Issue 1, 2024

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The historical Indo-Iranian lexicon of the Central Asian linguistic area reveals interesting semantic facts that force us to re-consider the etymological sources of words derived from a single Indo-European root. The present article examines a group of East Iranian words that go back to a single Proto-Iranian root, but at the same time exhibit meanings in the Central Asian area that allow for a new semantic interpretation of this root.

Under consideration is the Proto-Iranian root *u̯ arź - , tentatively reconstructed as meaning ‘to act, to do; to work; to make efforts; to be strong, active’. The article investigates the semantic development of this root in later Iranian words (both East Iranian and West Iranian), as well as in Indo-European words, with special attention to the languages of the Pamir-Hindu Kush region.

The etymologies of the areally diffused words under examination may indicate that the semantics of this Proto-Iranian root included a previously unnoticed additional meaning of ‘weave, knit’. This specific meaning may have been inherited from deep antiquity, possibly even from the protolanguage that birthed the Indo-European dialects.

These semantic elements in the Proto-Iranian root under investigation coincide with similar elements in the Old Russian verb вьрзати (vьrzati). This is an indicator of an additional link in the system of Slavic-Iranian isoglosses.

Keywords: Indo-European languages, Indo-Iranian languages, East Iranian languages, lexicon, semantics, Central Asia, area

For citation: Edelman J. I. On areal variations in semantics in the history of the vocabulary of East Iranian languages. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 5–15.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-5-15

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The present article deals with the sociolinguistics of a subdialect of the Udmurt language spoken primarily in the Tatyshly district of Bashkortostan (Russia). The data was collected via questionnaires filled out by native speakers during fieldwork by the linguistics department of Moscow State University in 2019-2023. Data from a corpus of oral texts that was recorded and transcribed during the fieldwork is included as well. After brief ly outlining the population dynamics in the Tatyshly district and our sample of native speakers, we discuss the domains in which Tatyshly Udmurt is used (taking into account variation across generations), code-switching to Russian (especially involving the younger generation), the role of Standard Udmurt in the community (interference between Tatyshly Udmurt and Standard Udmurt, communication with speakers from other areas, education), and language contact with Turkic varieties (knowledge of Bashkir and Tatar among the Udmurt community, communication with Turkic-speaking people). Practical activities aimed at Udmurt language maintenance are also outlined.

Keywords: Udmurt language, Tatar language, Bashkir language, Russian language, Tatyshly Udmurt, domains of language use, language contact, language maintenance

For citation: Kashkin E., Winkler M. E. The Tatyshly Udmurt language situation: Evidence from recent fieldwork. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 16–43.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-16-43

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Bilingual education for preschoolers offers an interesting teaching methodology aimed at developing bilingualism from an early age. Preschoolers are still in the phase of intensive language development, which allows them to naturally absorb and acquire two languages. The need for such training arises in connection with various attitudes and wishes of parents. Within the framework of bilingual education, the immersion method is employed, wherein children are surrounded by a natural linguistic environment with communication occurring in both languages. A translingual approach is possible (when one language is partially explained through another or when different situations require the presence of one or another language) or training in specially organized classes. It is crucial that both languages develop in parallel and with sufficient intensity. The involvement of parents in the process of bilingual education is significant. Parents strive to fill the gaps from their own childhood by giving their children the opportunity to successfully master multiple languages. Some parents are willing to actively participate in the education process, while others struggle with it. Parents can support their child in learning both languages in a home setting.

Keywords: child bilingualism, socio-cultural environment, parenthood, intercultural communication, speech development in two languages, family language policy

For citation: Rodina N. M. Protasova E. Yu. Interaction between family and preschool in raising bilingual children: An analysis of various practices. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 44–69.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-44-69

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The paper presents research results on the partitive case in the Kildin Saami language. For this purpose, modern standardized and non-standardized literary texts and example sentences in dictionaries written by authors who are native Kildin Saami speakers have been analysed.

