Negidal language

Negidal (also spelled Neghidal) is a language of the Tungusic family spoken in the Russian Far East, mostly in Khabarovskij Kraj, along the lower reaches of the Amur River.[3] Negidal belongs to the Northern branch of Tungusic, together with Evenki and Even. It is particularly close to Evenki, to the extent that it is occasionally referred to as a dialect of Evenki.[4]

Negidal
Неғида хэсэнин
Native toRussia
RegionRussian Far East
Ethnicity510 Negidals (2010 census)[1]
Native speakers
75 (2010 census)[1]
(only a few fully fluent by 2007)[1]
Tungusic
  • Northern
    • Evenki group
      • Negidal
Language codes
ISO 639-3neg
Glottolognegi1245
ELPNegidal[2]

Language Status

According to the Russian Census of 2002, there were 567 Negidals, 147 of which still spoke the language. The Russian Census of 2010 reported lower speaker numbers, with only 19 of 513 ethnic Negidals reported to still speak the language.[5][6]

However, recent reports from the field reveal that the linguistic situation of Negidal is much worse than the census reports. According to Kalinina (2008),[7] whose data stem from the fieldwork conducted in 2005-2007, there are only three full speakers left, and a handful of semi-speakers. Pakendorf & Aralova (2018) report from fieldwork conducted in 2017 that there remain only six active speakers of Upper Negidal and there are no speakers of Lower Negidal.[5] The language is thus classified as severely endangered[8] and is predicted to become dormant within the next decade.[5]

Dialects

There were formerly two dialects: the Upper Negidal dialect (Verkhovskoj in Russian) along the Amgun River (village of Vladimirovka), still residually spoken, and the now extinct Lower dialect (Nizovskoj) in its lower reaches (villages of Tyr and Beloglinka, the town of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur).[5] The Lower dialect was especially close to Evenki.

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
ɪ ʊ
Mid e ə ɵ o
Open a
  • /o/ may also be heard as [ɔ] in some areas.
  • An /o/ when appearing in more than two syllables in a word, it may also be heard as [ɑ] or [ɒ].

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative s x
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Approximant w j
  • /ɡ/ can also have an allophone of [ɣ].
  • /w/ becomes voiceless before a voiceless consonant and is heard as a fricative [ɸ].[9]

Notes
  1. Negidal at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Negidal.
  3. Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
  4. Janhunen, Juha (1996) Manchuria: An ethnic history. Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society, p. 73
  5. Pakendorf, Brigitte & Natalia Aralova. 2018. The endangered state of Negidal: A field report. Language Documentation & Conservation 12: 1-14. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24760
  6. Simons, G. F. & C. D. Fennig (eds.). 2017. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twentieth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: https://www-ethnologue-com/language/neg
  7. Калинина, Елена (2008) Этюд о гармонии гласных в негидальском языке, или негласные презумпции о гласных звуках. In: Архипов, А. В. et al. (eds.), Фонетика и нефонетика. К 70-летию Сандро В. Кодзасова, рр. 272-282. Москва: Языки славянских культур.
  8. "Negidal - The Endangered Languages Project". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  9. Kazama, Shinjiro (2002). Negidal texts and grammar. Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim.

Bibliography
  • Aralova, N. B. & N. R. Sumbatova. (2016). Negidal’skij jazyk (Negidal). In Vida Ju. Mikhal’čenko (ed.), Jazyk i obščestvo. Sociolingvističeskaja enciklopedija (Language and society. A sociolinguistic encyclopedia) 307–308. Moscow: Azbukovnik.
  • Cincius, V.I. (1982). Негидальский язык (The Negidal language). Leningrad: Nauka.
  • Kalinina, E. J. (2008). Etjud o garmonii glasnykh v negidal’skom jazyke, ili neglasnye prezumpcii o glasnykh zvukakh (A study of vowel harmony in the Negidal language or unstated assumptions about vowels). In Arkhipov, Aleksandr V., Leonid M. Zakharov, Andrey A. Kibrik, Aleksandr E. Kibrik, Irina M. Kobozeva, Ol’ga F. Krivnova, Ekaterina A. Ljutikova & Ol’ga V. Fedorova, (eds.), Fonetika i nefonetika. K 70-letju S.V. Kodzasova (Phonetics and non-phonetics. On the occasion of the 70th birthday of S.V. Kodzasov), 272–282. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskikh kul’tur.
  • Kazama, Shinjiro (2002). ネギダール語 テキストと文法概説 (Negidal Texts and Grammar). Publications on Tungus languages and cultures 19. Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim, A2-021. Kyoto: Nakanishi.
  • Myl'nikova, K.M.; Cincius, V.I. (1931). "Материалы по исследованию негидальского языка (Materials on the Negidal language)". Tungusskij Sbornik I:107-218.
  • Pakendorf, B. & Aralova, N. (2018). The endangered state of Negidal: a field report. Language Documentation & Conservation 12: 1-14. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24760
  • Xasanova, M.M.; Pevnov, A.M. (2003). Мифы и сказкы негидальцев (Myths and tales of the Negidals). Publications on Tungus Languages and Cultures 21. Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim, A2-024. Kyoto: Nakanishi.


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