Karina Shafer

Evenki

I. Sociolinguistic data.

1. General characteristics

Number of native speakers and size of the ethnic group

According to the All-Russian Population Census of 2010, there are 37 thousand Evenks in Russia, and 4310 people have some knowledge of the Evenki language. However, the census data on the number of the Evenki language speakers do not reflect the reality, being vastly overestimated. First of all, these are the data of many years ago, which at that time included the speakers of a very advanced age. Second, linguistic self-assessment, when coupled with national identity, often becomes subjective and is dictated by a self-determination through nationality, and not via an actual language proficiency.

There are no Evenki-speaking monolinguals left. However, in addition to Russian, many Evenks speak the Yakut and Buryat languages on par with or instead of their ethnic Evenki. Large part of the Evenks (56%, that is, 21,008 people according to the data of 2010) live in the territory of Yakutia, where individual areas enjoy the national Evenki status. However, as in the case of the Zhigansky national district, the population often does not speak Evenki at all having switched to the Yakut language instead. The Yakut-speaking Evenks who do not speak Evenki also live in the village of Essei of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Bodaibinsky district of the Irkutsk region, in the Ayano-Maisky and Tuguro-Chumikansky districts of the Khabarovsk Territory. The expansion of the Evenki-displacing republican language is also observed in the Barguzinsky, Bauntovsky and Kurumkansky districts of Buryatia.

2. Sociolinguistic characteristics: level of the threat of extinction, age of speakers

  Due to the vast territory of distribution of the Evenki language, the sociolinguistic situation across regions is extremely heterogeneous. In most places where Evenks reside the status of the Evenki language can be defined as moribund. 

For example, field studies of the sociolinguistic situation of Evenki in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region, and the Khabarovsk Territory show that in a national village with approximately 300 Evenks, there are on average about ten native speakers capable of maintaining a conversation in Evenki, and about ten more passive speakers capable of understanding the language. The age of the speakers ranges between 55 and 70. During the expeditions to study Evenki in the Irkutsk and Khabarovsk regions, it was possible to find just one native speaker in each area in the 35–40 age cohort.

The most sociolinguistically stable are the village of Iengra in the Neryungri district of Yakutia, the villages of Ust-Nyukzha and Ust-Urkima and the inter-settlement lands of the Tyndinsky district of the Amur region. 

It is noteworthy that these territories belong to the area of just one dialect of Evenki, the Upper Aldan. Traditional reindeer herding is still active in these places. Native speakers of Evenki are found here among the representatives of almost all ages, and the status of the language can be designated as vulnerable. In the Tynda district, one can witness the beginning of the process of language shift and the cessation of transmission of the language within the family. On top of that, the village of Iengra is practically the only ethnic Evenki location and the transmission of the language within the family is still partially preserved. Another thing is that the Iengra Evenki language is heterogeneous, variable and can be divided into several coexisting dialects.

The decline of traditional everyday culture led to the beginning of a language shift and the progressive loss of the native language. In such conditions, life in the taiga and traditional pursuits served as the only form of language conservation. The general social processes such as urbanization and internal migration also affected the integrity of the Evenki language community.

Use of language in various fields

In the settlements where the Evenki language is under a significant threat of extinction, the language functions are limited to family and everyday communication – the kind that occurs with the oldest family members. There is often a correlation between the degree of language proficiency and the involvement in traditional economic pursuits, hunting and reindeer herding. Many speakers note that when they are in the taiga, or when fishing, they use the Evenki language more often (speaking and thinking in the language) than in the village.

A more symbolic role assigned to the Evenki language is played in public life and school education. During holidays, traditional rituals, speeches and modern Evenki songs are performed in Evenki in villages. 

However, the performers often do not know the language and do not understand the meaning of the texts they reproduce. In native Evenk settlements, many ensembles are present, performing dances and songs in the Evenki language. However, in general, as was mentioned, the performers do not understand the Evenki language. 

Buryatia annually hosts the children's theater festival "Evenki Nimingakan", in which participants from various Evenki regions stage and perform fairy tales in the Evenki language.

In the media, Evenki is present in the programs of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Buryatia": TV program "Ulgur" and radio program "Birakan" are broadcast weekly in Evenki and Russian. Barguzin Evenk Maria Bereltueva prepares and edits these programs. In Yakutia, “Ilken”, a republican newspaper for the small-numbered peoples, is published. It is issued in Russian, but half a page is sometimes allocated for the materials from the Evenks from the village of Iengra, the Neryungri region, and those from the village of Sebyan-Kyuyol of the Lamynkha region. Under the Tungus Records label, the Evenks of Iengra are engaged in poetic and musical activities in the Evenki language. National WhatsApp chats are gaining popularity. About four Evenki chats unite Evenks from different regions. However, unlike the Even chat, the Evenki chat is in Russian. Some users who speak the language do send messages in Evenki, which, however, does not lead to a monolingual Evenki communication.

