CEUS U520 0728 Décsy

Introduction to Samoyed

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About the Instructor

Samoyed is spoken by ca. 40.00 peoples in the Arctic Area of the European and Northwest Asian parts of Russia in four distinct forms: Yurak/Nenets, Yenisey-Samoyed/Enets, Tavgi- Samoyed/Nganasan, and Ostyak-Samoyed/Selkup). Samoyed languages were spoken in the Sayan Mountain Area until the 18th century (they are extinct now). The Samoyeds inhabit a huge area between Arkhangelsk and the Taimyr Peninsula (ca. One third of the size of the continental United States). The area is rich on oil and natural gas (resources were comparable to that of Saudi Arabia). The Samoyed way of life is similar to that of the Eskimo in Canada and Alaska.

The fours Samoyed languages are important for the local economy, their research has been strongly supported by the Russian administration. All four languages have a rich Shamanistic folklore (collections and sytematizations in English available). Due to large number of unique features, they constitute a treasure chest for the international language universals research. In the

course, also sociolinguistic aspects will be discussed (relation between the Russian acrolect and the local languages).

Textbooks:

Décsy, Gyula: Yurak Chrestomathy. Bloomington 1965. Uralic and Altaic Series 50.
Hajdu, Peter: The Samoyed Peoples and Languages. Bloomington 1963. Uralic and Altaic Series 14. Second Edition can be used too.
Hajdu, Peter: Chrestomathia Samoiedica. Budapest: Tahnkonyvkiado 1968.
Popov, A.A.: The Nganasan. Bloomington 1966. Uralic and Altaic Series 56.

Days and Time: Arranged.