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Dmitry A. Funk

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,

Russian Academy of Sciences

 

The Teleuts. General Information: Endonyms, Ethnographic groups, Population, and Settlement 

Teleuts are one of the small Turkic peoples of Southern Siberia. The total number of this ethnic group, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002, was 2,650 people, in 2010 – 2,643 people, and according to the 2020 census - ,2217. About 94% of Teleuts live in the Kemerovo region, mainly in villages and towns of Belovsky, Guryevsky and Novokuznetsk districts. Small groups of Teleuts, some of whom still retain Teleut ethnic identity, live in the Zarinsky and Kytmanovsky districts of the Altai Territory, as well as in the Altai Republic.

The 2002 census puts the overall number of this ethnic group at 2.650 persons, while the 2010 census recorded 2.643 representatives of this group. Over 95% of Teleuts live in the Kemerovo region, mostly in the village and cities of the Belovsky, Gurievsk, and Novokuznetsk districts. Small groups of Teleuts some of whom still retain their ethnic identity live in the Zarinsk and Kytmanovo districts of the Altai territory, as well as the Altai Republic. 

Teleuts have preserved their ethnic self-awareness and endonym defining themselves mostly as Telenet ( Telenetter in plural), Teleut (in Russian), and as the Payattar (“people of the Bachat,” from the Teleut name of the Bolshoy Bachat and Maly Bachat rivers, the left tributaries of the Inya river), Tadar-Kizhileri (“Tatar people”), or Tadarlar (“Tatars,” or Turks). Altaians and Shors call them Bayattar or Pachattar . 

Teleuts’ contemporary ethnic identification is both rigidly structured and flexible and in some instances, feature equally significant individual elements. These elements allow for deeper understanding the transformations in Teleuts’ ethnic identity. There are at least six levels/kinds of Teleut self-identification: 

 

  1. Identification by patronymy ( kezek in Teleut) or clan ( söök in Teleut) is widespread in the Teleut everyday life, in the language widespread among seniors, middle-aged, and young generations. One can frequently hear in such endonyms as Tyarsym! (a patronymy of the Chebelkovs), Pokosh ! (of the Tydykovs), Pachai! (of the Chelukhoevs). Clan names are not used as frequently, The once traditional “What clan are you?” question has lost its relevance and disappeared from active use. Some Teleuts, however, keep memory of their clan identity.
  2. Endonyms by place of residence denoting large groups of people, frequently with an “ethnic” component. Teleuts from the village of Teleuty (the former Middle Teleut ulus) are called and they call themselves Tomdor , Krestÿler for the village of Bekovo, Chebi for the village of Semenushkina, Polmanak for the village of Babanakova, Charapan for the village of Staro-Bachaty (the last three names are outdated), etc. Additionally, Teleuts know the term “Bachatans” (“people of the river Bachat”): southern Altaians and Kumandins call them Bayattar ; Mrassu Shors call them Pachattar / Pachatter ; Teleuts themselves use the term Payat (usually in the form “Ana-Payadym” meaning “my mother the Bachat”) as a folklore synonym for the words “native land,” “homeland.”

 

The Russian-language speakers who live in the city of Gurievsk use a variety of exonyms applied to Teleuts, including Shandanians.

  1. The principal endonym used in communication with members of other Turkic peoples and also (albeit infrequently) in communication between Teleuts, in shamanic texts, epics, as well as stories and tales, is Telenget ( Telengetter in plural). In addition to these pan-Teleut endonyms, up until the late 1980s, Teleuts used in their everyday life the endonyms of descendants of the Ach-Kyshtym ( Ashkyshtym in Teleut) and Tyulber ( Tÿlber in Teleut). These peoples had been assimilated by Teleuts, and both endonyms were considered pejorative.
  2. When speaking Russian, Teleuts usually refer to themselves as Teleuts. This term comes from the Western Mongolian telengut ; once can come across the word “ telen ” on the Remezov’s map. The Teleut language does not have the expected plural telender . Some representatives of the older generation simply reject it as incorrect. The term “ Teleut ” was officially enshrined by Russian imperial authorities in the names of Teleut districts ( volost ) that existed since the late 18 th century until the mid-1920s; 
  3. After living in the Altai area for a long time, and possibly, studying in the Gorno-Altaisk Teacher Training Institute, certain Teleuts started calling themselves and believing themselves to be Altaians ( Altai-Kizhi ) 
  4. “ Tadar-Kizhileri ” (Tatars, Tatar people): a) until 1991, the principal ethnonym (“Tatar”) most of the Bachat Teleuts and all of the Zarinsk Teleuts (in Steppe Altai) had in their passports; b) “(our) Tatars,” “the Tatar language,” “to speak/sing in Tatar” are the ways of referring to themselves and their tongue among the oldest Teleuts when communicating in Russian with Russian speakers; sometimes it is used in self-deprecation; c) “ Tadar ” (“Tatar”), “ Tadar-Kizhi ” (“a Tatar person”), “ Tadar tili ” (“the Tatar language”) are principal endonyms in communications in Teleut and ethnonyms for some Turkic peoples living nearby (Shors are called Shor Tadarlary along with Shorlor and Abalar ; Kumandins are called Kumandy Tadarlary ; the Khakas are called “ Khahas Tadarlary ”), and Teleuts using the same ethnonym; the latter variant is used in contexts meaning something like “Turk,” “Southern Siberian Turk.” 
  5. Linguistically, most scholars have long classified the Teleut language as a southern dialect of the Altaian language. Together with Kyrgyz and other southern dialects of the Altaian language, it was included in the Kyrgyz Kipchak group of the Eastern Xiongnu branch of Turkic languages. In the 1970s, a new hypothesis came around suggesting that the language of the Bachat Teleuts can be considered an independent language rather than a dialect of the Altaian language.