Tungus-Manchu Languages in Russia (Sociolinguistical Situation)
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
As it is widely known, there are 26 minority nations in the northern regions of Russia.
Their number does not exceed 200,000 people, which comprises under 0.15% of the country’s population. The oldest languages are Paleoasiatic, Samoyed and Tungus-Manchu.
The following languages belong to the Tungus-Manchu group: Evenki, Even, Negidal, Orok, Nanai, Udeghe, and Oroch.
The Evenki language (also known as Tungus and sometimes called Orochen) belongs to the northern group within this family. It is the largest of the Tungus- Manchu languages spoken in Siberia, (approx. 30,000 people). It is used as a language of instruction at the kindergartens, and is taught at primary school. It is taught at several higher educational establishments in several cities. The language is used as a means of communication of the elderly and middle-aged generation. In certain areas the local newspapers are published in this language.
The Even language belongs to the northern group too, and is linguistically closest to Evenki (approx. 17,000 people). It is used as a language of communication among the elder generation. The language is taught as a compulsory subject at school and some higher schools in all regions where the Even population is found.
The Negidal language belongs to the northern group too (above 400 people). It is only used as a means of communication among elderly people.
The Orok language is one of the southern Tungus-Manchu languages. Since 1991 it is officially called Ujlta/Ulta. In 1989 there were 179 Oroks.
The Oroch language belongs to the southern group. According to non-official data there are no more than 400 Orochi. There is no literacy in Oroch, it is not used in education but some school textbooks were published in it for the last five years. We met only two people who could speak Oroch.
The Nanai language (formerly “goljdskij”) is the least threatened within the southern group. There are about 12,000 people speaking it. It is used by elderly people, the Nanais under 40 know the language only passively. The language is taught as a mother tongue in primary schools and some higher schools.
The Ulchian language belongs to the southern group (approx. 2,5000 people). The language is taught at a primary school, and the language manuals are published.
The Udeghe language traditionally belongs to the southern group, but to be more precise, exhibits the characteristics of both the southern and northern groups. According to the official data there are about 2,000 Udeghe people. About 30 people can really speak this language. It is used only by elderly people. All attempts to introduce the language into primary school education were unsuccessful.
The most important problem is that the nations cannot accept and survive in the modern market economy. There are plenty of problems with supply of electricity, in various areas there is no public transport, health service is appalling.