Information about the Nenets languages

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The Forest Nenets language: synchronic aspects (guest lecture for Professor Gerson Klumpp’s northern Samoyed class, 24 September 2025)

• slides from the guest lecture [FN_2025_Gerson.pdf] (updated 1 October 2025)

• see also the slides from the TÜling talk below (pages 13–17 in particular)

• A voice letter in Forest Nenets (Инна Аутовна Вэлло)

• «камташ» (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• 2 × kămtasy° : kămtaŋata : kămtapyita : kămtaŋatasy° : kămtanăŋata (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• 2 × kăm°tasy° : kăm°taŋata : kăm°timpyita : kăm°taŋatasy° : kăm°tan°ŋata (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• (3 ×) tyĭm° ‘tooth’ || nyĭm ‘name’ || jŭm° ‘crucian carp’ || nŭm ‘sky, weather’ || pŭł° ‘bridge’ || nyĭł ‘haft’ || myĭł ‘goods, ware, price’ || kä̆m ‘short’ || jăm ‘major river’ || jajul ‘junk’ || tansyeł° ‘blizzard’ (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• kata ‘grandmother’ ≠ kăta ‘fingernail’ (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• kasa° ~ kasama ‘man, male’ (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• kasa° kä̆qka ‘little brother’ :: kasa° ŋăqsy°kyï ~ kasama ŋăqsy°kyï ‘boy’ (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• kĕm ~ kĭm или kĕm ‘blood’ (Октябрина Кытымовна Агичева)

• A Forest Nenets–Tundra Nenets–Russian–English miniglossary [FN_miniglossary.pdf]

• Nenets historical phonology [Nenets_historical_phonology.pdf]

The Forest Nenets language: status and documentation (talk at TÜling, 23 September 2025)

• slides from the TÜling talk [FN_2025_Tartu.pdf]

• listen also to the sound files above

• Manuscripta Castreniana (Tapani Salminen 2021)

• Словарь пуровского диалекта лесного ненецкого языка (с. Халясавэй, Пуровский район ЯНАО (Ю. В. Норманская 2023)

• INEL Nenets Corpus (Josefina Budzisch & Beáta Wagner-Nagy 2024)

• Songs about the world of spirits (Jarkko Niemi)

An addendum

For those interested in the broader context of Nenets among the Samoyed languages, I have added links to materials from a 2020 lecture course Samojedikielten rakenne ja kehitys (The structure and development of the Samoyed languages). They include three parallel sets of slides in pdf format and corresponding YouTube videos about Samoyed in general and Tundra Nenets in particular, plus a long pdf file with slides about Forest Nenets and the other Samoyed languages. In the videos I speak (a kind of) Finnish, but the slides are largely in English.

• Samojedikielten historiallinen ja typologinen profiili (The historical and typological profile of the Samoyed languages) : slides [SKRK_2020_1.pdf] : video

• Tundranenetsin kielen esimerkkejä (Examples of the Tundra Nenets language) : slides [SKRK_2020_2.pdf] : video

• Yleistietoa samojedikielistä (General information about the Samoyed languages) : slides [SKRK_2020_3.pdf] : video

The following publications are available online

• the article by Volkov & Stenin 2019 on the andative and venitive

• the Tundra Nenets sample sentence corpus

• the Tundra Nenets texts representing the dialect of Malaya Zemlya

• M. Alexander Castrén’s Grammatik der samojedischen Sprachen. Herausgegeben von Anton Schiefner. St. Petersburg 1854. [first click “Preview this book” and then click “Download PDF” in the settings menu (marked with a heptagon symbol)]

• M. Alexander Castrén’s Wörterverzeichnisse aus den samojedischen Sprachen. Bearbeitet von Anton Schiefner. St. Petersburg 1855. [same procedure as above]

• Irina Nikolaeva: A grammar of Tundra Nenets. Berlin & Boston: de Gruyter Mouton, 2014. [may require signing in]

• A Tundra Nenets–English glossary [TN_glossary_1_2.pdf] (not yet updated but to be replaced by a file simply named TN_glossary.pdf)

• A grammatical sketch of Tundra Nenets [TN_sketch.pdf] (the bibliography notably contains only references available at the time the original article was written)

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• a short excerpt in Tundra Nenets from the anniversary interview with Галина Тохоля (0:19–0:29)

Ңэрм’ тер” сава нин! Саляңгардахад нянэй вадавна лаханава”. Вадам’ минреня тюку яля’ – Гали́на Тохоли’. Лахарё тарця ңэванзь пэрңа. [regular orthography]

