. Helimsky. Linguistically, Jurak is included in the group of Northern Samoyed languages, along with Forest and Tundra Enets, Forest and Tundra Nenets, Nganasan and Mator. Geographically, E.A. Helimsky localizes the Jurak language in the northern part of the interfluve of the Taz and Yenisei. It is significant that Jurak is localized between the Entets language in the east and Nenets in the west. E.A. Helimsky showed that from the point of view of historical phonetics, the Jurak language in some respects occupies an intermediate position between Nenets and Enets. He also notes that a number of Jurak words that do not coincide with Nenets have a parallel in Enets. Based on this, he proposed to consider Jurak a Nenets dialect, which shared some of the characteristics of the neighboring closely related language. This paper proposes to revise the data on the historical phonetics of the Jurak language. It is demonstrated that in different Jurak words the development of the same phonemic sequences can have two options. One variant is shared with the rest of the Nenets dialects, whereas the other with the Enets language. This situation indicates that Jurak is not the result of a diachronically consistent development of a peripheral Nenets dialect in contact with Enets, but is a mixed language with Nenets and Enets components.

Ways of identifying lichen and plant species by the Nenets reindeer herders in Yamal

Yamal Nenets herders have historically developed a rich knowledge of lichens and vascular plants, which feature in the diet of their migratory reindeer herds in the tundra zone of northwest Siberia. In the Nenets language there are native names for certain species of lichens and other reindeer forage plants, including graminoids, herbs, shrubs, berries, and mushrooms. During participant fieldwork together with nomadic tundra Nenets herders, we documented names and definitions of reindeer food on herding territories during their long migration routes from the northern forest-tundra transition zone to the northern coastal tundra. Like many other Indigenous peoples of Siberia, Nenets have noticed that the Arctic is changing and some of its recent dynamics are seriously affecting their livelihood. The degradation of some lichen composition and cover on tundra pastures has also contributed to a decrease of herders’ linguistic palette for describing these losses in a concrete manner. Since the Nenets language is on the list of endangered languages of the world, this has an especially negative impact on the language skills and traditional knowledge of the younger generations of Nenets people, who may not know what these lichens look like and why they are important for the Nenets reindeer herding culture.

On passive verbs with the marker <em>-ra / -rye</em> in Tundra Nenets

The article deals with the verbs formed with the unproductive marker -ra / -rye in Tundra Nenets. Such verbs are intransitive, perfective, and are inflected, as a rule, in the forms of the reflexive conjugation. Morphosyntactically, the function of this marker in combination with transitive verbs can be considered passive. The addition of the marker is also possible for some intransitive verbs and nominal stems. Denominal verbs show a double manifestation of “passive” morphology and allow to promote into the subject position a participant that is absent in the argument structure. Semantically, the majority of passive derivatives are united by their use mainly in adversative contexts. The emergence of adversative usage may be related to the presence of causative-passive syncretism and P-lability.

Своеобразие субэтнических групп ненцев по генетическим детерминантам метаболизма сахарозы, трегалозы и лактозы

Introduction. The diet of indigenous northerners is changing significantly on account of the rapid growth in volume and variety of consummated food sugars. Concurrently, an arrow of northern aboriginal groups are known to have an increased percentage of genetically determined disorders of disaccharide metabolism. The study aimed to assess the polymorphism of genes and alleles that determine production or activity of sucrase-isomaltase, trehalase and lactase enzymes in the groups of Nenets of Western Siberia and European Arctic. Materials and methods. The genotyping of the samples of biomaterial from 236 unrelated individuals formed the basis of the study. We analyzed the genotype and allele frequencies of the SI (rs781470490), TREH (rs2276064) and LCT (rs4988235) genes in the groups of Forest, Gydan, Yamal and European Tundra Nenets. Results. There were not a single sample with the AG dinucleotide deletion at the rs781470490 locus of the sucrase-isomaltase gene (SI gene) found. The TREH allele distributions appeared to be extremely close in all the sub-ethnic groups of Nenets. The frequency of the associated with trehalase deficiency A*TREH allele in the Nenets groups is at 0.25-0.26, which is significantly higher than in the non-arctic populations of Russia (0.01-0.06). We have confirmed a high prevalence in the Nenets populations of the CC*LCT variant of the lactase gene, which determines the limited production of the enzyme. The frequencies of the genotype vary in the Nenets sub-groups from 0.90 in the Gydan and European Tundra Nenets to 0.70 in the Forest (the difference from the European Tundra group is significant at the level of p = 0.06) and 0.65 in the Yamal Nenets (significantly differ from both the Gydan and European Tundra groups, p < 0.05). Conclusion. The difference in metabolism-related gene complexes can be found not only between peoples, but even between sub-ethnic groups.

