The Mongolic influence on Ewenki dialects of Buryatia

Bayarma Khabtagaeva

The Mongolic influence on Ewenki dialects of Buryatia

(60th Meeting of the PIAC, Székesfehérvár 2017)

Buryatia is the home of Buryat people – the speakers of Mongolic language family. Next to them, speakers of three Ewenki dialects (Barguzin, North-Baikal and Baunt) of Northern Tungusic branch have also lived here. The speakers of Ewenki dialects are trilingual; all of them speak both Buryat and Russian very well. Most of them have been assimilated by the Buryats. In addition, their lifestyle is characterized as of livestock breeders of the Mongolian type. Despite these facts the Mongolic loanwords in Ewenki dialects show archaic features and not Buryat. Furthermore, in most cases these phonetic features ‘coincide’ with the Onon Khamnigan Mongolian, which for a long time was erroneously regarded as one of the Buryat dialects. The aim of this presentation is to clarify the status of early Mongolic (i.e. not Buryat) and later Mongolic or Buryat layers. The question is how great the difference is.

This presentation tries to shed light on the problem how Mongolic elements in Ewenki may play a role in Proto-Mongolic reconstructions and in the determination of Khamnigan Mongolian language’s place among other Mongolic languages.

References

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Janhunen, J. (2003) Khamnigan Mongol. In: Janhunen, J. (ed.) The Mongolic languages. London & New York. 83-101.
Khabtagaeva, B. (2010) Mongolic elements in Barguzin Evenki. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 63(1). 9-25.