Ңэ̇рм’ тер” сӑва нин! Сӑляңгардӑхӑд ня̆нэй вадавна лӑхӑнава”. Вадам’ минреня тюкӯ яля’ – Гали́на Тохолӣ’. Лӑхӑрё тӑрця ңэвӑнзь пэ̄рңа. [regular orthography with the most commonly used diacritics diacritics]

Ңэ̇рм[ъ]’ тер[ъ]” сӑва нѝн! Сӑляң-гардӑхӑд ня̆нэй вадавна лӑхӑна̂ва”. Вадам’ минреня тюкӯ яля’ – Гали́на Тохолӣ’. Лӑхӑрё тӑрця ңэвӑнзь пэ̄рңа. [regular orthography with diacritics used in the corpus]

Ŋerm°h tyer°q səwa nyín°! Səlyaŋ-kar°dəxəd° nyəney° wadaw°na ləx°nə°waq. Wadam myin°ryenya tyuku° yalyah – Galina Toxolyi°q. Ləx°ryo tərcya ŋæwəncy° pæ°rŋa. [phonological transcription without regard to sandhi]

Ңэрм’ _ тер” _ сава нин! Саляңгардахад нянэй вадавна лаханава”. Вадам’ _ минреня _ тюку яля’ – Гали́на Тохоли’. Лахарё тарця ңэванзь _ пэрңа. [regular orthography with underlines _ to indicate instances of sandhi]

Ŋerm°n_tyer°_cəwa nyín°! Səlyaŋ-kar°dəxəd° nyəney° wadaw°na ləx°nə°waq. Wadam_myin°ryenya_dyuku° yalyah – Galina Toxolyi°q. Ləx°ryo tərcya ŋæwəncy°_bæ°rŋa. [phonological transcription with sandhi]

‘My dear friends in the north! We are speaking from Salekhard in the Tundra Nenets language. The announcer today is Galina Toxolya. The discussion is going to proceed as follows.’ [free translation]

• a television news broadcast in Tundra Nenets (an example of many available on Youtube)

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• Галина Тохоля reads short texts in Tundra Nenets

based on

М. Я. Бармич: Ебцотако тохолку. Санкт-Петербург: Просвещение, 2009.

Lines involving sandhi are given two phonological transcriptions, first without and then with sandhi, indicated by the underline _.

1st person singular possessive forms formally containing a dual possessive suffix are marked in red in the glosses, e. g., papamyih younger.brother.1SG ‘my younger brother’. They are conventionally spelt without a glottal stop letter, e. g., ‹папами›, but the orthographic representation below corresponds to spoken language, e. g., ‹папами’›. Cf. papamyih younger.brother.1DU ‘our² younger brother’, always spelt with a glottal stop letter.

ET32 : sound [ET32.wav]

Ңамгэм’ пэрңа”?

Ŋəmkem pæ°rŋaq? = Ŋəmkem_pæ°rŋaq?

what.ACC do.SUBJ.3PL

‘What are they doing?’

Хаер” ңади.

Хayer°q ŋədyi.

sun be.visible.SUBJ.3SG

‘The sun is visible.’

Не ңацекы ну.

Nye ŋəcyeki° nú°.

woman child stand.SUBJ.3SG

‘The girl is standing.’

Вэнякон’ лахана.

Wenyakon°h ləx°nə°. = Wenyakon°_ləx°nə°.

dog.DAT speak.SUBJ.3SG

‘She is talking to the dog.’

Нисяха’ ирихи’ лаханакурңаха’.

Nyísyax°h yiryix°h ləx°nəkurŋax°h. = Nyísyax°_yiryix°h ləx°nəkurŋax°h.

father.DU grandfather.DU chat.SUBJ.3DU

‘The father and the grandfather are chatting.’

ET33 : sound [ET33.wav]

Небя ңэванда тарм’ паңгалпи.

Nyebya ŋæwanta tər°m pəŋk°lpyi. = Nyebya ŋæwanta_dər°m_pəŋk°lpyi.

mother head.GEN.SG3SG hair.ACC braid.DUR.SUBJ.3SG

‘The mother is braiding the hair on her head.’

Хада ңамды, ибедорңа.

Xada ŋamti, yíbyedorŋa.

grandmother sit.SUBJ.3SG think.SUBJ.3SG

‘The grandmother is sitting and thinking.’

Нися хан’ ңэм’ мимби.

Nyísya xən°h ŋæm myímpyi. = Nyísya xən°_ŋæm_myímpyi.

father sledge.GEN foot.ACC build.DUR.SUBJ.3SG

‘The father is constructing a runner for a sledge.’

Хасава ню тым’ яркыби.