The reflexive cycle

AbstractStarting from a morphosyntactic puzzle of the Ugric and Samoyedic languages of the Uralic family (possessive agreement suffixes functioning as accusative allomorphs on pronominal objects), this paper identifies a pronoun cycle which leads from reflexives via intensifiers and via referentially independent intensive pronouns to neutral pronouns. In Tundra Nenets, evidence of three rounds of reflexive renewal is also pointed out, with the three sets of pronouns frozen at different stages of the cycle. The analysis has implications for debated issues of language change. It is shown that elements participating in cyclic changes not only suffer feature loss but also incorporate features. Based on the recurring cycle in Tundra Nenets, it is argued that the cyclicity of linguistic changes implies a notion of unidirectionality that also leaves room for unpredictable outcomes.

A Few Notes on the Participial Passive in Tundra Nenets

The article deals with the two strategies of the participial passive in Tundra Nenets, one of which allows the expression of the agent, and another one does not. The first strategy is considered primarily on the basis of the construction with the perfective participle. The eventive vs. resultative nature of the passive as well as the agreement patterns of the construction are discussed. The limited admissibility of patientive subjects of the first and second persons is also noted. The second strategy, which is necessarily impersonal, is discussed on the basis of the construction with the imperfective participle. The participle in this construction is formed from the verb through the durative marker. This construction is used in habitual (generic) contexts and does not allow an expressed agent.

Is it Necessary to Reconstruct *ö for Proto-Samoyedic: Sources of o after Palatal Consonants in First and Non-First Syllables in Tundra Nenets

The article discusses the need to reconstruct the phoneme *ö for the Proto-Samoyed language. As is known, for Proto-Samoyedic (in the system proposed by J. Janhunen in “Samojedischer Wortschatz”) this phoneme is reconstructed only for the first syllable. Its reconstruction relies primarily on the data of the Nenets language: the words of the phonetic structure palatal consonant in anlaut + vowel o, such as syoncya ‘inside’ serve as the base. The article analyzes all cases in which a Nenets word of this type has Proto-Samodic or Proto-Northern Samoyedic etymology. Etymological correlates in other Samoyedic and Northern Samoyedic languages allow to demonstrate, that the initial o palatalizing an anlaut consonant either originates in a more complex phonetic sequence, or is positionally determined and can be explained by the influence of the vowel of the subsequent syllable. Neither for Proto-Samoyedic nor for Proto-Northern Samoyedic are reconstructed words of a “phonetically neutral” structure like *СV, *CVC or even *СVCə̑, *CVCå, where *V is represented by *ö. The etymological correspondences of Nenets words with the sequence palatal consonant + vowel o in non-first syllables are also analyzed: all such words are derivatives, and the material of other Samoyedic languages shows that in this case, too, Nenets o, palatalizing the preceding consonant, does not correspond to a single vowel, but to a more complex phonetic sequence.

