The peoples living throughout Russia are incredibly diverse and colorful. One of them - the Chukchi - is doubly interesting. These are people living in a harsh climate in the north of the country, having their own special way of life and language. And it is about their official language that you will learn from this article.
Territory
Chukotka, and more precisely, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is a subject of the Russian Federation, and it is located in the Far Eastern Federal District. This is a fairly vast and closed territory in the extreme northern point of the country, it is simply impossible to get there: the traveler will need to issue a special permit to enter the territory of Chukotka. In total, about 50,000 people live in the territory of this subject, and most of them speak the Chukchi language.
Language of the north
The Chukchi language is spoken not only in the Autonomous Okrug, but also in Magadan, Kamchatka and Yakutia. According to the latest census, about 16,000 people called themselves Chukchi, half of them consider Chukchi to be their native language, and a small part of the Chukchi speak the language of their people, but do not consider it native.
So, we can say that the Chukchi language is one of the main languages ββof the peoples of the north of Russia. It is spoken by the very textbook Chukchi who lead a closed mono-ethnic life and are engaged in reindeer husbandry. In local schools, this language is taught as a subject; the training itself is conducted in Russian, in fact, like all the administrative work of the district.
History of the Chukchi language and its development
At one time, the Russian ethnographer Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz was engaged in in-depth study of the Chukchi language. His work is considered the most extensive among the rest: Bogoraz published a dictionary of the Chukchi language, composed grammar, and studied Chukchi folklore diligently. However, this is not his only work, because Vladimir Germanovich as a whole was engaged in the study of the languages ββof the northern peoples of Russia.
In general, the first studies of the Chukchi language began long before Bogoraz published the first works. As far back as the 17th century, when Russian pioneers began to develop the tundra and interact with the indigenous population of this territory. After the establishment of trade relations with the Chukchi, a gradual introduction of this people into the sphere of activity of the state administration of Russia began. Towards the end of the 17th century, the first documents about Chukchi toponyms appeared. Even later, by the middle of the XIX century, active work was already underway on the study of the words of the Chukchi language, local folklore and ethnography, and similarities with the Koryak language were revealed.
Thus, by the 30s of the last century, a literary language appeared in which Chukchi verses and prose were published. Language continues to develop and live in the post-war period. At this time, the extensive activities of translators and editors are unfolding, helping the functioning of the language, improving its writing.
By the 90s, special textbooks for studying the language of this remote northern region, textbooks for schoolchildren of elementary, middle and senior classes were created, books and classical literary works were translated into the Chukchi language. Currently, he is taught in a number of higher educational institutions of Anadyri and Magadan at the faculties of the peoples of the Far North and pedagogy.
About dialects of the Chukchi language
It is interesting that this language is practically the same in all areas of the Autonomous Okrug: although dialects exist, the difference between them is completely insignificant.
Officially distinguish the eastern dialect, western and southern. The first of them is also called Uelen, and it formed the basis of the written language of the entire Chukchi language. The southern dialect has a second name "Kolyma". It is customary to attribute a whole group of languages ββto it: Khatyr, Nunligran and Enmylin. It is the southern dialects that are most similar to the Koryak and Kerek languages ββin morphology and phonetics.
Also in each dialect dialects can be distinguished. In general, all Chukchi are fluent in the literary Chukchi language, regardless of their place of residence.
About Chukchi writing
The official writing of the Chukchi language was formed only at the beginning of the 30s of the last century, where Latin was taken as the basis. By the end of the decade, the Cyrillic alphabet replaced the Latin alphabet without any changes and additions, but the Latin alphabet still βlivedβ in the language for some time. After another time, already in the 50s, the Cyrillic alphabet of the Chukchi language was replenished with new characters:
- Σ - indicates an uvular consonant sound, which is formed by connecting the back of the tongue with the sky.
- Σ - this is the so-called posterolinguistic sonant, which is formed by raising the back of the tongue to the posterior palate (to its soft part). This sound is similar to the combination of the sounds βngβ (by the way, earlier in the Chukchi alphabet this sound was designated that way).
Language and gender
There is one interesting feature in the Chukchi language, namely gender. Women and men here speak differently, since for women there is a certain taboo on the pronunciation of the names of relatives by husband. There are also differences in the pronunciation of some words in the Chukchi language:
- the sounds "p" or "pk" that men can pronounce, women change to "c" or "cc". For example, the word "walrus" in the male version sounds "rokry", and in the female - tsytsy ";
- instead of the male βh,β women also pronounce βc.β
Thus, in Chukchi, two main dialects can be distinguished - these are male and female.
Other linguistic characteristics
The Chukchi language is agglutinative, and words here are formed using suffixes and prefixes. There are two forms of numbers (singular and plural), and nouns are inclined according to the principle of "name of the person" and "name of not the person".
The verb in the Chukchi language is conjugated in two ways: subject conjugation and subject-object conjugation. Also, the Chukchi verb has three moods - the subjunctive, imperative and indicative.
Words in a sentence can be arranged relatively freely; there is no strict order here.
Chukchi language today
Today, the native language of all Chukchi lives mainly as a way to communicate in everyday communication. Most often it is the older generation who speaks it, the younger one supports knowledge of the language not only thanks to the school curriculum, but also through communication with older family members (40 years or more). Chukchi is also widespread among people engaged in traditional crafts (reindeer husbandry, leather dressing, fishing, hunting).
Chukotsky is widespread in the villages and villages of this autonomous region, but urban residents have not stopped using it. It is spoken in narrow professional circles, for example, in schools, universities, the administrative sphere, and also in the media. The language actively lives among agricultural workers. Phrasebooks of the Chukchi language are published, which are actively used by both local residents and people who have arrived in Chukotka on work issues.
Since integration with the Russian language among the Chukchi occurred much later than among other northern peoples of Russia, their language was preserved quite well and continues to live. In addition, a considerable role is played by a considerable population and closed territory. Modern Chukchi perfectly speak Russian, for many of them this is the main language of communication, but they do not forget their roots, preserve the culture of the people, and with it their own language.