Xasawa nyú tim yarkibyi. = Xasawa nyú tim_yarkibyi.

man child reindeer.ACC lasso.DUR.SUBJ.3SG

‘The son is lassoing a reindeer.’

ET34 : sound [ET34.wav]

Нюдяюм’ не папами’.

Nyudyayum nye papamyih. = Nyudyayum nye_bapamyih.

small.POL woman younger.sister.1SG

‘The smallest of them is my younger sister.’

Ңаркаюм’ папами’.

Ŋarkayum papamyih.

big.POL younger.brother.1SG

‘The biggest of them is my younger brother.’

Маня” нясва”.

Mənyaq nyas°waq.

we sibling.MUT.1PL

‘We are siblings’

Сидя ңацекы хан’ ниня ңамды.

Syidya ŋəcyeki° xən°h nyinya ŋamti. = Syidya ŋəcyeki° xən°_nyinya ŋamti.

two child sledge.GEN on.LOC sit.SUBJ.3SG

‘Two children are sitting in a sledge.’

Нюдяюм’ инзеле.

Nyudyayum yincyelye°.

small.POL listen.SUBJ.3SG

‘The smallest of them is listening.’

Хэвханди’ некади’ то.

Xæw°xəntyih nye°kadyih to°.

side.DAT.SG3DU older.brother.3DU come.SUBJ.3SG

‘Their older brother came to their side.’

ET35 : sound [ET35.wav]

Мяд’ тер”

Myad°h tyer°q = Myad°n_tyer°q

tent.GEN member.PL

‘The members of the tent’ = ‘The family’

Е”эйко Май”ма’ хасава ня, некада.

Yeqÿ°ko Məy°qmah xasawa nya, nye°kada.

Yeqÿ°ko Məy°qma.GEN man sibling, older.brother.3SG

‘Eiko is Maima’s brother, he is her older brother.’

Нюмда Май”ма.

Nyumta Məy°qma.

name.3SG Məy°qma

‘Her name is Maima.’

Е”эйко мань неками’.

Yeqÿ°ko məny° nye°kamyih.

Yeqÿ°ko 1SG older.brother.1SG

‘Eiko is my older brother’

Тюку Саване, Май”ма’ нябако.

Tyuku° Səwa-nye, Məy°qmah nyabako. = Tyuku° Səwa-nye, Məy°qma_nyabako.

this Səwanye, Məy°qma.GEN older.sister

‘This is Savane, Maima’s older sister.’

Тюку хасава ңацекы нюми’.

Tyuku° xasawa ŋəcyeki° nyúmyih.

this man child child.1SG

‘This boy is my child.’

Май”ма не нюми’.

Məy°qma nye nyúmyih.

Məy°qma woman child.1SG

‘Maima is my daughter.’

Ирин’ инзеле.

Yiryin°h yincyelye°. = Yiryin°_yincyelye°.

grandfather.DAT listen.SUBJ.3SG

‘He listens to his grandfather.’

Хада вадам’ хо.

Xada wadam xo°. = Xada wadam_ko°.

grandmother word.ACC find.SUBJ.3SG

“The grandmother found a word” = ‘The grandmother started speaking’

ET60 : sound [ET60.wav]

Не ңацекы лата’ таборм’ на”волпи.

Nye ŋəcyeki° latah tabor°m naqwolpyi. = Nye ŋəcyeki° latan_tabor°m naqwolpyi.

woman child floor.GEN garbage.ACC move.DUR.SUBJ.3SG

‘The girl sweeps the trash from the floor.’

Хасава ңацекы ңынхана енерңа.

Xasawa ŋəcyeki° ŋin°xəna yenyerŋa.

man child bow.LOC shoot.SUBJ.3SG

‘The boy shoots from a bow.’

Хасава ңацекы книгам’ манэсарңа.

Xasawa ŋəcyeki° k°nyigam mənesərŋa. = Xasawa ŋəcyeki° k°nyigam_mənesərŋa.

man child book.ACC look.SUBJ.3SG

‘The boy looks at the book.’

Вэсако вэняком’ нюку”ңа.

Wæsako wenyakom nyu°kuqŋa. = Wæsako wenyakom_nyu°kuqŋa.

old.man dog.ACC caress.SUBJ.3SG

‘The old man caresses the dog.’

ET60b : sound [ET60b.wav]

Ңацекы вэняком’ нямзьлемби.

Ŋəcyeki° wenyakom nyəmcy°lyempyi. = Ŋəcyeki° wenyakom_nyəmcy°lyempyi.

child dog.ACC pet.SUBJ.3SG

‘The child pets the dog.’