Система именного склонения западных диалектов тундрового ненецкого языка в исторической перспективе: архивные материалы XIX века и современные полевые данные

The data on the nominal non-possessive declension system in the Western dialects of Tundra Nenets, represented in “Samoyedic Grammar” (“Samojedische Grammatik”) by archimandrite Veniamin Smirnov, are considered in the present article. “Samoyedic Grammar” is a handwritten archival manuscript of the 1st half of the 19th century from the collections of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg branch). The article consists of four sections. The first section provides general information about Tundra Nenets, with special attention paid to the distinctive features of the Western Nenets dialects. The second section provides general information about the “Samoyedic Grammar” (“Samojedische Grammatik”) written by archimandrite Veniamin, the history of its creation during the “Samoyedic mission” and its orthographic system. The third section is devoted to features of the nominal declension system of the Tundra Nenets literary language, types of nominal systems and grammatical nominal categories (number, case, possessivity, predestinativity); this section presents tables with the case/number non-possessive affixes in Tundra Nenets. The fourth section is the main part of this article: it presents tables with nominal non-possessive declension forms from the archimandrite Veniamin’s “Samoyedic Grammar”. The author compares them with the current data and highlights the features of the nominal declension system recorded by archimandrite Veniamin.

Actionality across (sub)paradigms

AbstractThis paper explores the verbal system of Tundra Nenets and offers a partition of the entire set of derivationally minimal verbs into actional classes, which include stative, process, inceptive-stative, ingressive-atelic, durative and punctual telic, durative and punctual ingressive, and bi-telic verbs. This classification is established in a bottom-up manner, starting from the lowest level of actional interpretations of individual subparadigms of a verb. As a result, 18 subparadigmatic classes are established. At the next stage, an actional characteristic is assigned to the entire paradigm and the 18 subparadigmatic classes are reduced to seven actional macroclasses. However, at the paradigmatic level, one discovers that for certain types of verbs actional information available paradigm-internally does not suffice. To recover the missing information, one needs to examine derivationally related lexical items that realize semantic configurations unavailable paradigm-internally. This paradigm-external perspective leads to the recognition of cross-paradigmatic actional characteristics assigned to groups of derivationally related verbs.

Фонетические особенности ненецких заимствований в обско-угорских языках

The article deals with the Nenets borrowings in the Ob-Ugric languages: Khanty and Mansi. The main list of these borrowings was compiled by Wolfgang Steinitz in a work published more than half a century ago. In the paper I focus on phonetic features of the borrowed words. These borrowings represent predominantly the cultural vocabulary and are geographically quite limited being presented only in the northern dialects of Mansi and Khanty. Despite of this many of these words retain very archaic features of Nenets phonetics. This allows us to consider linguistic contacts between the Ob-Ugrians and the Nenets as rather old. Consideration of the corpus of the borrowings also allows to shed some light on the relative chronology of historical sound changes in the Nenets language. In the paper all Nenets loans in Mansi and Khanty are compared with their possible sources in Tundra Nenets and in Forest Nenets. This comparison shows that in Forest Nenets a potential corresponding word is often missing or looks phonetically too different and therefore can not be regarded as the source of borrowing. Thus, the donor language was definitely the Tundra Nenets, and not the Forest Nenets language. Mansi and Khanty words borrowed from Tundra Nenets may reflect the following archaic features of Nenets historical phonetics: final vowels (before reduction into °); final consonants, changed into the glottal stop in modern Nenets; intervocalic -m-, changed into - w- in modern Nenets; final glide -w, disappeared in modern Nenets. All words borrowed in Ob-Ugric languages from Nenets can be divided in two groups with respect to these parameters: some of them definitely preserve a more archaic state of Nenets phonetics, whereas others are phonetically much closer to modern Nenets words. Another feature that allows to evaluate the relative age of borrowings is the labialization of vowels in Kazym Khanty and in Mansi: in earlier borrowings Nenets vowel a has changed in Kazym Khanty and Mansi into a labial vowel, whereas in later ones it has preserved its original quality.

Toward a Corpus of Tundra Nenets: Stages and Challenges in Building a Corpus

In this paper, we report on the main lessons drawn from the first year of a Tundra Nenets (Samoyedic, Uralic) corpus building work carried out in the Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics. The aim of our work is twofold. First we collect, process and archive written (and in the latter part of the project period spoken) data of Tundra Nenets. Second, we build a parallel corpus, i.e. a Tundra Nenets–Russian corpus, to support and encourage preferably synchronic syntactic research on Tundra Nenets. After discussing certain language and culture specific factors that potentially influence the sampling method, we present the stages of our work in detail.

