New books: Samoyed languages

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ENETS

AGO K\NNAP
University of Tartu

Enets is one of the Samoyed languages, fairly little investigated but of
considerable interest from the point of view of historical linguistics.
The native speakers of Enets live in Siberia, on the eastern bank of the
Yenisey River, close to the estuary of the river.
        The written records about Enets were first fixed in the 17th century.
Now there are about 200 Enetses, from them nearly 100 can yet speak
Enets. All the Enetses can speak Russian and/or Nenets, partly also
Nganasan. In the 18th century the number of the Enets population is
supposed to have exceeded 3,000. The Enetses have never had their own
written language or school instruction in their mother tongue.
        From all the other Samoyed languages, Nenets and Nganasan are the
closest to Enets. Enets has received most of the outside influence from
Nenets, more recently from Russian. Enets has two dialects: Bai (Forest)
and Madu (Tundra). The dialects primarily differ phonetically and
lexically, partly also morphologically. The present outline has been
compiled on the basis of the Bai dialect.       In the Enets phonology the
opposition of short and long vowels can be observed. Although there is a
fairly good survey about the grammar of Enets, very few longer texts
have been recorded.     Enets is typologically a rather common Uralic
language. Agglutination predominates over flection, synthetical features
over analytical ones.
        The parts of speech in Enets are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns,
verbs, adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and
interjections. Grammatical gender is lacking. The category of case is
primarily expressed by means of suffixes, there are seven cases. The
nouns are used with the possessive suffix. There are also subject and
object conjugations with differences in personal suffixes. The nouns may
also be conjugated (nominal conjugation). The Enets modes are
indicative, exadhortative, conjunctive, debitive, optative, imperative,
auditive, interrogative and quotative. The tenses can be expressed by a
common verbal aspect but in the preterite and future tenses separate
suffixes can also be used.
        The separate orientation can be expressed by a trinominal distribution
of locatives: to where? where? from where? In case of verbal negation a
separate negative auxiliary is used. The verbal forms can indicate the
subject person and, in addition to its number, also the number of the
object. Enets has no compound sentences: instead of a subordinate clause
participial, gerundial and infinitival constructions are used. An
attribute precedes its main word. In Enets there are numerous loan words
from Nenets, particularly concerning reindeer rearing, Nganasan loans in
connection with reindeer hunting and Russian loans related to more
modern spheres of activity.
This outline is the first extensive modern survey about Enets.
AGO K\NNAP is Professor of Uralic Languages of the University of. He has
published numerous papers and a few books on Samoyed languages.

ISBN 3 89586 229 0.
Languages of the World/Materials 186.
Ca. 50pp. EUR 25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30

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KAMASS

AGO K\NNAP
University of Tartu

Kamass is one of the Samoyed languages, extinct to date, relatively
little investigated but of considerable interest from the point of view
of historical linguistics. The Samoyed and Finno-Ugric languages
together form the Uralic family of languages. The Kamass native speakers
lived in Siberia, on the northern slopes of the Sayan mountains. Earlier
they were reindeer rearers of shamanistic faith. Up to date they have
changed to using Russian or some local Turkic language and become
agriculturists.

The first written records about the Kamass language date back to the
year of 1721. The author of this outline is the last gleaner of the
Kamass linguistic facts whose last informant died in 1989. Kamass is
supposed to have had the Koibal dialect, the latter, however, has left
us nothing more in writing than about 600 words. Likewise, the main
Kamass dialect itself was divided into two subdialects.

The number of the native speakers of Kamass was very small years ago
already, perhaps a couple of hundreds only. Kamass never had an alphabet
of its own, to say nothing about having its own written language or
school instruction.

In Kamass a strong phonetical and lexical influence by the neighbouring
Turkic languages can be observed. Due to the scarcity of Kamass written
records, it is possible to report only an approximate phonological
characterization and a few basic features of syntax. On the other hand,
a comparatively good picture can be obtained about its morphology and
lexicology, there are also a few longer texts available.
        Typologically, Kamass is an agglutinative language with numerous
flective markers. Synthetical features predominate over analytical ones.
On the whole, Kamass is a rather typical Uralic language. The parts of
speech in Kamass are nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, verbs,
adverbs, postpositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections.
Grammatical gender is lacking. There are three numbers: singular, dual
and plural.

The category of case is predominantly expressed by suffixes, there are
seven cases. Nouns can be used with possessive suffixes. The tenses can
be used mostly by means of suffixes but, occasionally, may also be
expressed by verbal aspects. Transitive and intransitive verbs may have
different personal suffixes, in part. There are four modes: indicative,
conjunctive, optative and imperative. The space orientation is expressed
by a trinominal distribution of locatives: to where? where? from where?
In case of verbal negation a separate negative auxiliary verb is used.
The typical word order is SVAdO. The definite object is usually
expressed by a suffixal accusative, the indefinite one by a 0-suffixal
nominative. A compound sentence is not typical of Kamass: gerundial
constructions can be found instead of a subordinate clause. About
one-third of the word-stock has been borrowed from Turkic languages. The
outline is the first extensive modern treatment of the Kamass language.

ISBN 3 89586 230 4. Languages of the World/Materials 185. Ca. 50pp. EUR
25.46 / USD 32.50 / DM 49.30 / # 19.90.


Ordering information for individuals: Please give us your creditcard no.
/ expiry date or send us a cheque. Prices in this information include
shipment worldwide by airmail. A standing order for this series is
available with special discounts offered to individual subscribers.

LINCOM EUROPA, Paul-Preuss-Str. 25, D-80995 Muenchen, Germany; FAX +4989
3148909;
http://home.t-online.de/home/LINCOM.EUROPA
LINCOM.EUROPA at t-online.de.