3. Geographical characteristics

Currently, the Evenks of Russia live in 95 settlements of nine areas of Siberia and the Far East. In the Siberian Federal Area these are Tomsk Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory and Irkutsk Region. In the Far Eastern Federal District it is Buryatia, Transbaikalia, Yakutia, Amur Region, the Khabarovsk Territory and Sakhalin. Thus, the Evenks occupy the territory from the left bank of the Yenisei to the Sea of Okhotsk and from Taimyr to the Chinese border. However, one must bear in mind that Evenks are not spread out uniformly, but dwell in places of native residence, concentrated mainly in national areas. Outside Russia, Evenks and the Orochon, who speak the ethnic language, live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. The ethnonym Orochon (Evenki reindeer herder ) is also used in Russia to refer to the group of the Transbaikal-Amur reindeer-herding Evenks. Until the end of the 20 th century, some speakers of Evenki had resided on the territory of Mongolia, but today they do not speak the language any longer.

4. Historical dynamics

The difficulty of referring to the pre-revolutionary statistical data regarding the Evenks lies in the fact that until the 1930s, they had been counted under the umbrella term Tungus , which also included the Evens (with the exception of the coastal Evens, the Lamuts) and the Negidal population of the peoples of the northern (Siberian) group of the Manchu-Tungus language family.

The first and only general census of the Russian Empire was the census of 1897. According to it, 66,270 people spoke the Tungus language (including the Evenki, Even and Negidal variants). Based on the census, Serafim Patkanov systematized statistical data regarding the tribal and linguistic composition of the indigenous population of Siberia and the Far East. The geography and statistics of the Tungus tribes, presented by Serafim Paktanov, made it possible to further distinguish between the Evenk, Even and Negidal ethnic groups, which had previously been regarded as a single ethno-linguistic entity.

The All-Union Population Census of 1926 was the last to reflect the division into the Tungus and the Lamuts, 37,546 and 2,044 people, respectively. Starting from the census of 1939, Evenks and Evens were counted separately in all censuses. After the correct redistribution, the census of 1939 indicated the number of Evenks (formerly counted as the Tungus) as 29,666 people, and the number of Evens (formerly counted as Lamuts) as 9,698 people. In total, according to the census of 1959, the number of Evenks was 24,710, which was five thousand less compared to the census of 1939. The general trend in the ethnic society was aimed at abandoning the Evenk self-identification, language transmission and language use. Many Evenks officially identified themselves as representatives of larger nations: Yakuts, Buryats, Russians. By 1989, taking into account the overall population growth of the USSR over the previous 30 years, the number of Evenks had returned to the level of 1926. Of the 29,901 Evenks, 9,075 considered Evenki as their native language.

Currently, there is a tendency among the ethnic Evenks to reacquire their Evenki self-identification, regardless of the level of linguistic proficiency. According to the census of 2010, 37 thousand people consider themselves Evenks and 4,310 indicated their knowledge of the Evenki language. However, according to an empirical assessment by linguists familiar with the sociolinguistic situation from working in Evenk settlements, the proportion of the Evenki language speakers does not exceed 8-10% of the entire ethnic community.

II. Linguistic data

1. Dialectal situation

The most relevant and accurate classification of the dialects of the Evenki language is considered to be the work of Nadezhda Bulatova and Vera Tsintsius (1987). According to it, the Evenki language is divided into three groups (northern, southern and eastern), which consist of 14 dialects, which, in turn, are divided into over 50 sub-dialects.

The first attempt to classify the variants of the Evenki language (based on the materials by Glafira Vasilevich) was made by Zakhary Chernyakov in 1934 when compiling a map of the distribution of the languages of the peoples of the North. In this classification, he identified the following dialects: northern, southern, eastern (later considered groups) and Amgun (later recognized as a separate northern Manchu-Tungus language, Negidal).

The general dialectal classification of the Evenki language was developed by Glafira Vasilevich and subsequently refined by Vera Gortsevskaya, and then by Olga Konstantinova. It was based on a number of stable phonetic, morphological and syntactic features. The modern phonetic correspondence to the Proto-Tungus sound *s was chosen as the distinguishing marker for the dialectal affiliation. Let us consider these correspondences using the example of the words *si (Proto-Tungus you ) and ukhi (Proto-Tungus rope ). The dialects of the northern group are characterized by a guttural sound at the beginning and middle of a word ( khi , ukhi ). The southern dialects are further subdivided into two sub-groups: spirants ( si , usi ) and sibilants ( shi, uhi ). In the dialects of the eastern group, s ( si ) appears at the beginning, and sh ( ushi ) in the middle of the word in intervocalic position. The speakers themselves also divide the dialects into the western (the northern and southern groups) and the eastern (the eastern group).