Rendering comfort and control in Tundra Nenets sambadabc

This article approaches Nenets sambadabc, shamanic ritual songs, bringing together current understandings about Tundra Nenets language, folklore and singing with discussions about reindeer herding. The research material consists of ten texts gathered by Toivo Lehtisalo in the beginning of 20th century. The analysis concentrates on the Nenets language ideologies and the ways singing is objectified and commodified; on Nenets honorific registers and the ways in which spirits are interacted with; and on the interrelationship of the ways spirits and reindeer are interacted within the frames of sentient ecology. As a result, the article draws a spectrum of differing materialities that are inherent in understanding the performance and revoicing of the sambadabc and in informing the interaction between human and variable non-human others.

Графический анализ вокализма первого слога в ненецких словарях из архива А. М. Шёгрена

This article describes the graphic features of the first syllable vowels in Pustozersk and Obdorsk dictionaries from A. M. Sjögren’s archive. The graphic analysis is carried out against the background of the Proto-Samoyed reconstructions by J. Janhunen, Nenets current literary norm, “Nenets-Russian Dictionary” by N. M. Tereschenko, “A Morphological Dictionary of Tundra Nenets Language” by T. Salminen, and “Dialectal Dictionary of the Nenets Language” by S. I. Burkova et al. The dialectal features of the dictionaries are compared to the modern ones. The area of the Pustozersk region is referred to as the territory where the central (Bolshezemelskiy) dialect is spoken. In one word the graphic representation of the 18th century Pustozersk dictionary coincides with the form of the modern Eastern dialect word. At the same time, in another word, the Western variant is attested. The territory where the Obdorsk dictionary was recorded is the territory where the speakers of the Eastern dialects of the Nenets language reside. In the Obdorsk dictionary, a variant that coincides with the Eastern variant is recognized. Some outstanding consonant features of the first syllable are also taken into consideration. For example, in the Pustozersk dictionary, the initial /ŋ/ is not represented graphically, as in Proto-Samoyedic reconstructions. The Obdorsk dictionary contains three graphic variants of the modern initial /ŋ/. The results are presented in comparison tables. The word examples are presented accordingly. In many ways, the reflexes presented in the Pustozersk dictionary correspond with modern ones. The reconstructed diphthongoids are graphically represented by the diphthongs in the Pustozersk dictionary, which is not the case for modern dictionaries. In comparison with modern dictionaries, reflexes in the Obdorsk dictionary are more diverse. The diphthongs are also used in the place of reconstructed diphthongoids.

THE “CIVILIZATIONAL CHALLENGE / CORRECT RESPONSE” PROBLEM AND THE ARTISTIC LITERATURE OF THE SMALL-NUMBERED PEOPLES OF THE SIBERIAN NORTH: THE CASE OF A. P. NERKAGI

The article covers the reaction strategy of ethnic consciousness of the indigenous small-numbered peoples in the Russian North to the breakdown in understanding of the correctness of the response (Soviet civilization) within the civilizational challenge to the country. This overview is based on the case of tundra Nenets and a Russian-speaking prose writer A. P. Nerkagi. The article introduction presents the humanitarian approaches used in the analysis of the specific functioning of a territorial macro-object receiving a challenge. The concept devoted to the permissibility of the correctness/incorrectness of response, proposed by Arnold Toynbee, allows us to identify the mechanisms in functioning of complex phenomena (the literature of the empire) through segments of large territories and their authoritative subjects (the writer as an exponent of ethnic consciousness in an expanded text). This makes it possible to accumulate material for creating a new sociology of literature, improving its categorical apparatus and intersubject relations. Presented in the concluding section, the thematic complex of abnormalities in the ratio of internal and external in A. P. Nerkagi’s image of the characters supports the research concept of the syncretic and traditionalistic nature of the Nenets writer’s literary creativity. It also proves the existence of different phases in the development of Russian national literatures in accordance with the allocation of a three-link scheme in historical poetics. The purpose of the article is to describe the logic behind the search by an ethnosubject of restoring the supporting bases of world perception and the generation on this basis of a new narrative strategy corresponding to the deep organics of folk culture. All of this is due to such conditions where a total crisis of the previous cultural matrix is manifested.

