Nenets languages

<h2 id="common-features-of-nenets-languages">Common features of Nenets languages</h2>
<p>Tundra Nenets has 16 <a href="/facts/Grammatical_mood/QS8qwCPm">moods</a>, most of which reflect different degrees of certainty in what in English might be called <a href="/facts/Realis_mood/kR0xlIKJ">indicative</a> statements or different degrees of force in what in English might be called <a href="/facts/Imperative_mood/E3zRtPgJ">imperative</a> commands.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>  An overarching feature of the Nenets languages is the introduction of systematic <a href="/facts/Palatalization_(phonetics)/LXAIp4TB">palatalization</a> of almost all consonants. This originates from contrasts between different vowel qualities in the <a href="/facts/Proto-Samoyedic/Fb9Xc5Q9">Proto-Samoyedic</a> language.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a>
</p>
<ul><li>*Cä, *Ca → *Cʲa, *Ca</li>
<li>*Ce, *Cë → *Cʲe, *Ce</li>
<li>*Ci, *Cï → *Cʲi, *Ci</li>
<li>*Cö, *Co → *Cʲo, *Co</li>
<li>*Cü, *Cu → *Cʲu, *Cu</li></ul>
<p>The <a href="/facts/Velar_consonant/blWClp79">velar consonants</a> *k and *ŋ were additionally shifted to *sʲ and *nʲ when palatalized.
</p><p>Similar changes have also occurred in the other Samoyedic languages spoken in the tundra zone: <a href="/facts/Enets_language/jrw2CHlE">Enets</a>, <a href="/facts/Nganasan_language/bRs2GzhB">Nganasan</a> and the extinct <a href="/facts/Yurats_language/w4mnLUwK">Yurats</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="differences-between-tundra-and-forest-nenets">Differences between Tundra and Forest Nenets</h2>
<p>Tundra Nenets generally has remained closer to Proto-Nenets than Forest Nenets, whose phonology has been influenced by eastern <a href="/facts/Khanty_language/drDgfCI2">Khanty</a> dialects. Changes towards the modern languages include:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a>
</p>
<ul><li>Tundra Nenets:
<ul><li>Delabialization of /wʲ/ → /j/</li>
<li>Lenition of initial /k/ → /x/</li>
<li>Simplification of /ʔk/ → /k/</li></ul></li>
<li>Forest Nenets:
<ul><li>Initial /s/ → /x/</li>
<li>Medial denasalization of /nʲ/ → /j/</li>
<li>The change of rhotics to lateral fricatives: /r/, /rʲ/ → /ɬ/, /ɬʲ/</li>
<li>Shortening of geminate nasals</li>
<li>Breaking of geminate /lː/ → /nɬ/</li>
<li>Phonemicization of palatalized velars /kʲ/, /xʲ/, /ŋʲ/ due to vowel changes</li>
<li>Raising of non-close vowels preceding a syllable with an original close vowel</li>
<li>Loss of vowel distinctions in unstressed syllables</li>
<li>Introduction of short/long contrasts for /a/ and /æ/</li></ul></li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Maria_Barmich/frbD0ITR">Maria Barmich</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

<i>Nenets languages test</i> of <a href="/facts/Wikipedia/KDRNKWnc">Wikipedia</a> at Wikimedia Incubator

<ul><li><a href="http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/tn.html">Tundra Nenets website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/19990914180340/http://www1.geocities.com/Vienna/3259/fnen-eng.html">Forest Nenets – English glossary</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110721022634/http://www.speech.nw.ru/Nenets/">The Russian–Nenets Audio Phrasebook</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101014160917/http://www.speech.nw.ru/NenNgan/">Comparative Nenets–Nganasan dictionary (with Russian and English equivalents)</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Nenets". ethnologue.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. <a href="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=yrk" target="_blank">http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=yrk</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Salminen, Tapani, Ackerman, Farrell (2006). "Nenets". In Brown, Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Languages & Linguistics. Vol. 8 (2 ed.). Oxford, England: Elsevier. pp. 577–579.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) <a href="/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Staroverov, Peter (2006). Vowel deletion and stress in Tundra Nenets. Moscow, Russia. p. 1.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) <a href="/w/index.php?title=Peter_Staroverov&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">/w/index.php?title=Peter_Staroverov&action=edit&redlink=1</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Nenets". ethnologue.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. <a href="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=yrk" target="_blank">http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=yrk</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Salminen, Tapani, Ackerman, Farrell (2006). "Nenets". In Brown, Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Languages & Linguistics. Vol. 8 (2 ed.). Oxford, England: Elsevier. pp. 577–579.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) <a href="/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Salminen, Tapani, Ackerman, Farrell (2006). "Nenets". In Brown, Keith (ed.). Encyclopedia of Languages & Linguistics. Vol. 8 (2 ed.). Oxford, England: Elsevier. pp. 577–579.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) <a href="/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">/w/index.php?title=Tapani_Salminen&action=edit&redlink=1</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>"parka", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parka#word-history" target="_blank">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parka#word-history</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>"Tundra Nenets grammatical sketch". www.helsinki.fi. Retrieved 20 April 2018. <a href="http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/sketch.html" target="_blank">http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/sketch.html</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>Sammallahti, Pekka (1988), "Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic", The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences, Leiden: Brill, pp. 478–554 <a href="/wiki/Pekka_Sammallahti" target="_blank">/wiki/Pekka_Sammallahti</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Salminen, Tapani (2007), "Notes on Forest Nenets phonology" (PDF), Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne (253), Helsinki, Finland: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura <a href="http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust253/sust253_salminen.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust253/sust253_salminen.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:11"><p>Sammallahti, Pekka (1988), "Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic", The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences, Leiden: Brill, pp. 478–554 <a href="/wiki/Pekka_Sammallahti" target="_blank">/wiki/Pekka_Sammallahti</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Nenets languages open-in-new

Nenets languages