Thus, the system of three linguistic areas was reflected in the classifications of all Tungus scholars who worked on placing the dialects of the Evenki language.

According to the most recent classification by Nadezhda Bulatova and Vera Tsintsius (1989), the Evenki language is characterized by the following dialectal division:

1. Northern group

1) Ilimpisky dialect ( Ilimpeya, Agata and Bol'shoi, Porog, Tura, Tutonchany, Dudinka/Khantai sub-dialects);

2) Yerbogachensky dialect (Erbogachen, Nakanno sub-dialects).

2. Southern group

3. Spirant sub-group:

1) Sym dialects (Tokma or Upper Nepa, Upper Lena or Kachug, Angara sub-dialects);

2) Northern Baikal dialect (Northern Baikal, Upper Angara sub-dialects).

4. Sibilant subgroup:

1) Stony Tunguska dialect (Vanavar, Kuyumba, Poligus, Surinda, Taimura or Chirinda, Uchami, Chemdalsk);

2) Nepa dialect (Nepa, Kirensk );

3) Vitim-Nercha/Baunt-Talocha ( Baunt , Talocha,  Tungokochen , Nercha)

5. Eastern group

1) Vitim-Olyokma dialect (Barguzin, Vitim or Kalar, Olekma, Tungir, Tokko);

2) Upper Aldan dialect (Aldan, Upper Amur, Amga, Dzheltulak, Timpton, Tommot, Khingan, Chulman, Chulman-Gilyui sub-dialects);

3) Uchur-Zeya dialect (Uchur, Zeya sub-dialects);

4) Selemdzha-Bureya-Urmi dialect (Selemdzha, Bureya, Urmi sub-dialects);

5) Ayan-Mai dialect (Ayan, Aim, May, Nelkan, Totti sub-dialects);

6) Tugur-Chumikan dialect (Chumikan, Tugur sub-dialects);

7) Sakhalin dialect.

The sub-dialects, for the most part, indicate the localities in which the corresponding dialect is common. Some sub-dialects no longer have live speakers, for example, the Chemdalsk sub-dialect, the Aim dialect sub-dialect, etc. 

In some cases, entire dialects are down to the last three speakers, as is the case of the Northern Baikal or Sakhalin dialects. 

In the context of the rapid decline of local variants of the Evenki language, the Tungus scholars of the Institute for Humanitarian Research and North Indigenous Peoples Problems of the Siberian Branch of the RAS emphasize that currently the Evenki language, should be divided not in dialects, but into ecolects (languages of clans and families) and idiolects (speech of individual speakers).

The basis of the literary Evenki was the Polygus sub-dialect of the Stony Tunguska dialect, widespread in the Evenk district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. 

However, the literary Evenki did not become a lingua franca, which all the Evenks from different regions would agree on. Moreover, today the Evenki speakers are mostly concentrated not in the territory of the Evenki district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, but in the Yakut Iengra and the Tyndinsky district of the Amur region, where the Upper Aldan dialect is widespread.

Mutual understanding between speakers of different dialects is problematic due to multi-stage long-term migration processes. The territory of distribution of Evenks and the Evenki language was expanding as the Evenks were migrating southeast. The migration led to the formation of new clans and secondary dialects, but the main features of the primary dialects were still preserved. The affinity of some dialects indicates the directions of the migrations. Thus, the Tugur-Chumikan dialect of the Khabarovsk Territory has much in common with the Sakhalin dialect. The Northern Baikal sub-dialect of the Kindigir clan is close to the language of the Olekma Evenks, since the Northern Baikal Evenks migrated south from the Yakut side of the Olekma. The Transbaikal Evenks, speaking the Vitim-Nerchinsk dialect, came to the Nercha from Yakutia, which was even reflected in the words denoting the cardinal directions in the Nerchinsk Evenki: the concept of south is conveyed by duleski ‘forward’, north - amaski ‘back’.

The speakers of the Vitim-Olyokma and Upper Aldan dialects, widespread in Transbaikalia and the Amur region, testify to the close similarity of the local Evenki language with the Evenki of China. At Russian-Chinese social events, the speakers of Evenki in Russia manage to use it as a language of international communication in conversations with their Chinese relatives. 

In these cases, we are likely talking about the Evenks whose ancestors migrated to China from Russia. Several such waves of resettlement are known, the last one dating back to the 1950s. Some of the Chinese Evenks still retain Russian names.