Studying polymorphic variants of the NAT2 gene (NAT2*5 and NAT2*7) in Nenets populations of Northern Siberia

BackgroundN-acetyltransferase 2 plays a crucial role in the metabolism of a wide range of xenobiotics, including many drugs, carcinogens, and other chemicals in the human environment. The article presents for the first time data on the frequency of two important “slow” variants of NAT2 gene (NAT2*5, rs1801280 and NAT2*7, rs1799931), which significantly affect the rate of xenobiotics acetylation, among representatives of indigenous populations of Forest and Tundra Nenets in Northern Siberia. The aim of this study was to identify the frequencies of these variants and compare them with frequencies in other ethnic populations.ResultsNAT2*5 (T341C) genotyping revealed frequencies of 28,0% and 38,6% for Tundra and Forest Nenets, respectively. The frequencies of NAT2*7 (G857A) variant were 9,8% and 8,2% for Tundra and Forest Nenets, respectively. Polymorphic variants frequencies for Nenets are intermediate between those in populations of Europeans and Asians. These results can probably be explained by the presence of both European and Asian components in Nenets gene pools.ConclusionsThe results of this study expand the knowledge of NAT2 polymorphism in world populations. These data may also help assess the genetic predisposition of Nenets to multifactorial diseases associated with polymorphism in the NAT2 gene and, in general, contribute to the development of personalized medicine in reference to native people of Siberia.

Organochlorine compounds in subarctic small lakes

The article presents the results of studies of the environmental properties of organochlorines which differ in properties and origin, in the lake ecosystems of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra (Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia). The purpose of this study was to evaluate and assess the levels, distribution characteristics and composition of organochlorines in the bottom sediments of small lakes located in the Adzva river basin in Pymvashor natural boundary (the northernmost location of the exit of thermal-mineral springs of the continental Europe) and in the adjacent area, outside this unique subarctic hydrothermal zone.In order to meet this goal, multi-method (hydrochemical, geochemical, etc.) research was carried out using standard generally approved laboratory practices with their adaptation to the study goals. The quantitative content and composition of the target individual organochlorines were determined by gas chromatographic method with electron-capture detection.The presence of chlorophenol compounds and polychlorinated benzenes (including persistent organic pollutants) was shown in the lakes sediments. The influence of specific microclimatic conditions of subarctic hydrothermal system on the composition and distribution of chlorophenol compounds in lake sediments was considered. In the small lake sediment core in Pymvashor natural boundary a reducing trend in the levels of organochlorines with depth has been recorded (conditioned among other things by the lithological features of bottom sediments). The chlorophenol compounds were found at highest concentrations (619.3–765.5 ng/g) in the sediment upper layers, rich in organic matter; chlorophenol composition was represented mainly by chlorinated phenols, most likely of biotic origin. A lower concentration (185.0 ng/g) of chlorophenol compounds of predominantly abiogenic origin was determined in the lake sediments outside hydrothermal system. The presence and levels of persistent organochlorine pollutants (pentachlorophenol 0.1–2.4 ng/g; hexa- and pentachlorobenzenes 0.4–3.6 ng/g) in the lake sediments were associated with long-range atmospheric transport from various origin sources in nearby regions and low-latitude territories.

Dynamics of interethnic mixing in Yamal Nenets people (according to data on the marriage structure and the surname database)

The article discusses the results of the mixation study of Yamal Tundra Nenets people from 1980 to 2019 within the context of their inclusion in inter-ethnic contacts with allochthonous ethnic groups, mechanisms of miscegenation and changes in population genetic structure. Two generations (the 1980s and 2010s) of Tundra Nenets from Yar-Sale rural settlement, Yamal district, YNAD were studied - a total of 8346 Nenets. Dynamics of structure of marriages and surnames were analyzed. Obtained data demonstrates a relatively low level of genetic and demographic transformations accumulated during the studied period. This can be traced, in part, when looking at the frequency of ethnically mixed marriages and the percentage of the new (“alien”) surnames integrated into the Nenets surname structure. We predict a gradual positive dynamic (i.e., increase) of these figures.

