Editing Nenets languages

{{Short description|Samoyedic languages spoken in Russia}}
{{distinguish|Enets language}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Nenets
| region        = [[Russia]] ([[Nenets Autonomous Okrug]], [[Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug]], [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]], [[Komi Republic]], [[Murmansk Oblast]]){{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
| ethnicity     = 49,787 [[Nenets]] (2020 census)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref>
| speakers      = 38,405
| date          = 2020 census
| ref           = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку.|trans-title=Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language. |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref>
| familycolor   = Uralic
| fam2          = [[Samoyedic languages|Samoyedic]]
| fam3          = (core)
| fam4          = [[Enets language|Enets]]–Nenets
| iso3          = yrk
| glotto        = nene1251
| glottorefname = Nenets
| map           = Nenets_current.png
| mapcaption    = Distribution of Nenets languages in the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rantanen |first1=Timo |last2=Tolvanen |first2=Harri |last3=Roose |first3=Meeli |last4=Ylikoski |first4=Jussi |last5=Vesakoski |first5=Outi |date=2022-06-08 |title=Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=e0269648 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0269648|doi-access=free |pmid=35675367 |pmc=9176854 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1769648R }}</ref><ref>Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). ''Geographical database of the Uralic languages'' (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188</ref>
| child1        = [[Forest Nenets language|Forest Nenets]]
| child2        = [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]]
| altname       = Yurak
}}

'''Nenets''' (in former work also '''Yurak''') is a pair of closely related languages spoken in northern [[Russia]] by the [[Nenets people]]. They are often treated as being two [[dialect]]s of the same language, but they are very different and [[mutual intelligibility]] is low. The languages are [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]], which has a higher number of speakers, spoken by some 30,000 to 40,000 people<ref name="ethnologue">{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=yrk|title=Nenets|website=ethnologue.com|access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="brown2006">{{cite book | author = [[Tapani Salminen|Salminen, Tapani]], [[Farrell Ackerman|Ackerman, Farrell]] | editor = [[Keith Brown (linguist)|Brown, Keith]] | year = 2006 | pages = 577–579 | chapter = Nenets | title = Encyclopedia of Languages & Linguistics | edition = 2 | volume = 8 | publisher = [[Elsevier]] | location = [[Oxford]], [[England]]}}</ref> in an area stretching from the [[Kanin Peninsula]] to the [[Yenisei River]],<ref name="staroverov2006">{{cite book | author = Staroverov, Peter | location = [[Moscow]], [[Russia]] | year = 2006 | title = Vowel deletion and stress in Tundra Nenets | page = 1| author-link = Peter Staroverov }}</ref> and [[Forest Nenets language|Forest Nenets]], spoken by 1,000 to 1,500 people in the area around the [[Agan River|Agan]], [[Pur River (Russia)|Pur]], [[Lyamin River|Lyamin]] and [[Nadym River|Nadym rivers]].<ref name="ethnologue" /><ref name="brown2006" />

The Nenets languages are classified in the [[Uralic languages|Uralic language family]], making them distantly related to some national languages spoken in Europe – namely [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] – in addition to other minority languages spoken in Russia. Both of the Nenets languages have been greatly influenced by [[Russian language|Russian]]. [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]] has, to a lesser degree, been influenced by [[Komi language|Komi]] and [[Khanty language|Northern Khanty]]. [[Forest Nenets language|Forest Nenets]] has also been influenced by [[Khanty language|Eastern Khanty]]. Tundra Nenets is well documented, considering its status as an [[indigenous language|indigenous]] and [[minority language]]. It has a literary tradition going back to the 1930s, while Forest Nenets was first written during the 1990s and has been little documented.<ref name="brown2006" />

Apart from the word 'Nenets', only one other Nenets word has entered the [[English language]]: '[[parka]]', their traditional long, hooded jacket, made from skins and sometimes fur.<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parka#word-history "parka"], ''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary''</ref>

== Common features of Nenets languages ==
Tundra Nenets has 16 [[Grammatical mood|moods]], most of which reflect different degrees of certainty in what in English might be called [[Realis mood|indicative]] statements or different degrees of force in what in English might be called [[Imperative mood|imperative]] commands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/sketch.html|title=Tundra Nenets grammatical sketch|website=www.helsinki.fi|access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>  An overarching feature of the Nenets languages is the introduction of systematic [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]] of almost all consonants. This originates from contrasts between different vowel qualities in the [[Proto-Samoyedic]] language.<ref name = "Sml88">{{citation
| last = Sammallahti
| first = Pekka
| author-link = Pekka Sammallahti
| year = 1988
| chapter = Historical phonology of the Uralic languages, with special reference to Samoyed, Ugric, and Permic
| title = The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences

| pages = 478–554
| publisher = Brill
| location = Leiden
}}</ref>
* *Cä, *Ca → *Cʲa, *Ca
* *Ce, *Cë → *Cʲe, *Ce
* *Ci, *Cï → *Cʲi, *Ci
* *Cö, *Co → *Cʲo, *Co
* *Cü, *Cu → *Cʲu, *Cu
The [[velar consonant]]s *k and *ŋ were additionally shifted to *sʲ and *nʲ when palatalized.

Similar changes have also occurred in the other Samoyedic languages spoken in the tundra zone: [[Enets language|Enets]], [[Nganasan language|Nganasan]] and the extinct [[Yurats language|Yurats]].

== Differences between Tundra and Forest Nenets ==

Tundra Nenets generally has remained closer to Proto-Nenets than Forest Nenets, whose phonology has been influenced by eastern [[Khanty language|Khanty]] dialects. Changes towards the modern languages include:<ref name="SalmNotes">{{citation
| last = Salminen
| first = Tapani
| year = 2007
| issue = 253
| title = Notes on Forest Nenets phonology
| journal = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne
| url = http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust253/sust253_salminen.pdf
| location = [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]]
| publisher = [[Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura]]}}</ref><ref name = "Sml88"/>
* Tundra Nenets:
** Delabialization of /wʲ/ → /j/
** Lenition of initial /k/ → /x/
** Simplification of /ʔk/ → /k/
* Forest Nenets:
** Initial /s/ → /x/
** Medial denasalization of /nʲ/ → /j/
** The change of rhotics to lateral fricatives: /r/, /rʲ/ → /ɬ/, /ɬʲ/
** Shortening of geminate nasals
** Breaking of geminate /lː/ → /nɬ/
** Phonemicization of palatalized velars /kʲ/, /xʲ/, /ŋʲ/ due to vowel changes
** Raising of non-close vowels preceding a syllable with an original close vowel
** Loss of vowel distinctions in unstressed syllables
** Introduction of short/long contrasts for /a/ and /æ/

== See also ==
*[[Maria Barmich]]

== References ==
=== Note ===
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Incubator|code= yrk}}
* [http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/tn.html Tundra Nenets website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19990914180340/http://www1.geocities.com/Vienna/3259/fnen-eng.html Forest Nenets – English glossary]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721022634/http://www.speech.nw.ru/Nenets/ The Russian–Nenets Audio Phrasebook]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101014160917/http://www.speech.nw.ru/NenNgan/ Comparative Nenets–Nganasan dictionary (with Russian and English equivalents)]

{{Uralic languages}}
{{Languages of Russia}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nenets languages| ]]
[[Category:Northern Samoyedic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Russia]]