572 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The Tungusic Languages is a survey of Tungusic, a language family which is seriously endangered today, but which at the time of its maximum spread was present all over Northeast Asia.

    This volume offers a systematic succession of separate chapters on all the individual Tungusic languages, as well as a number of additional chapters containing contextual information on the language family as a whole, its background and current state, as well as its history of research and documentation. Manchu and its mediaeval ancestor Jurchen are important historical literary languages discussed in this volume, while the other Tungusic languages, around a dozen altogether, have always been spoken by small, local, though in some cases territorially widespread, populations engaged in traditional subsistence activities of the Eurasian taiga and steppe zones and the North Pacific coast.

    All contributors to this volume are well-known specialists on their specific topics, and, importantly, all the authors of the chapters dealing with modern languages have personal experience of linguistic field work among Tungusic speakers.

    This volume will be informative for scholars and students specialising in the languages and peoples of Northeast Asia, and will also be of interest to those engaged with linguistic typology, cultural anthropology, and ethnic history who wish to obtain information on the Tungusic languages.

     

     

    List of tables

    List of contributors

    Preface and acknowledgements

    Technical notes

    List of abbreviations

    Chart of the Manchu script

    Language map

    1. Tungusic as a language family Juha Janhunen

    Ethnic nomenclature

    Data and sources

    Internal taxonomy

    Typological profile

    Grammatical framework

    References and further reading

    2. Early Far Eastern sources on Tungusic Alexander Vovin

    Chinese sources

    Japanese sources

    Korean sources

    References and further reading

    3. Early Western sources on Tungusic José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente

    Types of sources

    Eighteenth century

    Nineteenth century

    References and further reading

    4. Proto-Tungusic Juha Janhunen

    Data and sources

    Vowel system

    Vowel harmony

    Consonant system

    Morpheme structure

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Verbal stems

    Verbal forms

    Syntax

    Lexical structure

    References and further reading

    5. Jurchen Daniel Kane and Marc H. Miyake

    Data and sources

    Notational conventions

    The writing system

    Origin of the Jurchen script

    Segmental structure

    Nominal forms

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Verbal forms

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    6. Written Manchu Alexander Vovin

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Participles

    Converbs

    Complex verbal forms

    Imperatives

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    List of primary sources

    References and further reading

    7. Siberian Ewenki Juha Janhunen

    Taxonomic status

    Dialectal division

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Verbal forms

    Verbal functions

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    8. Orochen Lindsay J. Whaley

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Adjectives

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Participles

    Imperatives

    Other modal forms

    Converbs

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    9. Solon Sangyub Baek

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Verbal morphology

    Participles

    Imperatives

    Converbs

    Phrase structure

    Sentence types

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    10. Neghidal Sofia Oskolskaya

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Verbal morphology

    Participles

    Finite tense and aspect

    Imperatives

    Other modal forms

    Converbs

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    11. Ewen Andrej Malchukov

    Dialectal division

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word structure and word classes

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Adjectives

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Participles

    Finite tense and mood

    Converbs

    Phrase structure

    Sentence types

    Passive and causative

    Complex sentences

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    12. Oroch Shinjiro Kazama

    Taxonomic status

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Voice and aspect

    Participles

    Imperatives

    Other modal forms

    Converbs

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    13. Udihe Elena Perekhvalskaya and Juha Janhunen

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Adjectives

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Voice and aspect

    Participles

    Finite tense and mood

    Converbs

    Complex predicates

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    14. Nanai Shinjiro Kazama

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Adjectives

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Voice and aspect

    Participles

    Finite indicative forms

    Imperatives

    Other modal forms

    Converbs

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    15. Ulcha Shinjiro Kazama

    Taxonomic status

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Adjectives

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Other word classes

    Verbal morphology

    Voice and aspect

    Participles

    Finite indicative forms

    Imperatives

    Other modal forms

    Converbs

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    16. Uilta Toshiro Tsumagari and Yoshiko Yamada

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Person marking

    Verbal morphology

    Participles

    Finite indicative forms

    Imperatives

    Converbs

    Phrase structure

    Sentence types

    Complex sentences

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    17. Spoken Manchu Veronika Zikmundová and Gao Wa

    Dialectal division

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Verbal forms

    Complex predicates

    Sentence types

    Complex sentences

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    18. Sibe Veronika Zikmundová

    Data and sources

    Segmental structure

    Phonotactics and morphophonology

    Word formation

    Number and case

    Numerals

    Pronouns

    Verbal forms

    Complex predicates

    Syntax

    Lexicon and language contacts

    References and further reading

    19. Sociolinguistic aspects of Tungusic Nadezhda Mamontova

    Demographic background

    Legislational status

    Data and sources

    Ewenki as a supraregional language

    Ewen in northeastern Siberia

    Amur-Sakhalin region

    Tungusic languages in education

    Tungusic languages in public spheres

    Future prospects

    References and further reading

    20. Tungusic in time and place Juha Janhunen

    Data and sources

    External relationships

    Areal position

    Protohistorical setting

    Stages of expansion

    Sic transit gloria

    References and further reading

    Index

    Biography

    Alexander Vovin (†), Directeur d’études, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), Paris, France.

    José Andrés Alonso de la Fuente, Associate Professor, Institute of Linguistics, Translation Studies and Hungarian Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.

    Juha Janhunen, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Helsinki, Finland.