Opaque distributional generalisations in Tundra Nenets

Based on primary data from Tundra Nenets, this paper explores phonological patterns which seem to require restrictions on the input, and thus present a particular challenge to Optimality Theory. In these patterns, a contrastive segment appears only in the environments where it is also derived by active alternations in the language. I illustrate this with the behaviour of Tundra Nenets /k/, and argue that these patterns can be analysed as distributional generalisations that hold only at early derivational levels. A Stratal OT analysis is proposed. Tundra Nenets also presents a pattern which appears to involve unnatural classes, but is reanalysed with only natural class alternations in my account.

Cauldrons in the cultural traditions of the Ob Ugrians and Samoyeds: a sacral aspect

The ritual attitude towards the cauldron as the sacred vessel can be found in all religious practices. Archaeo-logical and ethnographic materials indicate the incredible versatility and polysymbolism of the cauldron in the cul-tures of the Ob Ugrians and Samoyeds. The first part of this research, which was published in the previous issue of the present Journal, covered the archaeological context along with the functional, morphological and social aspects associated with the cauldron as a unique ethnocultural phenomenon. The second part presented here aims to consider the sacral aspect of the cauldron. The conducted archaeological and ethnographic research was based on a structural-semiotic approach. In this article, we analyse field ethnographic materials collected during long-term fieldwork (1980s–2018) from Northern (Synya, Voykar, Sob, Kunovat, Polui, Ob, Polar Urals), Eastern and Southern (Salym, Yugan, Pim, Tromyogan, Agan, Vakh) Khanty; Northern and Western Mansi (Northern Sosva, Lyapin and Lozva Rivers); tundra and forest Nenets (Yamal Peninsula, Pur and Agan Rivers). The materi-als of research carried out in Western Siberia and the Urals were also applied. The use of cauldrons in rituals and rites is characterized by a wide diversity and local variability of traditions. Judging by the information presented in the article, the cauldron plays the roles of a divine sacrifice-gift, a guard-talisman, as well as a home-receptacle for gods and the souls of people. The cauldron concentrates the energy of life through participating in the rites of birth-rebirth and the cult of Mother Earth. Besides cult practices, the multifunctional character of the cauldron manifests itself in the funeral and memorial rites of the Nenets, Khanty and Mansi. Cauldrons from burials, as well as products made thereof (masks, mountings, brackets), indicate the social status of the deceased. Cauldrons act as a guard and a receptacle for the soul of the deceased and/or his posthumous image; they are used as an ac-companying item and a vessel for preparing ritual food.

Парадигма акциональных предложений в хантыйском и ненецком языках

Actional sentences describe certain ways in which the subjects affect the objects while the object's position in space does not change. The plane of content is the actional proposition, which contains the three necessary components, namely the subject, the object, and the predicate; the plane of expression is the model of the elementary simple sentence where the object position is prototypically expressed by a name in accusative. In the Khanty and Nenets languages, the actional elementary simple sentences tend to express the same types of relations but differ in their potential for paradigmatic variation. In Tundra Nenets, the communicative variants are related to variation in the choice of accusative, nominative, dative, or instrumental cases in order to express the thematic or rhematic objects and instruments/addressees. In the Kazym dialect of the Khanty language, the accusative form is only used in the system of pronominal declination; in the object position, nouns in nominative case are used. Therefore, to express the thematic-rhematic articulation, verb categories of conjugation (opposition of subject and object conjugation types) are used, as well as genus, because the case system is contracted. In the Nenets language, the communicative paradigm is related to the variation in name categories, whereas in Khanty, it is related to variation in verb categories.