With the help of abundant examples, the use and functions of the partitive case in Kildin Saami are described. The large number of partitive forms found in the analysed material, as well as partitive generation within new loanwords, show that the partitive is still a living and productive case in Kildin Saami.

The present analysis confirms the hypothesis about two different suffixes that generate the Kildin Saami partitive depending on the word stem. In contrast to the opinion of other researchers, who assume that the partitive appears as a single form used to express both singular and plural referents, the present analysis shows that a certain group of nouns and pronouns has different partitive forms for singular and plural referents.

Thereafter follows argumentation against the hypothesis about the replacement of the partitive with the genitive plural due to Russian interference. Instead, examples are presented showing the replacement of the partitive with the genitive and other cases due to semantic and syntactic reasons.

Keywords: Kildin Saami language; partitive; formation, use and functions of the partitive case; genitive plural; Kildin Saami standardized and non-standardized texts; language revitalization

Acknowledgements: I thank my colleagues Trond Trosterud and Trond Tynnøl for reading, commenting on, and improving the English text of the final manuscript of the article.

For citation: Scheller E. Partitive or genitive plural? Use and formation of the partitive case in Kildin Saami. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 70–130.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-70-130

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The Bible is the world’s most translated book. Throughout history it has been translated into a great many languages, and these translations have in recent years begun to attract wider attention. This article investigates a selection of historical translations of the Lord’s Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew in a language called Tatar, and one contemporary translation, Volga Tatar. The timespan of the translations encompasses over two hundred years: from 1803 to 2015. The translations are compared on a variety of linguistic levels, with special attention given to the lexicon. Orthography presents a noteworthy challenge, since most of the historical translations are in the Arabic script, not ref lecting the nuances of the vowels. Features common to the translations are described, and those distinctive to each text are analysed. I discovered that many of the translations adhere to strict norms of the literary language, clearly differing from spoken variants. Up to the 20 th century many Turkic literary languages were “transregional”, that is, similar established literary norms extended over many Turkic peoples, whose spoken languages displayed a far greater variety. Interacting with the biblical text gives us a valuable glimpse of the multiple voices represented by the translations, and the circumstances in which they were created.

Keywords: Bible translation, Tatar, Volga Tatar, the Lord’s Prayer, comparative analysis, lexicon, literary language

Acknowledgements: I am grateful to two anonymous peer reviewers for many astute observations and comments, which have helped me improve this article. Grateful thanks also to my husband Michael Greed for reviewing this article and providing helpful feedback.

For citation: Greed T. Seven Tatar translations of the Lord’s Prayer (1803-2015) [Part 1]. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 131–170.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-131-170

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Stories and legends in Evenki have been extensively published, including several corpora. This paper presents three stories in the Eastern Evenki dialects spoken in the Amur region. These dialects are less studied than the Western ones spoken in the Krasnoyarsk region, and there are not many stories yet published from the Eastern dialects. The stories presented here were recorded in 2019 and 2023. The present paper offers the first attempt to list the phonetic distinctives of the Ust’-Nyukzha dialect. The Eastern dialects of the Amur region are close to the Sakha Republic, so they have borrowings from Sakha. The paper also mentions the issue of short and long vowels in the Eastern Evenki dialects, which has not received sufficient attention. Based on O. N. Morozova’s experimental studies, contemporary Evenki is losing phonemic vowel length, which now in many ways depends on the phonetic context. The arrangement of long and short vowels in stories by native speakers confirms Morozova’s findings. Glossing was done in FLEx, and the list of glosses is based on the glosses in the Evenki Story Corpus, with slight modifications for better correspondence to the Leipzig glossing rules.

Keywords: Evenki language, Jeltulak dialect, Ust’-Nyukzha dialect, legends

For citation: Rudnitskaya E. L. Three stories in the Jeltulak and Ust’-Nyukzha dialects of Evenki. Rodnoy yazyk, 2024, 1: 171–184.

DOI: 10.37892/2313-5816-2024-1-171-184